He sat down at his desk and pulled out a legal pad to continue sketching out floor plan ideas. Yeah yeah, that was Finn Brody’s job but Oliver had always found that he thought better with a pencil in his hand. Like his body had to be moving in order for his brain to work. Plus, he hated waiting around for other people to do their jobs.
He carried the legal pad upstairs to the second floor and the community room, where Cam’s birthday party was held. His father had suggested not having a community room in the new station.
“Does the town really need more than one?” Tim Wolfe had asked.
Oliver looked around the current one. The town needed a nicer one. This room had undergone no renovation or redecoration since the fifties, except for the yearly addition of Firefighter of the Year plaques. Otherwise, the original linoleum flooring and faux wood paneling was still here. The ceiling consisted of weird textured tiles that Oliver assumed had been bright white at some point, and not their current dingy color.
It just wasn’t a friendly place—okay for kids’ parties and Halloween, but really no one else rented the room much anymore. If the new station had a nicer space, it could be used for family reunions or meetings. Maybe even wedding receptions. The town did need rental space for those kinds of events—rental space that was cheaper than the Chesapeake Inn and larger than a restaurant’s private dining room.
The way Oliver saw it, it was part of the fire department’s community service mission. He jotted down some notes. A nicer room would probably pay for itself in a few years’ time. But it definitely needed to be further away from the main bay. He sniffed the air. Even with the door closed, the smell of motor oil from the trucks and the unmistakable odor of sweaty men managed to make its way up the stairwell.
His thoughts of hardwood flooring and recessed lighting were interrupted by a sudden commotion downstairs. A call was coming in. There was no flashing light stack on the wall in the community room, but Oliver knew the sounds. Boots hitting the floor. Metal locker doors clanging open. The whine of the bay doors lifting. It was a well-rehearsed dance. By the time the dispatcher’s voice came on over the P.A. system, he’d already tossed his legal pad onto a table and pulled out his phone to check the app the fire department used to communicate the location of emergency calls.
His heart stopped.
It was the elementary school.
He sprinted for the stairs.
When he pulled the fire engine into the circular driveway of the school, the storm was still going strong. The rain was coming down faster than the storm sewers could drain it, and the single file line of kids splashed through puddles on the wide sidewalk. Oliver forced himself not to look for Mason and Cam as he pushed open the truck’s door and jumped out. His kids weren’t any more important than anyone else’s.
In the distance, a crack of lightning lit up the dark sky. This was not a good situation. Fire inside, lightning outside. He looked across the parking lot and spotted the yellow school buses lined up at the far end. He waved at a custodian who was directing the kids.
“Get the kids onto those buses!” he yelled and pointed toward the parking lot. The custodian nodded in understanding, then Oliver pulled his mask and helmet down over his head and face, and sprinted toward the school. His partner, Heath, ran next to him. He spotted Jack ahead of him, disappearing into the building. Matt wasn’t on shift, but was on the way in. Even a small school like St. Caroline’s elementary school was still a large building, and had to be cleared quickly.
Inside, Oliver and Heath headed down the hall on the right. The heat-activated sprinklers weren’t going off on this side of the school yet—a good sign. Up ahead a small figure ran toward them. A kid separated from their class? Oliver picked up his pace. As he got closer, though, he saw it wasn’t a child. It was Serena. What the hell? His entire family was here? Stay calm. He slowed to a stop when he reached her and waved Heath on.
“I’ll catch up in a sec.” He turned back to Serena. “What are you doing here?”
“Today was one of my volunteer days.”
“I get that. But why aren’t you outside?”
“Cammy went to the bathroom. He wasn’t back when the fire alarm went off. I told his teacher I would go get him.”
“We’ll find Cam. You get outside.”
“I can help!”
He grabbed her shoulder to stop her stride and spun her around to face him. “No. Get outside now. Now!”
He saw the flash of fear in her eyes. Probably he had grabbed her shoulder a little harder than he intended. But this was important! Stay calm.
“Serena, I don’t have time for this right now. I need you to exit the building. We will find Cam.”
He was on the verge of giving her a little shove in the direction of the front door, when she turned and began walking quickly—but not running—away. He took a deep breath.This is not the time to assert your independence, Serena. He wanted to pick her up and bodily remove her from the building. But my wife is no more important than any other person in this building.
He rounded the slight corner into the second and third grade hallway and caught up with his partner. Damn it. He forgot to tell Serena to get in her car when she got outside, to protect herself from the lightning. He hoped she’d figure it out.
He began searching the second grade classrooms. There was no time to wonder which room Mason was assigned to. Jack’s team was looking for the fire and the source. It was eleven o’clock. Normally, he’d guess a kitchen fire but who knew where the lightning had struck? According to dispatch, the principal hadn’t exactly been calm. People generally weren’t with lightning strikes.
He checked under desks, beneath the teacher’s desk, behind the bookshelf that defined a quiet reading area. Each room looked like Pompeii—everything left right where it was. Jackets on hooks. Worksheets on desks. Other papers scattered on the floor.
But no Cam. His son knew what to do in the event of a fire, though. He was probably outside with the other kids. Serena just didn’t realize it.
The sky outside lit up with another streak of lightning. He hoped the kids were all on the buses by now.
“Has the fire been located?” he barked into his voice port. “Has the gym been cleared?”
Back out in the hall, Heath gave him a thumbs up for the third grade classrooms.
“Classrooms on alpha delta all clear,” Oliver relayed to the rest of the team.
Another voice came back. “Gym and office all clear.”
There was a set of restrooms up ahead. He’d gone to this school as a child. He knew it inside and out, even without the training the department did here every summer. He had yet to see any smoke. A good sign, but the building was one story, flat and sprawling. Smoke in one wing of the building might not be noticeable in another. He sent Heath ahead to start on the back hallway, where the kindergarten and first grade classrooms were.
He pushed open the door to the girls’ bathroom.
“Anyone in here?”
He opened every stall. Empty. Relief flooded his veins and he bolted from the room and into the boys’ restroom next door.
“Anyone in here?
He pushed open the first stall door. Empty. Second and third, empty too. When he pushed on the wider handicapped door, he found it locked. A frightened squeak sounded from inside. He got down on his hands and knees, and poked his head beneath the door. Cam was huddled on top of the toilet, his face white, cheeks streaked with tears.
Serena was right.
“Cammy! It’s dad! Come here!” He lifted his mask. “It’s daddy, see? Come on, bud, we gotta get you out of here.” Please don’t be too scared to move.
Oliver started to shove his body beneath the door when Cam jumped off the toilet and fell onto Oliver’s outstretched arms.
“Atta boy!” He pulled Cam under the door, picked him up and ran into the hall. “Alpha delta bathrooms cleared! Evacuating one child.”
Oliver ran him outside, where it was still raining
cats and dogs. He wanted to ask Cam why he was hiding in the bathroom, when he—of all kids—should know what to do in a fire. But there was no time for that now. He handed off Cam to a custodian whose clothing was soaked clean through. Cam would be in a similar state by the time they reached the buses.
Oliver headed back into the school. “Where’s the fire?” he radioed as he ran to find Heath.
Jack’s voice sounded in his helmet. “Source found. Kitchen.”
“Kitchen?”
“Yeah, there was a lightning strike too, but the lightning protection system worked. Just a coincidence that the kitchen fire happened at the same time.”
“Is the fire out?” Oliver found Heath waiting at the end of the kindergarten-first grade hallway.
“Just about.”
Other voices cut in with rooms and building areas that were searched and cleared. Apparently, Oliver’s son was the only child who hadn’t made it outside with the rest of his classmates. Some remedial fire safety training might be in order after dinner that night.
Or you could maybe wait until he’s less traumatized.
Dad wouldn’t have.
Oliver’s eyes darted around the hall. He was hearing the voice again, but Matt was nowhere to be seen.
Occam’s Razor? The simplest explanation is usually the correct one?
Yeah, the simplest explanation was that his brother was pulling his leg and now the power of suggestion had kicked in.
Chapter 33
“Wait—what?” Mason’s head snapped up so fast he nearly toppled off the dining room chair.
Serena returned her phone to the kitchen. When she came back, she repeated what she had just said a minute earlier. “That was a message from the superintendent. The elementary school is going to be closed for the rest of the week.” She wasn’t surprised by the superintendent’s decision. If anything, she was surprised that it took five hours for them to make it.
“Yes!” Mason was up and out of the chair now, fist-pumping the air.
“Why?” Cam’s voice was plaintive.
“Well buddy, they’ve got to clean up the kitchen. And they want to inspect the building just to make extra sure that it’s safe,” Oliver explained.
“That loud noise?” Mason added. “That was the school getting struck by lightning. It was so cool.”
From the expression on Cam’s face, Serena could tell he did not share his brother’s opinion. Poor Cam had failed some sort of Wolfe family manhood test—panicking in a fire.
“The whole place was buzzing!” Mason continued.
Mason, on the other hand, loved anything that caught on fire, exploded, or just plain self-destructed.
“Yeah well, the school has a lightning protection system,” Oliver said “But they want to test all the electrical and mechanical systems before they open the school again.”
“So no school tomorrow?” Cam asked, clearly still disappointed.
“I thought you’d be happy about that news,” Oliver said, catching Serena’s eye.
“Cammy has a girlfriend,” Mason supplied.
“Do not!”
“We’ll find something fun to do tomorrow. I promise.” There was already an idea taking shape in her head. “If everyone’s done with dinner, let’s get the table cleared. You guys can go upstairs and read for a little while before bath time. I need to talk to your dad.”
When the boys were safely out of earshot in their bedroom, Serena turned to Oliver as he loaded the dishwasher in the kitchen.
“I’m thinking of taking the boys to New York this week.” She leaned against the countertop for moral support.
“New York?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“Why not? They have the rest of the week off. I can take the boys to the natural history museum.”
Oliver closed the dishwasher. For a moment, he looked like he was about to speak. She waited, but instead he pressed his lips shut.
“Cam is pretty upset about what happened today,” she said.
“Obviously.”
She could tell that “obviously” Oliver was upset, too.
“I’m sorry about not evacuating the school right away.”
She wasn’t, actually. Not really. What mother would leave a burning building with one of her kids unaccounted for inside? There were rules, and Oliver was a stickler for the rules. She got that. In his line of work, you had to be a stickler.
But she was a mother, not a firefighter. And being the wife of a firefighter took a back seat to her responsibilities as a mother. It just did.
Oliver shrugged off her apology. In any case, the fire turned out to be contained to the kitchen.
“I think Cam could use a few days away,” she added.
Oliver pushed himself away from the dishwasher. “Or is it that you need a few days away?”
She gathered her thoughts. Oliver’s pushback didn’t surprise her. “I think you need a few days away from me,” she said finally. “I love you, Ollie. But you’re holding something against me that I don’t remember doing. And can’t imagine doing. To you or to Ashley.”
She waited for him to say something. When he didn’t, she went on. Might as well speak my piece all at once.
“If you have concrete evidence, now would be a good time to produce it. Otherwise, I don’t know what to say to you anymore.”
“Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.”
“I’m not a firefighter so I don’t see things that way. Tomorrow morning, I’m taking the boys to New York for a few days. You’re welcome to join us.”
“I have to work this week. You know that.”
“Then the boys and I will be back this weekend.”
“I thought we had talked about maybe doing this over the summer.”
“We can go twice. It’s not possible to see all of New York in one trip.” She should probably end this conversation now. But in for a dime, in for a dollar and all that. “I’d like to show the boys where I grew up.”
“Are you driving?”
“I thought I’d drive to Union Station in DC and then we’d take the train up. The boys would love riding the train.”
His eyes caught hers and then he looked beyond her, at some non-specific point over her left shoulder. This was a special talent of Oliver’s—being able to just stand there and say next to nothing. It drove her nuts. It’s always driven me nuts. Yes, she remembered that with absolute certainty.
“Fine,” he said. “I’m sure the boys will have a good time.”
“You know what, Ollie?” There were more pieces to the piece she wanted to speak. They were here. Might as well get it all out on the table. “I think you could use a week alone, too. Take some time to think.”
“Think about what?”
“Your mom.” She caught the sudden flash of wariness in his eyes, but it disappeared behind his poker face just as quickly.
“I think about her all the time.”
She took a deep breath. This also drove her nuts, this tendency for arguments with Oliver to go round and round. “I misspoke. You don’t need to think. You need to let yourself feel, Ollie. I know you had a lot on your plate last fall, but—”
“Understatement of the century?”
She inhaled, then let it back out. “Whatever.” She couldn’t force Oliver to think about his feelings, to be a little less “Oliver.”
“I’m taking the boys to the city for the week. We’ll be home next weekend. If you need someone to talk to, Dr. Trevor has the name of a psychologist you can call.”
“Great! You’re talking about me to other people?”
“Dr. Trevor broached the subject when Cam was in for his appointment. I’m not the only person to notice that you’re struggling.”
“I’m not struggling.”
His voice rose on that last word. She lifted her eyes to the ceiling, where the sound of the boys playing was growing louder. Apparently, they were finished reading.
Oliver
lowered his voice. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose a parent.” He backtracked when he saw the look on her face. “Not lose one permanently. I mean, here you are, going to visit your parents tomorrow.”
“You’re right, Ollie. I don’t know what that’s like. I don’t even know what it’s like to lose a friend. I woke up one day and discovered that your mom was gone. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye or go to her funeral.”
She bit back tears. She hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to Ben, either. That felt like a loss, like more of a loss than it should, and doubt reared its ugly head again.
“Maybe you need to spend a week feeling, too.” Oliver brushed past her on his way to the stairs.
As the train sped through the cities along the eastern seaboard—Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia—Mason and Cam were equal parts pumped and awed. Every other minute, some new scenery lit them up. Bridges! Skylines! A dark tunnel as they entered a new station!
The boys had seen precious little of the world outside St. Caroline. Their trip to the museum in Virginia. Summer visits to Ocean City, Maryland. She knew they’d been there because there were photographs scattered around the house. But where else might they have been? Probably nowhere.
Their suitcases were stacked on the metal rack overhead. Just packing had sent them over the moon. You’d think they were actually going to the moon. And then the thing that had really galled their father: they were excited by the prospect of seeing their grandparents again.
Her boys were going to be innocents like her husband. Once upon a time, that quality had charmed her about Oliver. That mix of strength and guilelessness. The fact that he was so firmly rooted in one place. But rooted could also mean “stuck.” And Oliver certainly seemed stuck in his way of thinking these days.
She looked out the window blankly, not seeing the exciting things her sons were seeing. She was replaying the argument she and Oliver had, lying in bed the night before.
This Reminds Me of Us Page 22
