Free 9781631050183CrossingBoundariesValiereNC by Rona Valiere

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