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Allison was up, but not feeling great, and we sat and watched some television before she lay down for what was ostensibly a nap. She hadn’t been able to sleep much recently and was trying to catch it when she could. So when her eyes began to droop and it looked like she was nodding off, I turned the lights down low in the room and dropped the volume on the television until I was sure she was asleep.
Then I kissed her head and checked my phone. It was time. The person I was waiting on was there, down in the lobby, and I had to go.
Slipping out of the room, watching Allison as she stirred only for a moment at the sound of the door opening and then drifting back to sleep immediately, I went down the hall to the elevator. My reflection stared back at me, distorted in the silver elevator doors, and I wondered if I really looked as worn out as my reflection said I did.
I was tired. There was no two ways about it. I was bone tired. But a lot of that was caused by immediately throwing myself back into work and ignoring the pain of the fall I’d had in the fire, along with sleeping on what amounted to chairs lined up so they made a bed for a week. Eventually, they got me a cot I could sleep on next to Allison, but that first week was hell.
Then there was work. Several of the guys were going to be out for an extended time due to injuries suffered in the roof collapse, and I was covering as many shifts as I could. Partly it was out of duty, which had been beaten into me in the military and I took pride in exhibiting. But there was also the pride in my job, and how good at it I was. I’d turned out to be a damn fine fireman. I wanted to hone my skills and become even better.
The extra pay didn’t hurt, either.
The doors of the elevator opened, and I snapped out of the trance I seemingly had put myself in. Vowing to get coffee as soon as I got downstairs, I stepped inside and hit the ground floor button. As soon as the doors opened, I made my way to the coffee shop, texting the young woman I was supposed to meet. The coffee shop on the bottom floor of the hotel seemed like a good place to meet. I could buy her a coffee and we could discuss whatever we wanted to without many prying ears.
Carmella came into the coffee shop just a few minutes after I sat down. She was slim, with brown hair, and she wore a red shirt under a brown leather jacket with dark blue jeans. It was a casual, but still straightforward outfit, one that said she meant business.
I stood and shook her hand and then hugged her as she approached, then offered her to sit with me. I had already bought her coffee, and it was sitting in front of her as she sat down. With the giddiness that adults tended to have when someone gave them free coffee, she opened the top and smelled the dark brew.
“So good,” she said, putting the cup back down. “Thank you again.”
“No, thank you,” I said. “You are helping me out so much. Least I could do was get you coffee.”
She smiled. “Well, I wish I had better news for you now,” she said. “I have some of the papers that are signed and waiting for your signature. But outside of them, I don’t have much. I don’t have a lot of time, but I’m trying to get things to work out.”
“I know,” I said. “You doing anything to help is a massive load off my shoulders.”
“I’m sure it will all work out,” she said, watching as I signed the papers she’d brought. “You just leave this stuff to me. How are Allison and Leo?”
“Doing about as well as one can expect,” I said. “Leo is fighting hard and looking stronger every day, and Allison is soldiering on.”
“Well, I’m thinking about you,” Carmella said as she stood. “I’m sorry I have to run.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, giving her a big hug. “I appreciate it.”
“Of course,” she said, hugging me back. “I’ll text you.”
“Got it,” I said.
As she left, I grabbed my own coffee and headed back to the elevator doors. As I got to the floor where Allison was, I noticed her door was cracked open. It had been a half hour or so that I was gone, and I wondered if maybe they had given her some special extra time with Leo that I’d forgotten about. Rushing in, I saw her sitting up, Leo in her arms, though he was still connected to some stuff in the crib beside her.
