Rescue (Emily and Mason) (12 page)

I glance down at Baby, who has watched the entire exchange
with way too much intelligence in her eyes. It takes Emily a few minutes to
change into the shirt, and her things are stuffed into the plastic bag. I roll
my eyes and try to take it from her, but she keeps a tight grip on it. “They
need hung up,” I tell her.

“Those are my underthings! If you think I’m just going to
let you hang up my underthings, you have another thing coming!” I let go of the
bag.

“I’ve seen women’s underthings before. It’s not a big deal.”
Then an idea crosses my mind. “Hang them up in the small closet and I promise I
won’t look.” Emily makes a show of waiting for me to turn around before she
goes to the small closet and pulls open the door. I try not to tap my foot as I
wait for her to finish.

“So whose underthings have you seen?” I roll my eyes and
brush past her as I make my way to the bathroom. I pull off my soggy pants and
my shirt, but leave on my boxers. When I come out of the bathroom Emily’s
cheeks are burning as she crawls underneath the blanket. I turn off the room
light and turn on the lamp on my own nightstand.

“It’s none of your business,” I finally answer her question.
Her cheeks flush darker, but she doesn’t say anymore.

Emily

Sometime in the middle of the night I wake up due to a
rather loud boom near the motel we’re staying in. The light flickers once, and then
everything within the motel room goes dark. An unreasonable shiver of fear goes
through me as I stare at the ceiling. Mason’s breathing deeply next to me and
the sound lulls me back to sleep.

I’m not sure how much later it is, but the power is still off.
The storm has brought in a cold front, and the room is becoming chilled.
Mason’s breathing next to me is not as deep, so I know he’s awake. Another
shiver rolls through me as I try to get warm under the thin blanket.

Mason rolls over onto his side and puts an arm around my
hips. He drags me to his side so that we’re spooning, and I don’t protest.
It’s
just between friends, and because it’s cold,
I tell myself. And then I feel
a smile coming over my face in the dark.
What a big, fat liar I am
.

I wake up in the morning with Mason’s arm still over my hips
and his hand tucked under my hip. His nose is resting on my neck, and his other
arm is stretched up over his head. I lay there for a few moments in the comfort
of his warmth, and I wonder what it would be like to wake up to this every
morning. Even though I was woken up twice, I slept better last night than I
have in months. I didn’t wake up screaming because of a nightmare, or find dirt
under my fingernails and grass on my feet.

“Good morning.” Mason’s lips brush against my neck as he
speaks, and I barely maintain a thread of dignity. I actually don’t shiver
under his touch as he pulls my hair back from my face.

“I don’t usually sleep with a guy on the first date.” I tell
him with a grin on my lips. Now that we’re both awake, and my daydreaming is
over, I roll over and put some distance between Mason and me.

“I’ll take that as a compliment then.” I can’t help the eye
roll as I slide out from under the blanket and stretch. Thank God his t-shirt
is long enough to cover all my lady parts. Neither one of us speaks as I pull
my dry clothes from the closet and head into the bathroom. I manage to make
myself presentable by rubbing my fingers over my teeth with water and putting
my hair back up into a bun.

Baby raises her head with a sleepy look as I come out of the
bathroom, and then she puts her head back down. Mason is trying to get the
coffee maker to work in the tiny kitchen area and already has his clothes back
on. I lean against the wall as I watch him get the two cups of coffee brewing,
and smell the air as the aroma of Heaven permeates the room.

“Are you done in the bathroom?” He’s already backing towards
it as he asks me, and I nod.

We spend about half an hour sipping on coffee and watching
the morning News. It looks like the major roads are fine, so we should be able
to get home right away. Without a word, we both gather our things and head out
to the car. I settle Baby into the backseat, and then I make myself comfortable
as Mason goes to checkout. The remote is in the trunk of Mason’s car.

The entire town is covered in branches and uprooted trees,
but Mason manages to weave between them without too many assaults on the bottom
of his car. I cringe at each stick that comes up to hit the underside of his car,
and so does he. Neither one of us turn on the radio as he makes his way to the
on ramp for the highway. It’s completely dead on a Monday morning, so I assume
everyone has opted to stay home today.

Apparently crews were already out this morning cleaning up
the larger debris from the highway, but Mason still has to take it easy. It
takes us a lot longer to get home than it took to get to his old house
yesterday. Part of me worries that the house we left behind is probably down on
the ground from that storm, but I guess if that were going to happen it would
have by now.

My car is still sitting in front of Mason’s house when he
pulls up. His father’s car is still in the driveway, and there’s a teenage boy
sitting on the steps who is probably around my own age. He glances up when
Mason’s car pulls up to the curb, and a small flash of surprise goes across his
face. Then it’s gone, and the look of boredom is back.

“That’s Thomas, but he prefers Tommy. He’s my little brother
I told you about.” Mason explains to me as he opens up his car door. He lets
Baby out, and I manage to get my door open before he comes over to my side of
the car to let me out.

I pull my keys from my pocket, and unlock my car from where
I’m standing. Baby sticks by Mason’s side as he comes around the car to stand
near me. He looks nervous as if there’s something he wants to say to me, but he
can’t quite get the words to formulate.

“I should get home,” I tell him without moving.

“Listen, about last night, does that make things weird
between us?” I feel a heat rise into my cheeks and glance sideways at Tommy,
who is intently trying to look like he’s not listening. But the way his head is
tilted in our direction tells me that he is.

“Nothing happened last night. It’s not a big deal.”
Liar
,
I tell myself. Mason takes a step towards me, and before I know it he has one
arm around my waist. He ducks down so that he’s almost eye level with me.

“It was a big deal to me.” I can’t say I don’t have time to
react. I have plenty of time to get away from him before the inevitable
happens. But part of me is selfish. I want to have this feeling wash over me
because it makes me forget about all the other worries in my life right now.

Mason presses me against him and uses his arm to pull me up
onto my tiptoes. He uses his free hand to tilt my chin up, and then he kisses
me. It’s a chaste kiss that is nothing more than a brushing of the lips, but it
still makes me feel like a large pile of Jell-O on the sidewalk. When I don’t
protest, he kisses me again. Then he finally lets me go, and I have to take a
few seconds to remember where I’m standing and what I was doing.

“I’ll, uh, see you this afternoon.” I tell him as I take a
few steps backwards. Then I manage to get into my car and put the key in the
ignition.

My drive home is pretty uneventful in the real world, but in
fantasy land I daydream about that kiss being less chaste. As my thoughts
wander to something more than just kissing, I immediately pull myself out and
pull into the driveway of my home. Jim and Laura’s cars are both still at home,
so I’ll have to explain to them in more detail what happened last night. They
either know I wouldn’t do something stupid, or they were trying not to seem
like smothering foster parents. Either way, I’m grateful for Laura’s
understanding.

When I open up the front door, the smell of eggs and bacon
reach my nostrils. I raise my head in the air like a dog scenting the wind, and
immediately head for the kitchen. I find Laura actually cooking what looks like
breakfast, and Jim sitting at the kitchen table with a newspaper spread out in
front of him. They both look up when I walk through the kitchen entrance with
curious looks, but neither one of them ask me about last night. I decide to
break the silence myself.

“So was the storm as bad here last night as it was where I
was at? The power went out for a few hours, and the drive home was fraught with
peril.” Jim glances up from his paper and then over at his wife. Both of them
smile at each other, and I realize what is happening here. I wasn’t home last
night, they both were, and now Laura is making breakfast. I feel a slight flush
hit my cheeks.

“It was pretty bad here last night. The power didn’t come on
until about an hour ago, and as soon as I’m done breakfast I have to get to work.
There will probably be some accidents this morning due to the debris, and
they’ll need me.” Laura finally breaks the awkward silence for me as she flips
some eggs.

“Yeah, I’m going to go shower and get to studying.” I tell
them both as I back out of the kitchen.

Mason

“Why aren’t you in school?” I cross my arms over my chest as
I look down at my brother. He keeps his seat on the step as he thumbs through
messages on his phone.

“It’s canceled for today. Who’s the hot chick?” My father
chooses that moment to open up the door and gives me a once over. Then he
glances at the curb to confirm that Emily’s car is gone.

“I hope you were responsible last night.” I feel a grin
starting to show on my face and clamp it down. I ignore my brother’s question
and put a hand on my Dad’s shoulder as I pass him into the house.

“She’s seventeen Dad. There was nothing to be responsible
about.” My father’s lips go down into a tight line, and I bound up the steps to
avoid the awkward conversation as to whether or not I should be seeing Emily.

I immediately grab some clean clothes from my bedroom and
hop into the shower. When I’m finally out my brother and father are both gone,
and I don’t have to answer any more awkward questions. I grab a quick breakfast
and decide to go into the rescue center early today. Emily might be able to get
in today if Taylor had a good evening last night. Maybe he’ll forget about her
mishap with the mastiff.

When I get to the rescue center, there’s nothing but chaos
out front. Gail is conversing with Melissa on the steps as I walk up them. They
stop, glance at me, and then go back to discussing what they’re going to do
about the small animal room. “What happened?”

“A branch crashed through the roof and pierced the turtle’s
tank. He’s still alive, but we’re going to have to find somewhere for them to
stay while we get this fixed.” I furrow my brows.

“I thought the turtle was the only animal in there.” Gail
leads me inside and pulls me through a clump of construction workers who are
attempting to fix a blown out window.

“Someone decided to drop of three ferrets last night in the
middle of the storm. They were left in the waiting room out here. We have them
back with the cats in their carrier, but soon we’re going to need to find a
space for them. Or someone who can foster them.” We stop at the door to the cat
room, and she motions for me to go through.

“Emily should be here this afternoon.” Gail freezes at my
words, and she shakes her head gently.

“She’s not able to volunteer here anymore, Mason. Taylor got
to his father before anyone knew it, and the decision has been made.” I open my
mouth to say something, but she cuts me off with a look. I narrow my eyes at
her. “There’s nothing to be done about it right now. We have to focus on
getting the animals calmed down, and we need to do a physical on those
ferrets.” I follow her orders grudgingly.

One of the ferrets has signs of adrenal disease, but the
other two look relatively healthy. The only reason they look a little shabby is
the fact that they have not eaten since the previous evening. I know from my
experience at school that a ferret needs food regularly. After twelve hours,  they
are considered starving.

For now,  they get a few spoonfuls of dry cat kibble. I’ll
have to go out on my lunch break and purchase a bag of ferret food at a local
pet store. My heart sinks when I think about having to eat lunch without Emily.
I can fix this
, I tell myself. My idea for the barn is still gnawing at
the back of my mind, but I need to make sure that Emily would be on board with
it first.

I know the moment I’ve made up my decision about it because
a calm settles over me. On my lunch break,  I’ll make the appointment with an
inspector and figure out how to get that house cleaned up as soon as possible.
Then I’ll have to fix up the barn and insulate it, but that shouldn’t be too
difficult. Part of me wonders if I’m biting off more than I can chew with this
house, but it’s all I have to offer right now.

The rest of my day goes by quickly, and Emily doesn’t show
up once. The message must have been left on her cellphone after she departed
this morning. Just as I’m walking out the front of the building, Jesse walks up
the steps. When her eyes meet mine, she actually blushes. I contribute that to
guilt at trying to get to me by dating Taylor. Those two deserve each other.

I pull my cellphone out of my jeans pocket and dial Emily’s
number. She picks up on the second ring, and I hear her turn down music in the
background.

“Hey, it’s Mason. I made an appointment for an inspector to
go there this Friday. I was hoping that maybe you would want to come over with
me this weekend once I have a better idea of what’s needed?” I hold my breath
as I open up the door to my car.

“I guess I have nothing better to do.” She sounds deflated.
I cringe at the tone in her voice, and I feel compelled to do something about
it.

“Are you alright?” I ask her quietly. I look at the front of
the building as I talk to her.

“I’m fine, it was a hobby anyway. It’s not a big deal.” She
tries to blow it off, but I know her better than that.

“It is a big deal, but I’ll fix it. I promise.” I think
about the kiss I gave her this morning, well, both of them. If my brother had
not been there, I might have taken it further. I’m really going to have to
watch myself around Emily. There are almost three more weeks left still.

“Mason,” she starts, but I cut her off before she can go any
further.

“Do you want to go out to dinner tonight? I’m off early
because they’re repairing some of the building,” at the sharp inhale of her
breath I realize she didn’t know about that. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing too
serious. And we found Noah a new room anyway.” It’s not really a room, more
like a closet with the door taken off, but it will have to do for now.

“Oh, good. I, uh, well why don’t you come over for dinner
tonight? Laura’s not usually home until later, and Jim doesn’t know how to
cook.” My heart starts to pound in my chest, and I hesitate to answer that with
a yes. She still hasn’t told me about her parents, and why she calls them by
their first names. “He won’t bite, I promise.” Emily tacks that on at the end,
and I almost ask her if she’s sure about that.