A Home for the Firefighter

by Amie Denman

  “I know what I’m doing tomorrow,” she said. “I’m taking her to the airport, even though I had to give up an overtime shift I was planning to work.”

  “Nice of you.”

  “I should have gone yesterday instead of sending you. I want to do this for her since who knows when I’ll ever see her again?”

  Kate was surprised at the emotion that crept into her voice and the faint stinging in her eyes. She was not a sentimental person who clung to people or places. She didn’t want to be that person whose life was a bomb shelter filled with safe choices.

  “Off to the airport,” Brady said cheerfully. “A glimpse into your future. And you never did tell me all about your visit to the flight attendant school. I know what the fire academy was like, but I don’t know about the training you’ll have to go through. Do you get to use the emergency slide?”

  Happy to have a change of subject, Kate worked her way through a plate of pasta while telling Brady all about the courses she would take: the rules of airline travel and the finer points of luggage restrictions and running the ticket counter.

  “What about fire safety? What kind of fire suppression systems do the different aircraft have?” he asked.

  Kate lifted one shoulder in a small shrug. “I don’t know yet. That’s one of the things I’ll have to learn.”

  Even though she’d be miles away without any intention of coming back to Cape Pursuit, she knew she would think of Brady every time fire safety came up in her classes. It was a good thing she was walking away from him in a few months before he got any deeper under her skin.

  * * *

  BRADY PULLED THE main pumper out of the station and parked it on the wide front apron. He got out and put the wheel chocks in place, kicking them for good measure to make sure they were tight and the truck wouldn’t roll. A kid went by on her bicycle and Brady waved to her, wondering if she’d grow up to be a firefighter. He headed back into the station to pull out another truck so they could hose down the interior floor, but movement on the sidewalk caught his eye.

  Kate.

  He strode across the concrete to meet her. “Nice surprise,” he said, wondering if it would be appropriate to kiss her while at work in plain view. The other firefighters were in the station, some of them moving trucks and some doing a preliminary sweep of the floor for its weekly scrub down.

  “I’m afraid I’m starting to be a pest,” she said. “I should have called first.”

  He caught her hand. “What do you need?”

  “To borrow your truck.”

  “Okay.”

  Kate laughed. “Aren’t you even going to ask why?”

  “I already know why. You said you needed it, and that’s good enough for me.”

  He just wished he was good enough that Kate would see he was worth a long-term relationship and not the half-measure bound-for-disappointment summer romance they were currently having.

  “My car is sort of out of commission this morning.”

  “Won’t start?”

  She shook her head. He tightened his grip on her hand with a sudden streak of worry. “You didn’t have an accident last night while you were driving people around, did you?”

  He would have heard about it for certain if anything had happened to her within the Cape Pursuit Fire Department’s jurisdiction.

  “No. At least, not the kind you’re thinking of. I took some passengers home way after midnight from the bar and one of them puked in the back of my car. I thought I had it cleaned out last night, but after sitting overnight with the windows up, the smell almost knocked me back ten feet when I opened the door this morning.”

  Brady smiled. “Want to borrow my air freshener?”

  “I think only time and fresh air is going to help that problem.”

  Brady reached into his pocket and pulled out his truck keys. “It’s all yours. I’ll be here until at least seven tonight, so I won’t miss it.”

  “It’s only two hours to Richmond, but Holly’ll probably want me to hang out with her until she has to go through security and out to her gate. She’s nervous about flying.”

  “Take your time.”

  He trusted Kate completely with his vehicle. She was an excellent driver—something he knew from experience working with her—and she was truthful with him and her other friends. He didn’t worry about the truck, but he did worry that seeing her friend off at the airport might inspire Kate to move up her own departure plans. She loved being on the road. Would going to an airport and watching someone else take off make her want to do the same?

  Kate took the keys from his outstretched palm and let her fingers graze his wrist. If only he could pull her close and hold on until she changed her mind about always wanting to run away.

  He swallowed and fought the emotion that came from the simple act of handing her a set of keys as if he was handing her freedom. “Wish Holly the best for me,” he said.

  She nodded, a serious expression on her lovely face. “I wish I knew how it was going to work out for her. Going home.” She shook her head. “I hope it’s what she really wants.”

  “Be careful,” Brady said.

  “I’ll bring your truck back without a scratch.”

  “I don’t give a damn about the truck. But I’ll be looking forward to seeing you.”

  Kate looked into his eyes for a long time without moving and Brady almost lost the battle about kissing her when she suddenly touched her fingers to her own lips and then to his before turning and walking toward the parking lot.

  As if the gods of public safety wanted to torture him, it was one of the slowest days in the history of the department. There were no false alarms. No fires. Only one tiny fender bender for which they were canceled before they even rolled out of the station. She should be getting back. It had been about five hours. Brady took all the furniture out of the break room. Every folding table, every chair. He stacked them neatly and scrubbed the walls and floor.

  When he finished inside, he attacked the gutters. How had a department with easy access to ladders allowed so many leaves to settle into their rain gutters? He climbed onto the department’s roof with an empty five-gallon bucket and scooped leaves out of the gutters. It had been almost seven hours now. Was Kate okay? Had she gotten on a plane, too? He had to climb down from the roof several times and empty his bucket, each time enjoying the satisfaction of doing something beneficial. And keeping his thoughts from driving him crazy.

  “What kind of trouble is chasing you today?”

  Brady glanced down at the ground as he stepped onto the top of the ladder with his last bucket of leaves. He’d scooped the gutters on all sides of the building completely clean. Tony was below, shading his eyes as he looked up.

  “Just staying busy, Chief,” Brady said. “Nobody seems to need us today.”

  “That’s a good thing.”

  Brady backed down the ladder and put his bucket of leaves on the ground.

  “Something under your skin?” Tony asked.

  Brady shrugged. It was nothing he could put into words even though he considered Tony a friend. He knew Tony had struggled with his relationship with Laura. He would probably understand what it was like to want someone you couldn’t have, but what was the use of bellyaching about something he’d brought on himself? He could have kept his distance from Kate from the start instead of letting himself fall into the habit of hoping for something that would never happen. That’s what he should have done, but then he would have missed out on precious time with her that would never come around again.

  “I came out to tell you your friend Kate is back with your truck. She just pulled into the lot.”

  “Thanks,” Brady said.

  Tony took the bucket. “I’ve got this. And I’ll put the ladder away, too. You’ve done more than your share today and you can go ahead and leave. It’s almost time,
and there’s nothing going on here.”

  “Thanks,” Brady repeated, hoping he could spend the evening with Kate.

  Brady walked through the station and found Kate standing out front. She held out his keys and he took them wordlessly, a thousand questions reeling through his head.

  “I’m sorry I was gone for so long. Her flight was delayed and she wanted me to stay. She’s on her way to Tulsa with one stopover in Chicago,” Kate said.

  “Have you been to both those places?” Brady was sure Kate had been nearly everywhere. It was, honestly, a miracle that she’d come back to Cape Pursuit for the summer. Couldn’t she have made her tuition money at any number of slightly-over-minimum-wage jobs? Was there something else that had brought her back? He knew she would never admit it if there were, and it didn’t matter, anyway, because nothing in Cape Pursuit was going to hold her there.

  “More than once,” Kate said. “But I wasn’t sightseeing. I was driving the truck, moving on to my next destination.”

  “I’m glad you’re back,” he said, knowing he meant back in Cape Pursuit for the summer and also back from her trip to the Richmond airport. She’d only been gone about seven hours, but it had seemed like two days. How was he going to cope when she left for good in September? If luck was on his side, he could put his energy into a new house.

  “Me, too. I forgot my sunglasses and I’m ready to give my eyes a rest.”

  Brady felt a wave of the frustration that had been simmering under his skin all day. “I know that you...that we...” He rocked back on his heels and looked up at the early-evening sky. The sun was still bright, and he was sure Kate was being truthful about her tired eyes. But couldn’t he be forgiven for wanting something more?

  “I’m not just glad to be back because I’m tired of driving,” Kate said. She stepped closer and, even though they weren’t physically touching, Brady felt connected to her in a way that was sure to hurt when the connection inevitably broke. “I’m glad to see you.”

  He smiled, the tension leaving his body with just a few little words from her. “I was serious when I said I didn’t care about that truck. But I was afraid you’d keep driving once you got on the road,” he admitted. “I know you love your independence, and this is just a temporary stop—”

  Kate put her hand on his upper arm. “I have no plans to leave before I said I would at the end of the summer.”

  Relief washed through him like a cool drink on a hot day.

  “In fact, I was thinking about you most of the way home.”

  “You were?”

  “I think if we team up, we both have a better chance of winning the grand prize in the employee challenge. We could even make a deal. If either one of us wins it, we agree to split it with the other one.”

  Brady swallowed. She was sticking around for the rest of the summer because of a silly game and a shot at winning it. Was that all he meant to her? Not that she’d promised him anything else.

  “That sounds like a win-win,” he said. “Can’t lose.” He smiled, but he didn’t feel like smiling inside. He’d chuck the whole stupid game just for a chance at something lasting with Kate.

  “Are you busy tonight?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Just leaving, but I wouldn’t mind a shower and change of clothes. Did you have something in mind?” Even if she broke his heart by saying she wanted to compare notes and progress in the online game, he knew he’d be too weak to say no. He’d take whatever scraps she offered and store them up against a fall and winter of loneliness.

  “Nothing special. I thought maybe we could go somewhere where the lights aren’t too bright,” she said, shading her eyes from the sun. “You could tell me about your day and I could buy you dinner as a thank-you for lending me your excellent-smelling truck.”

  “Is fire station smell growing on you?”

  “More than I should admit,” she said.

  Brady’s heart took a risky leap at her words, but he reminded himself to keep the evening in perspective. His relationship with Kate had an expiration date that wasn’t going to change.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  KATE PUT ON her Cape Pursuit Trolley hat and reflected on the fact that Brady Adams always seemed to be close by. When she agreed to drive the trolley in the annual Cape Pursuit Fourth of July Parade, she didn’t know a massive fire truck would be right behind her in the lineup. And she certainly couldn’t have predicted Brady would be the driver of that truck. Had he traded someone else just to be right behind her?

  “Try not to scare me,” Kate told Brady as they waited in a large parking lot that was the staging area for the parade.

  “I doubt I could even if I wanted to,” Brady said.

  Kate laughed. “Okay, I mean try not to startle me. I have the lives of a dozen summer workers in my hands.”

  “I’ll only blow the air horn when it’s absolutely necessary,” Brad said.

  “What would necessitate that?”

  Brady blew out a breath and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Well, I’d have to blow the horn if I saw someone I knew along the route.”

  “Which is everybody.”

  “Not everybody, but more than ten. And I’d pull the air horn if a little kid ran into the road for candy and I needed to warn him or her.”

  “Acceptable,” Kate agreed.

  “And, of course, anyone with an air horn is obligated to make some noise if someone makes the universal air horn gesture.” Brady demonstrated the bent-elbow pull-down that meant the same thing all across the country. Kate had encountered it plenty during her time as a truck driver. She had seldom accommodated any requests because she generally tried to avoid bringing attention to herself. Flying under and outside the radar worked for her as a single woman in a solitary job, and pretty soon she’d be doing a whole different kind of flying.

  The thought took her away from Cape Pursuit for a moment as she imagined spending her time in the skies instead of on the confining highways.

  “Just stick with the program and snake along with the other poor suckers driving in this,” Brady said. “I did it last year and I only survived it because I kept swiping candy out of the bucket.”

  Kate laughed. “I’ll make all my riders share.” She knew there would be astounding quantities of candy onboard the trolley for the summer workers to toss out the windows. Kate had ordered the candy herself based on the notes left from the previous secretary. All the volunteers on the trolley would earn bonus points in the employee game, and Kate was glad she was getting points, too. She had missed the parade the previous summer because she’d taken a shift working George’s ice cream stand near the beach. This year, she would ring the trolley bell all along the parade route.

  She was glad her boss had given her the job of driving the trolley. Creeping along the streets of Cape Pursuit at parade speed would be agonizing with someone else at the wheel. All she had to do was keep an adequate distance between the trolley and the vehicle ahead of her. The car ahead of the trolley was a restored 1930s-era Auburn with big, sweeping fenders and an air of drama. It had flag buntings on the side and carried the parade’s royalty. Kate was already dreading watching the parade queen wave mechanically all along the parade route. What fun could that possibly be for the girl? Sure, she wore a sparkling red dress and had perfect pageant hair, but Kate would rather be driving the trolley or anything else instead of being put on display.

  “I’ll see you at the end,” Brady said. “We’ll both have to get our vehicles off the streets, but then I hope you’re still planning to come to the family picnic.”

  A family picnic. Brady and his brother were taking Bella to the park for an early-afternoon picnic after the parade, and Kate had said yes even though she felt she might be intruding. Her family had never picnicked. Eating on the veranda outside their dining room two or three times a summer had been as close to a dining
adventure as her mother was willing to tolerate. They had their assigned places at the dining room table, and her mother hadn’t seen any reason to alter those places.

  “Sure,” Kate said, trying to muster enthusiasm. “I mean, there’s always a chance George will need me for something with this being such a busy day, but I’m officially off between the parade and my driving shift starting at four.”

  “Good.” Brady smiled. “Bella was excited when I told her the trolley lady would be at our picnic, and Noah would like a chance to get to know you.”

  “Why?” The word was out of her mouth before she considered it.

  “Because you’re a friend of mine,” Brady said. His eyebrows drew together as if he was looking at a puzzle, but then his face relaxed and his smile returned. “It’s just a picnic, Kate. Not a marriage proposal.”

  Words stuck in her throat at the obvious but still jarring joke, and Kate was thrilled to hear a police siren signaling the start of the parade. Without another word, she left Brady standing next to a massive and shiny fire truck and she dove onto the trolley to take refuge behind the driver’s seat. Marriage proposal. What on earth had even made him say such a ridiculous thing?

  Behind her, twelve summer workers lined up, six per side at open windows with buckets of candy. Kate rang the bell and prepared to crawl along despite how much she wanted to put her foot through the floorboard and speed away.

  A siren blared behind her and she heard three sharp blasts of an air horn. In front of her, the parade queen began an agonizingly slow royal wave. Kate couldn’t see her face, but she knew that poor girl had a plastered-on smile no matter how hot she felt in her sparkling dress. By the end of the long parade route, the queen would probably want to jump on Kate’s trolley and escape, too.

  Kate started driving, keeping her prescribed distance from the car ahead, and didn’t look at the crowd.