Saving You Read Online Free PDF Page B

the emergency the same way they
handled all emergencies—with efficiency, professionalism, and
excellence.
    And in the meantime, he would enjoy his last
night off.
    Ten minutes later he was dressed and
spinning Maddie under his arm into the current of dancers tracking
their way around the floor, while Melody March crooned a love song,
never dreaming that, this time tomorrow, half of Main
Street—including the boards he was dancing on—would be under five
feet of water for the first time in Summerville history.

Chapter Four
    Lucy spotted Brandon the second he walked in
the door. He was surrounded by a group of other firemen—who made a
significant difference in the testosterone level in the bar when
they barreled inside—but even if he hadn’t been, Lucy would have
been alerted to his presence immediately.
    Brandon had an aura about him that drew her
focus like a magnet.
    She didn’t know how she’d managed to
overlook his intense personal energy before, but in the thirty-six
hours since he walked out of Icing, Lucy had decided she might be
interested in that pizza date, after all.
    Last night, Jamison had invited her over for
family dinner at the firehouse, the way he usually did when he was
on duty, saying there was no reason for Lucy to eat supper alone in
her apartment when they had more than enough food to share. But
instead of exchanging jokes with Jamison or chatting Ben up about
the last concert he’d attended in Atlanta, Lucy spent most of the
meal sneaking glances at Brandon, wondering why she hadn’t noticed
how intelligent his eyes were before—or how pretty.
    Truth be told, he was gorgeous all the way
around. His shorn blond hair and craggy profile lent him a Nordic
Viking vibe that was unlike any guy she’d dated, but undeniably
attractive. He was considerate, too, and had welcomed her to dinner
last night with a smile and a, “Hi, Lucy, good to see you,” making
sure she knew there weren’t any hard feelings over her turning him
down.
    And why did you turn him down? It’s not like
men are beating down your door.
    Lucy sank lower in the booth, hiding behind
her fizzy pink drink. She knew why she’d turned Brandon down. Since
Isaiah, she’d turned everyone down.
    Isaiah had been her first love—a poet and an
artist and the most sensitive, wonderful, beautiful boy she’d ever
met, with chocolaty brown eyes that melted her heart and hugs that
made her never want to leave his arms. From the day they met at a
summer blues festival freshman year of college, to the day he left
a note on her pillow telling her he had to go, they’d been
inseparable.
    Until the morning he disappeared.
    He’d found out he had cancer a few weeks
before, the same cancer that had killed his father within six
months of diagnosis. Isaiah knew first-hand what it was like to
watch someone he loved wither and fade and that’s why he’d broken
up with Lucy via love letter. He’d written that he wanted her to
remember him as he was in life, promised he would always love her,
and vanished into the ether.
    Lucy had searched and searched for some sign
as to where he’d gone—she was too in love to stand back and let her
best friend die alone—but no matter how hard she tried, she
couldn’t find a hint of a trail. She asked Grammy Tutu to try her
hand at tracking him, but grammy said even psychics couldn’t find
someone who genuinely didn’t want to be found.
    Lucy didn’t learn Isaiah had passed until
three months after his funeral, when his mother finally got around
to writing Lucy an email with directions to the gravesite—and a
confession that she’d never thought Pottsville trash like Lucy was
good enough for her son to begin with.
    Lucy had gone to visit Isaiah’s grave and
cried on the tiny sprigs of grass already pushing up through the
dirt, but it was too late for the tears to have any cathartic
effect. The boy she’d loved was gone and she’d never even gotten to
say goodbye. It had left a hole in her