Burn Out by Cheryl Douglas Read Free Book Online Page A

hasty
departure. Nothing.
    He stormed down
the hall, his mood getting worse with each step. He was tired of the echo of
his footsteps… the TV filling the silence… the sound of his own voice. He was
tired of being alone. Last night had been incredible. For the first time in a
year, he’d felt he had someone to share his life again and he had no intention
of letting her go without forcing her to acknowledge last night had been a game
changer for them.
    He grabbed a quick
shower and made his way downstairs, hoping the security guard could tell him
when she left. “Hey, Charlie,” he said, raising his hand in greeting as he
stepped off the elevator. “Just the man I was lookin’ for. I was wonderin’ if
you’ve seen Erika this mornin’?”
    Charlie’s tired
blue eyes darted to the front entrance and Evan knew he felt torn because of
his loyalty to Erika. He’d always said she was one of his favorite tenants. She
never forgot to buy him and his wife a Christmas gift. She even went so far as
to go door to door and have everyone sign a get well card for him when he’d
been hospitalized with pneumonia two years ago.
    “It’s okay,” Evan
said, smiling to soften the sharpness in his tone. Every minute that passed was
a minute wasted, and he’d already wasted too much time away from her. “She and
I are tryin’ to work things out.” He sighed when Charlie looked down at the
clipboard in his hand instead of responding. “Did she say something to you
about us?”
    It was hard to
believe she would confide in an eighty year-old security guard she barely knew
when she had trouble talking to him about their relationship, but he was
desperate enough to ask. “If she said something, I need to know, Charlie.
Please.”
    The older man sat
down in his upholstered swivel chair with a heavy sigh. “When I saw her here
this mornin’, I really thought you kids were gonna be able to work things out,
Mr. Spencer.”
    Evan went on high
alert. The pity in his voice conveyed his message loud and clear. “She told you
we weren’t gettin’ back together? Is that what you’re tryin’ to tell me?” He
gripped his car keys in his fist, his frustration mounting with each passing
second. “Did she say why?”
    “It’s not for me
to say, sir.”
    Evan had always
been friendly with the old man. He’d even invited him to skip the formalities
and call him by his first name, but Charlie was old school and insisted the
tenants in his building deserved respect. “I’d really appreciate it if you
could give me some clue what she was thinkin’ when she left here.” Realizing he
had to ask a stranger what was going on in Erika’s mind these days humbled
Evan. There was a time when he could read her mind, finish her sentences, and
predict her food choices based on her mood. God, he missed those days.
    “She just said she
wanted to hold out for a man who was gonna love her enough to put her first.”
He shrugged, looking apologetic. “I’m awful sorry. I know that’s not what you
want to hear.”
    “You’re right it’s
not,” he said, backtracking down the hall towards the elevator. He needed to
see her. Now.
    “Mr. Spencer?”
Charlie called after him.
    “Yeah?” he asked,
turning on his heel and walking backwards. “What is it?”
    The old man
smiled. “I wouldn’t give up on her if I were you. It took me a long time to
convince my Edith I was the one for her, but it sure was worth the trouble.”
    Evan smiled at the
sentiment. “Don’t worry, Charlie. I don’t intend to give up on her. In fact,
I’ve only just begun to fight.”
     
    ***
     
    Erika was dead on
her feet by lunch. The walk-in vaccine clinic was always their busiest day of
the year. It was a tradition her father started years ago. One day of the year,
they offered annual check-ups and free vaccines for residents on a fixed
income, no appointment required. He said it was his way of giving back to the
community that had been so good to him, and his