Forcing myself to breathe in and out slowly, I focused on keeping my face out of the water.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
My phone had survived because George Strait was still singing “The Fireman.”
Connecting those two things, I questioned whether I’d survive the ordeal. The tree hadn’t killed me, but embarrassment might.
Using my toes, I worked to let only a little water out. I needed the bubbles to keep me covered, but I also liked breathing air.
Voices echoed in the house. I hoped it was someone to rescue me and not Mr. Raymond.
“I’m in here! In the bathroom.”
Footsteps pounded up the hall. “Hello?”
“I’m stuck in the tub.” I hollered out that tidbit so whoever it was could at least be prepared to find me covered only in bubbles.
I wasn’t prepared. Hopefully the bubbles lasted a while.
A fireman poked his head through the door. Well, from my vantage point, it was a shadow with a voice, which I assumed belonged to a fireman. “You in here?”
“Yes, in the tub.”
Leaves rustled. “Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so, but the tree has me barricaded in here.”
“Were you injured when it fell?”
I’d already said I wasn’t hurt. Why was he asking if I was injured?
That reinforced my thoughts from earlier. The damage must’ve been severe, and he was surprised to find someone alive.
I mentally took inventory. I’d been too panicked to think about what parts of me were in pain. “I don’t know. My leg hurts a bit, but the water hasn’t turned red.”
His radio squawked. “Female in the tub. Bathroom at the end of the hall.” Leaves rustled again. He must’ve been pushing his way into the room. “My name is Adam. We’ll get you out of here. What’s your name?”
“Evelyn Taylor, but everyone calls me Eve.” At that moment, I wished my parents had named me Sue or Paula, anything other than Eve.
He had the courtesy not to ask if I was pulling his leg. “How old are you, Eve?”
“Twenty-nine. Really. There’s no again.”
He chuckled, which meant he’d caught my humor. “Was there anyone else in the house?”
The question sparked horror.
“Pookie! Where’s Pookie?”
The cat had never been outside. She wouldn’t know what to do. She might run off. I blinked, trying not to cry. Or had she been crushed?
“Pookie?” The helpful fireman kept his voice calm. “Is that a dog?”
The main thing the tree wiped out—other than the house and my dignity—was my filter. With my mind racing and my mouth spewing, words didn’t slow long enough to run through a filter. “I would never own a dog. Pookie is a kitten, a poor helpless kitten. She’s black and fuzzy.”
Adam gave sort of a grunt, which made me think he didn’t care for cats. “Once we get you to safety, I’ll see about finding Pookie. I’ll need to cut away the branches so we can get you out, but we don’t want this big branch to shift.”
“You mean fall on me.”
“We don’t want that. I’m going to get some tools in here and cut away a few of these branches so you can get out of that tub.” The radio squawked again. “I have a twenty-nine-year-old female trapped in the bathtub by the downed tree. She says that, besides a kitten, she was the only one home.” He’d mentioned my kitten, which elevated him to something just below superhero status. If he got me out of the tub in time for dinner without me dying of embarrassment, he might hit superhero before the night was over.
“Can you tell me what day it is?”
“Friday. It’s Friday. I was planning to go to dinner with my friend. Do you think I’ll still be able to go out later?” Why was I asking him stupid questions? For that matter, why was he asking stupid questions?
“We’ll do our best to make that happen. Can you tell me who the president is?”
If Haley had asked the question, there were multiple ways I could answer, but I didn’t know this guy, and he was only trying to assess how badly I’d been thumped on the head. “The tree didn’t hit me that hard.”
He chuckled. “What year is it?”
“The same year it was yesterday. I hope. Because if that tree was some type of portal and you’re a robot, I’m not going to survive this.” I desperately wanted to see who was talking to me. My hope was that it wasn’t a young, handsome firefighter.
Was that hope rational? No.
Was it stupid? Yes.
Did either of those truths change my wish? Nope.
Waiting to be rescued made me antsy, but asking him about my cat every two seconds wouldn’t help get me out any faster, so I kept my worry to myself. I couldn’t take much more of the branches in my face, so I worked my hand up through the smaller limbs and tried to push them away.
The bigger branch shifted, and the little bit of pain in my leg exploded into a lot of pain. I yelped.
“You okay, Eve? Where does it hurt?” His voice stayed even. He could’ve given lessons in calm, not that I was in any frame of mind to learn anything right then.
“My leg.” I slid my hand to where it hurt. “I have a gash, it feels like. And one of the smaller branches is jabbing in that spot.”
“I’m going to reach in and break off that part that’s poking you. I need you to stay still and guide my hand.”
“Yeah, well, every time I move, more bubbles pop, which is concerning. And I can’t see your hand.”
Fingers brushed mine. “Tell me about Pookie. Where did you get him?” My rescuer was just an outline on the other side of the leaves, one with a deep, smooth voice. And he had a massive callused hand.
Why was I thinking about his hand, the one that just brushed against my thigh? And why hadn’t I shaved my legs? Of course this would happen at the beginning of my bath.
The voice didn’t sound like it belonged to an old guy, one with a herd of grandchildren. I didn’t know why I cared. But the idea of a young good looking fireman standing on the other side of those leaves tied my stomach in knots.
Curiosity ate at me. I really wanted to know what he looked like. “Pookie is a girl. She was a rescue. Someone left her in a box at a pet store. I’ve had her since she was about eight weeks old.”
“It sounds like she’s a lucky girl.”
The offending twig snapped, and the pain in my leg eased.
“You got it. Thanks.”
“Now I just have to get rid of these big ones. Or at least one of them.”
My nerves got the better of me, and I started to ramble. “This is my parents’ house. I don’t live here. I’m only staying here while my house gets repaired. It was hit by lightning in that big storm. While I’m living here, my kitty has to stay in the bedroom unless my parents aren’t home. And they are gone for the weekend, so that’s why she wasn’t locked up in my room. But she’s so far from home. If she gets out and I lose her, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Why don’t you try calling her?” His outline moved away for a minute.
“Good idea. I can do that.” I sucked in a deep breath. “Pookie. Here, kitty kitty.” My voice shook a bit. Crying would make me seem weak and fragile. I didn’t want that.
The outline reappeared, and leaves rustled. Fingers poked through the branches. “Can you reach my hand? If you can, squeeze it for me, Eve.”
I slipped my hand out of the water and grabbed his fingers.
His hand was warm.
I needed to stop thinking about his hands. “Please hurry. The bubbles are popping, and that’s all that’s keeping me covered. Well, that and the leaves, but you’re about to cut those away. If I grab a few and position them correctly, maybe I’ll look like Eve in the Sunday school pictures.”
His chuckle only spurred me on.
“But really, my hair isn’t long enough for that. And it’s up. If I’d known I would need it as a covering, I would’ve left it down. But in the pictures in Sunday school, Eve was always standing behind really big leaves. These leaves are little. Isn’t it funny to have such a big tree with so many tiny leaves?” Why did my mouth keep moving?
“I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about it.”
“When I get nervous, I ramble. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize.”
“Walking out of here will be interesting. And by interesting, I mean horribly embarrassing. Was Mr. Raymond hurt?” My thoughts jumped around like bingo balls in a spinner. And every one of those thoughts flew right out of my mouth. Surprisingly, I hadn’t asked him how old he was.
“If by Mr. Raymond you mean the older gentleman who managed to accidentally down half of a two-hundred-year-old tree. I saw him outside as I walked in. He looked unharmed. His wife seemed to be pretty angry though. Hang on a sec.” The radio made a noise. “Harper, balled up in my seat is one of the charity T-shirts. Will you bring it to me?”
“Be there in two shakes, Cardona.”
Cardona? Hearing the last name had my brain conjuring images. “Do you have to rescue people from downed trees often?”
“We had quite a few trees go down during that big storm. I’m guessing it was the same one that damaged your house. We do some rescues, but not all people are quite as lucky as you.” The branches moved a little as the chainsaw ground against the bark.
Keeping quiet while he worked was hard. But as soon as the noise died down, I was at it again. “I thought about that. If I’d been standing up, it would have been bad.”
“But you weren’t, so we’ll focus on that. What do you do for a living?”
“I work in IT.” I didn’t bother to get into the specifics of what I did because most people didn’t understand it anyway.
“Do you like it?” The saw continued to idle, making conversation possible.
“Well enough.” I shivered, making everything shake.
“If you’re cold and if you can reach the drain, let the water out. I have a guy bringing in a shirt. And it might be good for your leg not to be in the water.”
“A shirt? That’s great, but you realize that I was completely without clothes in the bath. Not just without a shirt.”
He stifled a snicker. “I understand. But I’m working with what I’ve got. If I can save you from the tree, I’ll also do my best to save you from embarrassment.”
“What do you mean if you can save me from the tree?”
“I didn’t mean if. When. When I save you.”
