All Fired Up

by Denise A. Agnew

  She wrinkled her nose. “Not my favorite food.”

  “Are you a vegetarian?” Manny asked with a grin.

  “No. I prefer hamburgers. Dr. Manniford Hopkins, this is Greg Falk from Station 58.”

  Then men shook hands, and she couldn’t help comparing them. Despite the fact they both qualified as good-looking men, Manny couldn’t beat Greg for pure sex appeal.

  The brilliant sun went under clouds and a cooler breeze ruffled the booth canopies and sent brochures flying. She gasped and ran around the front as brochures floated on the current. Greg hurried after her, snatching errant pieces of paper off the ground. Manny put various items on the remaining brochures, trying to keep the rest from escape. They managed to grab all the papers and return them to the booth. When Greg handed her a stack, their fingers brushed and that wild swirling sensation darted from her hands straight into her stomach again.

  “Thank you,” she said a little breathlessly.

  Greg smiled and started to move away from the booth. “Well, I’ll see you around.”

  “Have a great fourth,” she called after him.

  He smiled and saluted. “You, too.”

  As he walked, she watched his broad shoulders and—yeah she could admit it—world class butt move away and she wanted to think of an excuse to follow him.

  “Earth to Jenny,” Manny said.

  She jerked her attention away from Greg. “What?”

  Greg gestured to the sky. “You’d better get some lunch before the weather arrives. I think we’re in for it.”

  She’d been so blind to anything but the firefighter, she hadn’t noticed the towering thunderheads to the west growing more menacing. Unless they broke up, the clouds would soon obscure the sun. She glanced at her watch.

  “We might have to pack up early.” She handed Greg the brochures. “I’ll call Donna.”

  “Lizard Lady?” he said.

  She tried not to laugh. “Where did you hear that name?”

  “Your boss has quite a reputation.”

  Jenny had always been under the impression her boss could fool almost anyone into thinking the moon and sun set by her. She didn’t want to talk gossip or say disparaging things about Donna Colton, even if she didn’t like the woman much. Jenny returned to the back of the booth and grabbed her cell phone out of her tote bag.

  Donna answered on the first ring. “Jenny?”

  “Hi Donna. Sorry to bother you but the weather here is looking pretty bad. We might need to pack up early.”

  “Really? I’m looking out my kitchen window right now. They don’t look that bad.”

  Really?

  “From here they do. We’ll monitor the situation, but I thought I’d give you a heads up in case we have to take the booth down.”

  “No.”

  Jenny’s mouth flopped open. “No?”

  “We have to be open for the festivities later today. Congressman Holtz will be there and he expects to see us.”

  Jenny wrinkled her nose. Donna’s older sister was married to Robert Holtz, and with Donna’s ambitious and political mind set, she always concerned herself with appearances. Jenny glanced at Manny, who was talking to a young woman at the booth. She looked irritated and so did he, but Jenny couldn’t hear what they were saying because the country band turned up the volume.

  Jenny put her finger in her ear when she realized Donna was talking again. “What? I couldn’t hear you. The band started up again.”

  “I said, don’t you dare close that booth. I don’t care if it does rain.”

  Jenny wanted to tell her boss that she’d lost her freaking mind, but she needed her job more than she needed to tell Donna what she thought. “All right. See you later this evening.”

  After they hung up, Jenny sighed. Wonderful. She didn’t want to stay through this entire July fourth event in the park, but what could she do?

  She glanced over at the booth again and noted the young woman had left. Manny stared off into space with a strange expression. She decided to ignore Manny’s love life or whatever caused the turmoil.

  “Don’t tell me,” he said. “Lizard Lady said we’ve gotta stay here hell or high water.”

  “How’d you guess?”

  “Because I know your boss.”

  She lifted her eyebrows in surprise since Manny hadn’t worked at the hospital all that long, but maybe he’d encountered her enough times to detect the woman’s true personality, and not the one she hid behind.

  “I’m not that hungry, but I’ll take a break,” she said.

  “Suit yourself. Take your time.”

  She did, walking among some of the booths for a few moments. Today’s Independence Day celebration always drew many businesses and other organizations, including political parties. If she was stuck at the hospital booth for several more hours, she’d better take relief when she could. She headed for one of the portable toilets and did her business. When she exited and headed across the long expanse of grass back to the booths, she paused and took stock of the clouds. A green tinge now stained the bottom of the puffy structures, and she knew a bad sign when she saw one.

  “Damn,” she said under her breath.

  She glanced over at the firefighting display across the grass near the south parking lot. Three firefighters in turnout gear and a couple of paramedics manned a booth. Parents with kids surrounded the area—kids loved talking to firefighters and getting a plastic fireman’s helmet. She smiled and noted one man in a red t-shirt. She squinted—was that Greg? Looked like him, but from this distance she couldn’t be one hundred percent certain.

  Jenny looked to the west, and sure enough, the dark clouds had moved into position over the park and blocked the sun. God, she wished Donna had given her the option of closing the booth if the weather ramped up. As if the weather had read her thoughts, lightning flashed from the clouds and a low rumble started. Wind began to swirl, lifting her suit skirt. She hurried toward the booth, wishing she’d worn flats rather than heels. The grass beneath her threatened to snag and trip her. She glanced back at the firefighter display and saw they were hurriedly tearing things down.

  Okay, so she wasn’t paranoid.

  Wind turned into a crazy vortex as it raced across the park and kicked dirt into her face. From her peripheral vision, she caught sight of the man—Greg—jogging toward the booths. His urgency alarmed her. A moment later her cell phone, tucked in her blazer pocket, let out an emergency tone. It had to be a tornado watch. A second later, though, she discovered it was worse than that.

  Somewhere nearby, a tornado siren blared.

  Chapter Two

  Jenny started to run, trotting as fast as she dared in these damned high-heeled pumps. Everyone else had the same idea. People scattered like ants, gathering picnic blankets and baskets and running. Everyone watching the band, as well as the band itself, ran away. People at the booths hurried to take them down. Her mind screamed at her. No, no. Leave it behind. Find shelter!

  She dashed toward their booth, ready to warn Manny, but as she ran she didn’t see him anywhere nearby. She didn’t have time to think, because a moment later the wind grew fierce, whipping her hair into her face. Clouds above her turned counter clockwise, and she prayed if a tornado came down right here it wouldn’t land on the park. While tornadoes landing right in Dallas were rare, it wasn’t unheard of, and she didn’t plan to wait around enough to find out. She ran through the booth area, and still seeing no sign of Manny, she continued through the crowd of people. A roaring sound filled the air, but she didn’t take time to see where it came from. Jenny picked up speed, making it just past the gazebo.

  “Jenny!” A deep voice roared nearby. She glanced to her left and saw Greg flying toward her. “Get down!”

  Greg threw himself at her. Things happened fast, coming in a blur. His arms clamped around her and he bore her to the ground. He rolled to take the maximum force of hitting the dirt. He rolled again and came down on top of her, his body sheltering, hands and a
rms covering her head. She heard the crack of wood splintering as part of the gazebo tore loose and sailed over their heads. Though Jenny never screamed, she couldn’t be sure she didn’t then, wondering if the tornado would lift them skyward any minute. Greg suddenly lifted off her, grabbing her under the arms and hauling her to her feet. Her right ankle twisted, and she gasped in pain.

  “Let’s go!” he grabbed her arm and yanked her forward through the wind which threatened to pull them off their feet. “The rec center!”

  Above the ear-splitting scream of the wind, and the terrifying drone of the siren, her heartbeat pounded in her ears, and her breath came in gasps. She ran like her life depended on it, and maybe it did. Others charged in front of them, also running to the rec center. They plunged through the glass doors and hurried. A man in a Texas Ranger uniform guided people toward the basement, and they hurried down the steps. The basement was large and had several chairs, a sofa, pool table, dart board, games area, blackboards and whiteboards.

  “Everyone as far away from the door as you can get and take cover,” Greg said.

  Most people did as he suggested, and he moved with her to a corner where he drew her down on the floor to huddle. His arms surrounded her at the same time she reached out. Instinct drove her—she grabbed onto his t-shirt and then his shoulders as he pressed her face into his shoulder. Silent, they clung to each other while others talked around them. She shivered and he drew her closer. A roar came from above and some women screamed. She wondered if the entire building would be ripped away, and another shudder wracked her body.

  “It’s all right, we’re safe,” he whispered as he kept her close.

  She wanted to believe him, and in that moment she felt safer in his arms than she would’ve anywhere else. The sheer strength of him sheltered her. A moment later the roaring stopped. After a few minutes, the noises above stopped. She pulled back enough from Greg’s embrace to see what was happening. The Texas Ranger volunteered to go out first and see if he could give the all clear, but before he could do that, the door to the basement opened and firefighters and two paramedics streamed down the stairs. She heard other sirens in the distance, this time belonging to emergency vehicles.

  “Tornado passed over,” Dane announced to the crowd. “It’s over.”

  “Thank God,” a woman next to them said. “At least it wasn’t a big tornado.”

  Everyone started talking at once as Jax, Dane and the other firefighters filed into the room to check on their status.

  Greg cupped her face, his eyes serious and filled with concerned. “You’re bleeding.” Before she could respond, he called out, “I need a paramedic over here!”

  Embarrassed by the attention, she said, “Oh, no, I’m fine.”

  He smiled slightly. “I saw you limping, too. Did you twist your ankle?”

  “Yeah, but it’s not that bad.”

  “We’ll get it checked out,” Greg said.

  He helped her to her feet and sat her down on a nearby couch where he settled next to her. A male paramedic came over and they quickly assessed her, checking her vitals, pupils and bandaging a small cut on her forehead.

  “Your ankle is swelling but I don’t think it’s broken,” the paramedic said to Jenny. “I don’t think you have a concussion, but you should see a doctor and get assessed.”

  She winced. “I don’t know…”

  “It’s okay.” Greg touched her shoulder. “Better to be safe than sorry.”

  She drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”

  “I’ll carry her to the ambulance,” Greg said to the paramedic.

  “I can walk,” Jenny said.

  The paramedic shook his head. “Not recommended on that ankle.”

  When Greg lifted her into his arms, she felt instantly girly, something she hadn’t experienced in a long time. He carried her like she weighed nothing, and something primal within her became all fired up. She slipped her arms around his neck and held on, a little in awe of his strength. She couldn’t deny the way his protectiveness made her feel. Safe. Cared for. That wasn’t something she’d experienced often in the last few years. Hell, in many years. As a firefighter held a door open for them, they stepped outside and saw the damage. More fire apparatus and ambulances had converged on the area. Rescue personnel swarmed the area assisting the injured, and there looked to be at least a dozen people on the ground who hadn’t escaped before the twister came through. The grass was littered with debris here and there. Tarps, part of the hot dog stand, and every booth had been torn to bits and strewn about the area.

  “Holy crap,” she whispered as Greg carried her across the grassy area toward a waiting ambulance.

  “Yeah,” he said as he continued to walk.

  She scanned the area. “Do you see Manny?”

  “The doctor who was with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Once I get you into an ambulance I’ll look for him, okay?”

  Reassured, she sighed. “God, what a mess.”

  He chuckled softly. “Yeah, but we’re alive.”

  Lexi Fletcher was at one ambulance and saw them coming. Greg explained Jenny’s injuries, and they loaded her into Lexi’s bus. She was working with another paramedic Jenny didn’t know. Dane Chandler and Jax Malloy, still in their turnouts, came by the ambulance. Both men, like Greg, were calendar handsome and good men. Jenny had seen them at social gatherings with their spouses, and it was evident to Jenny that Jax loved Skye and Dane loved Lexi very much. That was the kind of love she’d like to experience one day, but she didn’t believe devotion that deep came along often. What were the chances of finding it?

  Greg pressed Jenny’s hand in his for a moment. “I gotta help here. I’ll come to the hospital and check on you when I can get away from here, okay?”

  A little surprised he’d do that, she nodded and smiled. “Okay.”

  With that Lexi climbed in and off they went, her partner driving the ambulance.

  “What a mess out there,” Jenny said. “Was anybody….?” She couldn’t say dead.

  “Not that I know of. We were really lucky. It was only an EF1.”

  Jenny rubbed her forehead next to her bandage. “I was lucky Greg was there. That gazebo just came apart right next to me. He saved my life.”

  Lexi smiled, her eyes twinkling. “How long have you known him?”

  Jenny’s eyebrows went up. “I just met him today.”

  Lexi’s smile stretched wider. “Hmm. I thought maybe you were his girlfriend. I’ve never seen him look that worried about someone before, and I’ve seen him rescue people out of burning buildings.”

  Jenny smiled and a question escaped before she could stop herself. “So he’s a good guy?”

  “Very. He keeps to himself a lot. He’s more introverted than some of the firefighters I know, but he has a heart of gold.”

  Warmth filled Jenny at the thought of getting to know him better, but she also couldn’t afford to get ahead of herself. Greg might already have a girlfriend, or maybe he wouldn’t be interested in her that way. After all, the guy had been doing his job, hadn’t he? Reading more into his solicitousness didn’t make sense. Any firefighter would’ve treated her the same way, right?

  She felt guilty for taking up space in the ambulance when there had to be many more injured who needed it worse than she did. Lexi reassured her that a head wound qualified as serious and that her ankle needed an x-ray to make certain she didn’t have a fracture. The trip to Dallas Emergency Hospital took longer than it should’ve with the amount of traffic and disarray on the roads after the tornado. After she was wheeled into the emergency room, it took a while before a doctor examined her. With the amount of injured coming in from the tornado, she understood the delay. After a thorough assessment, including an x-ray for her ankle, she was wheeled back into an area in the emergency room to wait a verdict.

  She looked at her watch, and that’s when it hit her. She’d lost her purse in the confusion, and that meant her keys and
wallet. Crap. Well, at least she had her cell phone tucked into her blazer.

  The curtain around her bed pulled back slowly and the nurse came in followed by Greg. Surprise and genuine pleasure warmed her from the inside out.

  “You’ve got a visitor,” the nurse said.

  “Hey.” Greg returned Jenny’s enthusiastic smile. He held up her purse and then put it onto the chair next to her blazer. “I’ll bet you’re missing this.”

  “Oh, my God. Thank you. I was just wondering what happened to it.”

  The nurse cut in with,” Looks like you’re concussion free. Your ankle isn’t broken, but the doctor wants you to keep an elastic bandage on it.”

  Jenny pulled a face. “Ugh. But that’s better news than a broken ankle.”

  “Absolutely,” the nurse said. “I’ll be back with your discharge paperwork.”

  As the nurse left another visitor entered. Jenny’s boss Donna Colton.

  Donna barged in as if she owned the place. Typical behavior for Donna. Dressed in jeans and a fashionable boho tunic, the forty-something woman looked far younger. With flowing long blonde hair and a beautiful face, Donna wore her attractiveness like a badge of honor. Men often trailed after her like love-sick puppies. Her clothing, her manner, the way she talked…it all added up to diva status.

  “Hello.” Donna nodded at Greg, her beaming smile and the way she looked him over saying she liked what she was seeing. “I’m Donna Colton.”

  Greg shook hands and introduced himself, his charming smile emerging. Something a little raw reacted inside Jenny. She recognized the green-eyed monster right away and instantly felt ashamed and ridiculous. She didn’t have a claim on this man.

  Jenny shrugged off her topsy-turvy feelings. “Manny is okay? I was worried.”

  Greg gestured to her handbag on the chair. “He’s the one who gave me your purse. He was hiding in a closet in the rec center and when he came out, he went straight to where your booth was and found your purse. It was tangled up in the rubble.”

  Jenny nodded. “That’s incredible. I’m glad he’s all right. I was just wondering what I was going to do if I didn’t have my wallet and keys.”