9781631050183CrossingBoundariesValiereNC (8 page)

“Oh, my god, this is terrible. This is
awful.
Think about it. Sleep on it. You can’t just walk away from me because of my mother.”

“I would feel as welcome in your family as a rat in a kitchen.”

“You’re not a rat!”

“Tell that to your mother.”

“I love you!”

“And I love you. But it’s not going to work. Now goodbye.”

She hung up and went to bed. It was early, but she was in no condition to accomplish any of the tasks she needed to do—housecleaning, laundry, balancing her checkbook—and she certainly didn’t feel inspired to create any of her artworks. That night sleep eluded her.

The next morning—Sunday—Todd called again. “I was hoping you’d changed your mind after a night’s sleep.”

“I barely slept.”

“Me neither.”

“And I haven’t changed my mind.”

“Shit! Damn!”

Cassie dragged herself through the day on Sunday, going to bed early that night only to fall into a troubled, nightmare-plagued sleep. When she awoke on Monday morning, she felt as if she had been running all night. Her red-rimmed eyes in the mirror stared at her tousled hair, and she gave it only the most perfunctory combing. She really didn’t care.

She called in sick to the real estate office but called Ginger’s cell to give her the lowdown. Unfortunately Ginger was out showing houses to a client and really couldn’t talk. Cassie gave her the “Campbell’s condensed” version: “I met his mother. She’s a bigot. I can’t come between him and his mother. I broke up with him.”

“Oh, no! Are you sure you did the right thing?” Ginger asked.

“Yes,” said Cassie dully.

“I’ll call you when I get clear,” Ginger said, but as it turned out, her clients kept her later than she expected and she barely got to the station in time for the broadcast.

What a mess! Cassie was barely able to hold up her end of the chatter on the show. Ginger had to carry the bulk of it. Todd, in the booth, averted his eyes from Cassie and stuck strictly to business: “Four minutes to go,” “Coming up on commercial,” and such.

By Tuesday she had pulled herself together sufficiently to co-host the show without having to lean heavily on Ginger, but she still found herself weepy before and after the show and unable to face Todd—who seemed to be having just as much trouble facing her.

Wednesday was more of the same.

On Thursday Cassie arrived at the radio station early, determined to be on top of her game and not fall apart in the studio. Yet almost inevitably she began to leak tears as she caught a glimpse of Todd walking down a hallway. He didn’t see her, but she saw his back retreating as she came out of the ladies’ room. She knew he was trying to switch shifts with one of the other engineers, but so far he had apparently been unsuccessful. It would certainly be easier for him to make a change than for her. She couldn’t really request that the station air their show in the evening instead of the afternoon, nor would that work for Ginger. No, she would have to suck it up till Todd was able to get his schedule changed—but oh, it hurt to see him there every day.

The station manager came down the hall as she headed back to the studio. He stopped and greeted her. “You seem upset lately. Can we talk in my office? I’ll be there in five minutes or less. I just have to drop off these papers to Wendy in Accounting. Go in and have a seat.”

Was he simply being kind or was she in trouble for being unprofessional? Cassie didn’t know, but she supposed she was about to find out. They went off in different directions, and she looked at her watch as she reluctantly walked down the hallway, but she saw it was still twenty minutes till air time.

When she got to Chaz’s office, the door was closed, so she let herself in and shut the door again behind herself. Taking a seat, she nervously waited for his return. After sitting there for a few minutes, she began to notice an odd smell, but she was wrapped up in thoughts of Todd and of how she was going to get through day after day of seeing him here at work. Soon the smell grew stronger and she could no longer ignore it. It smelled like smoke. She was still distracted by thoughts of Todd but wondered if the building next door was on fire. She hadn’t heard any sirens.

Where was Chaz? It was getting late. She’d need to get back to the studio soon. She was on the air in less than ten minutes. She and Chaz hardly had time for a conversation now. She wondered if she should just get up and go to the studio. She hated to be impolite—especially to her boss—but surely he would understand.

She got up from her chair, thinking she would look down the hallway and see if she saw Chaz coming. But when she opened the door of his office, smoke billowed in. She realized with panic that the fire was not next door but right there in the WAAA offices. A wall of flame outside the door prevented her from going anywhere. And since Chaz’s office was an interior one, there was no window through which she could escape.

“Help! Help! Help! Help!” she yelled into the smoke-filled, flame-filled hallway, totally panicking as she thought of being consumed by the flames. What could she do? If she stayed in Chaz’s office, she would perish from smoke inhalation even if the flames didn’t get her. But she could hardly make a run for it through the flames at both ends of the hallway. “Help!”

“Cassie?” It was Todd’s voice.

“Help me!”

“Where are you?”

“Chaz’s office.”

“Hang on!”

She closed the door against the flames and prayed.

Then suddenly the door burst open, and there was Todd wrapped in wet bunting and carrying another large piece of it, which he wrapped Cassie in. She recognized the material as the decorative banner the station had hung outside the building when they’d celebrated their thirtieth anniversary on the air. He covered her mouth and nose with the wet material, then pulled her out into the hallway and through the flames. She felt her eyebrows get singed and smelled burned hair, but he pulled her along and she followed blindly, stumbling within the enfolding wet material till she saw daylight and realized he had guided her safely out the side exit.

He said something she couldn’t understand as his voice was muffled by the wet material covering his own mouth. She pulled the bunting away from her mouth. “What?”

He pulled the material clear of his mouth and asked, “Are you okay?”

“You saved my life—and risked your own.”

“I love you. You’re my world. I couldn’t leave you to the smoke and flames.”

“Oh, my god. Todd!” She fell against him. He struggled to get free of the material that wrapped all but one hand, so he could put his arms around her.

“I don’t ever want to lose you. I love you!” he said.

“And I love you too. Oh, my god. You risked your life for me,” she exclaimed again.

“You’re worth it. Please, sweets, please say we can get back together. Life isn’t shit without you.”

“But what about your mother?”

“Either she’ll eventually accept you or she won’t. But I can’t accept living without you. You’re my world. You’re my everything. These last four days have been pure hell. Tell me we can get back together.”

“My love!” She kissed him deeply. “Yes! Of course!”

Then suddenly she yelped, “Ginger! Did Ginger get out safely?”

They shrugged off the wet bunting and hurried around to the front of the building, where they found Ginger and the station’s other staffers huddled across the street watching the firefighters try to bring the blaze under control. Everyone was safe and accounted for, although it certainly looked like the building was going to be a total loss.

That was when Todd noticed that Cassie hadn’t escaped totally unscathed. “You’re missing some of your hair and your eyebrows, and your face is burned too. Are you sure you’re all right?” Todd asked.

“I’ve got you. That’s all that matters,” Cassie answered, as he once again folded his arms around her. Ginger, seeing the embrace, flashed Cassie a thumbs-up. Cassie returned the signal. Then she snuggled into the strong embrace of her beloved. Her singed hair and burned
face didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Neither did his mother. All that could be worked out—or not. She and Todd were together again. Really that was all that counted.

*The End*

About the Author

Rona Valiere writes in many different genres under several different names. She has crossed a few boundaries herself in her private life and has encountered prejudice along the way.

Secret Cravings Publishing

www.secretcravingspublishing.com