Where Angels Tread (18 page)

Heidi’s eyes were glued to the television set hanging on the break room wall, barely tasting the turkey sandwich she packed for her lunch. Fear was snaking itself around her lungs and squeezing, causing her to grab her chest and wheeze. “Are you okay?” Josie asked, peering at Heidi in concern. She raised her eyes to the television set, where a serious-looking reporter was providing details about the latest officer shooting. “Oh,” Josie said softly. “Have you heard from Shane at all?”

Heidi glanced at her phone, which was sitting beside her on the table. She hadn’t expected Shane to call; after all, they weren’t technically dating. But there was no word yet on the identity of the victims, and until she knew that Shane was safe Heidi would be able to think of nothing else. Because the shooting had occurred across town, the officers weren’t brought into Heidi’s hospital. All she could do was wait and pray.

She chewed a bite of her sandwich absentmindedly and listened as Josie chatted with a few other nurses about the shootings. “I can’t imagine knowing my husband was out there trying to chase down a lunatic,” one nurse said, shaking her head sadly. “The agony of never knowing if he was okay. Can you imagine?”

Heidi checked her phone again, but the screen was blank and silent. This is silly, she thought to herself. She may not be Shane’s wife, or even his girlfriend, but she had every right to know whether he was okay. Grabbing her phone, she tapped out a quick text, then laid it face down on the table. A watched pot doesn’t boil, she reminded herself. She would only drive herself crazy by checking her phone every ten seconds for a response; besides, knowing Shane, he was probably out right now looking for the guy who did this. There was no way he would sit back and watch while his fellow officers risked their lives. He just wasn’t that kind of guy.

The alarm on Josie’s phone sounded, signaling the end of their lunch break. Heidi slipped her phone back into her pocket, anxious because Shane still hadn’t responded to her message, and hurried down the hall after Josie. It had been a low key day so far, which Heidi, still amped up from her date last night with Shane, was grateful for. Josie had spilled the beans to the other nurses about Shane, so Heidi spent the morning recounting every detail of their evening together. While she pretended to be annoyed by all of the attention, in reality Heidi rather enjoyed it. It was nice to be excited about something for a change.

Back in the emergency room, Heidi scanned her eyes down the patient sign-in list for the next person in line. She poked her head into the waiting room. “Mr. Keller?” An elderly man accompanied by his wife stood up slowly and shuffled up to Heidi. “Follow me,” she said pleasantly, leading them into the examining room and closing the door behind them. She peered at Mr. Keller, who looked perfectly healthy. “What brings you here today?”

“Show her, Burt,” his wife urged, tugging on her husband’s sleeve. Mr. Keller rolled up the sleeve of his flannel shirt to reveal a large bandage wrapped in gauze.

Heidi gently unwound the gauze and peeled off the bandage. “That’s quite a burn,” she said when she saw the angry red mark on his skin. “It looks like it might be getting infected, too.”

“I told you,” the woman said, stroking her husband’s hair. She turned to Heidi and rolled her eyes. “He never wants to come to the doctor. I said, ‘Burt, do you want to lose your arm?’ That got him up off the chair, let me tell you.”

Heidi giggled and reached for a tube of antibiotic cream. “Better safe than sorry,” she agreed, dabbing a generous amount over the burn. Mr. Keller flinched and jerked his arm slightly. “Almost done,” Heidi said, unwrapping a new bandage and placing it over the wound. “I’m going to ask the doctor to write you a prescription for an oral antibiotic, which you’ll take twice a day for ten days. If you notice that the burn is getting worse, or changing color, make sure to visit a doctor. I think it’ll heal nicely, though.”

As Heidi left the room to track down Dr. Conway, she saw Mrs. Keller press her lips gently against her husband’s cheek and whisper in his ear. The intimate gesture touched Heidi, who peeked at her phone again to see if she had heard back from Shane. He remained ominously silent.

When her shift ended a few hours later, she hurried to her car with the idea of stopping at Shane’s house on her way home. She wouldn’t go in, she reasoned with herself; she would just check for his car in the driveway. Her stomach fluttered nervously as she rounded the corner to his house, a small Spanish-style bungalow with a flat red tile roof, tidy front lawn, and a fat palm tree swaying slightly in the wind. With a sinking heart, she realized that he wasn’t home.

“Zachary!” Heidi called a few minutes later as she let herself into her own house. “I’m home.” She tossed her purse onto the couch and sank into the cushions, exhausted from the hours she had spent worrying about Shane. Zachary skipped into the room and flung himself onto the couch beside her. As he chattered on about his day, which, as far as Heidi could tell, was spent locked in his room playing video games, she stroked his hair absentmindedly.

Just as Heidi’s eyes started to close and her mind sank into the blissful peace of sleep, Zachary jumped up from the couch and pressed his nose against the window. “Look! Shane’s here!”

Heidi’s eyes flew open and she followed Zachary to the window, watching with him as Shane unfolded his long legs and stepped out of his car. When he glanced up at the window and saw them looking down at him, he grinned happily and waved. Heidi hurried to the door and flung it open, not even bothering to slip on her shoes. “Go wait in your room,” she instructed Zachary, who nodded obediently and shuffled away.

Shane’s eyes widened in surprise as he saw Heidi running down the sidewalk toward him, her hair flying behind her; she was half-beaming and half-sobbing in relief at the sight of him. Without giving it a second thought, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled his face down to hers, then planted her lips firmly on his. He kissed her back softly at first, and then more urgently. She parted her lips and took his tongue between her teeth; she could feel his body shudder with delight.

When they finally broke apart, Shane searched her face with his eyes. “What was that for?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her nearer to him. He kissed her neck, and then trailed his lips down her collarbone. “Not a bad way to say hello.”

Heidi cupped his face in her hands and pressed her lips against his forehead. “I didn’t know if you were hurt,” she whispered. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

A shadow crossed Shane’s eyes. “I take it you heard about the shootings today. I’m fine. When I heard what happened, I left my parents’ house and went to the station. Chief Palen has everyone out looking for the suspect, and I just now got done with my shift.” He ran his hands along her temple. “I had to see you, so I came straight here.”

“Why didn’t you answer my messages?” Heidi asked, crossing her arms in front of her body. “I was scared out of my wits.” She motioned for Shane to follow her into the house, and together they walked up the steps and into the living room.

“Sorry about that,” Shane said. “I was in such a hurry to get to the station that I left my phone at my parents’ house. I’ll have to stop over later and get it.”

Heidi groaned. “I hope no one’s reading your texts, because I sounded crazier and crazier as the day wore on and I hadn’t heard back from you. I tried to keep it together, but the thought of you getting hurt made me frantic.”

“I’m flattered,” Shane said, patting her playfully on the bottom. “It’s nice to be worried about.” He glanced around the room. “Is Zachary here? I was hoping to take the two of you out to dinner.”

Heidi was taken aback. “You want to go out with both of us?”

Shane cocked his head. “Of course. If you and I are going to be together, I want to make sure that Zachary is completely comfortable with it. I thought we could grab some pizza, maybe head to the arcade afterwards. My treat.”

Heidi hesitated. “That’s incredibly generous, Shane, but you don’t have to do that.”

He ran his hands along the small of her back, causing a shiver of pleasure to run up her spine. “Please,” he whispered in her ear. “It would mean a lot to me.”

Heidi turned around to face him, then kissed him softly; the taste of his mouth was intoxicating, and all of her senses were screaming with desire. “Then we would love to go.”

For Heidi, the next few weeks seemed like a chapter from the pages of someone else’s life. She and Shane spent nearly all of their free time together, and Shane insisted that they include Zachary in on their plans as often as possible. Heidi was more than happy to agree; the expression on her son’s face every time Shane asked him to come along was one of pure happiness. It began to feel like the three of them were becoming a family.

More than anything, Heidi appreciated how respectful Shane was. He never tried to rush her into doing anything she wasn’t ready for, and was more than happy to let her guide the physical aspect of their relationship. Between the odd hours of their jobs and Heidi’s responsibility toward taking care of Zachary, the stolen moments that she and Shane spent kissing, drinking in every ounce of each other, were precious.

Despite Zachary’s initial hesitation over her relationship with Shane, the two of them were now closer than ever. Shane made a point of being present at as many of Zachary’s basketball games as he could, cheering along from the stands and high-fiving the fathers of the other players. Afterwards, the two of them always went out for pizza and soda while Heidi drove home to enjoy some much-needed alone time. When they appeared at the door, fresh-faced and laughing, Heidi marveled at how different dating was as a single mother. Any man who was interested in her would have to take on somewhat of a father role to her son. Luckily, Shane was more than up for the challenge.

Every so often, though, Heidi caught sight of a brooding, almost mournful, expression on Shane’s face. It only happened when he thought that no one was watching him; he appeared to be lost deep in thought, but the pain reflected in his features was evident to Heidi. On more than one occasion she entertained the idea of urging him to tell her what was on his mind, but something stopped her. She figured that when Shane was ready to talk about whatever it was that bothered him, he knew that she would be there to listen with an open heart.

These thoughts were rolling through Heidi’s head as the three of them enjoyed an outing to Solvang, a quaint Danish-inspired town complete with windmills, whimsical architecture, Danish pastries, and, strangely enough, an ostrich farm. When Zachary spotted the sign for the farm he had begged them to stop, and Shane immediately steered his car into the dirt parking lot. Now, Heidi watched from the sidelines as her two boys tossed handfuls of food pellets through the fence separating them from the towering birds that fixed their fierce-looking eyes on their visitors. Zachary shrieked with laughter as a particularly large ostrich stuck its beak through a hole in the fence and plucked a pellet from the metal bowl he was holding. Shane caught Heidi’s eye and grinned, then beckoned for her to join them. “No way,” she called. “I’d rather keep a safe distance, but you two look like you’re having fun.”

On the way out, Shane slipped his hand into Heidi’s and together they watched Zachary skipping toward the car, a stuffed ostrich souvenir dangling from his arm. Heidi leaned her head against Shane’s shoulder, breathing in his familiar spicy scent; it made her senses foggy with desire. “Zachary has a sleepover this Saturday night,” she whispered in his ear, and she could feel his body stiffen. “Would you be interested in coming over for dinner? I’m not as good of a cook as your brother, of course, but I’ll come up with something special.” Checking to make sure that Zachary’s attention was elsewhere, Heidi nibbled lightly on Shane’s ear for good measure; he groaned softly.

“I’d love to,” he said. “I’ve been working a lot of overtime lately to try and catch the shooter, so I think Palen will be okay with me taking the night off.” He turned and faced her with a tender expression on his face. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Heidi knew that there was no point in pretending; Shane understood the hidden meaning behind her offer. She stood on her toes and kissed him softly on the lips, then gazed into his eyes. “I’m ready.”

“Mom!” Zachary called. “Shane! Can we go and see the miniature horses?” Laughing at her son’s innocence, Heidi linked arms with Shane, and together they joined Zachary for another adventure.