Burning for You (Blackwater) (8 page)

“Great.  So we just received a
notice from one of the health plans we’ve been submitting claims to.  They’ve
indicated several issues with how we’ve been submitting, including missing
operating physician NPI, and not supplying the NDC on injectable drugs.  There
are a few more, but these are tens of thousands of dollars in claims that we’re
looking to get reimbursed for.  We can’t let them age beyond ninety days. 
Timely filing and all that.”

“They require the NDC for
injections in order to submit and get drug rebates,” I explain.  “And the
operating physician probably has to do with claims for surgical revenue codes.”

Gwen’s eyes widen.  “Oh my god,
you’re hired!” she exclaims.  “I can’t even begin to get the ladies who do the
billing to understand that.  It’s like they won’t even open the 837 guide.”

“I’m very familiar with the 837
format requirements,” I tell her.  “And I know this stuff like the back of my
hand.  I would love this opportunity and really need this position.”

“If it were up to me, I’d have you
start today, right now,” Gwen says, not even trying to hide the excitement on
her face.  “I’m going to put the paperwork in motion to get you hired.  I’ll
need to go through the HR channels, though.  If all goes smoothly, you can
expect an offer letter in 48 hours.”

“You have no idea how much you’ve
just made my day,” I reply.  “Seriously, thank you so much, Gwen.”

“Thank you, Leah, for showing up
here when you did,” Gwen smiles.  We stand and shake hands.  I’m in complete
shock, not understanding how everything could have gone so smoothly.  I’m
almost positive that I just went through the shortest interview process in the
history of job interviews.  “I have your number, and here’s my card,” Gwen
hands me a small white business card.  “Call me with any questions or concerns,
anytime.” 

*

I feel like doing the can-can out
of the hospital, I’m so elated.  As I’m walking out of the sliding glass doors
I’m barely paying attention and slam directly into someone, knocking me back so
my ass meets the pavement.  “Shit!” I say, scrambling to my feet.  I’ve got to
stop doing that.  Then I see who it is that I’ve bumped into and my mouth goes
dry and my heart begins to race.

“Miss Holt,” Ash Lavanne says with
a slight smile.  His black eyes do that thing that makes me want to take off
some article of clothing.  “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

“Perhaps you need to stop being
everywhere I am,” I tell him.  “It’s like you’re stalking me or something.”

“Stalking you?”  He laughs. 
“You’re the one running into me everywhere I seem to be.  What are you doing at
the hospital, anyway?  Perhaps you have a neck injury from a recent car
accident?”

“Hangover from a potion?” is my
retort.  “Apparently you’re bad for my health.”

“I think I can be very good for
your health, Miss Holt,” he purrs, making something stir below my waist that
simultaneously makes my face turn red.  Keep your clothes on, Leah, I think.

“I coincidentally landed myself a
job,” I say.  “Just like that.”

“Oh, really?” he asks. 
“Coincidentally, I think not.  Nothing is every coincidental for a fire
elemental.”  He looks around, seeming to recall that he’s in public, though
there really isn’t anyone around.  “We make things happen, Miss Holt.”

“We?” I ask him.  “Are you a fire
elemental?”

Ash laughs.  “When I say ‘we’ make
things happen, I mean we will make things happen, now that we’ve found each
other.”

I recall Isabel’s talk with me
about my catalyst.  I swallow a lump that’s formed in my throat, wishing I had
a glass of water or vodka to quench my thirst.  “I’m not sure what you mean,” I
say innocently.

Ash smirks.  “You know exactly what
I mean,” he says.  He takes a step closer to me, making me catch my breath.  The
blood roars through my head, making my cheeks feel like they might explode. 
“Can I see you tonight?” he asks me in a low voice.

“What?” I say, shaking my head and stepping
back.  “What about Erika?”

“We’re friends,” he replies.  “With
benefits.”

“Well I’m married,” I offer as a
lame retort. 

Ash blinks, his lashes brushing
just below the dark rim of his black eyes.  “I shouldn’t think you were very
serious about that,” he tells me.  “I saved you from a date with a reaper last
night.”

“Whatever that means,” I reply,
eyes rolling at the memory of my embarrassing capture from Chez George.  “So
why are you here, anyway?” I decide to change the subject.

“I was going to take Erika to
lunch,” he says, looking sheepish.

“So she is your girlfriend,” I
point out, not really phrasing it as a question. 

Ash shakes his head.  “Erika and I
are just having fun.  She knows it and I know it.”

“Sometimes women don’t always know
it,” I tell him.  “Or they aren’t honest about it for fear of losing what they
love.”

Ash cocks his head slightly,
looking down at me through those sleepy eyes.  “You sound like you speak from
experience,” he says.  I shrug, wondering why I have to be so insightful with
someone I barely know.  “So you have a job.  That’s fantastic.”

“I still have to wait for the offer
letter,” I explain.  “But thank you.”

He nods.  “You made it happen, you
know.  You came here wanting a job and you made one happen.”  He takes his hand
and places it on my shoulder and runs it down my arm.  I feel heat all the way
down from his touch, practically setting my arm on fire.  He picks up my hand,
holding it delicately in his own and presses the back of my hand to his
forehead.  “Run into me again soon,” he says and drops my hand and walks away,
toward the entrance, leaving me speechless and melting. 

My mother has to give me Heidi’s
address when I call from the hospital visitor’s lot.  Considering the last time
I saw Heidi she was living at home.  I have no idea where she lives now.  I
still haven’t spoken to my mother about last night and her reaction to Gabe
picking me up and not dropping me off.  Neither one of us seems very eager to
discuss it, so it seems like the subject will just drop.  I am curious about
her unexpected reaction, or why she would care, but not curious enough to start
a conversation.

I’m not surprised when I see
Heidi’s house is a large blue and white painted lady Victorian with a
wraparound porch.  Heidi has always presented herself as old fashioned; from
her hair or her clothes or her ability to pass out upon hearing anything
shocking or gross.  If smelling salts still existed, she would call for them.

She must have received warning from
our mother that I was coming.  The minute I pull into Heidi’s driveway, she
opens her front door and stands on her porch to wait for me to approach.  She
is wearing a high buttoned collarless blue shirt that matches her eyes, tucked
into a high waisted pair of slacks with a thin, silver belt.  She looks
physically cold and both of her small hands are wrapped around a steaming mug
that I know is her laxative tea.  Some things never change.  “How did the
interview go?” Heidi asks me as I walk toward her.

“I have a job offer, but need to
wait for the offer letter,” I tell her, as though she’ll even know what that
means.  Heidi is a kept woman.  Her husband Jack Bellamy is a lawyer, and also
highway commissioner or something of Blackwater Township, whatever that means. 
It’s Monday, and I remember that Monday is the day that everyone who got
traffic violations for the previous week gets to come to court and attempt to
fight their parking and traffic tickets.  I reflect on my own car accident and
how I’m lucky I’m not standing in front of Jack right now instead of Heidi.

Jack and Heidi were not high school
sweethearts or anything like that.  It would be impossible considering they’re
seven years apart.  Jack is nearing forty and I’m wondering if they’re going to
have children.  Heidi is self-absorbed and likely prone to Munchausen Syndrome
or something that would require the state to take her kids away.  Perhaps it’s
best I don’t become an aunt if it means Heidi and Jack end up breeding.  Heidi
married Jack out of the blue when she was nineteen.   I think Heidi wanted to
leave home just as badly as I did, but got out a different way.  We’ve kept in
better touch than my mother and I have after I left to go to school in Chicago,
though we were never close as sisters. 

I step inside the house into a sky
blue great room.  Heidi is obsessed with the color blue and often surrounds
herself in it.  I think it calms her down, since she’s a bit high strung.  She
looks like my mother, only tinier and frailer.  Not that my mother has ever
been anything but slim, but Heidi’s weight dwindles around 94 pounds.  I recall
that being the magic number that she and her doctor agreed on.  “Nice house,” I
tell her.  “Blue, of course.”

“Of course,” she says, casting me a
glance backward with a small smile as she leads me through.  “Do you want some
tea or coffee?”

“Just water,” I reply.  I step into
a blue tiled kitchen that’s bright and spacious and see that Heidi already has
company.  “Eleanor!”  Eleanor Dubois – no, actually, it’s Laurent now, I have
to remember – is sitting at Heidi’s kitchen counter nibbling on a baby carrot
and drinking tea.  I hope it’s not Heidi’s special tea, I think.  She hoists
herself out of the stool she is perched on and I see she’s very pregnant, as my
mother mentioned.  We hug awkwardly, so many years and so much baby between
us.  “You look the same.  Well, except for that,” I say, indicating her
stomach.

She laughs, her light grey eyes
sparkling with humor.  Eleanor has always been exotically beautiful, and now
even more so that she’s radiant from pregnancy.  Her strawberry blonde hair is
shorter than I remember it, cut to her shoulders so that it plays around in a
tumble of curls that were simply waves when it was longer.  Even though she’s a
natural redhead, she’s always had creamy skin without a trace of a freckle or
even a blemish.  She’s not as tall as I am, but definitely several inches
taller than Heidi and willowy, even with a giant swollen belly.  None of the
extra weight that women tend to carry with pregnancy has made its way to her
arms or face.  “You look the same too,” she says.  “Still a giant, though I’m
pretty sure you’re dressing better these days.”

“Only because I’ve been job
hunting,” I say, sitting down on the stool next to her at the counter. 
“Otherwise I’d be in jeans as usual.”

“Good to know nothing’s changed,”
Eleanor laughs.  “It’s so good to see you!  So if you’re looking for a job,
does that mean you’re back for good?”  Her tone changes slightly.  She seems guarded
about me staying in Blackwater than a former best friend should be.  I wonder
if it has to do with Drew.  I decide to clear the air.

“I need money,” I tell her. 
“Nothing is definite.  I’m about to embark on what I anticipate is a shitty
divorce from a shitty guy and so I’m done with men for a while.”

Eleanor nods.  “I’m sorry to hear
about your divorce.”  The room is quiet.  Heidi is standing on the other side
of the counter, looking from Eleanor to me and back again, like she’s watching
a tennis match. 

“Well,” Heidi says.  “I was just
giving Eleanor my adoption update, and so I suppose I should fill you in on
that too now that you’re back in town.”

“Adoption?” I echo, taking the
glass of water Heidi has set out for me and gulping about half of it down
quickly.  “What adoption?”

“Heidi is close to finalizing the
adoption of a baby,” Eleanor explains with a smile.  “If everything goes well,
our kids will get to grow up together!”  Heidi nods happily.  I must look
shocked.

“I didn’t know that,” I say.  “Well
congratulations to you as well, Heidi.  How long have you been going through
the process?”  Something in my stomach turns.  I’m not sure why but I really
feel like I’m faking my happiness over this news.  Something about Heidi as a
parent rubs me the wrong way.

“Almost a year,” she replies.

“That’s pretty quick,” I mention. 
“I’ve heard adoptions can take years.  Are you going outside of the country?”

She shakes her head.  “No, we’re
going through a private agency,” she tells me quickly.  “Jack is really happy.”

“I’m glad,” I say.  I turn to
Eleanor.  “So you’re due any day?”

She nods, smiling softly, her
pretty face lighting up.  “Drew is….” She trails off, her face falling. 

I shake my head and smile.  “El,
don’t worry about it.  Drew and I are ancient history.  I’m glad you two are
happy and expecting a baby.  Really.  I’ve moved on.  And, well, now I’m back,
but I’m not about to pick up where I’ve left off or anything.”

“I know,” Eleanor replies.  “I
just, well, it took me a long time not to feel like I was doing anything wrong
by being with Drew.  He was pretty shaken up when you left.  You didn’t really
give anyone much warning and were pretty secretive about it.  Though I guess I
should have expected as much.  You had some miserable teenage years at home.”

I wave my hand in the air, almost
like a dismissal, noticing Heidi scowling for a second in the background.  “Again,
ancient history,” I reiterate.  “Things weren’t ever exactly right between us. 
Probably due to me being so miserable.”  I crack a smile and Eleanor smiles
back.  “And I’m pretty sure you always had a huge crush on him.”  I laugh as
Eleanor’s eyes widen expressively.  “Oh my god, I’m so right, aren’t I?”

“He’s my-“ Eleanor stops and looks
at Heidi and shakes her head.  “Soul mate, I guess.”

Heidi smiles.  “I feel the same way
about Jack,” she says quickly.  “Sorry it didn’t work out with you and Michael,
Leah.  I always wanted to meet him, but you never brought him here for any
holidays or anything.  You didn’t really give us much of a chance to get to
know him.”