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  Fire

  FIRE, Volume 1

  K. Lumpkin

  Published by K. Lumpkin, 2022.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  FIRE

  First edition. August 9, 2022.

  Copyright © 2022 K. Lumpkin.

  Written by K. Lumpkin.

  Also by K. Lumpkin

  Covering All Wrongs

  Covering All Wrongs (Coming Soon)

  Hope Fulfilled (Coming Soon)

  FIRE

  Fire (Coming Soon)

  RIVER (Coming Soon)

  Watch for more at K. Lumpkin’s site.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Also By K. Lumpkin

  Fire

  FIRE | Copyright © 2020 by Kenya Lumpkin | Draft2Digital Edition

  "K. Lumpkin brings us a beautiful and heartwarming story about love amidst adversity" (Becky Reddell, Reedsy Discovery Book Reviewer and Indie Author). | FROM THE AUTHOR

  About the Author

  ^

  FIRE

  Copyright © 2020 by Kenya Lumpkin

  Draft2Digital Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this book are purely the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.

  Cover photo by Nathan Lindahl

  “...and we have heard His voice from the fire”

  (Deuteronomy 5:24)

  Chapter I

  It was a blustery February day.

  ‘Oh, dear.’ Kyana put her hands together on the steering wheel and began to pray. The snow wickedly clamored down from the heavens. It was only 4:30 in the afternoon, but the darkness that had suddenly blanketed the sky gave an appearance of midnight. Kyana had been blinded as she shoveled off the ten inches of white substance holding her car hostage. She realized just how frostbitten her hands were when she got into the car, reached into her coat pocket, and tried to find her keys. Kyana’s pocket was empty other than the keys, but she found herself groping for them in futility nonetheless. She could feel nothing except the burn of her hands. Finally, there was the vague but welcome sensation of metal against her finger. After repeatedly fumbling the key, she had to use both hands to fit it in the ignition. She turned the key, but there was no sound. She waited a few moments and then with breath held, tried again. There was nothing. Knowing continuing would be pointless, she decided to pray.

  ‘Lord, please make it start. You know I don’t have time to call and wait for road service. Please, Lord, make it start.’ The bright illumination from a vehicle pulling into her apartment building’s parking lot interrupted her prayer. She assumed the lights were from a truck or a van because they were at such a high level in comparison with those of her little burgundy Nissan.

  Kyana squinted through the haze of snow that beat down on her windshield then her chest tensed a bit, as two dark figures approached her car. One knocked on her window. Kyana’s finger hovered over the button momentarily then she rolled down her window to the gentle face of a Caucasian young lady who appeared to be in her mid-twenties, as Kyana was, and she breathed a small sigh of relief. “Are you okay?” inquired a somewhat husky voice from behind the young woman. Kyana then realized that he had been peering over the lady’s shoulder the whole time. The man was African-American or of some African heritage. Kyana dismissed her questioning thoughts because they were irrelevant, especially now.

  “I think my battery’s dead,” she replied in a voice as steady as she could muster under the circumstances. She was trying to remain calm and convince herself that her car would start.

  “We’ll give you a jump.” Being from New York, she’d usually heard the term “boost” but assumed a Baltimore “jump” and a New York “boost” were one in the same. “Just pop your hood.” She did and began to get out of the car. “No, stay in there. It’s frigid out here.” He was right. It had to be below freezing with the wind chill, something to which her chattering teeth could attest and a reason why the snow was rapidly turning to ice.

  The young woman, with the help of this man, gingerly made it back to the unidentifiable vehicle just a few feet away and shut herself in with the heat. Kyana watched the shadowy figure return. Even with his heavy winter gear, Kyana could tell that his build was slight but muscular enough to make her car shake when he applied his weight against it. Finally, he said, “I’m really sorry. I can’t get your hood up. It seems to be frozen shut.” Kyana got out of the car. “I’ll get my tools from the truck.”

  “Don’t bother,” she said but was unsure that he heard her, as he looked at her a moment later with surprise. He took the heavy toolbox that she usually kept in the trunk out of her hand. She silently thanked God that she had moved the box to the front of the car that morning because she might not have been able to get into the trunk now.

  “Wow!” he said, as she guided a stray hair from in front of her eye. She wondered what he was so impressed over. “You’ve got everything you’d ever need in here!” he exclaimed, as he chipped away the ice that was sealing the hood shut. He opened the hood. For the first time, the snow settled down enough so that she could take a good look at his face.His complexion was a smooth copper with brilliant mahogany undertones. He had beautiful, warm fudge and vanilla elliptical eyes, the fudge nearly eclipsing the vanilla. She could not see his eyebrows because his hood was hiding them, but she could not help but to notice those eyelashes, which were as long as hers, capturing snowflakes that came to rest on them. His overall face was very strong and masculine, but the quiet innocence of his eyes made him look very youthful. It took all of two seconds for her to make this summation. Kyana quickly turned her face away, but now he was looking at her.

  He smiled slightly. Kyana slipped back into her car and watched, as he connected the cables. She closed the door to a crack but began to shiver in the wait. She stepped out when he returned from letting his vehicle run. He looked at her for a brief moment before stating, “By the way, my name is David Immanuel Mitchell.” Kyana found it odd that he stated his full name. She thought only she did that. “What’s yours?” He smiled again at her, more widely this time, teeth perfect in straightness and sparkling white. His eyes were warm and held a smile of their own. He walked past her, sat in her car, and turned the key in the ignition. The sound of the car turning on was beautiful. He rejoined her after disconnecting the cables and repeated his question.

  “Oh, I’m Kyana Milena Cel`on.”

  “Kee-ahn-uh Mee-len-uh Se-lone?”

  “Yes.” His voice was deep yet quiet and soothing as well, which she especially noticed when he said her name.

  “Oh, that is absolutely beautiful.”

  Kyana whispered her thanks and hoped he had not noticed her blush. “Is your name biblical?” she asked.

  “Yes. My brother’s name is Solomon Micah Mitchell, believe it
or not, and my sister’s is Rachel Ruth Burroughs. I love Immanuel because it means ‘God with us’, and I know that He is always with and within me. David is too common, though.”

  ‘Is he a Christian?’ she wondered. “I don’t know that many Davids, and I’ve always liked that name. Besides, your parents must have known you were going to be someone very special to have named you that.” She broke eye contact with him momentarily and quickly changed the subject before he could respond. “Thank you so much. I really have to get somewhere now in a hurry and would have had a hard time getting there without you.” She was going to tell him his helping her was the answer to her prayers, but she could not chance getting into another conversation.

  “Do you need a ride? The roads are really, really bad, and I have a four-wheel drive.”

  “That’s okay. Thanks again.” He asked her if she was sure, expressing concern that she might have trouble because the roads were probably only going to get worse. She assured him that she would be fine. He frowned at her and sighed. After hesitating a few moments, however, he locked his arm in hers, at which point she immediately stiffened. He glanced at her sideways but continued to maintain his hold as he helped her back into the car. “Listen,” he said once she was seated, “I know you’re in a hurry, but can we please exchange numbers? It’s been such a pleasure meeting you.”

  Kyana found his comment strange but also unusually sweet given that he had been so incredibly nice. He handed her two cards, one with a name and number on the back, the other blank. She turned the blank card over and read, ‘D. Mitchell’s Chesapeake Seafood’; under this title the business and fax numbers were listed. Kyana had never given her number out to a stranger.

  After writing her number as legibly as her shivering hands could manage, she handed the card back to him, all the while explaining why the writing was so awful.

  “You should close yourself in with the heat before you lose a limb to this frost!”

  After Kyana slammed her door shut from the chilling wind, she did indeed turn on the heat and watched curiously through her car window as David trudged through the snow back to his truck. She wondered if this could be her knight in shining armor or he was simply a good Samaritan with a handsome face. Her heart sunk a bit with a note of the latter when he jumped into the driver’s seat of his truck and the card that he must have thought he was stuffing into his pocket with his frostbitten hand was caught in the wind. Somewhat deflated, Kyana watched as the card fell to the ground and disappeared into a snowbank. He was not moving, so she assumed he was waving her on to go ahead of him. ‘Oh, well,’ she thought as she drove off, ‘it wasn’t meant to be. He probably wouldn’t have called, and that lady is probably his girlfriend anyway. Put it out of your mind, Kyana. You’ll find someone someday when you least expect it.’

  Chapter II

  “When are you going to give up Marcus?” Kyana laughed. “I’ve already told you I’m not doing it.” Kyana propped herself up after feeling herself sink deeper into the plush cushioned sofa as she sat next to her best friend, Natasha. Natasha and her husband, Marcus, lived in a three-bedroom loft in the Clarendon section of Arlington, Virginia. Kyana enjoyed visiting them, although her busy work and school schedule did not allow her to do so often. The background of car horns and the outdoor commotion was reminiscent of summers spent with cousins in midtown Manhattan. She had always found the environment foreign to that of her upbringing in suburban Westchester County, a welcome vacation from the norm.

  Kyana, Natasha, and their other best friend, Camille, had met each other as freshman roommates at Spelman College in Atlanta. Marcus had come into their lives soon thereafter, quickly making his way into their hearts with Natasha as beau and Kyana and Camille as faithful friend. At the time, he was relentless in attempting to find someone for Kyana. Initially, she had been quite the willing participant. Over the course of the last couple of years, however, she had become resolute in the opposite direction.

  Natasha rubbed her ever-growing belly and shook her head. “I told you she wasn’t going to go for it.”

  “And why should I? Marcus, how many times do I have to tell you? I’m not into the dating thing anymore.”

  Marcus persisted. Leaning forward on the Ottoman, he asked, “How are you going to meet someone if you never go out with anybody?”

  “God will bring me someone just at the right time.” Kyana nodded assuredly.

  “Kyana, it isn’t that God can’t do that. We all know He can, but you’re not even trying to help Him out.”

  Kyana laughed again. “Marcus, you have got to be kidding. Help Him out? I don’t have to do that. I’ve already tried. Remember?”

  “You have to admit that some of those guys I introduced you to were cream of the crop.”

  Now Kyana roared, and Natasha joined her. Finally regaining her composure, Kyana told him, “Oh, you kill me! Marcus, even the ones who started out as Mr. Wonderful turned out to be at the very best Mr. Weird. I was always left wondering ‘what is wrong with this guy and what is wrong with me for doing this again.’ I mean, it’s all so pointless. I would go out with someone for a few dates or even a few months only to find out that he was overly possessive, overly lustful, or overly something else.”

  Marcus shook his head, but his wife came to her best friend’s defense. “Kyana is just waiting for God to bring someone into her life at the right time and in the right way. You have to respect...” The doorbell rang.

  “Who could that be?” Marcus winked at Natasha then jumped up to get the door. Kyana asked Natasha what she thought that was about, but she just shrugged. The two best friends sat there chatting about the excitement over the new baby.

  “Hel-lo.” Kyana looked up and was greeted by the subtle yet satisfied smile of the finely clad gentleman standing next to Marcus. Eyebrow cocked, he slowly looked Kyana once over. Her eyes went from Marcus, who was smiling gleefully, to Natasha, whose mouth was knit tightly, as she glared at her husband.

  “Larry,” Marcus said, “this is my wife, Natasha. Natasha, this is my business associate, Larry Wasp.”

  He walked over and extended his hand to Natasha. “Oh, please don’t get up. I’m sure you should be off of your feet as much as possible. How far along are you?”

  Natasha shook his hand and then placed her hand on her belly once again. “I’m three months pregnant. The sad thing is that people can already tell.”

  “Oh, no,” Larry insisted, glancing at Kyana and then returning his attention to Natasha. “I would not have noticed at all if Marcus had not told me you were expecting.”

  Natasha smiled. “My husband has told me a lot about you. I can see why he likes you so much.” Larry chuckled lazily but his gaze had returned to Kyana.

  Marcus introduced the two of them. Larry took Kyana’s hand in his as he said, “I’m very pleased to meet you.” Kyana resisted biting her lip as she returned the greeting. Letting go of her hand slowly, he told her that Marcus’ description of her had not done her justice.

  With her stare fixed on Marcus, she replied, “Marcus hasn’t described y—”

  “Larry, you’re not coming from the office are you?” Natasha hurriedly interrupted. “It’s Saturday.”

  Marcus explained that Larry’s willingness to work those extra hours was why he got all of the top clients. Natasha asked their guest if he would like some lunch, but he declined. The gentlemen excused themselves to discuss some business but said they would return shortly. As Marcus closed the door to the study, he turned around and grinned at Kyana and Natasha like a Cheshire cat.

  ***

  Neither Marcus nor Natasha remarked on Kyana’s initial encounter with Larry Wasp, but she suspected it was on their minds. Thus she was not surprised a few days later when she was planted on the living room floor of her huge one-bedroom apartment, shaking her head at the persistent voice coming through her phone. “I don’t know, Nat.” She looked past her reflection in the sliding glass door to an array of stars outlining th
e sky. She could not believe she was considering this, although Larry had left quite the impression on that rigged Saturday afternoon visit. He had flirted mercilessly, and Kyana feared she had left just as indelible of an impression with her frequent giggling and inability to put two coherent words together.

  “It’s just a phone call, Kyana.”

  “I know, but I’m surprised he would want to call me at all. You heard how I kept fumbling words.” She had not been able to think of a fitting response to anything he said, every reply grossly inarticulate. Natasha told her that things had not been that bad, and Kyana snorted.

  “Come on, Kyana. You know that I understand where you are as far as the dating thing is concerned, but he just wants to call you. You have to admit that Larry seems pretty nice.” That she did. “He has a good job, he’s handsome, he’s a Christian...what’s there to lose? Like I said, it’s just a phone call.”

  “That requires talking, something I failed at miserably last time.”

  “Would you rather go on a date with him? That way you wouldn’t be forced to talk the whole time.”

  “Good grief, no! I can see myself getting so nervous that I squirt my salad dressing on him. My stomach’s getting sick just thinking about it.”

  “You’d be fine, Kyana, and you’ll be fine on the phone.”

  “How do you know he’s a Christian?”

  “Marcus told me.” Kyana wanted to know how Marcus knew. “He told him.”

  “Did he tell him in the course of a general conversation or while talking specifically about my beliefs?”

  Natasha sighed exaggeratedly, “I don’t know, but you met him. Couldn’t you tell?” Larry had talked about God, but Kyana could not tell for sure from the one visit. “Kyana, you should at least think about it. This is a nice guy who thinks you’re better than what Marcus described.”