When the Sun Goes Down (16 page)

Read When the Sun Goes Down Online

Authors: Gwynne Forster

BOOK: When the Sun Goes Down
5.51Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
“You can’t go there. It’s too dangerous,” he told her. “You’ll be in the way, and you could cost someone’s life.” He pulled her aside as a man staggered out of the building and collapsed on the sidewalk.
A fireman raced to the fallen man. “How are you? Can you breathe?” When the man gasped for breath, the fireman covered his nose and mouth with an oxygen mask. Shirley clung to Carson, unable to control her trembling. If Edgar had gotten out of the hotel, wouldn’t he call? As if he’d read her mind, Carson asked her for Edgar’s cell phone number and dialed it.
“Hello.”
“Edgar? Where are you, man? Shirley’s going crazy thinking that you might have perished in this hotel fire.”
“No way. Tell Shirley not to worry. I accidentally found the back way out. Unfortunately, a few people didn’t make it.”
“Why didn’t you call her, man? She’s on her way out of her mind. Can I tell her you’re all right?” He listened to Edgar’s lame explanation, balling his left fist in frustration. He didn’t countenance violent behavior, but he’d love to slam that self-centered guy against a brick wall.
“Me? I’m cool,” Edgar said. “I’m almost home. I was going to call you in the morning. Is around nine okay?”
“Yeah. Sure.” He hung up and stared at Shirley.
“I know what you’re thinking, Carson, but it’s no surprise to me. I love my brother, but I don’t think I know anybody who’s as selfish and as self-centered as he is. I don’t know why he’s like that.”
A sharp explosion drew their attention to the building as a third-floor frontispiece fell to the street, barely missing an ambulance. “I need to see if there’s anything I can do to help,” Carson said. “Can you drive my car to Gunther’s place? I’ll get it later.”
She looked into his determined gaze and saw that the need to help was intrinsic to his being as a man. Yet, knowing that he might risk his life decelerated the pace of her heartbeat and she had to gasp for breath.
He looked her in the eye. “I could save someone’s life.”
She stiffened her back and smiled. “Give me the keys. I’ll have coffee ready when you get there. Please be careful.”
He handed her the car keys, brushed a kiss over her mouth, and raced to the hotel, where people tried to find their way around the chunks of concrete that nearly blocked the front exit. She stood as he’d left her and watched him bend down and begin to clear the debris from the doorway.
There’s a reason why I love that man,
she said to herself.
If he can do that, I can certainly do this.
She got into his car, started to drive off, and stopped. She’d just told herself that she loved Carson Montgomery, but she had never even imagined that she loved a man,
any man
. She moved away from the curb and headed for Ellicott City.
“Where’s Carson?” Gunther asked when she walked into his apartment. “Did you two have a spat?”
She walked past Gunther to the living room, sat down, took a deep breath, and let the air swoosh out of her. “It’s a long story.” After telling him about Edgar and the hotel fire, she asked him, “Did Edgar call you?”
“Not since last week. Thank God he got out of that hotel safely. Where’d you park Carson’s BMW?”
“Half a block from the front door.”
“I hope he doesn’t attempt any heroics at that fire scene. You care a lot for him, don’t you?”
She looked at her brother with what she knew was an appeal for understanding and acceptance. “A lot. An awful lot.”
Gunther shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, looked into the distance, and said, “I don’t doubt that he’s a good man and that you’d have a hard time finding a better one, but ... how does he feel about you?”
“It was mutual from the second we saw each other, and it’s developed into something deeper. He shows me that he cares. I know he’s his own man, and I accept that.”
“You’d better. A man his age rarely, if ever, changes. Incidentally, Frieda called. I think she’d like to come back, but there aren’t any sick people here.” His white teeth glistened against his smooth brown skin. “And thank God for that. She’s really a wonderful nurse.”
“So you said. I hope she gets a good job. I’ve been thinking that we need another nurse on my ship, the
Mercury,
but she’s not an RN. Oh, well.”
“Can’t you find a way around that?”
“That would be up to the supervisor of our clinics, but I’ll put it to them. Write me a letter of recommendation, okay? How’s her mother? Did she say?”
“Yeah. The doctor thinks her mother may be able to return to work in about a month. Frieda’s not without a job; the hospital is anxious to have her back. She said she needs a better-paying job.”
“Okay. I’ll see what I can do. I promised Carson I’d have coffee ready when he came for his car, so I’d better get in there and see if I can find something to go with that coffee. We finished dinner almost four hours ago.”
Gunther walked toward the stairs, stopped, and looked at her. “Suppose it’s three o’clock in the morning when he gets here?”
She’d be up if he didn’t get there until daybreak, and the flex of her shoulder in a slight shrug confirmed it. “When did you know me to fail to keep my word?”
“Am I invited for coffee?”
She didn’t answer, for she knew it was one of his tongue-in-cheek efforts to needle her. When the doorbell rang a little over two hours later, she rushed to it, put the chain in place, and peeped out.
“Carson! What on earth?”
His grin did little to reassure her as she stared at his torn, sooty, and sagging clothing. “You said you’d have coffee ready for me.”
She welcomed him with her arms open, pulling him as tightly to her as her strength would allow. “My Lord. You were in that burning building. Come on in and sit down.” She pointed to an oversized leather chair.
“Thank you for waiting up for me. There were times when I thought I’d never get here. I’d love to wash my face and hands.”
“I always do what I promised,” she said, taking his hand and walking with him to the lavatory near the foyer. “Go have a seat while I bring the coffee.” She turned on the coffee-maker, warmed some biscuits, and put a glass of water on the tray that she’d prepared earlier.
“This is wonderful,” he said when she placed the coffee, warm biscuits, ham, butter, and jam on the coffee table. “I’m fine, just exhausted.” He took a big swallow of coffee, put the cup down, and tasted a buttered biscuit. “Hmm. Honey, this hits the spot. I’m hungry, but I think I needed pampering as much as I needed food. I’m exhausted, but I feel great, if that makes any sense. After I helped clear away that rubble, I dragged six people out of that death trap.”
She refilled his coffee cup and brought it back to him. “What happened? Don’t they have alarms in that hotel? The fire seemed small enough at first to allow people to get out without difficulty.”
“Apparently the alarm in some of the guest rooms didn’t work. And you can bet some of the guests had been drinking and were in a deep sleep, so the alarm didn’t awaken them.” He ate another biscuit and ham sandwich. “I know I had a big dinner with you, but right now, I’m starved. That was more manual labor than I’d done in years.”
He finished eating, leaned back, and took a long, deep breath.
“Do you want to spend the night here?” she asked him. “We have a guest room.”
His gaze, soft and warm, didn’t prepare her for his answer. “Thanks. But when I spend the night under the same roof as you, we’ll sleep in the same bed.” She knew her eyes had widened, but he acted as if they hadn’t. “I’d better finish this and go. I’ve got a busy day starting in six and a half hours.”
At the door, he kissed her without passion, but she didn’t mind. She’d learned more about him that night than in the previous months she’d known him. He was the man for her. And he’d find that will, too, because he wouldn’t let that, or anything like it, conquer him.
 
Minutes after Carson reached his office the next morning, his receptionist buzzed him. “Mr. Edgar Farrell here to see you.”
Carson stared at Edgar, annoyed at the intrusion and not bothering to hide it. “I thought you asked if you could call me. What can I do for you that requires a visit?”
Edgar took a seat and crossed his knees. “I like to talk business in person. Talking on the phone can land you in trouble.”
Immediately alert, Carson sat forward, his eyes narrowed. “What do you have to say to me that could land you in trouble?”
“Look, man. I’m going back to Vegas day after tomorrow morning, because the fire gutted two floors of that hotel. It’s closed, and my gig there is up. I’m the one who engaged you for this job, so I’m telling you that if you find that will and it’s unfavorable to me, don’t tell Gunther and Shirley about it.”
As little as he thought of Edgar, he hadn’t expected him to sink to that level. He wondered how far the man would go. “How would I get paid?” he asked, appearing to consider the proposition. “If I don’t give the will to the lawyer, it won’t be probated, and if I do give it to him, he’ll share the contents with your siblings.”
“I can get somebody else to probate it. I’ve got contacts.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me.” Carson stood and leaned over Edgar, almost touching him. “I’m an officer of the law, and even if I weren’t, I would not compromise my integrity and ruin my life by going in cahoots with someone who has no principles. Miss Marks will show you out.”
“I’ll fire you.”
“You can’t. Read the contract that you signed. If you make one more underhanded suggestion to me, I will terminate the contract and expose you to boot. Please leave. Now!”
Go easy,
his conscience warned. That guy could someday be your brother-in-law. He grimaced from the pain of that thought. Another reason why he should watch his steps very carefully.
The next morning, Shirley dragged herself out of bed and began sorting out her clothes for the next cruise. When trips were shorter—as her next one was—customers seemed to get more involved with on-board events and were less picayune about little things. Her cell phone rang and she glanced at the caller ID before answering. She didn’t welcome a call from Edgar, because she was still annoyed with him.
She answered without enthusiasm. “Hello.”
“It’s me, sis. Edgar. I’m headed back to Vegas tomorrow, and I ... uh ... thought I’d let you know.”
“Thanks. Have a good time.” If she sounded disinterested, she couldn’t help it.
“A ... uh ... brother out there owes me a few thousand—”
She didn’t let him finish. “Yes, and I imagine his first name is ‘slot.’ You still owe me three thousand, seven hundred dollars—the seven hundred you borrowed over a year ago—and I am not lending you any more. Have a safe—”
He hung up. She sat down on the edge of her bed and tried to exhale her anger. When would it end? After wiping away her tears, she said to herself as she got up, “I don’t have to go down with a sinking ship, because I can swim.”
“I’m having waffles for breakfast,” Mirna said when Shirley walked into the kitchen. “Mr. G will be down in a minute. You want some, or you still trying to make your waistline disappear?”
“I want some of those waffles. Yours are the best. I’ll set the table.”
After breakfast with Gunther and Mirna, she walked up the stairs along with Gunther. “It’s been years since you trailed me up the stairs. At home, you did that when you either wanted something special or you wanted to tell me something in confidence. What is it?”
She told him about her call from Edgar. “It was so unpleasant. As soon as he realized that I was not going to give him money, he hung up. No good-bye. Nothing. What’s gotten into him?”
Gunther’s right arm slid around her shoulder. “I wish I knew. Don’t let him upset you, Shirley. Maybe we have to ... well ... let him go. I hate to say it, but we can’t force Edgar to do what he ought to do and act like a mature man. He had the same opportunities and the same disadvantages that we had. He made his choices, and he’s paying for them. I hurt for him, but he won’t accept the help he needs. When you’re with Carson, pay attention to the little things.”

Other books

Leave the Grave Green by Deborah Crombie
New Name by Grace Livingston Hill
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
A McKettrick Christmas by Linda Lael Miller
Blind Faith by Rebecca Zanetti
Velvet & steel by Sylvie F. Sommerfield
Viking Vengeance by Griff Hosker