Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

C olson

My truck tires bumped over the dip right before Sofia’s driveway, jostling me awake. Not that I’d been driving half asleep. I wouldn’t do that. Not intentionally, that is. I’d worked a twenty-four-hour shift with very little sleep thanks to some kids rolling their golf cart right at the edge of the sea cliffs north of town. We’d been called in to get them back up to the road for the paramedics to work them over. Thankfully, everyone was fine, just some cuts and scrapes. And a shitload of trouble when their parents came to collect them. Those were the kinds of calls that made me glad I’d never become a parent. The abject terror on those parents’ faces when they arrived on scene would live in my brain forever.

I’d almost cleared Sofia’s house when my brain clicked in and all my senses went on high alert. I blinked. Twice.

“Fuck!”

I shoved the truck in park and jumped out of the cab, running in a full sprint to the front door of Sofia’s house. There was a thin plume of dark smoke coming from a window, right around what I knew to be her kitchen. Training and a lifetime of firefighting kicked in when I needed it to. I pulled the phone out of my back pocket as I ran, hitting 9-1-1. The operator didn’t even get her name out before I was shouting the address and the need for a unit to get out here. I dropped the phone on the doorstep of the house and kicked open the front door. The amount of smoke made me think the fire was just starting, which was a good sign.

“Tully! Sofia!” I crouched low, entering the house and observing all the smoke coming from the kitchen area. I pulled my T-shirt over my head and wrapped it around my nose and mouth, tying it at the back of my head and charging into the kitchen.

No one seemed to be in the kitchen, which was a good thing. Flames licked up from behind the stove, melting the wallpaper, but smoke wasn’t coming out of the sides and top of the oven door like I would have assumed. Automatically, I grabbed the fire extinguisher I’d installed under Sofia’s sink years ago, but then hesitated. Panic was making my brain slow. I knew this and yet couldn’t seem to tamp the panic down.

“Colson!” Tully’s voice had me swiveling in her direction. She stood in the doorway to the kitchen in a cotton tank top and shorts.

Her eyes were wide as she looked from me to the fire. She looked ready to charge in here, so I barked at her. The last thing I needed was her getting in harm’s way.

“Get your mama and both of you get outside ’til the fire department gets here!” My voice came out muffled by the T-shirt.

She stood there, frozen.

“Tully! Now!”

She snapped her head back to me, nodded, and ran out of the kitchen. I put the fire extinguisher on the countertop, away from the fire, and rummaged through Sofia’s pantry, knocking things off the shelves in my hurry. But then I had it. A five-pound bag of baking soda. Thank God the woman baked like she did and bought everything in bulk. I ripped that sucker open and charged back to the fire, dumping its contents behind the stove. The flames immediately went out, but the smoke detectors in the living room started blaring, letting out a terrible racket just a little too late to be helpful. I grasped the oven and began to pull it toward me and away from the wall. Just like I thought. The electrical cord back there was melted from the heat and probably the source of the fire.

Through the window, I spotted Tully and Sofia standing in the driveway, arms around each other. I lifted my hand to let them know I had it under control. Tully nodded and whispered something to Sofia. Sirens mixed with the smoke detector noise and soon the flashing lights of a truck coming up the driveway had me breathing easy. I’d get absolute shit from the boys for having a call to my own residence, but fuck them. I wasn’t taking any chances when it came to Sofia and Tully.

The crew came in and assessed the situation, all of them agreeing I’d done the right thing and it was under control. One of them handed me my phone back. As the fire marshal came in next to assess the cause of the fire, I stepped outside, took the T-shirt off my face, and headed for my girls. Sofia was shaking as I approached. Tully lifted her face and the concern there nearly brought me to my knees.

“Mama’s not feeling so good.”

Sofia’s face was white as a sheet. The shock of a fire could be overwhelming, in addition to all these people being here. I bent down, scooped her up into my arms, and marched her to the carriage house. She shouldn’t be standing out here any longer. Tully trailed after us, nipping at my heels.

“You’re a good man, Colson Wolfe,” Sofia whispered, holding on to me and laying her head on my bare chest.

“Let’s just get you some rest and a glass of water, huh? That’s enough excitement for one night.” The woman was in her seventies with not exactly the most robust health. Seeing a fire in your house left even the youngest homeowners in shock. I saw it happen all the time.

Tully ran ahead and opened the door to my place. Hayes rushed over with his tail wagging, but sensing the mood, backed off so he didn’t trip me. I swept through with Sofia and immediately laid her down on my bed. Tully hovered, getting her mama comfortable.

“Come here, boy.” I smacked my thigh and my good boy came over, whining slightly. “It’s okay. Sofia just needs some rest. Let’s get you up there.”

I knew from experience that snuggling with Hayes was just about the best therapy known to man. I helped him up the ramp to the bed and he settled his warm body next to Sofia, laying his head down on his paws. She immediately scratched behind his ears and seemed to get some color back in her cheeks. Those two knew each other well, what with Sofia coming by to let him out and feed him when I was working. Tully sat on Sofia’s other side and kept up a steady chatter while I got a glass of water from the tiny kitchen.

“I’m okay. You kids don’t need to fuss,” Sofia said eventually, sipping the water every time Tully nudged her. She frowned. “I swear I didn’t have anything in that oven.”

“Oh, Mama. You gotta be more careful,” Tully admonished softly.

“Actually, it was an electrical fire. Could have happened to anyone at any time,” I clarified.

Tully’s head instantly dropped as she groaned. “I knew we should have gotten you a new stove.”

“I like that old thing,” Sofia countered defiantly, which was a good sign.

I went to the dresser to find a new T-shirt. I was feeling a little awkward with my ex-wife and her mama in my bedroom and me with no shirt on now that the adrenaline was fading.

“Well, you need a new one now. That one is toast.” Sofia pouted, but I went on, figuring she was doing well enough now to hear the full extent of damage. “We’ll need to get someone in here to repair that wall and check the existing electrical for any damage. You can expect to be without your kitchen for a few days to a week. Just depends when we can get someone in here to fix everything.”

Tully stood up. “I’ll call Em. See if she can get Savannah or Pip over here tomorrow to do the job.”

I was surprised to hear Tully knew my sister-in-law, but glad she could take on the responsibility of getting things fixed. “I think you should sleep here this week, Sofia.”

The woman gasped. “I can’t do that to you! Where will you stay?”

“I’ll stay with my mom.” I turned to Tully. “You should probably stay with my mom too. You don’t want to be in the house until the smoke clears and the damaged materials are ripped out.”

Tully’s mouth gaped open. I carried on, too amped up to care about getting in a fight with her over something that just made sense.

“I’ll stay in the house tonight, just to make sure there’s not a leftover ember that reignites. You stay here with Sofia.”

I turned to leave, wanting to talk to the fire marshal before he left and check things out now that I had a clearer head.

“Wait! I’ll go with you,” Tully said from behind me.

“Yes, honey. You should help Colson. I’ll be fine here with Hayes.”

Tully froze, her gaze trained on my dog. “Hayes?”

I winced. I didn’t need her reading too much into it. We’d talked about baby names back when we first got married. We’d planned to have kids one day, and my pick for a boy had been Hayes. Tully’s pick for a girl had been Millie. Life had gone in a different direction, but I’d never given up my love for that boy name.

“You coming or not?” I snapped.

Tully straightened her spine and walked away from the bed. She winced. “Yes, I’m coming.”

I frowned, watching her limp toward me. “What’s wrong?”

“I must have stepped on a stick or something.”

I stopped her and crouched down, lifting up her foot. She made some noise like she intended to argue with me, so I glared at her until she freely gave me her foot and put her hand on my shoulder to steady herself. I took a peek at the bottom of it, seeing a bloody cut where she probably had stepped on something sharp. I cursed and Sofia chuckled.

“I didn’t stop to get shoes. Sorry,” Tully snapped with attitude.

I stood up and shook my head at her. I hadn’t noticed she was barefoot either. A detail I should have picked up on if I hadn’t let panic cloud my senses. Instead of berating her or myself, I took care of the situation. I stooped over, and for the second time tonight, I carried a woman in my arms.

“Hey! I’m fine!” Tully folded her arms across her chest, trying to hold herself away from me, which just made carrying her harder.

“Quit fighting me, woman.”

Tully huffed, but relaxed a bit. She still refused to put her arm around my shoulders though, the stubborn mule.

Sofia’s giggle got louder. “Bye, you two! Don’t fight all night!”

I got us out the door, closing it behind me and marching right back for the main house. I didn’t trust myself to say a damn word as we trekked across the rocks and weeds and neither did she. The silence would have been uncomfortable but I was too busy loving the feel of having Tully in my arms again. The rig was gone when we got to the house, but the fire marshal’s truck was still in the drive. I set Tully on a chair in the dining room with a stern warning to stay put. She flipped me off.

I got first aid supplies and wet washcloths out of the guest bathroom and returned to the dining room. The fire marshal joined me there, letting us both know that it did indeed start from the electrical. He agreed I should stay overnight just to be one hundred percent sure everything was out. The guys had gone up on the roof and even into the attic to make sure nothing had caught fire up there, but it didn’t hurt to be overly cautious. He also warned that the smoke alarm in the kitchen was faulty, which made me mad at myself for not regularly testing the units like I knew I should have. Then he headed out and it was just me and Tully alone in the house.

She sagged against the chair backing, her hands in her lap and her eyes fluttering closed. Her hair was a wild mess around her face. The curls were back with a vengeance and I loved to see it. I also didn’t mind the skimpy tank top that showed off her breasts that had gotten fuller since we were kids. Was I an asshole for noticing her boobs when we’d just gone through a crisis?

“I’m so glad you came home when you did,” she breathed, opening her eyes.

I sat on the floor and lifted her injured foot in my lap. Her toes were painted bright red, but her feet were now filthy. I cleaned both of her feet with the washcloths first, then attended to the injury.

“This is going to sting,” I warned, dripping hydrogen peroxide on the cut.

Tully hissed but didn’t jerk her foot away from me. I let it bubble and then dribbled some more on there for good measure. You didn’t want to mess around with cuts on the bottom of the foot. I put antibiotic cream and gauze on the cut, ripping strips of tape off the roll and securing it around her foot. I lowered her foot to my lap once again, unwilling to let go of her just yet.

I looked up, seeing the exhaustion painted across her pretty face. “You don’t have to stay here. I can handle it. Why don’t you get some rest with your mama?”

She took her time answering me. “You’re good at playing the hero, Colson. Always have been. I hope you know I appreciate that.”

My thumb swiped across her instep. “I’ve never played at being your hero. I wanted to be your hero in everything I did.”

Tully nodded, her eyes filling with tears.

“Hey.” I gripped her foot, careful to avoid her bandages. I couldn’t stand to see her cry. Her tears were my kryptonite. “Let’s get you settled so you can sleep. Everything will look better in the morning.”

She shook her head, defiant even in the middle of being exhausted. “I’m staying here with you this time.”

This time. We both knew which time in the past she referred to. The time she did leave me. The time she broke my heart and left my world shattered.