Page 30 of His Ex's Little Sister
12
Reid
“Stand back, Robin!”I shout through the broken window at the back of thehouse.
“What the hell are you doing here?”Robinasks.
“Hopefully, saving your life. Get as far away from the window as possible. Completely out of itstrajectory.”
“Got it.” She’s quiet for a second, then shouts out, “I’m in thebathtub!”
“Good.” I use the gutter’s downspout nearby to scale the wall. Bracing my arms and legs at the rooftop just above the window, I pump my legs out, swing my body down, and kick the wooden window frame. With a loud thud, the horizontal frame shatters. My legs dangle inside the window now, and I just need to hold on long enough for Robin to climb up, at which point I can hopefully teeter backward and drop to the ground outside. Neither of us can afford to have anything else go wrong, or we’ll both end up stuck inside thebathroom.
“I need you to climb up my legs now, Robin,” I tell her. “Make it quick. I’m not sure how long I canholdon.”
“Coming!” She steps up on the toilet tank. “Where am I supposed to hang ontoyou?”
“As high as you can reach on my chest.” I tighten my grip on the gutter. “Now,Robin.”
“I’m…just…trying to avoid…yourjunk.”
“Right now Robin! I’m losingmygrip.”
“Okay!” She jumps up and clings to my neck, turning her bodysideways.
Easing my back into a slight arch, I pull us out of the window. “Hold on tight and wrap your legs around my waist. I’m going to letgonow.”
She does so with some hesitation, and with another slight kick backward, I let go. The fall isn’t too bad at all, and I manage to land feet first, but with the distance of the jump, the force pushes me backward, and I fall on my back, with her on top of me. I’ve never seen a woman scramble to get off of me soquickly.
“Thank you,” Robin says to me, dusting off her hands. “Did you call 9-1-1?”
“Yes. They’re ontheway.”
She promptly turns around and heads to the front of the house in a jog. I pull her arm back when I realize she’s about to climb the front porch steps. “You can’t go inthere.”
“But my phone is inside. Any my guitar, my purse and car keys… oh my God, my boss’s files!” She tries to wrench her arm away, but I pull her to the side of the house. “Let me go, Reid! I have to get somethings.”
She must be in shock, or in denial about the blaze in frontofus.
“We have to wait,” I insist. “The house is fully involved. Just look at it. Even your truck isdamaged.”
Robin looks up and stares at the flames and smoke billowing up to the sky as though she is seeing it clearly for the first time. She looks up at me, takes my hand, and says, “Thank you,” like shemeansit.
Robinand I sit in my vehicle parked at the other side of the street while we wait for the emergency responders to arrive. The only three calls that she makes are to the boss at her day job, her insurance company, and her brother, Josh. She leaves a message for her boss, who is at a court hearing, and strangely enough, her brother was just redeployed from North Las Vegas where he works to support a forest fire emergency on the Carson Range spur of the Sierra Nevada. The insurance company takes some basic information to start her claim, and instruct her to call back once fire responders have had an opportunity to forward a report. Her parents, sister, and singing partner are all out of town at themoment.
“How did you know to come find me here?” she asks after some time, as I type out a text to let Leo know what I’mupto.
“After your ex-boyfriend got so worked up at Whiskey Jacks last night, I figured I’d pass by on my way to work to see ifyou’reokay.”
“I don’t understand how the fire started so quickly. There was a crashing sound in the living room, and then the smoke started seeping into the bathroom. I wasn’t even supposed tobehere.”
“I saw. My SUV was a few vehicles behind you when you turned into yourdriveway.”
“So, wait. You saw me park? That means you must have seen how thishappened.”
“Someone driving a dark gray, late model Honda sedan was following you. He parked a little way down the road, and I’m sorry, Robin. I wasn’t close enough to stop him. I saw him throw what must have been a homemade Molotov cocktail through your front window. The person was wearing a red baseball cap, but I’m almost sure it wasyourex.”
Her jaw drops, and her lips start to tremble. “Dave? He did this? He tried to…killme?”
