“Are you sure you don’t do stand-up comedy on the side?”
It was her turn to snort. “I’m only funny when I’m super nervous or when I take Benadryl. It’s supposed to knock people out, but it ramps me up for some reason.”
I laid a hand on her thigh. “There’s no need to be nervous. My parents and Nana already love you.”
She leaned her head on my shoulder. “They are very nice.”
“Yes, they are. And the brunch will go fine…” I looked at the traffic. “If we ever get there.”
Eliana glanced at the clock. “What’s taking so long?”
“Fire up ahead,” the driver informed us. “We’re locked in.”
“Shit.” Rolling down the window, I poked my head out. Sure enough, thick dark smoke was rolling up into the sky. “It looks to be coming from a walk-up at the end of the block.”
I looked around, trying to get a better grip on our location. I’d only lived in Long Island since February, and I didn’t know every part of the city… but this was familiar.
Eliana was already out of her side of the cab. “Zoe!” she screamed and took off.
I tossed the driver a hundred and sprinted after her. She’d gotten a head start but was wearing my oversized clothing, and her feet were bare. I caught up easily and grabbed her arm. She shook me off. “Zoe!”
When I couldn’t stop her, a firefighter did. “Miss, you can’t go near there. It’s fully consumed.”
And it was, I realized. Only three stories, the old building was flaming at each window.
“Zoe!” she was screaming, hysterical, fighting me as I pulled her in close. “I’ve got to get to her. She’s my best friend. Zoe!” she screamed again.
The sidewalks were chaos as additional emergency crews pulled in, accompanied by the clutter of rubberneckers and those who look dazed. Eliana’s neighbors perhaps.
“What does she look like?” I asked Eliana, trying to give her something to focus on. “She probably got out and is searching for you.”
Teeth chattering, Eliana nodded and started looking around. I gave her a little shake. “Baby, what does she look like. Do you have a picture?”
Her fingers were trembling so hard, I held the phone while it scanned her fingerprint. Taking over, I tapped to her images and began going through them. “There,” she said, and I enlarged it, taking in the pretty brunette with trendy red glasses. Her hair was a mass of dark curls all over her head.
“Okay, let’s walk around and look for her.” I couldn’t think of anything else we could do.
Tears streaming down Eliana’s face, she clung to my hand as we wove through the crowd. “I don’t see her,” she said.
“Let’s keep looking.”
Going around the side of the building, I caught a flash of massive curls. A woman was huddled on the opposite side of the street, a blanket around her shoulders, her face in her hands. I steered us in that direction.
“Eliana, is that her?”
I was holding my breath as she turned to look.
“Zoe!”
The woman looked up, and relief was like a full body slam. Eliana ran to her friend, who was now on her feet, crying hard as they embraced. Tears pricked my eyes as I witnessed their reunion. Giving them some privacy, I stepped to the side and took out my phone to call Dad.
“Hey, Kane. Glad you called. We’re running late. The traffic is hell. A fire someone said.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling. It’s Eliana’s building that burned. She’s okay,” I added quickly, “so is her roommate, but it looks like a total loss. I’m going to hang out here and figure out how best I can help.”
“What can we do to help?”
I looked around at all the stunned and stricken faces. “People are going to need housing. Clothes. I don’t know. It’s really bad. I don’t even know if there was a loss of life. They don’t have the fire contained yet. Looks like other buildings are threatened and—”
“Don’t you worry about it, son. I’ll make some calls. You take care of your fiancée and her friend. I’ll do the rest.”
“Thanks, Dad.” My throat closed up, and I coughed to clear it. “Give Nana a big hug for me, and tell her I’ll be in San Francisco for a four-game stretch soon. I’ll come by and see her then.”
“Will do. Love you, Kane. Bring Eliana with you, if you can. I like that girl. She’s a keeper.”
Turning, I watched Eliana take off the NY Beasts hoodie I gave her earlier and put it on her friend. “Yeah, Dad. She is.”
***
“Need anything before I go?”
Eliana and Zoe still looked dazed, but they were at least clean now as they sat on my couch. They were in new clothes, complements of my mother and Nana, who skipped getting on a plane and went shopping for the newly homeless instead.
Mom was holding Eliana’s hand while Nana held Zoe’s, and they were all waiting for food to arrive from a local sandwich shop. Dad had to get back, but he’d texted me several times that he was working on securing housing for the tenants who lost everything.
The girls would be staying with me in the meantime. Mom and Nana would stay at a hotel and fly home tomorrow.
Eliana smiled up at me, her red-rimmed eyes still holding a well of sadness within their depths. She was devastated that she’d lost the pictures of her grandparents. I could tell the loss was sitting heavy on her. “It feels like I lost them all over again,” she told me.
But at least she was alive.
“Good luck today. I’ll be watching.”
I bent down and kissed her. “Promise?”
She pulled my head down and kissed me back. “Yep. Your good luck charm won’t let you down.”
Earlier, she’d said that I was her good luck charm too. After all, if she hadn’t spent the night with me, she would have been in the apartment when it went up. And because she hadn’t been there, Zoe didn’t want to stay alone and had stayed with another friend. Eliana said our night of sex had saved them both.
“Well, tell her you love her, Kane Bartholomew,” Nana ordered, rolling her eyes before muttering, “Men these days. They don’t know how to be romantic.”
Blue eyes met mine and something inside me twisted. I’d never said that to anyone outside of family. Truth be known, I hadn’t expected to say it for many years to come. But Nana had me in a corner, and from where I was standing, I could see her waiting impatiently.
“I love you,” I said, and that something twisted again.
She blinked several times, and the tip of her nose turned pink. “I love you too.”
It was hard stepping out of that door. Usually, before a ballgame, nothing came between me and the field. I was always early for pregame practice, stretching my body out and going through agility drills so I could catch anything that came my way.
But I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to break eye contact with her. Didn’t want to leave the room that vibrated with her sweet spirit. I wanted to be the one holding her hand and ordering her food.
As if she could see the hesitation, she gave me a wink and the spell was broken.
I winked back and walked out.
On the sidewalk, Joey Something-or-other slapped a paper against my chest.