Chapter 24
Jasmine raced up the stairs to her third-floor apartment only to fumble with her keys while trying to unlock the door. Sounding as if someone were breaking in, she wasn’t surprised to hear her neighbor open the door.
“You okay, Jasmine?” came the timid voice of her neighbor.
Without looking up from the lock, Jasmine waved and answered, “Yeah, just couldn’t find the right key,” before opening the door and running for the remote on the coffee table.
The local news channel was showing live footage from the scene of the fire.
“Breaking news tonight starts with a fire off Sixth Street in Larryville’s old warehouse district. Our news crew arrived just in time to witness the collapse of part of the building that used to house Wally’s Wallpaper. Firetrucks are on the scene, but so far, we have not been able to find out if any of the crew was inside when the outside wall fell. Here now, is the witness who called in the fire. Sir, can you tell us what you saw earlier this evening?”
“I was walking to the bus stop and heard a strange popping noise coming from the old Wally’s showroom. When I looked up at the windows, I saw a flickering light on the second floor and decided to call it in just in case.”
“Did you see anybody else in the area before you called?” the reporter asked.
“No, ma’am. This block is usually pretty quiet since most of these stores are closed.”
“Did you see any of the firefighters go into the building before it collapsed?”
“They all piled out of that truck and were moving real quick. Some of them walked the perimeter, but I believe a few of them went into the front right there where the windows used to be.” The witness gestured to the large glass windows that were broken out with smoke billowing thickly through the openings.
Once the man had finished his statement, the news reporter turned back to the camera with a smile that looked tight on her face. The smoke now floating behind her was dense and black. She coughed a few times before clearing her throat and addressing the audience once again.
“As of right now, the fire crew is busy handling the blaze which has already caused one wall to collapse so far. We cannot verify if any firemen were inside the building, but, according to our witness, there may have been a small crew that entered the front of the building. We will stay on the scene and bring you more news as soon as we are able. This is Angelina Franco for channel thirteen news.”
Jasmine sank to the floor in front of the TV. Her legs had turned to jelly.
“Nononononono,” she whispered to herself.
This couldn’t be happening. Maybe it was another station that had answered this call?
Even with that comforting thought, she hit the reverse button on her remote to play the news report over again. This time paying attention to the few firefighters that were caught in frame behind the reporter.
When she recognized a few of the guys from Leo’s shift, her stomach turned.
“Jazz,” Winter yelled, stomping up the outside stairs before opening the door without knocking.
Jasmine looked over at Winter helplessly and finally succumbed to her stomach twisting. Unable to stop herself, she vomited on the rug leaving an acrid taste in her mouth as everything she had eaten for lunch was involuntarily expelled from her gut.
“Fuck!” Winter ran to the kitchen and grabbed the small trashcan. “Here sweetie, it’s okay,” she whispered as she helped hold Jasmine’s hair back from her face as she retched.
When the only thing left was bile, Jasmine sat back with her hand over her mouth.
“I’m sure Leo’s fine, Jazz,” Winter said softly, setting the trashcan down close but not close enough for the smell to bother Jasmine’s still tumbling stomach. She walked quickly to the kitchen and grabbed the carpet spray and a towel.
“Winnie, I’ll clean it up. Just give me a minute,” Jasmine ordered unable to voice her fear for Leo.
“Don’t worry, I got it,” Winter assured her. “You have any Sprite?”
Jasmine stood up slowly from the floor trying not to upset her stomach any more than necessary from fast movements. “I don’t know,” she mumbled.
“Let me check and see. It might calm your stomach a bit,” Winter said soothingly
Winter went into the kitchen and opened the fridge, the sound of her search the only noise in the apartment since the TV was still paused.
Jasmine hit the button on her remote to resume and saw that a couple of the men she knew from the station were bustling behind the camera, focused on what they needed to do.
“Will’s not on shift, is he?” Jasmine asked anxiously, wondering how Winter was staying so calm.
“No, he’s at the lake with his brothers this weekend.” Winter shook her head. “I tried to text him and see if he could get us any info, but I don’t think he has signal when they are out on the boat.”
Jasmine palmed her eyes knowing that she could feel anxious tears not far off. “How do you do this, Winnie?”
“What?” Winter asked as she carefully sat down on the couch cushion next to Jasmine. “How do I handle when Will has a call, or everything in general?”
“Both, all of it, everything,” Jasmine stuttered. “How do you not go crazy?”
Winter sat for a moment just watching her friend before shrugging. “I guess you could say that I have to trust Will. His job is a big part of who he is. I know he would never take an unnecessary risk or do something that would take him away from me on purpose. I just have to trust him that he’s going to come home when it’s all said and done.”
“And you can live with that?” Jasmine asked, her voice disbelieving.
“I can, but the big question is can you?” Winter’s voice was soft yet firm.
“I don’t know—” Jasmine started only to stop when the reporter was back on the screen, this time with the fire chief.
“We did have a couple of my crew inside during the collapse and one man was injured but it doesn’t look serious.”
“Sir, are you able to name the firefighter injured?”
“Not at the moment. We still need to notify his family but as I said…it was not a serious injury and he’s on his way to the hospital as we speak. I’m not going to lie. This was a close call. Even the most experienced firefighters can hit some bad luck when it comes to doing their job, but the men today were able to assess the potential risk and were able to avoid the downed wall. The injury happened in another area of the building. It looks like we’re going to be here for a while tonight keeping it contained. Other than that, all of my crew is safe and accounted for.”
Jasmine let out a small sigh of relief that whoever was hurt hadn’t been hurt too bad. Regardless, she scanned the men in the background looking for Leo’s familiar walk, but they all looked the same with their bodies loaded down with heavy equipment. The camera was too far away for her to spot Leo.
“Winnie, I don’t know if I can do this,” Jasmine whispered, her heart breaking with the words that seemed to take a small piece of her heart with them.
Winter shook her head, but obviously had no comforting words for Jasmine since she stayed silent.
“Let me try to call Will again,” Winter offered. “Don’t make any rash decisions while you’re upset. You’ll regret it in the long run.”
Jasmine dropped her head back on to the couch with tears tracking hotly down her cheeks. “I mean it Winter, I don’t think I can handle this.”
Palming her eyes, she rubbed her face, the skin feeling raw. When her phone chimed with a text message, she almost shot off the couch trying to get to it.
JJ, your dad saw the news and called me. Is Leo ok?
Jasmine felt her tears start again after reading her mom’s text. In the past few weeks, Jasmine had felt as though she had spoken more with her mom than she had during her entire childhood, mostly because it was actually true. They had conversations that normal mother and daughters had now, but it was even more because the priority had been to get to know one another. Jasmine had realized that they both had been to blame for the way their relationship had ended up, and her mom had been determined to mend the rift. Her mom had taken her shopping, giving Jasmine the opening she needed to show her mom how happy she was with who she was, and how she had turned out. When her mom talked about her weight, which Jasmine knew was going to be an issue while out trying on clothes, she had been more than ready for the come to Jesus meeting that was about to take place.
There had been some crying, on both their parts, when Jasmine had plainly said how hurtful the remarks about her weight had been. Her mom had been horrified to hear that Jasmine remembered and could recall almost every instance verbatim, some of them as early as nine or ten years old.
Her mom didn’t shy away from taking the blame either. Victoria Kingsford broke down in the restroom at Nordstrom. She sobbed knowing that it was a miracle Jazz hadn’t taken her words and run with them. The guilt she felt after knowing she could have easily thrust her daughter into a whirlpool of self-loathing and eating disorders had been obvious. After cleaning up their faces, and scaring the department store staff half to death, Jasmine was told how beautiful she was by her mom…something that hadn’t happened since she was five or six.
There had been a point where a lightbulb had gone off in her parents’ heads. She didn’t need all the stuff that they provided for her when she was little. She could survive happily without the new car and fancy status. What she had needed was their love and support.
The result from those talks had given Jasmine and her parents a chance to heal what they hadn’t even realized was broken. It also made her parents realize how strained their relationship with Jameson was and gave them the nudge needed to try to fix it. The trio had even sent a video message as a family to Jameson where he was stationed with Doctors Without Borders, but as of right now they hadn’t heard anything back. Six months ago, the entire scenario would have been so farfetched she would have laughed at the idea of becoming close with her parents, but now it gave her another support system to cling to when she needed it.
She definitely needed it.
So much so that instead of texting her mom back with a quick reply, she hit the call button.
“Mom?” Jasmine’s voice broke when her mother answered.
“JJ, what’s going on?” Her mom sounded somewhat frantic, a tone that Jasmine couldn’t ever remember hearing about anything other than work. “Your dad tried to call Leo, but he’s not answering. Tell me everything is ok.”
Jasmine smiled at her mom’s take charge voice before letting out a small sob at the idea of everything not being ok.
“Mom, I’ve been watching the news and it looks bad. There has been an injury, and they are unable to put out the fire.” Jasmine cried as she spoke, Winter moving close to her side to put her arm around her shoulders.
“What’s happened? Do you need us to come up? Your dad has a work dinner but we can reschedule and come there if you need us.”
“There was a fire and a wall collapsed. One of the men was hurt but we don’t know who.”
“Was he taken to Larryville Memorial?” Victoria asked quickly. “I have some connections and can get a name in a couple minutes, sweetie.”
“I think so. Winter tried calling, but they aren’t releasing any information yet. The fire is still out of control and I don’t want to leave the news until I know for sure he’s safe.”
“Winter is with you?” Victoria let out an audible sigh of relief. “Let me make some calls and I will call back as soon as I find out if it’s Leo. There are rules against it, but I’m sure I can wiggle some information out of the staff if I need to. Keep your phone close by, and try to calm down. I’m sure he’s fine.”
With those words, her mother hung up. Most likely speed dialing the local hospital to find out who the mystery firefighter was that they had admitted earlier.
Jasmine felt her stomach roll over as if she were going to vomit again. Swallowing hard, she fought against the feeling of nausea. The last thing she needed to do was get sick again. With her mind thinking of all the different scenarios where Leo could get hurt or potentially killed, she kept her gaze focused on the crew working tirelessly behind the reporter on the live news coverage. She knew that Winter was next to her, but other than hearing her huff in frustration when she couldn’t get Will on the phone, she didn’t pay much attention to her.
“Yes!” Winter shouted, startling Jasmine out of her haze. “Sorry, Will has signal and he texted back saying he was calling the chief now.”
At that same moment, Jasmine’s phone rang.
“Mom, was it Leo?” she asked the minute she hit accept.