In Love with the Firefighter

by Amie Denman

  A branch crashed on the steel roof, and Kevin gathered his nieces close to reassure them. He glanced at Nicole and held out an arm for her, too. Nicole slid into his embrace and noticed the interested expression on the faces of their audience.

  Any port in a storm. And this was a very nice harbor.

  * * *

  THE MINIVAN SMELLED like wet dog, despite their efforts to stay dry throughout the rest of the afternoon. Kevin was impressed with Nicole’s resilience once the storm had passed, cheerfully dodging rain, riding kiddie rides, and standing in line for ice cream while he found an umbrella table with the girls. It was not the kind of date he’d have wanted to offer her.

  He was glad when evening set in and signaled it was okay to give up and go. Halfway home in the van, his phone rang and he answered it after a quick glance showed him his brother’s number on the screen.

  “How are the girls?” Tyler asked, skipping a greeting.

  “Fine. They smell like sunscreen, rain and hot dogs,” Kevin said.

  “I don’t smell like a hot dog,” Maureen protested.

  “Wasn’t talking about you, nosy,” Kevin said, sending a quick grin to his niece who was buckled in behind Nicole.

  “How are the Baltimore Orioles doing this season?” he asked his brother. His nieces still didn’t know their grandfather had been in an accident and he didn’t want to be the one to spill the news.

  “Beat up pretty bad, but he’ll recover with time,” Tyler said.

  “Good.”

  “I’ll meet you at your place to pick up the girls and the van. I’m at home right now, but Hillary is staying with her mom at the hospital.”

  “Be there in fifteen,” Kevin said.

  “Thanks. One more thing—can you take my shift at the station in the morning? I’m supposed to be on at seven, but I’ve got kid duty until further notice.”

  Kevin let the question hang for a heartbeat, but only one. Of course he’d take his brother’s shift, though if he could do anything he wanted on his day off, it would involve Nicole. He looked over at her and wondered what her plans were for later. He’d been hoping to find a dozen ways to say thank you for braving the theme park with him. Rain check, maybe.

  “Sure,” he told his brother. He clicked off and set his phone in the console between the bucket seats.

  “Your dad is picking you up at my place,” he said. “Any chance you’ll keep our secret about me being in the women’s bathroom?”

  Maureen and Paige giggled and swung their legs. “You took your shirt off in the girls’ baffroom,” Paige said. “I’m telling Mommy because it was funny.”

  “It was not funny,” he protested. “And it will sound bad if you tell it like that.”

  Nicole laughed and shot him a look.

  “Hey,” he said. “I thought you’d be on my side.”

  “I am,” she said. “But I can’t think of a way to tell that story without it sounding bad. And funny.”

  Kevin sighed and switched on the headlights as the sky darkened with the coming sunset. He’d be glad to hand off the minivan, but he’d enjoyed the time with his nieces.

  When he pulled in the driveway, Tyler was sitting on his front porch with his dog. Kevin’s brother and parents had keys to his place, and Arnold owed his fresh air and bathroom breaks to them pretty often.

  “Daddy,” Paige said as soon as Kevin parked the van. Nicole hopped out and slid open the side door.

  “Leave them buckled up,” Tyler said, approaching with Arnold on his heels. “I’ll head out and get them out of your hair.”

  “They were no trouble,” Nicole said. “Your daughters are angels.”

  “Uncle Kevin undressed in the girls’ bathroom,” Maureen said.

  “See?” Nicole said. “Angels.”

  “It’s a long story,” Kevin said in answer to his brother’s questioning look. “Let’s just say you owe me.”

  Tyler laughed and climbed in the driver’s seat. “Thanks a lot, both of you,” he said. “I appreciate your help today.”

  His look suggested he wanted to say more, but the ears in the back seat made him choose his words carefully. Kevin knew his brother would have to tell the girls something to explain where their mom was tonight. Good luck to him. Sometimes it was nice only having to answer to an old beagle.

  “Any time. But we better not have crap runs at the station tomorrow. I swear, every time I cover for you, I end up pulling a raccoon out of a storm drain or getting called to the same false alarm three times before the day’s out,” Kevin said.

  “I could trade you,” Tyler said. “You take the girls for the day and I’ll work at the station.”

  Kevin slid the side door shut and leaned in the passenger-side window. “That’s okay. I’ll take my chances with the raccoons.” He grinned at his nieces and waved goodbye to them.

  Kevin watched his brother back out of the driveway, then turned around. Would Nicole stay? She was there right now, the pink rays of the sun washing over her. Arnold leaned heavily against her leg and looked at her with adoring eyes as she scratched his head.

  “Today was not what either of us had planned,” Kevin said, approaching her and putting his hand on her arm. “Any chance you’ll let me make it up to you by taking you to dinner?”

  She smiled. “We’re too grimy to go out.”

  “Then we could order food and stay in?” he suggested. “Arnold could use some company, and he adores you.”

  He wasn’t the only one.

  “He won’t mind if we’re smelly?”

  “Not even a little.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  JANE OPENED NICOLE’S door and peeked in. “Late night?”

  Nicole grinned and tossed aside the covers. “Crazy day at the amusement park.”

  Jane returned the smile. “Any chance I could get you to throw on some clothes and tell me all about it when we have a slow moment at the gallery today?”

  “Might need more than a moment,” Nicole said, laughing.

  Jane picked up a pillow from a chair and tossed it at her friend. “You can start your story in the car on the way to work. I wouldn’t press you on it, but it’s Saturday and I’ve gotten in the habit of depending on you this summer. I think it’ll be a busy day.”

  Nicole pulled open her dresser drawer and picked out a sky blue top and slim black pants. With a pair of sandals, she’d look classy and just artsy enough for the gallery. “Be ready in ten minutes,” she said.

  “I’ll have the coffee ready.”

  Claudette jumped up on the bathroom counter and shoved things around, flicking her tail while Nicole dashed on some makeup and fluffed her hair. She’d showered off the sunscreen before she went to bed.

  “Good enough?” she asked the house cat, who rolled onto her back and knocked Nicole’s mascara on the floor. “That’s a yes,” she said.

  On the short drive into town, Nicole told Jane about the trip to the theme park, the rain, the restroom storm shelter and shirtless Kevin drying off for a crowd. She planned to confide in her friend and tell her how dangerously close she was to falling in love. She hoped they’d find time for conversation despite the busy Saturday ahead. She’d just started to share a few details about her dinner at Kevin’s when an ambulance barreled past them, headed in the direction they were going. A fire truck passed them next.

  “That’s the backup truck,” Jane commented. “They don’t usually take that one out of the station.” Jane accelerated and they passed several blocks in silence. “Flashing lights ahead,” Jane said, pointing at the exterior of a tall hotel under construction in downtown Cape Pursuit. A crane sat next to the hotel, but it wasn’t moving.

  “Lots of lights,” Nicole said, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach.

  “It’s one street over from the gallery,” Jane s
aid. “I think we should park at the shop and we can walk over and see if we can help.”

  Nicole didn’t answer. The reality of Kevin’s job sat on her shoulders like a wet blanket. She knew he was on duty today. He could be in that building fighting smoke and fire. Why had she thought she could fall for a firefighter and live with this kind of fear?

  “If you want to,” Jane added when Nicole said nothing. “If you don’t want to, you could stay at the gallery and I’ll walk over and check it out. Probably just a smoke alarm. They get called to those all the time, especially in a building under construction.”

  A false alarm. That’s what Kevin had joked about with his brother last night. But they were closer now, and the smoke wafting out from an upper floor told her it was no alarm, no matter how much her friend might try to gloss it over.

  The hotel was on fire and Kevin was on duty.

  Jane turned right and headed down the street where Sea Jane Paint was. She slowed the car to a crawl, almost exactly in the spot where Nicole had first seen Kevin the day she came to town. Jane suddenly pulled to the right and stopped while another ambulance sped past them. It would have taken off her door if she’d opened it.

  Two ambulances. That could only mean one thing. The ambulance turned down the next side street and headed in the direction of the hotel fire. Jane carefully pulled back onto the street and turned to drive around behind her studio.

  Nicole felt like throwing up the coffee her friend had thoughtfully handed her when she got in the car.

  “It’ll be fine,” Jane said, getting out of the car. She came around to Nicole’s side and opened the door. “You have to get out,” she said. She reached in, took Nicole’s coffee and gently tugged her from the car.

  “Come inside and open the shop. I’ll go check out the fire scene and come right back. I promise.”

  “I can’t do this,” Nicole said.

  “Do what?”

  “Let myself care for a firefighter. I should never have let things go this far.”

  Jane closed the car door and leaned against it. “Everything is probably fine. They send the ambulances out on most fire calls and have them on standby. It’s protocol. Okay?”

  Nicole followed Jane to the back door of the gallery and waited while she unlocked the door. They turned on lights, booted up the computer and flipped the sign in the front window from Closed to Open. All the things they did on a normal day. But the sirens screaming just a few blocks away told them this was not a normal day.

  Jane’s cell phone rang loudly and she pulled it out of her purse and looked at the screen. “One of my cop friends,” she said. She swiped the screen, said hello to the caller and listened intently, her face paling as she raised her eyes to Nicole’s. “We’re at the gallery. We’ll come over.”

  She thanked the caller and shoved the phone in her pocket, then pulled Nicole into a hug. “There’s a problem at the hotel fire. Construction inside made it unstable.”

  Jane paused and Nicole steeled herself for the worst. “And?” she asked.

  “And there might be two firefighters missing or down inside.”

  Nicole started shaking and Jane held her tighter. She felt Jane shaking, too. The father of her baby could be in that fire.

  An image of Adam smiling as he went off to fight fires hit her. Kevin had flashed her a smile last night as he backed out of her driveway. Adam never came home, a victim of his good intentions and a fire that raged out of control. What if Kevin didn’t come home today, or tomorrow or someday?

  Being with a man in that line of work was no life for her. She’d been a fool to think so.

  “Let’s lock up and go over there,” Jane said. “Maybe we’ll find out things are fine. We’ll get some coffee for the guys and come back here to work.”

  “Okay,” Nicole agreed. Going along was better than waiting here. But no matter what they found at the fire scene, things were never going to be fine.

  But they weren’t alone. As they race-walked the two blocks to the hotel fire, they had to fight their way through a crowd. Bystanders stood on the sidewalk across the street from the fire, watching the man on the aerial ladder hose down the upper floors. Hoses snaked through the front door and firefighters hustled everywhere, some on radios, some running the pumps on the trucks, some hauling hoses. Nicole recognized Tony running the pump on the ladder truck. At least he wasn’t among the missing.

  “Is Charlie on duty today?” Nicole asked Jane.

  “I’m not sure. He texted me yesterday to say he’d been out of town for a day helping his father with something and wanted to make sure I was okay. He’s back in town, so he could be here somewhere. It looks like the whole department is here.”

  Police cars, their blue lights mingling with the red lights on the fire trucks and ambulances, blocked the street.

  Jane didn’t waste time. She walked through the police barricade, waving at her friends in uniform, and approached the chief. Nicole trailed behind her, dread in every step. They weren’t really going to walk up to the fire chief and ask what was going on, were they? Jane touched Chief Ruggles’s shoulder and he spun toward her.

  “What can I do?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Nothing right now. I’ve got two missing guys. Man down alarms went off. I sent two more in that inferno after them.”

  Nicole swallowed, willing herself to stay calm. She didn’t say anything as she waited for Jane’s next move.

  “I can mobilize some food and drinks,” Jane said, keeping her voice admirably even. “Looks like you’ll be here awhile.”

  Chief Ruggles didn’t acknowledge her; he just kept his gaze pinned on the building.

  Jane sent a quick glance at Nicole, a question in her expression. Nicole knew what Jane wanted to ask. She wanted to know the same thing. She had to know. She nodded at Jane.

  “Who’s missing, Chief?” Jane asked.

  Until he said the words, Nicole could still hope it wasn’t Kevin. Not that she wanted it to be someone else. They all had people who loved them. She took a deep breath.

  Did she love him?

  “Charlie and Kevin,” the chief said. He stalked off, radio held to his ear.

  Nicole felt like she’d been punched in the chest. She stared at the burning building, hoping for a glimpse of yellow turnout gear through a window.

  Jane pulled her back to the sidewalk and they watched the furious fire scene, arms around each other, holding each other up.

  “They train for this,” Jane said, her voice shaking now. “Work together all the time. Charlie and Kevin will get each other out.” She nodded vigorously. “I know it.”

  Even in her panic, Nicole still noticed her friend’s lip quivering and her eyes shining with tears. Charlie and Kevin...it was almost too much to bear.

  She and Jane were in this together. Nicole tried to summon up bravery for her friend’s sake if not her own. Despair crushed her heart, and she closed her eyes. She saw her brother, imagined his last moments before the fire raced over him and stole his life.

  It can’t happen to Kevin, too. Her heart wouldn’t survive a second time. She pictured Kevin’s strong arms, his quiet bravery. He would get out. He would get his partner out. If anyone could, it was Kevin. This wasn’t his first fire.

  “They’ll make it,” she said, almost having to shout over the noise even though she was shoulder to shoulder with Jane. She didn’t know which one of them she was trying to reassure.

  As they stood tensely, hoping for news, Tyler muscled past them. He wore street clothes and shoved his way directly to the chief. Nicole knew he had the day off because he was taking care of his daughters. Had he left them with his parents? Would Tyler race into the burning building to save his brother—the brother who was working his shift? He had no protective gear, no helmet. He wouldn’t be that reckless...would he? He had a wife and two
beautiful daughters...

  A shout went up as a two-man crew came through the front door hauling another firefighter with them. They carried him a safe distance from the building and laid him down on the ground only feet from Nicole and Jane. The crowd moved back, silenced by the scene. Nicole held her breath as the two rescuers pulled off the man’s face mask and helmet.

  Next to her, Jane gasped and put her hands over her mouth, tears spilling down her cheeks.

  It was Charlie. He sat up and rubbed his face with both hands. He looked around desperately.

  Nicole guessed what he was looking for. She had the same question squeezing the air from her lungs. The firefighters with Charlie shook their heads and Charlie jumped to his feet, lost his balance and sat down hard. The chief strode over and squatted next to him, talking with him. Nicole watched as they gestured broadly, their movements exaggerated by the heavy yellow coats. What was Charlie saying? Where was Kevin?

  Tyler Ruggles listened for a moment and then headed for the building.

  Nicole and Jane watched as the chief raced after him and grabbed Tyler by the back of his shirt, holding him in an iron grip while he spoke into the radio in his other hand. Tyler was a big man, but his uncle was taller and broader. Tyler struggled and Nicole wondered how far he’d go. Would he punch his own uncle to get free and go in the building?

  Was it already too late for Kevin?

  Jane hurried over and knelt next to Charlie, talking to him while the ambulance crew rolled a gurney over. Charlie waved them away, but they didn’t budge. Finally, Nicole watched Charlie walk to the waiting ambulance and concede to sitting inside with the back doors open. He never took his eyes off the building, waiting, she knew, for his partner to come out alive.

  * * *

  WHERE THE HELL was Charlie? Kevin groped his way through smoke and darkness in the interior stairwell of the hotel. His partner had been right in front of him a second ago and now he was gone. The whole building was an unpredictable mess. An old fifteen-story hotel, it had practically been gutted on the inside as construction crews modernized everything. He’d heard about the plans. Whole suites were being added. There were several restaurants planned. A pool on the roof. It was a major job and still had a long way to go before it was finished.