Page 15 of Forged By Fire (Danger in Destiny #9)
Chapter Fifteen
I t took some time for Leslie to register that the beeping in her dream was the sound of her alarm clock. She’d set it for seven a.m. after Clint had brought her back home last night. She wanted plenty of time to wake up, eat breakfast, and get ready to go through the warehouse.
After getting very little sleep, all she wanted to do was take the alarm clock and throw it against the wall. Instead, she turned it off with more force than necessary and groaned.
It’d taken a long time to finally relax enough to try and go to sleep the night before.
She’d made popcorn, watched several episodes of one of her favorite shows, and even read for a while.
It was after one in the morning when her head hit the pillow and, surprisingly, she’d fallen asleep immediately.
Unfortunately, that was also when the nightmares began. She relived that call to the warehouse. This time, though, she somehow knew what was going to happen next, and yet she and Danny followed that other firefighter into another room.
Powerless to stop it, she had to watch as Danny was shot right in front of her, his body collapsing to the ground in slow motion.
Just like before, she managed to get him onto her shoulders.
This time, though, she couldn’t find her way out.
She wandered through the dark warehouse as the smoke grew thicker and thicker, completely lost and unable to contact anyone else.
She’d known time was running out for Danny, and there hadn’t been anything she could do about it.
That’s when Leslie finally woke up the first time, drenched in sweat and her cheeks wet with tears. It’d taken a change of pajamas, time spent reading her Bible and praying, and a cup of hot chocolate before she was able to go to sleep again after four in the morning.
If she did dream after that, she was thankful she didn’t remember any of it.
She forced herself to get out of bed and flicked the bedroom light on. Although the sun would be peeking out over the horizon momentarily, it was still dark outside.
With a yawn, she got dressed, then cleaned up for the day.
By the time she left her bedroom and headed for the kitchen, sunlight had started to stream through the cracks in the blinds.
She’d left the light on before going to bed.
It made her feel better knowing that someone couldn’t sneak around the house in the dark at night.
She poured herself a glass of chocolate milk, then fished around in the pantry until she found the blueberry protein bars she kept on hand when she didn’t feel like making something for breakfast.
Her hands full, she went to the living room. She’d barely gotten comfortable on the couch when a text came through on her phone. She smiled when she saw Cindy’s name and remembered dinner last night.
Are you up?
Yep.
Her phone rang a moment later. Leslie put it on speaker so she didn’t have to hold onto the phone. “Good morning. How’s Bree feeling today?”
“She didn’t complain about her ear at bedtime. Hopefully, that means the infection has cleared up. She’s still asleep. So is Izzy. I think having company over last night wore them out.”
Leslie imagined her sister was enjoying some time to herself this morning. “Well, it was fun to eat with you all. I think Clint got a big kick out of the girls—especially Izzy.”
“Oh my word.” Cindy groaned. “That child has no filter between what pops up inside her head and what pours out of her mouth.”
“You’re not going to hear me argue that point. It’s endearing, though.” She reached for her protein bar but set it back down with a wrinkle of her nose. She really wasn’t in the mood to eat.
“Maybe right now it is, but it won’t be in another year or two.
I’ve been trying to explain when it’s appropriate to speak up and when it’s better to just hold your tongue.
It’s not an easy thing to convey, though, when the differences aren’t always black and white.
” It sounded like Cindy took a drink of something and set the glass back on the table. “Thanks again for bringing dinner by.”
“No problem. It was nice to have a break from everything going on.” Silence followed for several moments, and Leslie was starting to wonder whether the line had been cut off. “Are you still there?”
“Clint seems really nice. ”
Uh, oh. Leslie knew that big sister tone well.
“Yeah, he is. He and the entire Destiny police department have been awesome ever since Danny was hurt.” That was totally not what Cindy was trying to get at.
“You guys have a connection. I can tell he’d be good for you, Les. Maybe it’s time you started to date again. See someone seriously for a change.”
Leslie bit back her response. She knew that Cindy had her best interests at heart. Dating had never come easily, and once she’d decided to become a firefighter, it had gotten even harder.
Women always seemed to swoon over a man in uniform. Especially when that man fought fires and rescued kittens from trees. But women firefighters? Yeah, they didn’t quite have the same effect on men.
“I don’t have a lot of time to date.”
“You don’t take the time to date,” Cindy corrected. She wasn’t wrong. “He’s interested in you. Just promise me you’ll think about it, okay? You guys both get the crazy hours and the inherent danger that comes with what you do. There’s a lot to be said for that.”
“Yeah. There is.” She suppressed a sigh. “I don’t know. Maybe once this case is over and things go back to normal. I promise I’ll think about it.”
They talked for another ten minutes before Izzy woke up and Cindy needed to go.
Even though Leslie tried to focus on the book she was reading, she couldn’t get what her sister said out of her head.
Was Cindy right when she said Clint was interested in her? The possibility caused her pulse to pick up speed because, if she were honest with herself, she was attracted to him, too .
Doubt clouded in, though, when she reminded herself of their current situation. She didn’t want to confuse his possible innate need to protect her with an interest that was anything more than that of a kind police officer who was looking out for her.
Leslie sighed, and she tried to focus on the morning ahead. No matter what she did, flashes of last night’s dream kept coming to mind. She wasn’t one to have anxiety attacks, but what if she got to the warehouse and couldn’t make herself go back in again?
She unleashed a groan of frustration. “Please, Lord, calm my mind. Help me focus on something I can control.”
Her phone rang, and when she saw Clint’s name on the screen, the anticipation of talking to him displaced her nerves just a little. “Good morning.”
“Good morning. I, uh… I don’t want to overstep here, but I was wondering if you’d eaten breakfast yet.”
Her gaze fell on the unopened protein bar, and she almost laughed. “No, I haven’t.”
“How would you feel if I brought some donuts over? We could eat, then maybe drive over to the warehouse together.”
Having Clint here would make it a lot easier to forget about the dream. Maybe she could focus on something else besides the memories that kept swirling inside her head. She sent up a silent prayer of thanks for the distraction. “Are you kidding? That sounds great.”
“Oh, good.” He sounded relieved. “Because I already bought them, and I’m parked out front.”
Leslie laughed as she unlocked the door and pulled it open. He ended the call, and she slipped her phone into her pocket.
He approached the door with a large box of donuts in his hands and a sheepish grin on his face. Once inside, he set the box on the table. “Hey.”
“Hey. So, what would you have done with all these donuts if I’d already eaten breakfast?”
Clint shrugged. “I guess the guys at the precinct would’ve been happy.
Of course, you would’ve missed out on some chocolate donuts that look pretty amazing if I do say so myself.
” He lifted the lid to reveal a dozen pastries, and at least half of them were either chocolate, had chocolate frosting on top, or both.
Her stomach growled loudly in response.
“You know me well, sir.”
“I try to pay attention to the things that matter.”
Was he referring to her love of chocolate or to her in general?
Her heart sped up in response to the possibility. He was watching her, a soft look in his eyes that had her frozen in place. Was it possible that Cindy was right, and that the attraction Leslie felt went both ways?
“I have chocolate milk,” she blurted out, breaking the silence. “Oh, and orange juice. Do you have a preference?”
That wasn’t awkward at all.
He chuckled. “Orange juice sounds great.”
She nodded. She filled two glasses of orange juice and retrieved a couple of plates. They chose their donuts and moved the box to a kitchen counter so they’d have enough space to eat at the table.
Leslie took a bite of her chocolate donut with chocolate frosting and was immediately glad she’d abandoned her protein bar. So. Good.
Clint had chosen a cake donut with chocolate frosting. “Did you sleep okay last night?”
Since her mouth was still full, she simply shook her head. Once she swallowed her bite, she washed it down with some juice. “Not particularly. I had nightmares.”
“About the warehouse?”
She nodded, relieved when he didn’t ask for details. Living through the dream last night was bad enough; she didn’t really want to talk about it.
A change of topic, or at least a deviation from it, was necessary.
“You know, I’ve fought a lot of fires, but I think this will be the first time I’ve ever gone back into a burned building afterward.”
“What’s one of the strangest call-outs you’ve ever had?”
They spent the next twenty minutes talking about the odd cases they’d seen.
The conversation helped Leslie slowly relax as she pushed thoughts of the warehouse and the nightmares into the back of her mind.
Once they finished eating, she gathered their plates and glasses and set them in the sink to wash later.