The fire department had tall ladders.
Um, no. She couldn’t call the fire department. What if Cole was there? Even if he wasn’t, he’d hear about her being stuck in a tree. She’d rather him not know the dilemma she’d gotten herself into.
Sarah’s fiancé, Bodie, probably had a ladder for his handyman work…but a regular ladder wouldn’t be tall enough to get her down from the tree. No normal person would have a ladder high enough to reach her.
The wind rustled through the dried-out leaves that had refused to fall from the tree, making an eerie sound that that sent shivers down Sophie’s spine. Or maybe that was from the cold air cutting through her clothes.
“Look what you’ve gotten us into,” she told the cat. Glancing toward him, she sighed. “Okay, so maybe it wasn’t your fault I thought I could rescue you, but you aren’t exactly a bundle of help, either, are you?”
He watched her through half-closed eyes as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Didn’t he realize that his rescuer needed rescuing? Glancing down one last time in hopes of finding a magical pathway to the ground that didn’t involve gravity and broken bones, Sophie fought back tears.
She had to call the fire department. There was no other option. Cole might not want to be her friend or to see her, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
With one hand clasping the lifeline branch, she dug into her back pocket, grateful her phone wasn’t in the bag she’d left on the ground. Unwilling to let go of the branch to push buttons, she voice-commanded her phone to dial the fire department and thanked God for modern technology.
Relief filled her as someone picked up the direct line, but her nerves only increased when she recognized the voice.
“Hi, um, Cole?” Lord, help her get through this and live to laugh about it someday. “This is Sophie and uh, well…you wouldn’t happen to have your sleigh and flying reindeer handy, would you?”
Cole was shocked to hear Sophie’s voice. Was she calling close to midnight to tell him she’d finished altering his Santa suit?
“Nah, the flying reindeer magic only works one night a year.”
“Too bad. I sure could use it about now.”
Why did she sound frightened? And had she just sniffled?
Was she crying?
His stomach knotted into a tight wad. “Is everything okay?”
“No.” That was definitely a sob. “I—I’m stuck in a tree.”
“What?” Cole dropped the puzzle book he’d been working on
. It had been a slow night, and most of the crew were asleep. Andrew and Ben were in the middle of a video game, locked in an epic battle to save the world from an alien life form, so Cole had picked up the cordless phone when it rang. It was rare that the direct line went off during the night, so he’d been expecting a wrong number or a family member of one of the crew who couldn’t get through on their private cell.
“I, um, you know the cat we saw the other day? Well, I saw him on my walk home, stuck up in this tree. I live right off Main Street, and anyway, just after I rounded the corner, I heard him meowing up in one of those big oaks and I thought I’d rescue him.” She was talking fast, pausing only to sniffle before continuing. “But now, well, I’m stuck, too. Every time I try to climb back down, I get woozy and just—”
An image of Sophie trying to climb down from high up in a tree and falling flashed through Cole’s head. As a firefighter, he’d worked all kinds of accidents, seen some horrible things that shouldn’t have happened. This couldn’t be one of those things. It…just couldn’t.
“Sophie.” Her name rolled off his tongue harshly, brokering no argument. “Listen to me—don’t move, okay?”
Cole tapped Andrew’s shoulder, motioning for him to come with him. The world would have to be saved from alien invaders on a different night.
“No worries there.” She countered. “I can’t pry my fingers loose from the branch I’m clinging to. If I survive this, I may have permanent tree bark impressions from this day forward. What if I can never sew again?”
If she survived this? Was she in peril of falling? And who cared if she could never sew again? If she was hanging from a tree limb, she had bigger concerns than whether she’d be sewing once she was safely on the ground again.
Cole had dealt with emergency situations more times than he could count over the years, both during his military career and with the fire department. Not once could he recall having felt the stomach plunge he’d gotten from Sophie’s words.
“You’re hanging from a tree branch? How high off the ground are you?” How had she called him?
“I’m standing on a branch, hanging onto another branch for support,” she clarified, sending a wave of relief through him. The situation still wasn’t good, but at least she wasn’t dangling precariously from a limb. “Just please come help me, Cole. I know you don’t like me, but I’m cold and scared and…Cole, please don’t hang up.” This was said in a tone of pure despair.
Cole did like her. That was the problem. He shouldn’t like her, didn’t want to like her. But he liked her anyway.
“I’ll stay on the phone with you, Sophie.” He wouldn’t have hung up regardless, unless he thought being on the phone put her in further danger. “But I need to change to my cellphone so I can head your way.”