Page 5 of Recovered By Firefighter Daddy

CHAPTER FIVE

Jamie

"You have no idea how terrified I was," Jane said through the phone as I walked out of the warm, brightly lit hospital and into the cold Alaskan sunset. "The airline reported that you never showed up, so they assumed that you just stayed behind. When I tried calling you, nobody answered, and it kept going to voicemail for several days." Making sure to look both ways before crossing the street, I immediately headed out across the street in order to catch the bus to the main part of town.

"And I'm sorry," I told her, trying not to sound annoyed as I spoke. "If I were capable of telling you, I would have. You have to remember that I've been in the hospital for several days now. " She let out a heavy sigh as she continued the conversation.

"I guess you're right," she said over the phone, but I could already tell that she was pretty upset, regardless of the fact that I had reassured her that everything was okay. "So, what do you plan on doing in the meantime? Will the airline refund your ticket or allow you to rebook your flight?" Once on the bus, I watched the world pass around me as we drove down the road towards my part of town, where I had lived ever since I was little.

"Honestly, I don't know," I admitted. "I haven't really had much time to figure everything out just yet. After all, a lot of things have changed ever since I woke up after being stuck in that avalanche. " This really seemed to peak Jane's interest, as her voice grew a bit more shrill as she spoke.

"Did you meet someone?" she asked, sounding excited as she spoke. When I didn't respond right away, she grew even more excited. "You did, didn't you? Oh, please tell me who it is!" Knowing that she wasn't going to drop the subject until she got the answers that she wanted, I decided it was better not to argue with her and took a deep breath, preparing myself for the worst.

"Do you remember the firefighter I told you about that recovered my parents after they had been buried in Avalanche Gulch?" I asked, and she immediately fell silent. At first, I was afraid that she had hung up, but when I went to pull the phone away from my head in order to check to see if the call was still going on, she let out a huge screech through the phone.

"Oh my God, you didn't!" she declared over the phone, her voice full of disbelief as she spoke. "I thought you told me that was an old friend of your dad's and was completely off-limits." I shrugged my shoulders as I shook my head, not really sure what to say at this point.

"I thought he would be off-limits," I agreed as I leaned back in my chair. "At least he should be off-limits. Honestly, I don't know anymore." She went silent for another moment, and I felt the reality of the situation wash over me, making me even more uncomfortable.

My mother and father never really allowed their friends to be at the house, especially when I was under eighteen. I never understood why that was, and I never bothered asking. Instead, I listened to their rules and never questioned them, even now that they were gone. I didn't know what to think anymore.

"Are you still there?" Jane asked, cutting through the silence that had been formed due to my train of thought. "Hello?" Clearing my throat, I continued.

"Look, I'm sure everything's going to be fine," I told her, trying to reassure myself and her. "Ever since he helped out my parents before they died, I've wanted to take him out for drinks to thank him. What exactly could go wrong?" A sarcastic scoff traveled through the phone, and I could already imagine Jane rolling her eyes at me.

"About a million things can go wrong with that," she snapped through the phone, and I realized I had made a huge mistake. "Do you even realize that you basically asked him out on a date? How stupid are you?" My jaw dropped as I started to shake my head, panic set in.

Is it a date? No, of course not. I just asked to buy him drinks to thank you for helping my family. It was never supposed to be a date. What was I going to do?

"Please tell me you didn't set up a time yet," Jane pleaded. "Tell me you got his number and never contacted him..." As much as I wanted to lie to her and tell her that I hadn't, I couldn't bring myself to do it and let out a deep sigh.

"We made plans for tonight," I told her, and she immediately fell silent again.

"I don't know what to tell you," she said after a long silence. "If anything, I would recommend ensuring that he knows that your intentions are purely out of gratitude and that it doesn't escalate beyond that." Even though I wanted to tell her that I wanted it to be a date, I couldn't bring myself to do that either. Instead, I started nodding my head in agreement.

"That's what I plan on doing," I promised as my stop came into sight. "Anyway, I need to get going. I'll call you when I get home tonight." Before she could protest, I hung up the phone and started towards the front of the bus just as the bus came to a complete stop at the bus stop right in front of my family home.

The "for sale" sign swung to and fro as the snow started to fall from the sky, and I shivered as I hurried up to the front door, trying to get inside before it really started coming down. Once inside, I turned on the lights in the living room and started up the stairs, passing the pictures from my childhood as I made my way to my room to get ready to meet up with Shane.