Rescue (Emily and Mason) (11 page)

“We’ll fix it,” Emily repeats her earlier statement. I see
the glimmer in her eyes as she looks around at the abandoned mess in front of
her. I feel my heart sink below me into the seat of the vehicle as I think
about the immense damage that must be hidden by this ugly shell.

“No, it looks like it’s past that. I’ll have to figure
something else out.” I wish my father would have told me the house was in this
condition, but I guess he hasn’t been back here for eighteen years either. I
wonder if any of the appliances are in working order, let alone the fact that I
now have to purchase windows.

“We’ll fix it.” Her lips are set in a thin line, and she’s
looking back at Baby. The barn at the back of the property looks like it’s in
even worse disrepair. There isn’t anything I can say that will change Emily’s
mind. So I just shrug one shoulder and manage to get out of the car without
showing her how deeply seeing my mother’s home in such horrible condition.

Baby eagerly leaps from her back seat position, and
immediately squats in the front yard. I roll my eyes as the dog does her
business, and wonder if I even need the key in my pocket to get in the front
door.

Emily

It’s so dilapidated that I’m not sure this is going to work
but if we’re going to try we need tools. I scrounge around the basement first for
any sign of a tool box, and just when I’m about to give up I find one in the
corner. It’s covered in over a decade’s worth of dust and cobwebs, and the
tools inside are a little worse for the wear. But they’re usable.

I bound up the steps with the small toolbox clutched in both
my hands. A smile lights my face as I burst through the doorway into the
kitchen, and find Mason staring at the ancient fridge. I’m not sure that he has
enough to purchase new appliances, but I’m pretty sure this one doesn’t work.
It looks so rusted I would be afraid to plug it in anyway if the power were on.

“I found tools.” I hold the toolbox up in front of me like a
prize, and I kind of feel like it is. Mason startles at my voice and turns to
look at me with glazed eyes. Then he snaps back to reality.

“Oh, good. When I told my Dad I was going to come back here,
he warned me it might be bad. But he didn’t tell me the half of it. We don’t really
have to do this.” He lets the sentence trail off, and I square my shoulders.
This is important to him. I can see it written all over his face as he rubs the
back of his neck.

“What, are you afraid of getting a little dirt on your
perfect hands?” I plop the toolbox onto one of the only pieces of furniture
left in this house, the kitchen table. It creaks under the weight, and I
immediately pick up the heavy box and put it on the dirty countertop instead.

“Emily,” he starts, but I cross my arms over my chest and
ignore the fact that I’m getting dirt all over my shirt. We stare at each
other, and he finally stalks up to me. He’s inches from my front as he looks
down at me with an indefinable expression on his face. Then he reaches around
me and lifts up the lid of the toolbox without looking away from me. Why do I
feel like he’s wishing he could put his hands somewhere else?

“I’ll start checking out the pipes in the basement.” I don’t
know much about pipes, but I know that we’re going to need running water to
begin cleaning this place up.

“I’ll come with you.” I gulp. I was hoping that he wouldn’t
say that.

We head down the rickety basement steps, and I click on the
flashlight in my hands. I find the small lamp that is like a flashlight and
flick it on. Then I go to the small windows near the ceiling of the basement
and pull them open. Fresh air wafts over me and I inhale deeply. By the time
we’re done here, my allergies are going to be killing me.

Mason starts over by where the well line comes in through
the basement wall, and immediately starts taking his flashlight along the
lines. I start on the other side of the basement, and using my own flashlight
to look at the PVC pipes for any cracks or bursts. Then I get to the septic
pipeline, and remember something that I heard in conversations when I was
younger.

“Do you think the septic system will work?” I know that a
septic system is going to cost a lot of money.

“It’s public sewer, jut not public water.” Mason tells me. I
feel relief flood me as I continue my journey through the piping. Now we just
have to pray that none of the pipes in the walls burst.

“Maybe you should hire an inspector before the power is
turned back on.” We meet somewhere in the middle, both of us staring up at the
pipes. I don’t realize how close I am to him until I actually look down, and
his chest is merely inches from my face. Mason doesn’t take a step back, so I’m
forced to.

“I think you’re right. I’ll have to call around tomorrow to
see if I can’t get someone out here. This place is way worse than I thought it
would be. I might not have enough money to fix it.” Mason finally looks down at
me with a deep ingrained sadness in his eyes. I wish it were just a house to
him, but this was more than that. It was about rebuilding a life here for
himself.

“Rebuilding takes time, and in time you will have the money.
Don’t worry about it.” I click off my flashlight and listen to the sound of
thunder in the distance. It’s just a small storm that will roll over quickly
probably, but Baby whimpers upstairs.

“Do you want to grab dinner before I take you home?” Mason
clicks off his own flashlight, and we’re left in the dim lighting from the
small flashlight on the floor. I can see the hope in his eyes, and I can’t say
I didn’t see this coming. Part of me wants to ask him if this is a date, and
the other half is telling me just to shut up and go grab a quick meal with him.
We’re friends. A quick meal between friends won’t hurt anything.

“Yeah, I guess I could eat.” I instantly regret telling him
that I’ll have dinner with him because a gleam comes into his eyes. There’s no
way that I can deny seeing hope in his eyes right now.

Mason waits for me to ascend the stairs first, and then he
flicks off the flashlight in the basement. He makes his way up the steps
haphazardly in the dark with his flashlight in hand. I set mine on the counter
in the kitchen and wonder if we couldn’t bring some jugs of water over while we
wait for the inspector to come by. I could wipe everything down at least with a
bucket and a sponge.

My body immediately tenses when Mason takes my hand in his,
but he ignores the tension in my fingers. He leads me from the dilapidated
house. By the time we get out to the car, my fingers have relaxed enough that
they wouldn’t be considered a death grip. Baby eagerly hops into the back of
the car, and Mason closes my door for me. He’s suddenly different since I said
yes to dinner, which is exactly what I feared.

I just don’t have the heart to tell him I’m not emotionally
ready for this. Because Mason Killinger is definitely someone I could fall in
love with. Just the thought sends chills up my spine, but it also tugs at my
heart.

The ride to a small diner outside of town is quick and
quiet. I worry over whether or not we should be leaving Baby in the car, but
Mason placates me by saying that this place is old school. They’ll bring the
meal out to our car in the parking lot. I don’t think a place like this has
been around since the fifties, or earlier. I could be wrong about that, but it
sure does feel old school.

It looks like the clouds are building up pretty bad, but we
decide to sit on a small bench under a tree so that Baby won’t be stuck in the
car. The silence that ensues as we eat is unlike any other I’ve experienced in
my life. Baby is nestled under our feet at the table. A slight breeze has
picked up, and I’m not uncomfortable with the lack of conversation.

By the time I’m done my cheeseburger, the clouds have
settled over top. They’re threatening to dump rain any second, and the hair on
Baby’s spine has risen. I crumple up my trash and shove it into a waste bin
under a tree and quickly take back both trays. Mason has the car started with
Baby in the back seat by the time I slide into my passenger seat.

“We’d better hurry, or we’re going to get stuck in a
torrential downpour. I heard one of the waitresses saying these storms are
supposed to be severe.” As I’m speaking, Mason crooks a grin in my direction
and reverses out of his parking space. I idly wonder if he isn’t some sort of
storm chasing freak as he gets onto Main Street.

Mason

“Maybe we should turn around!” I try to yell over the loud
noise of the rain pelting the windshield, the top of the car, and perhaps even
underneath the car. It seems like the large droplets are coming at us from
every possible angle!

“What?” I hear Emily faintly scream over the noise. Baby’s
whining in the back at the top of her lungs, but it’s still barely audible.

“There’s a motel on Main Street not too far from the diner!”
I try to explain to her, but even though she’s leaning close to me I can tell
she still has not heard me. With a frustrated sigh, I pull the car over near
the on ramp for the highway. Emily’s going to be upset with me, but I execute a
U-turn. There’s no use in either one of us dying this evening just to get home
when I know for a fact she does not go to school at regular hours.

It takes me half an hour to get to the motel, and it takes
me another five minutes just to find a parking space. I motion for Emily to
stay in the car with Baby, and then I duck through the rain. I’m completely
soaked by the time I get into the lobby, and I’m pretty sure I was almost
struck by lightning three to four times. It booms again outside and the entire
building vibrates with the violence of the storm.

“It’s like a hurricane out there!” The receptionist at the
desk looks frazzled as I pull my wet, soggy wallet from my back pocket.

“It sure is. If you want a room, you’d better hurry before
the power goes out!” The woman takes my card from me, and I try to push my hair
back from my forehead as she charges me for a full night. “Room 103, here’s the
key, and no pets allowed.” The smile I give her makes her blush, and I don’t
say a word about having a dog in my car. It’s not like someone’s going to come
into the room and check in one night. We’ll just have to keep Baby quiet.

I don’t bother running back to the car. My walk is leisurely
and full of danger as lightning streaks overhead. The rumble makes my entire
body quiver, but I’m enjoying the rush of adrenaline. My car is going to need a
thorough cleaning tomorrow because I plop my soggy butt down in the driver’s
seat. Emily doesn’t bother trying to speak as I pull around to the empty
parking space in front of our room. She just gives me an odd look before she
ducks out into the rain with the card key in hand and Emily at her heels.

I watch them slip into the room, and wonder what I’m going
to say to her when I get in there. Like a coward, it takes me about two minutes
to shut off my Camaro finally and open up my door. As soon as the rain hits my
arm, the hairs on my skin rise due to goose bumps. I push open the door to the
room slowly and find Baby lounging at the foot of the bed with Emily nowhere in
sight.

The thought of sleeping in wet clothes never crossed my
mind, but now that I think about it, it doesn’t sound appealing. The toilet
flushes and the bathroom door opens a few seconds later. A drenched Emily comes
out of the bathroom. She’s fixed some of the make up on her face again and put
her hair up into a messy bun. My throat closes, and I immediately look away
from her to the blank television. Her shirt is sticking to her flesh in a
tantalizing way, and I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.

Flipping on the News channel seems like a decent idea,
except I can’t find the remote. I search around the drawers of the dressers and
find a forgotten pair of panties wadded up in one corner, and an old condom
wrapper in another. I never once claimed that this was a fancy place, but I
would have thought they’d clean a little better.

“Maybe we shouldn’t sleep on the bed,” Emily suggests. She’s
leaning over my shoulder, and I didn’t notice until she actually spoke. To say
I jump out of my skin is an understatement. I practically fall into a heap of
quivering nerves at her feet. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing, could you just help me find the remote for the
TV?” I glance up into the mirror at her expression and see amusement in her
eyes. There’s also a hint of a blush on her cheeks. I remind myself I have
three weeks to go until her eighteenth birthday. There will not be any thoughts
of condom usage until then.

“You mean the one that Baby’s currently slobbering on?”
Emily points down at half the remote sticking out of the dog’s mouth, and I
feel my cheeks grow a little pale. So much for making it look like a dog didn’t
stay here. Now I’m going to have to pay for that.

I manage to wrestle the gloppy mess from Baby, but it’s
useless. The poor remote is practically broken in two, so I have to use the
actual buttons on the television. I’ve never used the buttons on a television
before. I manage to find the News station without any more incidences. Emily
and I watch in silence as the woman motions towards a huge storm looming
overhead, and the kicker is that we’re just on the outskirts. The worst is yet
to come.

“I’d better call Jim and Laura to let them know I’m alright.
They’re probably worried sick already.” I nod in understanding, but really I’m
thinking I’d better go pay for another night. Then it hits me. She called them
by their names again. I’ve got her cornered in a motel room. Maybe I can weasel
my way into asking her about her parents. She knows everything about mine. It’s
only fair.

I glance down at Baby as Emily pulls her cellphone out of
her pocket. Her conversation with Laura is pretty brief, and it doesn’t sound
heated. So whoever these people are to her, they either trust her immensely, or
they don’t care about where she spends the night. I send my brother a quick
text on my phone to let him know what happened, and tell him to let Dad know.
Emily gets off the phone and sits down on the end of the bed with her wet
clothes.

“I have an extra t-shirt out in the car if you want to put
on something dry.” I pull the keys out of my pocket, and head for the door
before she can answer me. I manage to get the t-shirt into a plastic bag in my
trunk, so it doesn’t get wet.

Emily opens up the door for me as I run up to it and I slip
inside. I hand her the plastic bag, but when she takes it she puts it down on
the dresser instead. I give her a quizzical look, and then it hits me. “You
don’t trust me?” I ask her sullenly.

“If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t be in a motel room with
you alone.” I perch on the low dresser with my arms crossed over my chest.
Water drips down my face from my hair.

“Then why not change into dry clothes?” She opens her mouth
to argue with me, and I keep eye contact with her. Emily doesn’t seem to have a
good argument, so she grabs the bag off the dresser with a huff and heads for
the bathroom. “Could you bring me a towel when you come out?” I call to her as
she closes the bathroom door with a little too much force.