GirlNextDoor (11 page)

“Floor plans?”

“Yeah. With the new couches and the bigger TV, I want to
rearrange things some. I’ve got this computer program that let me input the
room measurements and then move virtual furniture around to see how it looks.”
He paused. “What?”

John chuckled. “Sometimes you are just so gay.”

“You already knew that.” Nolan wasn’t offended, they’d been
comfortable on this topic for years.

“I don’t mean in the good sex way. I mean in the interior
decorator way.”

“I like to change things around,” Nolan answered.

“You know, if I got a new couch, I’d put it right where the
old one was.”

“I know. You’re boring.”

“Ouch,” John answered. “At least I never trip over things
and break my leg.”

Nolan grinned. They both remembered that run well. The
patient insisted that his wife was trying to kill him because she’d changed the
living room around. He’d tripped over the chair, then caught his foot under the
couch and spiral fractured both his tibia and fibula.

The wife calmly said that if he’d helped her move the
furniture like she’d asked him to, he would have known where it was.

The couple had bickered without pause the whole time they
were preparing him for transport, and John and Nolan had fought down laughter
every minute they were there.

They were quiet while they finished their meal and cleaned
up the wrappers. Both of them enjoyed the silent radio.

Nolan yawned. “We should head back to the shed.”

“Yeah.” John didn’t start the truck. They both knew that on
the kind of day they were having, no matter which way they went they’d get a
call in the opposite direction. John chewed his lip. Finally, he said, “Can I
ask you something? About Lucy?”

Nolan hesitated. “You can
ask
,” he answered
cautiously.

“Has she always been like she is? So…”

“Easy?” Nolan supplied. There was the barest trace of
bitterness in his voice.

“I was going to say elusive.”

His partner’s eyebrows shot up. “You think Lucy’s elusive?”

“Yeah, I do. I mean, not sexually, she’s not a tease about
that, except in a good way, but…” John hesitated, struggling for the right
words. “But emotionally, I guess. I mean, the minute the sex is over she’s
gone, you know?”

Nolan’s brow furrowed. “And you don’t like that?”

“I did, I guess,” John admitted. He could feel his cheeks
getting warm. “You know me, Nolan. I’m not about relationships or whatever. But
this is different.”

“You’re used to being the first one to leave.”

“Yeah. That’s probably part of it. But she just seems
so…like she’s more scared than I am.” John took a deep breath. “And that’s
pretty damn scared.”

Nolan looked at him steadily. John felt his cheeks grow
warmer still. He liked his partner’s serious face. “You never admitted that
before.”

“What? That I bang and run because I’m scared to death of a
real relationship?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t have to. You already knew.”

Nolan nodded. “I did. But I didn’t know you knew I knew.”

“I always knew you knew.”

Their eyes locked for a moment. John felt something twist in
his chest. In Nolan’s brown eyes he saw no judgment. Just compassion.
Understanding. He knew that his friend knew his biggest fear, and that he
didn’t blame him for it. It was more caring than he’d ever felt before.

I could kiss him
, John thought.
I could just reach
over and kiss him.

He shook his head firmly. He couldn’t, and he wouldn’t. Even
if he had any reason to think Nolan would like it, it was exactly the wrong
thing to do.

Nolan’s eyes changed when he shook his head. There was a new
sadness in them. He looked away. “She was a tomboy,” he said.

“Who?”

“Lucy.” Nolan looked back, and his expression was painfully
neutral. “She lived right next door to me. She was a tomboy. Into everything.
Honestly, she was more like a boy than I was. But we were friends, so she
always dragged me into her adventures. You know, throw a clothes line over a
tree branch and try to build an elevator. Catch two dozen frogs and put them in
the school cafeteria. Stuff like that.”

John looked out his own window, remembering that morning’s
encounter. “She’s still kind of an adventurer.”

“I’m sure.” Nolan shrugged. “Anyhow. The summer before high
school she, um, blossomed. And the first day of school she caught the attention
of this jock. He was a junior. Real popular. All the girls chasing him. You
know the kind.”

I know because I
was
that guy in my school
,
John thought. He simply nodded.

“So Junior Jock got all over Lucy, and she was just young
enough to be stupid over this popular guy paying her all this attention, you
know?”

“He nailed her.”

“Yeah. And he—” Nolan stopped. “I’m not sure I should tell
you the rest of this. It’s kinda…Lucy’s story to tell.”

John nodded his understanding. He expected Nolan to keep his
confidences. He didn’t begrudge that he kept Lucy’s as well.

“Skip ahead to where he dumps her.”

“No.” Nolan thought about it for a long moment. “No. It’ll
be okay. Because it’s you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know. Junior knocked her up.”

“Oh nice,” John said. He’d half-guessed this part. “She was
what, fourteen? Asshole couldn’t use a condom?”

“They interfered with his game. That’s what he told Lucy.”
Nolan sneered, then sighed. “When she suspected, she came to me. Made me go to
the drugstore with her and distract the clerk while she stole a pregnancy
test.”

“What, jock boy wouldn’t even give her the money for that?”

“It wasn’t about the money, John. It was a very small town.
If she’d tried to buy it, everyone would have known before we walked out the
door. Including her parents.” He shook his head again. “Besides, she was pretty
good at shoplifting.”

He paused to take a long drink of his soda. “We went back to
my house. And my mom was all, ‘Oh Lucy, we haven’t seen you in so long, let me
get you some cookies and lemonade’. My mom thought we should be a couple. She
still does. And we had to sit there and chit-chat with her while this pregnancy
test was burning a hole in Lucy’s pocket. Anyhow, we finally got upstairs, she
peed on the stick, and we waited. But we both knew, John. Way before that pink
line showed up, we both knew.”

“What did Junior say?”

Nolan shook his head. “This was on a Saturday morning.
Junior was at the state football championships. He was supposed to be back
Sunday night. Lucy was going to tell him then. She stayed with me all day. We
talked, tried to figure out what to do. Lucy was scared her parents would have
him sent to jail.”

“For statutory rape.”
And deservedly so.

“Yes. And they would have. Right before they disowned her.”
He paused again. “We decided we’d tell everyone that it was my baby.”

“
What?
”

“I was the same age as Lucy, so I couldn’t get into trouble.
Not legal trouble, anyhow.” He shook his head. “It sounds stupid now, but it
made sense at the time.”

“You were fourteen.”

“Yeah.”

“And gay.”

His partner shrugged. “I was still in heavy denial about
that.”

“You really loved her.”

“I’ll always love her,” Nolan answered simply.

“I’m so sorry.” John felt like a world-class heel. “I never
should have slept with her.”

Nolan shook his head. “I don’t mind, John. Really. It’s not
about sex with Lucy and me.”

“But you said you slept with her once.”

“That…was something else entirely.”

“I’m confused.” John shook his head. He had to believe that
Nolan was sincere about not minding the sex. Well, why would he? But it still
felt wrong. “So what happened with the baby?”

As if the universe had been listening, their radio alarm
sounded and they had to respond to another car crash.

* * * * *

The crash wasn’t as bad as it could have been. A child had
run into the street from behind a parked van. A teenage driver had swerved to
avoid him and hit the van instead. His car was too old to have an airbag, so
he’d bashed his forehead on the steering wheel. Lots of blood, but no serious
damage.

The child was not injured, but he’d peed his pants in front
of his friends. On a hunch, John snapped a picture of him with his cell phone.

They stabilized the teenager and transported him. By the
time they got him turned over, his father had arrived. The man was the size of
a small truck. He was red in the face and his voice was low, furious. John saw
him leave the front desk and head for the treatment bay. He grabbed him before
he could get to the boy.

“What do you want?” the man snarled dangerously.

“Want to show you something,” John answered. He brought out
his phone, showed the man the picture of the child. “Your son wasn’t speeding.
He’s not at fault. This kid ran out from behind a van and your son swerved to
miss him. I know he’s a new driver. And right now he’s scared out of his mind.
But he did exactly the right thing. He saved this child’s life.”

The man took the phone and studied the picture. “This kid
don’t look too bright.”

“Nope.”

“Looks like he pissed himself.”

“Well, yeah. He almost got hit by a car.”

The man glanced up at him. His face worked its way through
several expressions until it found the right not-so-pissed-off, just-a-little-apologetic
one. “You knew I was loaded for bear, didn’t you?”

“Your voice kinda gave it away. You sounded just like my
dad.”

“He’s only had his license three weeks. It’s his mother’s
car. I told him if he put a dent in it I’d kill him.” The father sighed deeply.
The red receded from his face and he grew pale. “Damn. Damn.”

“Dents are better than blood,” John answered. “Um, and
speaking of which, before you go in there you should know that your son laid
his forehead open pretty good on the steering wheel. It looks like hell. It
bled a lot. Head wounds do. But he’ll be okay.”

“Thanks for the warning. And thanks for…for keeping me from
being a jackass. I guess he did good, huh?”

“He did real good,” John assured him. “Real good.”

The father went to see his son. Nolan came out of the bay
and joined John. “Paramedic, social worker, all-round good guy,” he teased.

John grinned. “We just got the kid cleaned up. I didn’t want
to have to do it all over again.”

“Six minutes,” Nolan said.

“What?”

“Until our next run. I’m guessing six minutes.”

Krulak glanced at his watch. “Twenty-one,” he guessed.

“We should be so lucky.”

They headed out to the squad to wait.

The next run, a possible heart attack, came in eleven
minutes.

Chapter Nine

The rest of the day was busy as hell. They finally got back
to the shed half an hour after they were supposed to turn over to the night
shift. Griffin and Hensley were watching
Jeopardy
and waiting to take
over. Griffin looked over the run report. “Holy shit, guys, you got all your
runs and all of ours too.”

“Yeah,” John said wearily. “You should have a quiet ni—”
Before he even had the last word out, a call came in.

It was a traffic accident on the freeway, a semi and at
least two other vehicles, four or more victims.

“We got this,” Hensley said brusquely. “Go home.”

Krulak glanced at his partner. He had a feeling. Nolan
simply nodded. “We’ll follow you,” he said.

Griffin and Hensley rolled with the squad. John and Nolan
threw all the extra gear they could fit into the back of Nolan’s car and
followed.

“Call Lucy,” Nolan said as he drove the car through a
just-red light behind the squad.

“Huh?”

“Tell her we’re going to be late. Maybe really late.”

“Right.” John pulled out his cell and called her quickly. He
got her voicemail and left a message. “Not home,” he said as he put his phone
away.

“Probably in the shower.”

John let himself contemplate Lucy in the shower for a
moment. It was a pleasant distraction from the blur of cars they were passing.
It was funny, he never minded Nolan’s fast driving when they were in the squad,
but in a sedan it was all he could do not to scream. Maybe all that red,
reinforced steel made him feel safe.

A police car pulled out behind them, running lights and
sirens. Krulak hoped his partner would pull over. Instead, he stuck his arm out
the side window and waved. The squad car pulled up beside them. The cop in the
passenger side looked over at them, waved in recognition. The squad pulled in
front of them, and Nolan mashed his foot down on the accelerator, tailgating
the police car.

“Oh my God oh my God,” John murmured.

“Oh suck it up.”

“I’m gonna die. I’m off-duty and I’m gonna die.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just hang on.” The squad car went screaming up
the on-ramp to the freeway, and Nolan followed, accelerating.

Blessedly, the wreck was only another mile away. The squad
was already there, along with two fire trucks and three squad cars. The police
were setting up flares, blocking traffic. A second rescue squad came in behind
them.

Before Nolan had the car in park, John jumped out. It was
bad.

He scanned the scene quickly. The semi was stopped in the
second lane from the right. A black SUV had crashed into the back of it. The
front of the vehicle was crushed all the way to the windshield. John could see
the white silhouettes of deflated airbags. The driver was still in the SUV, but
moving. That was good. Griffin and Hensley were with him.

There was a man walking beside the semi, in jeans and a
green shirt and a red cap. Probably the truck driver. The fact that he was
walking was good too, though John hoped someone would sit him down and check
him out.