by Amie Denman
TONY CAUGHT HIS BREATH. Despite his nearly dozen years of firefighting, his blood still pumped with excitement whenever a call came in. Fires, heart attacks, car accidents, beach rescues. All of them activated his love of coming to the rescue, no matter what. Helping other people live was his reason for living.
Catching his breath was pretty darn hard when he realized the woman on the beach was Laura Wheeler. He had no idea why she was in Cape Pursuit, or at the scene of a beach rescue, but he remembered three things about her from the summer before.
He remembered her eyes filled with pain and vulnerability—a look he’d seen so many times in the fire-and-rescue service. He recalled her hair, soft as silk in his fingers as he’d held it while she vomited up her mistakes from the Cape Pursuit Bar and Grill. And he couldn’t forget her dismissal of him... Her dismissal and rejection as if his help had burned her.
Looking at her now, he saw something else. She had the same long dark hair, now streaming with water, but her shoulders were square. Her eyes were the radiant blue he remembered, but the expression in them was...different.
“Everyone seems okay, Chief,” his partner, Travis, said, taking Tony’s attention away from Laura and reminding him that he was the officer in charge, superseding lifeguards and anyone else when he showed up on a scene. “Lifeguards did a good job.”
Tony grunted. Laura was walking over to her lifeguards, who were standing together in a group, animatedly discussing the event. She touched the shoulders of two of them and talked with them in a low, calm voice while Tony and his partner knelt and talked with the rescued swimmers.
He wondered when Laura had arrived in town. If she had moved to Cape Pursuit, he was surprised his cousin Kevin hadn’t mentioned it. Kevin’s upcoming wedding to Laura’s sister, Nicole, meant Tony had expected he’d see Laura in July. But why was she already in town?
“Sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” Travis asked. “Just in case?”
“We’re fine,” one of the teens said.
“Where are your parents?”
“At the hotel,” the other one said, pointing to one of the many beachfront hotels with balconies overlooking the Atlantic.
“We’ll need to talk to them,” Tony said. “Which hotel?”
The teen gave him the information and Tony made the call. Within minutes, a middle-aged man and woman were running across the sand, even though both teens were on their feet and waving sheepishly at their approaching parents.
Tony had seen a similar scene more times than he could remember. The relatives showing up at the hospital just after a car accident, concerned adult children skidding into their parents’ living rooms as the paramedics were loading up someone with chest pain. He’d seen happy endings like this one, but also gut-wrenching sad ones that both tested and reinforced his resolve to continue being a first responder.
“We’re okay,” both boys said at the same time. Their parents hugged them, not seeming to care about getting wet or sandy, and Tony gave them space for a minute before he approached. The teens needed a lesson about getting too far out and going beyond the limits of their swimming abilities, and Tony knew they were probably hearing that message now. He would talk with the parents in a moment and give them their options for further medical care if they felt it was needed.
“Experience is a hard but good teacher,” Laura said seriously, her eyes meeting Tony’s as she came up to him. A touch of the vulnerability he’d seen the previous summer reappeared for a moment, but then she looked away.
“That’s the truth,” he said. “I’ll write up a full report after I talk to their parents.”
“Can I get a copy of that?”
“Uh...sure.” Now that the initial shock of seeing her had worn off somewhat, Tony could have a polite conversation. They weren’t strangers. “How have you been, Laura?”
Her lips parted for a moment as if she was considering her answer. It was strange, meeting this way after not seeing each other for so long. Tony had wondered about her over the past year.
“I’ve been fine. How about you?”
“Fine,” he said. “I’m just surprised to see you.”
“I’m here for the summer,” she said. “Working at the Pursuit of Fun beach shack and supervising all the teen workers.”
A summer job. Spending time with her sister before she got married. The pieces began to fall into place and Tony felt his shoulders relax.
“Teaching high school is good practice for that, I’d bet,” he said.
Laura tilted her head and raised both eyebrows a hair. “You remember I’m a teacher.”
“I remember,” he said. He didn’t elaborate on what else he remembered from the previous summer, as he thought Laura was just as likely to want to forget it. “Are you a lifeguard?”
She shook her head.
“You’re not a lifeguard, but you ran into the ocean and tried to save people anyway,” he said. Exactly the kind of bystander he and his partners on the fire department didn’t love. The kind that often needed to be rescued, too.
“We actually did save them,” she said. Her cheeks colored and she crossed her arms.
“You shouldn’t put yourself in danger.”
“You do it all the time,” she said.
“That’s different. I’m a trained first responder with a lot of experience.”
“You weren’t here,” Laura said. “And I was. Besides, I’m more capable than you think.”
Tony clenched his jaw, not wanting to argue with Laura, knowing he wouldn’t win. She was right about being there and being successful, but it could have quickly gone in another direction. Good intentions only went so far and often ended up getting people killed.
“I’ll make sure you get a copy of that report,” he said.
He grabbed his boots and stomped his feet into them without bothering to tie the laces. He didn’t want to think about what could have happened to Laura and how that would have devastated her family, who had already suffered enough.
CHAPTER TWO
LAURA WATCHED THE ambulance depart, envying both Tony and Travis their confidence and bravery. When they rolled up at an emergency, they had no idea what they might face. She could almost forgive Tony for lecturing her about jumping in without training. His censure had been arrogant, irritating...and at least partly true.
Her bare toes were in the sand, and the calming pattern of waves breaking on the beach behind her was as familiar as the sound of her own breathing. But something was stirring her thoughts, not letting her go.
When the fatal news of her brother’s loss in a forest fire out west had destroyed her family’s peace two years ago, her only thought had been to run away. She hadn’t physically run. Until ten days ago, she had continued to live in the home that still had her brother’s favorite mug in the kitchen cabinet. Instead, she’d emotionally tried to put distance between herself and that day, and she hadn’t succeeded.
Drinking wasn’t the answer. Burying herself in American History by attempting to write a historical novel had gone nowhere. Dating a man who loved himself far more than he cared about her... Uh, no. He hadn’t been much better than the immature guy she dated after him.
Only one thing had gotten her out her bed on those dark winter mornings, and it was the idea that someone might need her, that someone was suffering more than she was.
“Excellent work,” she said to Kimberly and Jordan. “You each get a save on your record.” The lifeguards beamed, their wet hair gleaming in the sun. “Go back to the hut and take a break while I get your areas covered and we reopen the beach to swimmers.”
Laura followed established protocol, explaining only what was necessary to other beach guests and getting the swimming area back to normal. Laura thought about what could have gone wrong and what she would have done.
If the swimmers hadn’t been bre
athing, what would she have done? She had her CPR certification from being the assistant coach on the cross-country team. So she probably could have done something. But she could do more, couldn’t she? She wanted to do more.
Rebecca’s Aunt Diane was becoming a volunteer firefighter. Just like that. Following an idea and a passion. People reinvented their lives all the time and for all sorts of reasons.
She had reasons.
She thought of Tony’s words about training and experience. What if she shocked him and herself by becoming a rescuer? The thought was bold and jolted her from her head to her toes. Could she join the fire department? She’d tried volunteering and community service. She’d joined a community group raising money for a food kitchen. She’d spent holidays throughout the school year volunteering instead of sitting at her family’s dinner table where someone would always be missing.
She had to admit to herself that her activities had at first been motivated by the need to escape that empty place. And then she’d slowly discovered the truth behind the old saying that helping others was the best way to help herself.
What if she took her volunteer service to a whole new level and became a first responder? As she crossed the beach, she clung to the idea as if it were a valued possession.
Afraid to even say it aloud, she kept the thought to herself throughout the rest of her long shift, but she mulled it over all day. The idea wouldn’t let go.
The late afternoon sun had lost some of its intensity when Laura parked her bicycle in front of the Cape Pursuit fire station. She was careful not to block the five massive overhead doors, which were open to reveal shining fire trucks. She had a reason for being there, a solid reason for asking where Tony Ruggles might be so she could get information for her incident report. But she also had a secret fire in her chest.
At the front of the station, a sign with changeable black letters advertised the upcoming volunteer class. Was that the one Diane was taking? Maybe she should call Rebecca’s aunt and talk to her?
Those trucks were beautiful. The lights, the chrome, the complicated pumps, the ladders stored along the sides...and the tires. Huge and waist high, the thick black rubber tires looked as if they could plow over any obstacle. The power was intoxicating, and she wanted to learn their secrets. Had her brother felt that way?
“Hello, Laura.”
She spun, feeling awkward about her fascination with the trucks. Tony stood, arms crossed, as if she were an intruder in his domain. His dark navy uniform shirt was buttoned neatly, and a silver bar over a chest pocket said Chief Ruggles. Hadn’t he been a captain last summer?
“The report,” she stammered. “You said I could contact you for information so I can complete my incident report about today’s...incident.”
He nodded, but his expression didn’t change even when she stumbled over her words. She almost wished he would laugh at her and break the tension. Her chest thrummed with excitement, but she wanted to appear calm and deliberate.
“Come into my office,” he said.
Laura somehow felt safer in the middle of the wide bay surrounded by the trucks. They inspired confidence. Tony, with his look of professional neutrality, did not make her feel as if she were a woman on a mission to change her life by changing the world around her.
“Thank you,” she said, bravery in her tone. “Lead the way.”
Tony had already started to turn toward a long interior wall with several doors down it, but he paused and looked back at her when she spoke. Good. He should know she wasn’t intimidated by him.
Tony opened one of the doors in the long wall. Laura entered the cool, dim office with faded color photographs of former chiefs on the walls, a massive steel desk and functional ugly furniture.
“When did you become the chief?” she asked.
“At the end of last summer.”
Small talk. It bridged the gap of the past year and built a tiny social foundation between her and Tony, but it was a delay. She needed to tell him her real reason for coming to the fire station.
“Your dad was the chief, wasn’t he?”
Tony nodded.
“And you followed in his footsteps.”
Tony’s forehead wrinkled and Laura recognized irritation in his expression.
“I earned it if that’s what you’re asking.” He tried to smile, but it was nothing like the friendly smile he’d given the kids on the beach, their parents and even his firefighting partner. Her impression of Tony from the previous summer was of a lighthearted but sincere man who would do anything to help someone. But no one likes having their work questioned.
“Of course you earned it,” she said, putting enthusiasm behind her words to try to dispel the tension.
Tony’s features relaxed. “My dad retired and there was a shift in leadership positions. I was in the right place at the right time. Kevin is a captain now, but your sister probably already told you that.”
Before arriving in Cape Pursuit for the summer to live with her sister, Laura talked to Nicole almost every week on the phone and more often via text message and email, but the fire department was not something they typically talked about.
Tony handed Laura a printed copy of the report from the beach run. “That’s an extra. You can take it with you,” he said.
Was he dismissing her?
“I wanted to make sure it was available for you since I’m going off duty in about an hour,” he added.
Oh. He was being considerate and organized. Of course. He helped people and didn’t ask questions. When he’d taken her keys away from her in the parking lot of the Cape Pursuit Bar and Grill and held open the door of his truck, he’d hardly said a word. As she disgraced herself being sick from too many drinks on an empty stomach, he’d held her hair and offered her damp washcloths.
The memory burned her cheeks. If he had seen her over the course of the past year, he would probably have tried to rescue her. The days she’d left her teaching job and sat in the parking lot, head on the steering wheel, fighting tears. The nights she slipped out of the house after her parents were asleep so she could go for long walks without answering questions.
That was why she had come to Cape Pursuit. She was doing so much better than what he probably thought. At least she was trying...
“How did you become a firefighter?” she asked, forcing the subject into the open before she chickened out.
Tony cocked his head to the side and drew his eyebrows together.
“I mean, what did you have to do to become qualified?” she asked.
“To be a professional firefighter, you have to take hundreds of hours of training,” he said.
“What kind of training?”
Tony’s expression softened. “Sit down,” he said, indicating one of the much-used chairs in the office. “Please.”
Laura sat, but she kept her back straight so she would feel strong and powerful. She needed her strength for what she was about to do.
“I feel like you must have a reason for asking,” Tony said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He looked sympathetic, as if he were talking to a lost child. He wasn’t much older than she was, and she was not lost. In fact, she was starting to feel quite found. “Is this about your brother?”
“No,” Laura said, shaking her head. “It’s about me.” She took a deep breath and let it out, knowing Tony would be patient enough to wait a moment for her explanation. “I’d like to become a volunteer firefighter.”
* * *
IT WAS NOT the first time Tony had talked with someone coming into the fire station and asking about joining as either a volunteer or a full-timer. Firefighters tended to attract attention with their high-profile jobs, big trucks and loud sirens. The station, too, was prominently located and took up half a block in Cape Pursuit.
He was glad every time someone came in and asked about joining the
ir ranks because he believed it was the best and most noble profession. Believed in helping others even at the risk of his own life. Believed in his men, his trucks and their training.
He couldn’t believe Laura Wheeler was sitting in his office asking to sign up. The fact that she was a woman had nothing to do with his shock. Cape Pursuit didn’t have any women on the roster, but most local departments did and he’d had female instructors at the fire academy who’d easily dispelled any myth about men being better able to do the job.
No, it wasn’t that she was female. It was that she was Laura Wheeler. The woman who had been cast adrift by her firefighter brother’s death. He’d asked about her since their meeting last year, indirectly and discreetly. His best friend and cousin Kevin was marrying Laura’s sister, so it wasn’t far off the mark for Laura to come up in conversation.
Nothing he’d heard would have made him think Laura was a candidate for the fire service, but she was right there looking at him with expectation written in the set of her mouth and intensity in her eyes.
“A volunteer firefighter,” she repeated. “Not an astronaut, so you don’t need to look so shocked.”
“I’m not shocked,” Tony said quickly, but he doubted he was very convincing.
“Women can fight fires.”
“Yes,” he said. “I’ve known other women in the fire service who could outclimb me on ladders, outdrive me in the trucks and just generally outsmart me.”
Laura raised both eyebrows, a look she had probably perfected with teenagers making up excuses about their homework.
“I just didn’t think firefighting...after what happened with...”
“My brother, Adam,” Laura said steadily as if she wanted to get it out in the open. “Yes. He died doing this. It was a forest fire, but it was a fire. And yes, I’m sure you think I must be out of my mind to want to do this.”
“I don’t think you’re out of your mind.”
“Good,” she said. “How can I join the department?”
“We...have an application process. And there’s training, of course. Volunteers don’t need nearly as much as full-time staff, but there’s still a lot you would need to know.”
