Coop and Alex had sat down to dinner by then, and Mark had started the barbecue. It was the first time he had used it, the week before they had used Jimmy's, and the steaks he'd made had been delicious. Mark was making hamburgers and Caesar salad. And things were going pretty well, until he put too much fuel on the charcoal and flames started leaping skyward, and seemed to get rapidly out of control.
“Shit, I haven't done this in a while,” he apologized, trying to dampen the flames and save their dinner. But a minute later, there was a minor explosion. Coop and Alex heard it from the dining room, where they were having an elegant dinner, courtesy of Wolfgang. They were having Peking duck, and three different kinds of pasta, with a big tossed salad and homemade bread.
“What was that?” Alex asked, looking worried.
“The IRA, I think,” Coop suggested, seeming unconcerned, as they went on eating. “My houseguests probably blew up the guest wing.” But as Alex looked over his shoulder out the window, she could see billows of smoke coming through the trees, and the next thing she saw were flames as a small bush caught fire.
“Oh my God, Coop I think the trees are burning.”
He was about to tell her not to worry about it, when he turned to look and saw the same thing.
“I'll get a fire extinguisher,” he said practically, without knowing if he even had one, and if so, where it was kept.
“You'd better call 911.” She pulled her cell phone out of her bag without hesitating, and called them as Coop ran outside to see what had happened.
Mark was standing at the barbecue outside the guest wing, looking mortified, as he and Jimmy tried to squelch the flames with towels. It was a totally unsuccessful effort, and by the time the fire trucks roared through the gate ten minutes later, there was a good-sized blaze going. Alex was horrified, and Coop was worried about the house. It took the firemen less than three minutes to put it out. No great damage had been done, except that several of the neatly trimmed hedges had been scorched pretty badly. But by then, the firemen had spotted Coop, and for the next ten minutes he was signing autographs, and exchanging war stories with them, including his experiences as a volunteer firefighter in Malibu thirty years before.
He offered them each a glass of wine, which they declined, but they were still standing around admiring him and enjoying his stories half an hour later, while Mark continued to apologize, and Coop assured him there was no harm done, when Alex's pager went off, and she called the hospital on her cell phone while the others talked.
She walked away from the center of conversation so she could hear better. Two of their preemies had coded, and one had died. The resident on duty had his hands full and needed her to come in. A new patient was on its way in, a preemie that was hydrocephalic. She glanced at her watch as she approached the group again. She had promised to be back at the hospital in fifteen minutes, or less, if she could.
“What's your specialty?” Jimmy asked quietly as the others continued chatting. Coop had noticed neither her page, nor the conversation on the cell phone. He was too busy talking to the firemen and entertaining the entire group, but Jimmy had been intrigued by the questions he'd heard her ask on her cell. She sounded competent in the extreme.
“Neonatology I'm a resident at UCLA.”
“It must be interesting,” he said pleasantly, as she caught Coop's attention and told him she had to leave.
“Don't let these two arsonists scare you off,” Coop said with a grin in Mark's direction. Coop was being remarkably relaxed about the entire episode, which impressed Alex no end. Her father would have had a fit.
“They didn't,” she smiled at him, “what's a little bonfire among friends? The hospital called me. I have to go in.”
“They did? When? I didn't hear anything.”
“You were busy. I've got to be there in ten minutes. I'm really sorry.” She had warned him, but it was always disconcerting when it happened. And she'd been having a nice time with him.
“Why don't you just have a quick bite to eat before you go. It looks like an awfully good dinner.”
“I know. I'd love to stay, but they need me. They've just had two emergencies, and there's another one on its way in. I've got to run,” she said apologetically. She could see that Coop was disappointed, and so was she, but she was used to it. “I had a great time anyway. I loved the swim.” She had been there for almost three hours, which was practically a record when she was on call. She said goodbye to Jimmy and Mark, and Coop walked her back to her car, as the firemen packed their gear on the trucks, and she promised to call him later. He was back in the group two minutes later, smiling and at ease.
“Well, that was short and sweet,” he said with a rueful look at his tenants. They had grown accustomed to being called “houseguests.” And he seemed to actually believe they were.
