He could taste the smoke.
‘Get up, there’s a fire.’ He threw back the duvet and hauled her out of her bed.
‘A fire, where?’ she asked, fear filling her voice.
‘In the shop, let’s go.’
‘No, there can’t be.’
He hoisted Jacob into his arms, passed her a pair of shoes and then grabbed her hand and practically manhandled her out of the room and down the stairs before she’d even had a chance to put them on. The smoke from the shop was already crawling up the stairs and they had to run through the smog to get out onto the street.
Immy pulled her shoes on and Xander quickly dashed across the road and bundled Jacob through the door of his flat, then closed the door. The last thing they needed was a lost dog too. Immy ran round to the front of the shop and stared in horror at the flames rapidly taking over her precious shop. He could see she wanted to go in there and fight the fire herself, but thankfully the fire engine arrived at that point.
Xander pulled her away. ‘Let them do their job.’
She let herself be led away. ‘My poor shop, it took me months to get that looking perfect. How can this be happening?’
‘I know honey, but let them put the fire out and then, tomorrow, we can assess the damage.’
Tears welled in her eyes as the firefighters smashed through her shop door and started putting the fire out. He pulled her into his arms and held her tight as she wrapped her fingers in his t-shirt and cried against his chest. He found his hand in her hair, stroking her head as she trembled in his arms.
‘What am I going to do?’ Immy said, tearfully.
He pulled back to look at her, cupping her face with his hands. ‘I promise, we’ll fix this.’
The ambulance arrived just as the fire seemed to be put out.
‘It’s probably best you go to the hospital and get checked out,’ Xander said.
‘I’m fine. There wasn’t any smoke in my flat, you got me out before it reached me.’
He shook his head. ‘No, you don’t mess around with smoke inhalation. You could have carbon monoxide poisoning or hypoxia.’
She let out a little gasp and her hand briefly went to her stomach, tears filling her eyes once more.
Crap. He hadn’t meant to scare her. ‘I’m sure you don’t, but it’s best to be checked over, just in case.’
‘Yes, you’re right,’ Immy said as the paramedics came over.
‘And I’ll come with you.’
‘No, Xander. I need you to take Jacob to the vet’s, he might have smoke inhalation poisoning too.’
He wanted to protest because she was his priority but she was right, if he was going to insist she go to the hospital he had to make sure Jacob was OK too. He nodded.
‘I have money in my savings to cover it and he’s insured but if they need money upfront, I’ll have to pay you back,’ Immy said.
‘Please don’t worry about that now,’ Xander said.
The paramedics asked Immy to go with them to the back of the ambulance and Xander walked over to the fire brigade to discuss the extent of the damage and when they could gain access to the shop. Disappointingly it was going to take a few days for someone to come out and assess it and no one was allowed in any part of the building until it had been declared safe. He chanced a look in the shop and saw most of the damage was at the back, which was something at least. The firefighters assured him they would secure the shop and the flat door before they left.
He ran back into his house while the paramedics were still assessing Immy, threw some clothes on and grabbed a jumper for her. Jacob had already made himself comfortable on the bottom of his bed, cheeky bugger. There probably wasn’t a thing wrong with him but Xander would never forgive himself if he didn’t take him to the vets’ and the dog turned out to have smoke poisoning.
He ran back out to the ambulance to see that Immywas now wearing an oxygen mask and it made him feel sick that something could be wrong with her, that he hadn’t got to her in time.
‘Don’t look so worried,’ Immy said, her voice muffled with the mask. ‘It’s just a precaution.’
He nodded, finding it impossible not to worry. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? I don’t like the idea of you being alone.’
