Kitabı oku: «The Firefighter's Vow», sayfa 2
CHAPTER TWO
LAURA WATCHED THE ambulance depart, envying both Tony and Travis their confidence and bravery. When they rolled up at an emergency, they had no idea what they might face. She could almost forgive Tony for lecturing her about jumping in without training. His censure had been arrogant, irritating...and at least partly true.
Her bare toes were in the sand, and the calming pattern of waves breaking on the beach behind her was as familiar as the sound of her own breathing. But something was stirring her thoughts, not letting her go.
When the fatal news of her brother’s loss in a forest fire out west had destroyed her family’s peace two years ago, her only thought had been to run away. She hadn’t physically run. Until ten days ago, she had continued to live in the home that still had her brother’s favorite mug in the kitchen cabinet. Instead, she’d emotionally tried to put distance between herself and that day, and she hadn’t succeeded.
Drinking wasn’t the answer. Burying herself in American History by attempting to write a historical novel had gone nowhere. Dating a man who loved himself far more than he cared about her... Uh, no. He hadn’t been much better than the immature guy she dated after him.
Only one thing had gotten her out her bed on those dark winter mornings, and it was the idea that someone might need her, that someone was suffering more than she was.
“Excellent work,” she said to Kimberly and Jordan. “You each get a save on your record.” The lifeguards beamed, their wet hair gleaming in the sun. “Go back to the hut and take a break while I get your areas covered and we reopen the beach to swimmers.”
Laura followed established protocol, explaining only what was necessary to other beach guests and getting the swimming area back to normal. Laura thought about what could have gone wrong and what she would have done.
If the swimmers hadn’t been breathing, what would she have done? She had her CPR certification from being the assistant coach on the cross-country team. So she probably could have done something. But she could do more, couldn’t she? She wanted to do more.
Rebecca’s Aunt Diane was becoming a volunteer firefighter. Just like that. Following an idea and a passion. People reinvented their lives all the time and for all sorts of reasons.
She had reasons.
She thought of Tony’s words about training and experience. What if she shocked him and herself by becoming a rescuer? The thought was bold and jolted her from her head to her toes. Could she join the fire department? She’d tried volunteering and community service. She’d joined a community group raising money for a food kitchen. She’d spent holidays throughout the school year volunteering instead of sitting at her family’s dinner table where someone would always be missing.
She had to admit to herself that her activities had at first been motivated by the need to escape that empty place. And then she’d slowly discovered the truth behind the old saying that helping others was the best way to help herself.
What if she took her volunteer service to a whole new level and became a first responder? As she crossed the beach, she clung to the idea as if it were a valued possession.
Afraid to even say it aloud, she kept the thought to herself throughout the rest of her long shift, but she mulled it over all day. The idea wouldn’t let go.
The late afternoon sun had lost some of its intensity when Laura parked her bicycle in front of the Cape Pursuit fire station. She was careful not to block the five massive overhead doors, which were open to reveal shining fire trucks. She had a reason for being there, a solid reason for asking where Tony Ruggles might be so she could get information for her incident report. But she also had a secret fire in her chest.
At the front of the station, a sign with changeable black letters advertised the upcoming volunteer class. Was that the one Diane was taking? Maybe she should call Rebecca’s aunt and talk to her?
Those trucks were beautiful. The lights, the chrome, the complicated pumps, the ladders stored along the sides...and the tires. Huge and waist high, the thick black rubber tires looked as if they could plow over any obstacle. The power was intoxicating, and she wanted to learn their secrets. Had her brother felt that way?
“Hello, Laura.”
She spun, feeling awkward about her fascination with the trucks. Tony stood, arms crossed, as if she were an intruder in his domain. His dark navy uniform shirt was buttoned neatly, and a silver bar over a chest pocket said Chief Ruggles. Hadn’t he been a captain last summer?
“The report,” she stammered. “You said I could contact you for information so I can complete my incident report about today’s...incident.”
He nodded, but his expression didn’t change even when she stumbled over her words. She almost wished he would laugh at her and break the tension. Her chest thrummed with excitement, but she wanted to appear calm and deliberate.
“Come into my office,” he said.
Laura somehow felt safer in the middle of the wide bay surrounded by the trucks. They inspired confidence. Tony, with his look of professional neutrality, did not make her feel as if she were a woman on a mission to change her life by changing the world around her.
“Thank you,” she said, bravery in her tone. “Lead the way.”
Tony had already started to turn toward a long interior wall with several doors down it, but he paused and looked back at her when she spoke. Good. He should know she wasn’t intimidated by him.
Tony opened one of the doors in the long wall. Laura entered the cool, dim office with faded color photographs of former chiefs on the walls, a massive steel desk and functional ugly furniture.
“When did you become the chief?” she asked.
“At the end of last summer.”
Small talk. It bridged the gap of the past year and built a tiny social foundation between her and Tony, but it was a delay. She needed to tell him her real reason for coming to the fire station.
“Your dad was the chief, wasn’t he?”
Tony nodded.
“And you followed in his footsteps.”
Tony’s forehead wrinkled and Laura recognized irritation in his expression.
“I earned it if that’s what you’re asking.” He tried to smile, but it was nothing like the friendly smile he’d given the kids on the beach, their parents and even his firefighting partner. Her impression of Tony from the previous summer was of a lighthearted but sincere man who would do anything to help someone. But no one likes having their work questioned.
“Of course you earned it,” she said, putting enthusiasm behind her words to try to dispel the tension.
Tony’s features relaxed. “My dad retired and there was a shift in leadership positions. I was in the right place at the right time. Kevin is a captain now, but your sister probably already told you that.”
Before arriving in Cape Pursuit for the summer to live with her sister, Laura talked to Nicole almost every week on the phone and more often via text message and email, but the fire department was not something they typically talked about.
Tony handed Laura a printed copy of the report from the beach run. “That’s an extra. You can take it with you,” he said.
Was he dismissing her?
“I wanted to make sure it was available for you since I’m going off duty in about an hour,” he added.
Oh. He was being considerate and organized. Of course. He helped people and didn’t ask questions. When he’d taken her keys away from her in the parking lot of the Cape Pursuit Bar and Grill and held open the door of his truck, he’d hardly said a word. As she disgraced herself being sick from too many drinks on an empty stomach, he’d held her hair and offered her damp washcloths.
The memory burned her cheeks. If he had seen her over the course of the past year, he would probably have tried to rescue her. The days she’d left her teaching job and sat in the parking lot, head on the steering wheel, fighting tears. The nights she slipped out of the house after her parents were asleep so she could go for long walks without answering questions.
That was why she had come to Cape Pursuit. She was doing so much better than what he probably thought. At least she was trying...
“How did you become a firefighter?” she asked, forcing the subject into the open before she chickened out.
Tony cocked his head to the side and drew his eyebrows together.
“I mean, what did you have to do to become qualified?” she asked.
“To be a professional firefighter, you have to take hundreds of hours of training,” he said.
“What kind of training?”
Tony’s expression softened. “Sit down,” he said, indicating one of the much-used chairs in the office. “Please.”
Laura sat, but she kept her back straight so she would feel strong and powerful. She needed her strength for what she was about to do.
“I feel like you must have a reason for asking,” Tony said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He looked sympathetic, as if he were talking to a lost child. He wasn’t much older than she was, and she was not lost. In fact, she was starting to feel quite found. “Is this about your brother?”
“No,” Laura said, shaking her head. “It’s about me.” She took a deep breath and let it out, knowing Tony would be patient enough to wait a moment for her explanation. “I’d like to become a volunteer firefighter.”
IT WAS NOT the first time Tony had talked with someone coming into the fire station and asking about joining as either a volunteer or a full-timer. Firefighters tended to attract attention with their high-profile jobs, big trucks and loud sirens. The station, too, was prominently located and took up half a block in Cape Pursuit.
He was glad every time someone came in and asked about joining their ranks because he believed it was the best and most noble profession. Believed in helping others even at the risk of his own life. Believed in his men, his trucks and their training.
He couldn’t believe Laura Wheeler was sitting in his office asking to sign up. The fact that she was a woman had nothing to do with his shock. Cape Pursuit didn’t have any women on the roster, but most local departments did and he’d had female instructors at the fire academy who’d easily dispelled any myth about men being better able to do the job.
No, it wasn’t that she was female. It was that she was Laura Wheeler. The woman who had been cast adrift by her firefighter brother’s death. He’d asked about her since their meeting last year, indirectly and discreetly. His best friend and cousin Kevin was marrying Laura’s sister, so it wasn’t far off the mark for Laura to come up in conversation.
Nothing he’d heard would have made him think Laura was a candidate for the fire service, but she was right there looking at him with expectation written in the set of her mouth and intensity in her eyes.
“A volunteer firefighter,” she repeated. “Not an astronaut, so you don’t need to look so shocked.”
“I’m not shocked,” Tony said quickly, but he doubted he was very convincing.
“Women can fight fires.”
“Yes,” he said. “I’ve known other women in the fire service who could outclimb me on ladders, outdrive me in the trucks and just generally outsmart me.”
Laura raised both eyebrows, a look she had probably perfected with teenagers making up excuses about their homework.
“I just didn’t think firefighting...after what happened with...”
“My brother, Adam,” Laura said steadily as if she wanted to get it out in the open. “Yes. He died doing this. It was a forest fire, but it was a fire. And yes, I’m sure you think I must be out of my mind to want to do this.”
“I don’t think you’re out of your mind.”
“Good,” she said. “How can I join the department?”
“We...have an application process. And there’s training, of course. Volunteers don’t need nearly as much as full-time staff, but there’s still a lot you would need to know.”
“I know CPR and have first aid training because I was a coach, and I helped save someone just this morning from drowning,” she said. “That’s a start, isn’t it?”
“CPR and first aid training are very relevant,” Tony agreed. It was true that teachers and coaches had to be cool under pressure and often put the needs of others first. He respected that, but he hadn’t known before today that Laura had any experience or desire that would qualify her to do what he did. His image of her was as Nicole’s sister who didn’t always make the best choices.
Tony sat back in his chair and tried to reimagine Laura as a person capable of wearing thirty pounds of gear, fighting her way through smoke and dousing a fire.
“I’m physically fit,” she said as if she could read his thoughts. He was instantly ashamed. The size of a person had little to do with the ability to fight fires. Brains, attitude and training were far greater determiners. “I run.”
“That’s great,” Tony said. “I can see you’re very...” He needed to change the subject before he said something stupid. “Have you talked to your sister about this?”
Laura’s determined and even slightly defiant expression fell, and Tony knew he’d hit a sore spot. He didn’t want to discourage her, but...
He wanted to protect her. That was it. And that was the problem.
“I haven’t,” she said. “Do you ask every volunteer who comes in here if he’s talked to his sister?”
“You’re not every volunteer,” Tony said, his tone soft.
Laura stood. “Can I have an application, please?”
Tony got up quickly. “It’s online. You just fill it out and submit it.”
“And when does training start?”
Laura was dead serious. “Next week. We’re running a six-week intensive summer training.”
“Here at the station?” she asked.
Tony nodded. “And I’m the instructor.”
CHAPTER THREE
THE SUNNY MONDAY afternoon was peaceful as Laura and her sister, Nicole, cruised an ocean inlet on their paddleboards. Laura loved the challenge of keeping her balance and getting a good workout, and also spending time with her sister. The steady rhythm of their paddles moving in unison lulled her into believing that finding an even keel was a possibility for her that summer. She’d also decided that balancing over thirty feet of water was a great time to share her firefighting plan with Nicole.
The look her sister gave her did not bode well. Nicole dipped her paddle deep and splashed Laura with ocean water. “That’s not funny,” Nicole said, resting the edge of her paddle between her feet and balancing on the calm water.
“I didn’t mean it as a joke,” Laura protested, mirroring her sister’s movements. “I’m not kidding.”
Nicole held up a finger. “You were supposed to spend the summer with me, have fun, help me with my wedding and take care of Kevin’s dog while we go on our honeymoon. That kind of stuff. You weren’t supposed to show up in town and give me a heart attack.”
“Sorry,” Laura said. “I thought you might understand.”
“Understand?” Nicole asked, raising her voice. “You thought I would understand that my only sister, my only remaining sibling...” her voice softened and trailed off, and Laura instantly felt like a jerk for not realizing just how much of an impact her decision would have on Nicole.
“This is different,” Laura said. “I’m not planning on trying to outrun a forest fire. It’s a nice small fire department. I’ll get plenty of training—probably more than Adam had before he—”
“No,” Nicole said. “I’m learning to live with the fact that Kevin is a firefighter, but I can’t deal with potentially losing you, too.”
Laura began paddling silently alongside her sister, watching for marine life under the calm blue water. She’d paddled back home in rivers, but this was one hundred times more beautiful and interesting.
“How did you learn to accept Kevin’s job?” Laura asked.
“I had to because I love him. I couldn’t make him give up something he loves as the price for being with me.”
It was Laura’s turn to use her paddle to douse her sister with ocean water.
“Hey,” Nicole protested.
“You love me and this is important to me, so what’s the difference?”
“You’re my sister,” Nicole said.
“And?”
Nicole blew out a breath and sat down on her paddleboard. She crossed her legs and laid her paddle across her lap. Laura sat, too, and they let the easy current push them gently around while still staying close to each other.
“Why do you want to do this?” Nicole asked.
Laura trailed a hand in the water. “Because I want to live. And live with myself. I used to believe I could do anything and that anything was possible, but when Adam died, it wrecked my world. You know I was...self-destructive for a while.”
“Are you kidding?” Nicole asked with a sympathetic smile. “I thought the third guy in a row you dated who had a seedy past and a sketchy future was an indication of your excellent judgment.”
“There were only two. And they weren’t all that bad. At least I didn’t think so at the time.”
Nicole nodded. “Of course, I’m getting some of this bias from Mom and Dad who thought you’d quit your teaching job and take off on a motorcycle at any moment. They were worried about you.”
Laura forced a laugh, but her sister’s words hit home. Her parents, hardworking Midwesterners, considered quitting a nice steady job one of the worst things a person could do. She remembered how scandalized they’d been when Nicole quit her job at the furniture factory a year ago and moved to Cape Pursuit to work in a fledgling art gallery. They’d accepted her decision when the move turned out to be a good one, but Laura wasn’t sure they’d see it the same way with her. She was their youngest child now, and she knew they considered her fragile. She would need to prove her strength to them.
“I don’t care for motorcycles,” Laura said. “There’s no good place to put your purse.”
“Seriously,” Nicole said. “Why firefighting? Do you think it’s what Adam would want you to do? Is that why?”
Laura shook her head. “It’s what I want to do. Over the past year, the only times I felt better about myself were the times I was helping someone else. I didn’t feel the anguish or helplessness I felt after Adam’s death while I was being useful volunteering and organizing fundraisers.”
“So you could volunteer at all kinds of things,” Nicole said, excitement in her voice as she latched onto an idea. “We have a library and a summer reading program in Cape Pursuit. You could work at the soup kitchen. You could organize a sock drive for the homeless. Be a blood donor. You could do fifteen dozen things other than be a firefighter.”
“I want to challenge myself,” Laura said. “I helped save some people during a beach rescue last week. It was exhilarating and it made me feel like I could get out of my own way for the first time in a long time. I want to help people when they need it the most.”
She thought of Tony coming through for her at a dark moment a year before. She had almost gotten behind the wheel of her sister’s car after too many drinks to count—her crappiest day in a year full of crappy days. He had rescued her, but she pushed that thought aside whenever it surfaced. Tony wasn’t the person who could save her.
The only person who could save her was herself.
She saw Nicole swipe a tear away. She didn’t want to argue and open a wound that would never be fully healed. They were sisters. They needed and loved each other.
“Anyway,” Laura said as she heaved a big sigh and stood on her board, taking a moment to regain her balance. “I don’t even know if they’ll accept me into the training program. I’m only here for the summer, and they probably have plenty of people with better qualifications than I have.”
Nicole stood on her board and spread her feet carefully, tilting the board side to side and using her paddle as a balance bar until she gained control.
“I don’t think anyone coming into the fire service has better qualifications than you do,” Nicole said. “You’re a superstar teacher, your patience is battle-tested from putting up with teenagers and I think you’re braver than you know.”
“Really?” Laura said hopefully. Did her sister really believe in her?
“Of course,” Nicole said. “You’re here helping me with my wedding, and you’re crazy enough to live in the same house with me as I panic about all the details. Maids of honor should probably get special presidential medals of valor.”
“I thought you were being serious about me being a good candidate,” Laura protested, laughing.
“I believe you can do anything you want to,” Nicole said. “But I don’t want you doing this.”
The sisters paddled toward the dock where Kevin sat on the tailgate of his pickup truck, his legs dangling. As soon as they reached the dock, he jumped down from the truck and offered them both a hand.
Nicole stepped onto the dock first, her paddle in one hand, and then Kevin steadied Laura as she did the same.
“Did you see anything interesting?” he asked. “Stingrays or jellyfish?”
“A shark followed us, but I fought him off with my paddle,” Nicole said.
Kevin clutched both her arms. “Really?” he said, his voice full of alarm.
Nicole laughed. “No.”
Kevin blew out a sigh of relief.
“Laura fought him off,” Nicole said.
Her fiancé shook his head. “Not funny—not that I doubt you, Laura.”
He helped haul the paddleboards up to his truck, then lifted them in and secured them with a bungee cord.
“Did you know Laura wants to be a volunteer firefighter?” Nicole demanded as the three of them squeezed into the cab of the truck, Nicole taking the middle seat.
Laura leaned forward so she could see Kevin’s face when he answered. His expression was neutral and cautious.
“Tony mentioned that.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I thought Laura would tell you,” Kevin said.
Nicole scoffed. “Coward.”
Laura leaned back, happy her sister had someone else to vent her frustration on, even though she knew she hadn’t heard the last of it.
Why firefighting? Her sister’s question stuck with her. Why the fire service and not one of the dozens of other volunteer possibilities? Nicole’s assertion that it was an homage to their brother made Laura pause. Was that her reason?
She had to admit that was part of it. The ultimate way to handle her grief and guilt over Adam was to face it directly, not to run from it as she had been. If she hadn’t shown him the campus flyer asking for volunteers, he might never have known about the summer job. He might be alive right now.
She swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to remember to focus on the present and the future—the only things she could do anything about. Being in Cape Pursuit took her away from her parents, but she could be with Nicole. And the blue water, sunshine and vacation vibe of the town had warmed and welcomed her. She could see why Nicole had fallen in love in more ways than one.
Laura watched the downtown shops blur past as Kevin drove them to her sister’s house. Cape Pursuit was where she wanted to be, and squeezing every ounce of bravery she possessed out of her was the way to start over and be whole again.
She’d been planning to tell Nicole she wanted to quit her teaching job, but given her sister’s reaction to her plans to join the fire department, Laura decided to save that additional bombshell for another day. Her family wouldn’t understand, and she doubted she could explain it in a coherent way because she hardly understood it herself.
“You’re not going to try to talk her out of it?” Nicole asked, tapping her fingers on Kevin’s knee as he drove. “I thought you had to be on my side since we’re getting married.”
“Maybe I could think of some arguments if you give me some time,” he said. “But I have to go to a class in Virginia Beach as soon as I drop you off. Tony’s meeting me at your house so we can get on the road and not be late.”
Nicole dropped the subject as they turned onto her street, and Laura saw Tony’s truck parked in front of Nicole’s house. It brought back the memory of the previous summer when Tony had driven her in that truck back to the house and stayed with her for hours, even when she hadn’t deserved his kindness.
She wasn’t that person anymore, and she needed to prove that to everyone...starting with herself.
TONY WAITED NEXT to his truck while Kevin carried the paddleboards into the garage and Nicole followed him to help secure them on brackets along the wall. The garage was just large enough for Nicole’s small red car, and Tony noticed that Laura was keeping her vehicle tucked alongside the driveway.
“Did you have fun?” Tony asked, hoping to fill up their few minutes together in the driveway with neutral conversation. He was afraid of the negative impression he’d given Laura when she approached him about joining the fire department. He didn’t want her to think he didn’t believe she could do it, and she’d have other obstacles to face.
“We did,” she said. “I love being on the water.”
“It’s different here than it is back in Indiana, though, isn’t it?” he asked. He tried to picture rivers and freshwater streams, but he’d hardly traveled outside of Virginia and the Atlantic coast region.
“Very. At home, all the beautiful scenery is above the water, but here it’s above and below the surface.”
Below the surface. Tony wondered what was beneath the surface of Laura Wheeler.
“I hope you’ll get to enjoy it a lot this summer,” he said.
“I downloaded the application,” she said. “For the volunteer department.”
“About that,” he began. It had occurred to him that her residency in Virginia was temporary and that she probably didn’t even have a Virginia driver’s license. Not being a resident would prevent her from getting certified as a volunteer firefighter in the state.
“I didn’t look at it yet,” Laura said. I planned to do it later today since it’s my day off—I asked for Mondays because that’s the day the gallery is closed.”
“That’s great,” Tony said.
“Were you about to tell me something?” Laura asked. “You don’t have to reveal any secrets if you don’t want to,” she added quickly.
“Nothing special. It asks for your contact information, relevant background and experience, special skills you have and why you want to be a firefighter.”
“Okay.” Laura nodded.
Tony swallowed and looked toward the garage. He wished Kevin would hurry up and finish stowing the paddleboards so they could get on the road to the evening class they were both taking to advance their careers.
“There’s no test to get started, right?” she asked.
“No. Just a criminal background check, standard procedure for anyone wanting to join. And you need a valid Virginia driver’s license.”
Laura bit her lip and looked nervous, and Tony was afraid he’d destroyed her dream. He didn’t want to see Laura put her life in danger in the line of duty, but he also didn’t want to wreck her hopes with a technicality. Even though that technicality might be the easy way out for him.
“I’m going to the license bureau after work tomorrow to transfer my Indiana license to a Virginia one. I hope that won’t slow down the process for my application.”
“Transfer? Does that mean you’re planning to...stay in Cape Pursuit?”
“I drive vehicles for my job supervising the beach guards and surf shack, and for insurance purposes it makes it a lot easier for them if I have a Virginia license,” she said.
Tony noticed that she hadn’t answered his question, and there was no polite way for him to pry further.
He’d noticed that Laura was not afraid to ask tough questions, which didn’t quite fit with the picture he’d formed last summer. He wished he knew her better, but there was no way he could say that, either. Not if she planned to join the department and be under his supervision as a trainee and member. A personal interest or relationship was definitely out of the question, especially since he was the youngest fire chief in the area. He always felt he had to be careful to act twice as professionally as the other chiefs.
He would have to be content with the information she offered. If she offered it.
“You’ll need a few character references,” he said. “But I’m sure that won’t be a problem for you. You can put down people you worked with in Indiana. Or maybe Kevin.”
She pulled off her ball cap and ran a hand through her long dark hair. “So I hear you’re in the wedding party, too,” she said, nodding toward the garage where Kevin was giving Nicole a long goodbye kiss.
“Groomsman,” Tony said after a split second in which he wrapped his head around the change of subject. “And you’re the maid of honor.”
It wasn’t a question. He already knew all the members of the small wedding party. He’d been involved in the planning because the reception following the beach wedding was in the fire station. They didn’t rent out the station as a party venue, but Tony remembered a few firefighters’ wedding receptions and parties in the past. And the station hosted an elaborate Christmas party every year for members and their families. With the trucks outside and enough decorations, the building could be pretty festive.
Laura nodded. “I still need a dress. Nicole and I decided to wait until I got here so we could go shopping together.”
“I haven’t been given my instructions since the wedding is still six weeks away, so I don’t know what I’m wearing.”
“I do,” Laura said. “I helped Nicole pick it out.”
“Tell me it’s not a white tuxedo. The glare on the beach would blind everyone and they wouldn’t be able to tell the bride from the groomsmen,” Tony said. “Plus, I’d feel stupid in a white tuxedo.”
