Kayla O'Malley grew up in a family full of lifesavers. Her mom is the Chief of Police, and her dad is Fire Chief. She joined the Pinehaven Fire Department when she turned 18 and never looked back. At 23, she left Pinehaven to join the LAFD. Three ye...
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The first time Kayla listens to Eddie's voicemail, she's alone.
Not the romantic kind of alone. Not candlelight and soft music and enough emotional stability to hear something honest without feeling like it might split her right down the middle. No, this is the kind of alone that settles in after a hospital marathon and too little sleep and the kind of relief that leaves you more wrung out than rested.
The apartment is dim by the time she gets home.
She doesn't turn on more than the kitchen light.
Delia circles her ankles in excited little loops the second she gets through the door, all wiggling body and happy barks, and Kayla crouches to scoop her up before the dog can fully launch herself.
"Hi, baby," she whispers into soft fur. "Hi, I know. I know. I'm sorry I was gone."
Delia licks her chin with zero concern for the state of her makeup or the fact that Kayla still smells like hospital antiseptic and stress.
Lucky girl, she thinks again.
Lucky, lucky girl.
The apartment feels different tonight than it did the night before. Vince's presence is gone, but not really. The shape of him still lingers in the memory of the couch, in the knowledge that he had been here, in the fact that her walls no longer feel as sealed as they used to. Eddie is here too, somehow, in the missed call she never dealt with and the look on his face in the hallway when the truth had finally cracked open between them.
You are not stupid.
I meant what I said.
The words circle like vultures.
Kayla feeds Delia, kicks off her shoes, peels off the cardigan, and just stands there in the middle of her kitchen for a while with her purse still hanging from one shoulder because taking another step would mean deciding what to do next.
Sleep would be smart.
A shower would be smart.
Changing the locks would be smartest of all.
Instead, she reaches into her purse and pulls out her phone.
The voicemail notification is still there.
One unheard message.
From Eddie.
Her thumb hovers over the screen.
She could leave it unheard. Keep pretending the words don't exist. Let them stay suspended in that awful, fragile place between what she knows and what she is too scared to hear in his own voice.
Delia bumps against her leg.
Kayla lets out a shaky breath and presses play.
For a second there is only static. Movement. The sound of Eddie breathing like he had been pacing before he finally called.
