by Erin Wright
“Goddamn right I’m gonna talk to the council ‘bout this!” Mr. Stultz practically growled, but he let his friend lead him away.
Jaxson turned back to the fire, trying to keep his face blank, even as anger and worry roiled in his guts. He hadn’t even been on the job for a week, and people were already talking about calling for his resignation.
He couldn’t be fired from this job. He just couldn’t. He had too damn much riding on it. He wasn’t going to let Kendra win. He wasn’t going to lose his kids. This job didn’t just give him a paycheck – it gave him a way to get his kids back. They’d have to pry it out of his cold, dead hands.
Once the fire died down, leaving just a shell of blackened bricks behind, Jaxson began winding the hose back up on the truck. The snow on every rooftop in town certainly helped in keeping the fire contained. If it’d been the middle of August when this fire had started…Jaxson shuddered to think about it.
He drove back to the firehouse, no sirens or lights flashing this time, his spirits equally as depressed and quiet. This was not how he’d envisioned his career would start out in the Sawyer Fire Department. Dylan was sitting in the passenger seat of the firetruck and in stark contrast to the excited babble on the way to the fire, Dylan was stone-cold quiet now. Jaxson snuck a look at the kid out of the corner of his eye, but Dylan was looking out of the passenger-side window. Was he hiding his face from Jaxson? Was he that angry or disappointed or whatever in his new chief?
Jaxson carefully backed into the open bay, hitting the garage door fob once he was squared away, the grinding gears of the closing of the overhead door the only sound in the dead silence of the fire station.
Jaxson was climbing out of the truck wearily when James started in on him. “What the hell was that?” the man shouted, his bushy mustache bouncing with every word. “We go to a fire so we can watch the building burn? If I just wanted to stand around and watch shit burn to the ground, I coulda skipped a whole lot of training hours!”
Jaxson advanced on the older man, his patience gone. Snapped. Disappeared along with the flames of the mill fire.
“Are you screwing with me right now? Whose brilliant idea was it to leave fire hydrants scattered around this podunk town that don’t goddamn work?!”
“Podunk town? You’re the one who applied for this job! If you don’t like it, you can just take your ass back to Boise, and don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!”
“I would like this job just fine if I had working equipment,” Jaxson ground out.
“I could’ve told you that the fire hydrant on that street corner didn’t work, if you’d bothered to ask! But noooooo…you have to run on down to the damn mill without me or anyone else who knows anything, so you could play hero!”
“I took the crew who was here and ready to go,” Jaxson growled. “Not my fault that you weren’t! Dylan managed to make it here on time. What’s your excuse?”
“Not all of us get to sit around at the firehouse all day, shuffling papers around. Some of us actually do something with ourselves for our paychecks. Speaking of which, there’s a whole lotta people right now who’d probably like their propane so they don’t freeze their asses off tonight. I still have to do deliveries for Frank’s. C’mon, Robert. Let’s get some real work done.”
The smaller man trailed behind James, the door slamming shut behind them. Jaxson turned to the rest of the crew. “Anyone want to tell me why on God’s green earth you have fire hydrants that don’t work?”
A man about Jaxson’s age with dark brown hair stepped forward. “That fire hydrant hasn’t worked for a while. Chief Horvath always said that the city just didn’t care too much about getting ‘em fixed, so…” He trailed off, shrugging.
“And you are?” Jaxson asked. He hadn’t met this guy at the meet-and-greet earlier in the week, he was pretty sure, although faces were starting to blend together on him.
“Luke Nash.” He shook Jaxson’s hand. “My worker Dylan rode over with you.”
“Well, Luke, do you or anyone else know why the hell the tank on this truck is so damn small?” Jaxson jerked his thumb at the fire engine.
A couple of the men shrugged, and then Moose spoke up. “The truck at the dealership has a much bigger tank. We use that one when we have to pump off the truck, and this one when we can access a fire hydrant.”
“A fire hydrant that actually works?” Jaxson asked dryly.
“Yeah, one of those.” Moose shot Jaxson an apologetic smile.
“When is the tanker due back from the dealership?”
“Tomorrow afternoon, probably.”
“Well, let’s hope that nothing burns down between today and tomorrow afternoon, then. Thanks for your help, everyone. I’m guessing that you have paperwork that you have to fill out to get paid for this fire?” At the nods of the men, Jaxson jerked his head. “Better get to it. Oh, does anyone have the time or inclination to drive with me ‘round town? I’d like a map of all of the hydrants, and I want someone who knows whether they’re in working order or not, so it needs to be someone who’s pretty damn familiar with them.”
Levi spoke up. “I’d normally tell ya to talk to James, but since that’s not gonna do you much good, I’d be happy to go with. I’ll tell you all I know.”
“Much ‘ppreciated,” Jaxson said. “Thanks, everyone.”
The men began to drift away, and Levi came up. “When do you want to do this?” he asked, leaning against the wall.
“Well, what does your work schedule look like? Where do you work, by the way?”
“The John Deere dealership,” Levi said.
“Hold on, I thought Moose worked there,” Jaxson said, confused. He could feel the tension begin to build between his shoulder blades. Too many men, and all of their stories were starting to get mixed up on him.
“He does. His dad owns it. Moose’s my best friend. I work as a tig welder for his dad, Mr. Garrett.”
“Tig welder, eh?” Jaxson looked at Levi with new respect. Welding aluminum was damn hard work, and paid real well. Levi probably made as much as Jaxson did.
“Yeah, Mr. Garrett sent me to welding school on his dime. Said it was an investment so he could hire a reliable welder when I graduated.” Levi shrugged, a slight tingeing of red blossoming on his cheeks. “I’ve been working there ever since.”
“You got a vacation day you can put in for tomorrow? I’d like to get started on this as quickly as possible.”
“Sure do. January ain’t the time most farmers are wanting me out there fixing their tractors anyway, so it’s real slow right now. Might as well do something productive. I can only rearrange my tool bench so many times.”
Jaxson chuckled, the first time he’d wanted to even smile all day. “I’ll save you from boredom. In fact, meet me at the Muffin Man tomorrow morning at 8:30, and I’ll buy you some coffee and donuts before we head out.”
“Deal.” Levi shook his hand and then headed out of the bay, the echo of his footsteps fading away, leaving Jaxson alone.
And very, very worried.
Chapter 7
Sugar
Sugar did a quick wipe down of a table, dumping trash into the garbage can by the door and then heading back to the kitchen with the tray. It’d been a busy morning, what with every Sawyerite in the area wanting to come in and give their personal opinion on the job Chief Anderson was (or was not, as the case may be) doing. Sugar wondered if Betty’s Diner was as busy as the Muffin Man had been. Somehow, she was gonna guess yes, although of course she hadn’t had a chance to make it over there herself.
“…stupid.” The front door swung open, letting the last word drift in on the breeze, as Robert, James, and Mr. Stultz came walking in. Sugar barely repressed a groan. This was gonna be a whole lot of no fun whatsoever. No more judgmental men existed on planet Earth than these three, Sugar was sure. If she sneezed right then, she was sure they’d tell her that she’d done it wrong.
“Now we have a fire chief who wo
n’t hook a hose up to a fire hydrant or a tanker,” Mr. Stultz railed. He slammed his oversized coffee mug down on the counter with a jerk of his head towards Sugar. She obediently picked it up to do a refill on it while he continued on. “I can’t believe I’m paying more to this goddamn city so we can have a worthless fire chief who stands around and watches buildings burn down.”
“I told him that, I did,” James told him, and then turned to her. “A bear claw and coffee. Black.” He turned back to his shadow and his sycophant.
Just what a man like James needed – two men egging him on and telling him he was right. Even if he was right, James wasn’t the kind of guy who should be told that. Absolutely no good could come of it.
As Sugar began filling up two coffee cups and grabbing two bear claws – since Robert would eat exactly what James did – James began railing on the new chief. “He told me that I could help him learn the ropes because I know so much shit. I told him I wouldn’t teach him anything. Didn’t I, Robert?”
“He did,” Robert said, nodding seriously. “Everyone heard ‘im.”
Sugar carried a tray over to the table the men had settled in at, and offloaded the coffee and donuts onto the table inconspicuously. No one even bothered looking up.
“He needs a lot more training than I could give him,” James announced. “I can’t believe that damn council picked him over me, and all because of some stupid-ass training levels. Why, I’ve worked in this fire department since Chief Anderson,” he sneered the name, “was in diapers, and the city thinks a few hours of training means he’s more qualified than I am? Idiots, the lot of ‘em.”
Sugar slipped into the back and leaned against the cool cinderblock wall, closing her eyes in frustration. No matter how right James was, he was also a dick. There was only so much James Lasley time that Sugar could handle before her right eyeball started twitching.
“Still dissing on the new chief?” Gage asked quietly, somewhere to her right. She nodded, keeping her eyes closed.
“It’s their new favorite past time. I imagine it’s gonna be for quite some time.” She heard the jingle of the doorbell over the front door and fading away of footsteps. Good. She was surprised they’d left so quickly, but damn happy. This would give her some time to relax before the next person came in to badmouth Jaxson.
She opened up her eyes as she pushed away from the wall, swinging around and heading back out front. She should probably do a sweep up of the dining area before another rush came in. She—
She stopped abruptly. Jaxson froze, his hand hovering over the small dinner bell that sat on the counter for customers to ring in case she was in the back.
“Oh!” she yelped. “I didn’t hear you come in!”
Levi was standing next to Jaxson, his cowboy hat off, quiet as usual. Levi didn’t say much, except to other guys, at least that Sugar could tell. Even though they’d graduated from high school together, Sugar wasn’t sure if they’d ever exchanged more than a hundred words in the twenty years of knowing each other.
“We came in when the…other guys were leaving,” Levi finally offered up, when Jaxson didn’t say anything.
“Oh,” Sugar repeated weakly. I bet that was awkward as hell. I wonder if they even bothered to stop badmouthing him long enough to say hello.
She decided to keep that thought to herself.
“Levi here is going to show me ‘round town and we’re gonna inspect fire hydrants,” Jaxson said with an easy smile. Sugar felt her insides flutter, like freakin’ butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach.
She smiled back faintly. She couldn’t let her nerves show. He didn’t need to know that he affected her because any minute now, she was going to get her nerves under control and he wasn’t going to affect her anymore.
Any minute now.
She scrambled for something to say, when Jaxson’s words finally registered. “Inspect fire hydrants?” she asked, confused. “Why would you need to do that?”
“So that next time someone sets fire to a historical landmark in town, I can actually use the fire hydrant and put the damn fire out,” Jaxson growled, his easy smile disappearing.
“Hold on, you couldn’t use the fire hydrant yesterday?” Sugar was openly staring at him now, which was probably rude, but dammit all, she was totally and thoroughly confused at this point.
“Of course not; otherwise, I would have. But, it was broken. Apparently, it’s been out of repair for years now. As it was, I had to conserve the water in the tank on the truck in case the sparks set something else on fire. I sure as hell didn’t have enough in that tank to put out the mill fire and another fire, if it came to that.”
“Ohhhh…”
She knew she was repeating herself. She knew she sounded like an idiot. But things were finally making sense. Pieces were clicking into place as she stared at him, her mind whirling.
James knew this. He had to have known this. He was at the fire yesterday. And yet, he came in here and was badmouthing Jaxson to Robert and Mr. Stultz and probably anyone else within a ten-mile radius. He’s an asshat, but this is low, even for him.
There were words being spoken, and then Sugar shook her head. “Sorry, what?” she asked blankly.
“I asked if you’re okay. You look…off.” Jaxson was staring at her intently. She wanted to laugh and brush him off, but she couldn’t.
“You need to watch out for James,” she said impulsively, and then gulped. Why was she sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong? Jaxson was a big boy. He could take care of himself.
Jaxson’s face shut down, a guarded, quiet look settling over him. “In here talking shit ‘bout me?” he asked, his voice hard.
She nodded, the tension in her stomach growing. She tried real hard to stay out of city politics; it was safer that way. But she couldn’t stay on the sidelines this time. She could warn him once and then get out of the middle of it. He could take care of himself after that. “He…may not have mentioned that the hydrant was broken.”
“Left that part off, huh? Anyone else bother to bring up that fact?” He was practically growling at this point.
Sugar just shook her head. “No. I’ll be honest – I didn’t know that. No one does. Everyone just thought that you were…”
“Standing around and watching buildings burn to the ground because it’s fun?” he cut in.
She nodded, her face flushed, eyes glued to the ground. She hadn’t helped spread those rumors, of course, but she had listened to them all, and had thought that they were right. People had been crucifying him, and no one had stood up for him.
Not even her.
She couldn’t have known the truth, but still, it made her sick. She knew what it was like having people spread shit about you and not having any control over what they said or thought.
Her face flushed warmer still. She would’ve made a joke about needing to call the fire department to put out the flames in her cheeks, if she wasn’t dying of embarrassment.
Jaxson let out a few choice swear words that made her eyes pop back up to his. She gaped at him.
“Sorry, miss,” he ground out. “I…shouldn’t have said that.” He took a long, deep, shuddering breath and then said, “Coffee and donuts for the two of us, please.”
Sugar nodded and quickly got to work, filling to-go cups and grabbing jelly donuts for them both. After Jaxson paid, he jerked his head in Sugar’s direction. “Thanks, Sugar. Sorry again for…for letting off steam. It wasn’t appropriate.”
They headed for the door, the bell jingling behind them as they crunched their way through the light skiff of snow on the sidewalk. It was snowing just enough to ice everything up.
January was a damn depressing time of the year. Dark and dreary and gray…the holidays were over, and now there was nothing to do but settle in and wait for spring to come.
Sugar sighed. Waiting was never her strong suit.
“You should’ve asked him out,” Gage said at her elbow.
She whirled ar
ound, her hand over her heart. “Good Lord!” she said. “You could stop sneaking around, you know.”
He gave her a long suffering look. “I wasn’t. I clomped up here like I always do. You were just off in la-la land.”
She sniffed. She wasn’t about to dignify that with a reply.
“He likes you,” Gage continued bluntly. “And based on how much you blush around him, I’m gonna guess that you like him.”
Sugar glared at him. “I do not like him,” she announced, a little too forcefully. “I just…it’s hot in here. We should turn down the heat.”
“You were freezing last week,” Gage pointed out.
She glared at him even harder. “I cannot date him. I cannot date anyone. You know that.”
“I know that you believe that. I don’t believe that it’s true.”
“What?” she snapped back. “I think I know that better than you do! I can’t date you, Gage!”
The words were out before she could stop them. Her hands flew up to her mouth and she stared at him, wide-eyed. She hadn’t meant to say it. She was never going to be able to suck those words back in and stuff them deep down in her soul where they belonged.
“Sugar…” Gage breathed her name softly. His face was inscrutable as he stared at her. “Why did you say that?”
“No, I’m sorry,” Sugar gasped, shaking her head. “I didn’t mean to. Forget I said anything.” She’d broken the number one rule of working at the bakery: Ignore the fact that Gage was in love with her. It wasn’t ever spoken out loud or acknowledged at all, and…
She’d broken that rule. Stomped it into the ground, really.
“Why did you say that?” Gage asked again, a steely edge to his voice.
“Emma told me a long time ago,” Sugar whispered, broken. “I just…I don’t feel the same way. I’m sorry.”
Gage started laughing. Sugar’s head snapped up and she stared at him. Gage let out a howl of laughter. “You…she…” Gage was wheezing.
