A Firefighter's Ultimate Duty

by Beverly Long

  “Yeah. She’s a junior this year.”

  “Same as Sophie.”

  “We’ll make sure and get the two of them introduced,” he said.

  She let out a sigh. “Brave to offer that,” she said. “I mean, Sophie hasn’t exactly put her best foot forward.”

  “No need for anybody to know what’s going on here,” he said. “Jamie and I are very good at keeping a secret.”

  “Landing in five,” Jamie interjected. “And I’ve been telling people all over town that you cry at dog movies.”

  Blade shrugged. “Everybody cries at dog movies.”

  Daisy forced a smile, appreciating their efforts to lighten the mood. She looked out her small window and could see the airport in the distance. While not as small and isolated as the Knoware airfield, it was still relatively modest with just a couple runways and several planes already on the ground.

  “Will we be able to rent a car here?” she asked, concerned at the likelihood.

  “No need,” Jamie said. “I’ve got a friend in the area. He’s meeting us and he’ll take you to the gas station. Once you meet up with your daughter, he can bring Blade back here and we’ll fly home. You and your daughter will be okay driving back to Knoware?”

  “We did it once,” she said.

  He smoothly landed the plane and they taxied closer to the airport. Once they were stopped, Jamie pulled out his cell phone. “He’s at the West Gate. His name is Tony and he’s driving a black Explorer.”

  “Let’s go,” Blade said. “No time to waste.”

  She had to run to keep up with Blade’s long legs. The air temperature was much colder here than it had been in Knoware. She bet it was close to zero. If she’d have left her house without a coat, she’d have looked like an idiot.

  Within minutes they were at the gate and a big man standing next to a black Explorer was waving. “Hey, I’m Tony,” he said as they approached.

  “Blade Savick. Daisy Rambler,” Blade said, doing the quick introductions. “Thanks for your help.”

  “Dr. Weathers saved my wife’s life. There’s not much I wouldn’t do for him.”

  Daisy got into the warm back seat, marveling at her luck. If she hadn’t dropped her scarf, if Blade hadn’t brought it back this morning at just the right moment, she’d have had none of these resources at her disposal. Maybe she ought to be thanking Hosea Pratt for taking her on the ridiculous outing.

  “We’re about fifteen minutes out from your destination. Sit tight and I’ll have you there in no time,” Tony said.

  Daisy saw Blade take a quick look at his watch. She didn’t need to. It was one minute since she’d last checked it. Twenty-seven minutes to one. Go. Go. Go. Now that she was close, her anxiety was off the charts. If they weren’t successful in intercepting Sophie, the next logical step would be to call the police. She hated that idea.

  Tony had his dashboard GPS already set and Daisy watched their progress. Fourteen minutes later, he pulled into the combination gas/convenience store/fast food restaurant. Blade turned to her. “What kind of car is she driving?”

  “A Toyota Camry,” she said. “Gray.”

  “Do you see it?” Blade asked.

  She finished scanning the cars that were gassing up and those parked in spaces near the front of the convenience store. “No,” she said. “Oh, God. We’re too late.”

  Chapter 5

  “Don’t jump to that conclusion. We could just as easily be too early. It would have been a little too serendipitous for her to be standing outside the front door when we pulled in,” Blade said.

  “I know, I know,” Daisy said, willing her heart to slow down. She felt physical ill. What he said made sense, but she was afraid. She pulled her phone from her purse. “I want to go inside. Show her picture to whoever is working. I’m sure she would have gone in to use the restroom and probably to buy a drink or a snack.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Blade said. “Tony, can you park over there?”

  “Sure thing,” he said. “Take your time. She’ll show. I got a feeling about this.”

  Daisy hoped like hell that Tony’s gut was solid. When she opened the door, the warm air hit her. The cash register was just inside the door. There were three people in line. When it was Daisy’s turn, she held out her phone. “I’m looking for my daughter. I believe she was intending to stop here. Have you seen this girl?”

  The young man behind the counter looked at the picture. “I don’t think so. I mean, I’ve been here for a couple hours and it’s been kind of busy, but I think I’d have noticed her.”

  Daisy understood. Sophie was a pretty blue-eyed blonde. “It would have probably been in the last half hour or so.”

  The man shook his head.

  Blade tossed a couple candy bars onto the counter and a ten-dollar bill. As they walked away, he handed her one. “Maybe a little sugar would help,” he said.

  She hadn’t even eaten breakfast. The drama had unfolded before the food was on the table. “It’s rarely a bad idea,” she said, ripping the packaging open.

  They wandered off to the side of the small convenience store, finding a spot between a rack of sunglasses and an equally tall rack of refrigerator magnets of everything to do or see in the great state of Montana.

  She wanted to see one thing. Her daughter driving into the lot.

  “It’s good news that he hasn’t seen her,” Blade said, eating his own candy bar.

  “Right,” she said. “Assuming that she’s sticking to the plan and stopping everywhere we stopped. Or, maybe she got confident enough of the way that she decided that wasn’t necessary. Or maybe she simply missed the exit and she’s already fifteen miles farther down the road.” She closed the wrapping of her half-eaten candy bar. “There are a lot of possible scenarios.”

  “It would be easier if she had a cell phone on her,” he said.

  “I know that,” she said. In retrospect, she was sorry that she’d taken her daughter’s phone. But Sophie had been repeatedly rude to her, had refused to help with the packing and had come home late one too many times. Daisy had warned her twice that she was about to lose her phone privileges. And when the bad behavior hadn’t improved, she’d had to follow through on the threat. Parenting 101.

  “She might have been feeling really cut off from her friends back in Denver,” he said. “Teens sometimes have trouble seeing that some situations are temporary.”

  Maybe it was lack of sleep or food. Maybe it was because she’d had more wine the previous night than she’d had in the last six months and this wasn’t the type of situation that one should deal with hungover. Maybe it was simply that single parenting was so damn hard sometimes, and she’d had the extra burden of trying to protect them both from Jacob Posse. Whatever the reason, his remarks grated on her.

  “I don’t recall asking for your advice,” she said, her tone icy. “I realize you have a daughter, but that doesn’t make you an expert on parenting. So I guess I’d really appreciate it if you kept your opinions to yourself.”

  She turned her back to him and inspected the wall of chips and crackers to her left.

  “Daisy?” he said, his tone questioning.

  Her head was killing her. “I’m going to get some coffee.” She walked away from him toward the area occupied by the fast food restaurant. She pushed her way through heavy double doors.

  She stood five back in line, thinking she was the world’s biggest bitch. He’d been a nice guy. Had enlisted the help of his friends, who’d called in their own backup resources. She needed to apologize. She should buy him coffee at the very least. She dug in her purse for money.

  “Daisy.”

  She looked up. Blade was standing at the double doors. “She’s here,” he said. “She’s putting gas in her tank right now.”

  Her feet felt rooted to the spot. She’d been so focused
on finding her daughter she’d given very little thought to what she was going to say to her. But she needed to move. She couldn’t lose her now.

  Daisy ran through the store, out the door, and slowed down only when she got within ten feet of her daughter. She did not want to rush up to her. Even if she was this close to unraveling, Sophie was never going to know that. She took a breath.

  At a steady pace, she approached the car. Got close enough to touch the trunk before her daughter looked up from her task.

  “Mom,” Sophie said, her voice a mere squeak.

  She was safe and whole and the beautiful girl that Daisy had raised. “Hi, honey. You’ve had yourself quite a morning haven’t you?”

  “How did... How did you get here before me?” Sophie asked. She’d paid for the gas with Daisy’s credit card, and she still held it in her hand. She glanced at it then looked at Daisy. “This is yours,” she said.

  “I know. We’ll have plenty of time to sort all that out on our drive back,” Daisy said. She wanted to pull her daughter into her arms, to hug her tight and never let her go. But she could tell that Sophie was strung tight, and that made Daisy hesitate.

  “Are you okay?” Daisy asked.

  “Kind of hungry,” Sophie admitted.

  “Yeah, me, too,” Daisy said. The gas pump kicked off, indicating the tank was full. While Sophie dealt with that, Daisy turned to find Blade standing about five feet away.

  “Thank you,” she said. She had her daughter back. “I’m grateful for your help.” There was more she should say. But she felt awkward and off-kilter. There’d been too much activity this morning, too many lows and now this high, and it was hard to keep it all in balance. Her focus had to be on Sophie.

  “Yeah, no problem,” he said, his voice tight. “I’m glad she’s okay.”

  “Blade, I—”

  “Can we just go, Mom?” Sophie asked.

  Daisy turned. Her daughter looked exhausted and cold in her lightweight jacket. “Okay. Get in the car. I’m driving.”

  Daisy took one last look at Blade. “Truly, thank you. She’s my life. I simply couldn’t bear to lose her.”

  * * *

  Blade managed to make some small talk with Tony on his way back to the plane. Talked about his job, about Knoware, about the fly-fishing that he’d done two summers ago in Montana. He was grateful when the drive ended and he could drop the presence of being okay.

  He’d texted Jamie the salient details on the way back to the plane. When he opened the plane door to get in, his friend was all smiles. He took one look at Blade and said, “I don’t get it. You should be stoked. Mother and daughter reunited. Mother, really hot mother, likely really grateful.”

  “I made a mistake,” Blade said. “I didn’t think it was a mistake at the time. I thought I was offering some helpful feedback about the issue that her daughter didn’t have a cell phone. She took it that I was poking my nose into business that wasn’t mine and said nose was unwelcome.”

  Jamie got into position for takeoff. “Do you like it when people give you parenting advice?”

  “Not generally.” As a divorced dad of a teenage girl, he often felt a little inadequate as a parent. “I screwed up. Didn’t I?”

  They were in the air before Jamie answered. “Maybe. But on the whole, you did a nice thing for somebody who was in a bad situation. And your text said that it appeared that the daughter had been running on her last legs. She was probably going to push herself until she hurt herself or others. You and I know what that would have looked like.”

  “Guess I’m going to need to be satisfied with that,” Blade said.

  “If you’re giving up, you might want to let Marcus know. He might want to take a run at it,” Jamie said.

  Blade felt his chest tighten, and it seemed difficult to breathe deep. “I didn’t say I was giving up.”

  Jamie smiled. “That’s what I thought. Just a little setback.”

  Blade looked out his small window. Jamie hadn’t seen Daisy’s face. If he had, setback wouldn’t have been the word that came to mind.

  * * *

  Daisy and Sophie did not talk for the first three hours of their trip. Not because Daisy was unwilling to try. Sophie was asleep. Practically before Daisy had steered the car back onto the interstate.

  If she’d been hungry before, she was really going to be starving when she woke up. It spoke to the level of exhaustion her baby girl had felt. It was a miracle that she’d somehow made it to that service station and they’d been in place to intercept her. She owed a debt of gratitude to both Blade Savick and Jamie Weathers that would be hard to repay.

  She regretted the tenseness that had developed between her and Blade. She’d likely been too sensitive about his commentary on her parenting, but it was for the best, really. He wouldn’t be knocking on her door any more early in the morning. Which would allow her to keep her focus on where it needed to be—finishing the job of raising Sophie. Once this school year was over, her daughter would have one more and then be off to college.

  Maybe then Daisy could think about dating.

  She could go online. Swipe right. Or left? She wasn’t sure, but if everybody else was doing it, she’d figure it out. And since marketing and promotions was her life’s work, she could probably write a killer ad: thirty-four-year old woman, woefully intolerant of bullies and shysters. Narcissists need not apply.

  Hopefully she’d make a better choice than the last time. She couldn’t do much worse. Jacob had fooled her. It would have been worse if she’d actually married him. Maybe she’d never have been able to get away.

  He doesn’t know where you’re going. He won’t find you. That had fueled her forward on her and Daisy’s initial drive west.

  You can disappear in Knoware. It really is nowhere.

  That last sentiment had been the one Jane had shared when she’d convinced Daisy that coming to Knoware was her best alternative. Hard to judge whether it was the best alternative or even a good alternative yet. About the only thing she could say for it was that it had been eventful.

  When Sophie woke up twenty minutes later, it was with a start. She jerked, blinked and then quickly turned her face toward her window. Evidently she needed a minute before getting into the nitty-gritty of the situation. Finally, she turned back toward her mother. “So, I didn’t dream it,” she said.

  Daisy couldn’t help it. She laughed. And felt the terror of the morning dissipate. She had her daughter next to her. Not much else really mattered. “We’re almost back into the state of Washington,” she said. “There’s a few places to eat at the next exit.”

  “Okay.”

  There was silence in the car. Daisy didn’t rush to fill it.

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” Sophie said finally. “I don’t know what else to say. I screwed up.”

  Daisy knew all about being a teenage screwup. And she knew that she could beat this horse to death, and elaborate on all the reasons why she was appalled by Sophie’s actions. Instead, she let her heart speak. “I love you, Sophie. And I desperately want to keep you safe and whole, and if there was a way to steer the world’s troubles away from you, I would grab that wheel. Any day. Any time. But unfortunately, troubles will find you. I can’t protect you. And the other thing I can’t do is make you happy. Because happiness is a choice.”

  “I didn’t choose to move,” Sophie said.

  “No, you didn’t. I did. And because you’re sixteen, you go where I go. That won’t always be the case. I know that you’re unhappy about the move, but you aren’t giving Knoware and our new life there a chance. You’ve closed your mind to the possibilities before you even understand what they are.”

  “I miss my friends. I don’t have any friends here.”

  “Yet. You start school on Monday. You’ll make friends.”

  “It’s horrible to be the new kid,” Sophie sa
id. “Who am I going to eat lunch with?”

  “Maybe nobody. For a few days. But not forever.”

  Sophie lapsed into silence. Another three miles went by before she spoke. “Am I getting punished for this?”

  “Well, when you get your summer job this year, I’ll expect to be paid back all the charges on my credit card. But other than that, no. And I’m giving you your phone back.”

  Sophie looked surprised. “Why?”

  “Because I understand the need for you to communicate with your old friends. Especially now. But don’t pull another stunt like this one. You scared me and Jane. And I had to inconvenience multiple people to be at that gas station, waiting for you. I don’t want to have to do that again.”

  “How did you manage that?”

  “Long story. Like I said earlier, I’d do most anything to keep you safe and whole.” There was no need to tell her everything. Always better to let her think that her mother had some kind of superpowers when it came to anticipating her next move.

  “Who was the guy at the gas station?” Sophie asked.

  “His name is Blade Savick.”

  “How did he get involved?”

  “He was the firefighter-paramedic who rescued my boss. I’d dropped a scarf and he’d stopped by to return it.”

  “A Good Samaritan?”

  “Yeah.” There was no need to say more. Sophie wasn’t likely to ever run into Blade Savick again.

  The exit was approaching. Daisy put on her turn signal and took the curve. “Breakfast, lunch or dinner,” she said, looking at the options.

  “Pancakes,” Sophie said, pointing to a place that advertised breakfast twenty-four hours a day.

  It was five in the afternoon. Pancakes sounded absolutely wonderful.

  “Done,” Daisy said.

  Chapter 6

  It was just before noon when she got an email from Tom Howards, the COO. Come to my office at one for a conference call with Hosea.

  She sent a response that she’d be there. She wasn’t worried. Earlier, Tom had approved the Hosea update that she’d drafted to send employees and she’d distributed it company-wide minutes later. Hosea only had to check his email to know it had gone out.