Kitabı oku: «The Firefighter's Vow», sayfa 4

CHAPTER FIVE

LAURA SPREAD HER mat in a spot between her sister, Nicole, and their friend Jane. Jane was Nicole’s friend and employer, and Laura had been invited warmly into the friendship the previous summer. Going to the gym with them took Laura straight out of her comfort zone.

“This is not my usual thing,” Laura said as she watched the other women confidently choose weights from the racks and exercise bands from a hanging peg. “Can’t we just go run ten miles?”

“No,” Nicole said. “You know I can barely run around the block. You got all the running talent in the family. Or insanity. Hard to tell.”

“I’d probably barf after two miles,” Jane said. “And I’m tired of smelling like barf all the time already. No one tells you that about having a baby. They’re cute, but the smell of old barf on your collar is not even a little adorable.”

“You’ll be fine,” Nicole told her sister. “Just don’t try to prove anything, go with a lighter weight if you need to, and feign a broken leg if it gets too tough. We’ll back you up by looking very sympathetic and covering you with a sweaty towel.”

“Thanks.”

The instructor turned on the music and everyone stopped talking. Nicole and Jane looked like they could teach the cardio sculpt class. They had coordinating tights and tops. They moved a little with the music as if they had no trepidation about what came next.

“Just follow along,” Nicole said, bobbing her head with the beat and smiling. “You’re allowed to not be good at something.”

“I’ve been proving that theory for years,” Laura said, and Nicole shook her head and laughed.

“Start with two weights,” the instructor called out. “We’ll do fifteen reps across the body, fifteen triceps and fifteen side raises.”

The reps seemed easy at first, and Laura made a quick switch for heavier weights from the stack at her feet. After ten counts, the weights got even heavier, and by fifteen she regretted her bold move.

“You’re not going to be able to lift your arms to wash your hair tomorrow,” Nicole whispered between sets. “Pick a lighter weight or you’ll have to try dry shampoo. You’d hate it with all your thick hair.”

Laura tried to think about how strong she was going to be as she kept going through the next murderous set of exercises. She would owe herself chips and salsa while studying later with her new friend Diane.

“Running is easier,” Laura commented after the group had completed three sets of the arm exercises and the instructor told them to grab a quick drink before they moved on to legs.

“But running does nothing for your arms. I have to look good in a wedding dress soon, and you made me get the sleeveless one,” Nicole said.

“It’s a summer beach wedding. Sleeveless was the only choice,” Laura said. “You’ll be gorgeous.”

“Are you getting ready for a test at the fire station?” Jane asked. “Do you have to carry a fifty-pound bag of kitty litter up a ladder and across a rooftop or something to get on the department?”

“Actually it’s a fifty-pound bar of chocolate. If you get it up a ladder, through a burning building and down a fire escape before it melts, you get to eat it. Built-in motivation,” Laura said.

Nicole cocked her head and looked serious. “I wonder if Kevin had to do that.”

Jane laughed. “Charlie is terrible at resisting temptation of any kind, so he’d probably eat half the chocolate before the test.”

“Just kidding,” Laura said. “It’s a fifty-foot reel of hose, which weighs a lot more than you’d think. I picked one up at our first night of training last night.”

“Then you’re in the right place,” Jane said.

“Unless you come to your senses and start volunteering at the library instead,” Nicole added.

“Squats,” the instructor said. “You’ll want a heavier weight for this one.”

“Of course I will,” Laura said.

Nicole and Jane laughed, and Laura threw herself into mentally counting along with the instructor.

“You’ll be the strongest one in the new class of volunteers,” Jane said as they changed their shoes in the locker room and toweled off sweat. “That fifty-pound hose won’t know what hit it.”

“I hope so,” Laura said. “I’ve been running for so long, I forgot I had other muscles.”

“Let’s get smoothies,” Nicole suggested. “The gym has a little patio out back where you can show up sweaty and no one cares.”

Laura stuffed her shoes and yoga mat into her gym bag and followed the other women to the promised land of sunshine and smoothies. Despite the fact that she was going to be all kinds of sore the next day, she felt light and happy being with people who were also starting a new phase of their lives. Jane had a baby with her new husband, firefighter Charlie Zimmerman, and Nicole was about to marry Kevin.

Laura didn’t have a man or a baby, but she had homework. Reading her fire service training books late into the night had made her even more excited about the upcoming second night of class.

“How do you like your job on the beach?” Jane asked.

“It’s good. The kids working the beach and the shack are nice, and I love being outside in the sun,” Laura said. She had her challenges with employees like Jason who failed to show up to work, but it was still a terrific way to spend her summer. After only a few weeks, she already wondered if she could go back to the confinement of the classroom with the same four gray walls, hard tile floor, rows of desks and the incessant bell schedule that dictated everything—including when she ate and when she went to the restroom.

Maybe she wasn’t meant to try to churn out educated kids as if they were on a factory conveyor belt. As she walked through her high school during her free period and heard her colleagues engaging students and demonstrating excellence, she often felt they knew something she didn’t. Had some gift or magic she didn’t have.

She loved history. Loved reading about people who’d made a difference. The first female reporter. The first man to patent a mechanical breakthrough. The first group of hikers to climb a mountain. The women who’d pioneered chemical science.

Laura didn’t expect to be on the pages of a book, but she did hope to make a tangible difference in the world.

“You’re great with teenagers,” Nicole said.

“I don’t know about that,” Laura said. “If I were such a genius with teenagers, my students wouldn’t be watching the clock and asking really great questions like ‘What time does this class end?’ and ‘Is this on the test?’”

“At least they’re asking questions,” Jane said. “Maybe it’s part of their process.”

“They don’t have a process,” Laura said. “They’re required to take American history, but the great state of Indiana doesn’t really care if they learn anything.”

“You care,” Nicole said.

Laura shrugged. She didn’t want to ruin her sister’s opinion of her, but she’d begun being honest with herself over the past year. “It gets harder every day. I’m not sure teaching high school is going how I thought it would. I used to watch those movies where high school teachers inspired their students and saved them from a life of crime and drugs. Students stood up to bullies and sang songs and got scholarships to their dream colleges. I loved those movies.”

“Everyone loves those movies,” Jane said. “Real life is harder.”

“Maybe,” Laura said. “And maybe I haven’t found my true calling yet.”

“Are you saying your true calling could be renting surfboards?” Nicole asked.

Laura put her hand over her heart. “I have seen my future,” she said, grinning. “It’s on a beach surrounded by beautiful vacationers and sweet families with children building castles and getting sand in every crevice of their bodies.”

Jane clinked her smoothie glass against Laura’s and Nicole’s. “Let’s drink to beautiful vacationers who come to town and give Cape Pursuit a reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

They all sipped their smoothies, and Laura smiled as she thought of her reason for getting out of bed lately. The fire department and the chance to really give herself to a cause. She visualized herself rescuing someone from flames or resuscitating someone’s loved one. Better than the someday hope of students realizing that the immortal words of the framers of the constitution have impacted their lives, firefighting was a true and present way she could give of herself.

Had her brother, Adam, known this feeling as he boarded the plane to head west and join his forest-fighting team for the summer? She hoped so. For the first time since his tragic death, Laura felt the leaden weight lift, just knowing he might have felt joy at the prospect of helping others just as she did now. Instead of sending him to his death by showing him that advertisement for firefighters, had she given him a chance to do something he loved, even for a brief time?

WEARING A PAIR of surgical gloves and carrying a garbage bag, Tony walked the sidewalks immediately surrounding the fire station. He picked up cigarette butts, a straw and plastic cup from a fast food restaurant, a soggy rolled up newspaper that must have been there since the rain three nights earlier, and a paper that looked like some kid’s math homework.

“School’s out, kid, so I can’t help you,” he said aloud. He continued down the next section of sidewalk framing the station. A few years earlier, he had led the committee that encouraged business owners and civic groups to adopt a section of town and keep it litter free. It was good for tourism in Cape Pursuit, but the visitors were also the reason why the litter force was needed. Virginia Beach just down the coastline got at least three million visitors a year, and Cape Pursuit got close to half a million with more hotels being built each year.

Tony wondered if he would need to create a sustainable plan for the increasing tourism. Would he need to add full-time members to his department and include volunteers more? He hoped he never saw the day when the Cape Pursuit Fire Department was understaffed or unable to respond in a life and death emergency.

Volunteers, like the ones coming in for training on this sunny Sunday morning, would add to the numbers and make a difference in saving someone’s life in a staffing shortage. The many volunteers already on the books at the station were essential members of the department and were called in often during the busy season. Tony looked at his watch and stepped up his pace so he could finish cleaning up the sidewalks and gutters in his block. He wanted to be there when the volunteers showed up so he could assign them to experienced partners on their first day inspecting, stocking and cleaning the fleet of emergency vehicles.

He would pair up with one of the new trainees to teach the details of a good inspection, and he’d already told the other guys on duty they would have a partner who needed to be shown the ropes.

The brothers, Richard and Oliver, were the first to arrive. “Got me out of going to church with my wife and in-laws,” Oliver said when Tony thanked them for showing up early. “We started going to her church after we got married a few months ago, but I haven’t gotten used to it yet. Even my in-laws couldn’t complain I was missing the service when they learned what I was doing instead. I think they believe I’m going to be some kind of hero,” Oliver said with a wry smile.

“You never know what the day will bring,” Tony said as they walked into the station where the overhead garage doors were already open. Their footsteps on the concrete floor echoed through the quiet station. “Since you two are brothers, I’m going to assign you to two other brothers working this morning. My cousins Tyler and Kevin Ruggles. They give each other crap, but they’ve always got each other’s backs.”

“Heard that,” Tyler said, coming around the back of the fire truck with a cup of coffee in his hand. He set the cup on the silver running board and held out his hand. “I’m the good brother, Tyler.”

They shook hands as Tony introduced Tyler to Richard and Oliver. “I’m taking this truck today, and I hope my baby brother gets stuck with the rescue truck this week. Whatever poor sucker gets that one has to take every single piece of equipment out and test it. After the hydraulic jaws failed last week, we don’t want to take a chance on anything else.”

“I’ll do that one.”

Tony and the other four men turned and saw Laura behind them.

“Bad deal,” Kevin said, coming out of the bunk room. “If I heard you right. I’ll work with you, but I suggest we grab either the tanker or the grass fire truck. It’ll leave you more time to practice with the ladders and get comfortable carrying stuff up them.”

“I can climb a ladder,” Laura said. “I clean out the gutters on my parents’ two-story house three times a year and carry all the yuck down in a bucket.”

Kevin shrugged. “We can do the rescue truck, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I’ll work with Laura on that one,” Tony said.

He saw Laura’s quick glance and wondered what she thought of his offer. He didn’t know himself why he had offered, except that he often did the hard jobs as a way of showing leadership. He wouldn’t let Laura gut out the worst job without him. If his conscience said he was wrong to want to help and protect her, he reminded himself he would have and should have done the same for any of the new recruits foolish or dedicated enough to grab the toughest job.

“If you’ll set up the ladders and help the volunteers take turns practicing,” he said to Kevin, “when you get done doing a truck with one of these guys.”

“That’s a way better deal,” Kevin said. “No offense, Laura.”

She smiled at her future brother-in-law. “None taken. But it’s going to be hard to make you look like a hero when I tell my sister this story.”

Kevin laughed. “She was going to find me out eventually. Probably better before the wedding.”

Tony found the clipboard for the rescue truck and gave it to Laura. “I’ll be over in a few minutes after I assign everyone a partner.”

He was glad the main attack pumper was in the way and he couldn’t see Laura as she went to the rescue truck on the other side. One by one, all the volunteers arrived and Tony found them partners. Some of the trucks were easier to inspect than others, and that would mean more time on the ladders for those trainees. How confident was Laura in her ability to climb and carry heavy equipment? For that matter, he thought, as he looked at all the other members of the class, how confident were any of them?

It wasn’t about the physical demands of the job. Firefighters and rescuers could be affected by tragedies on the job and in their personal life. No one was immune to trauma, and he wondered how the loss of her brother in a fast-moving forest fire would affect Laura if she was faced with her own fire. Would her past endanger her or someone else? It was his job to keep everyone safe, and allowing himself to care about her in a different way from the other firefighters could end badly. He reminded himself that Laura Wheeler was just another one of the firefighters under his command.

When everyone was assigned, Tony ducked around the main pumper and found Laura with the hood up on the rescue truck. She was standing on the front bumper leaning into the engine as if she was searching for something.

“It’s on your right. Yellow,” Tony said. He stood on the driver’s side with his hands on the edge of the hood. He wanted to jump in and check the oil himself.

“Found it,” she said. Tony handed her a shop rag. She appeared to know what she was doing. She replaced the dipstick, reported the level of wiper fluid was fine, tugged on the belts and hopped down from the bumper. She wiped her hands on the rag and cocked her head as she looked at him.

“Items one, two and three out of five thousand,” she said, smiling.

“I think there are only five hundred things on the check sheet,” he said. “I tried to condense it so I didn’t scare people away.”

Laura picked up the clipboard and ran her finger down the list. “You didn’t have to offer to help me after I’d opened my big mouth to take the worst job.”

“It’s a big job, but not a terrible one. And it will be good experience for you to see everything we have in case we’re out on a run and it’s needed. Besides, you gave me an opportunity to look like a good leader by jumping in and getting my hands dirty.”

“You are a good leader,” Laura said.

Tony hated to admit how flattering her words were. There was something about her that made him want her admiration.

“I’m a work-in-progress like everyone else,” he said.

“But you must be a pretty good work.”

He shouldn’t let her assessment of his merits affect him, but he’d have to be a stone statue not to enjoy her matter-of-fact approval. He’d heard it from other people, but coming from Laura, it felt especially nice.

He had to be careful of that feeling.

“Then I better keep earning it,” he said. “We’ll start on the driver’s side and pull out all the extrication equipment. Airbags, hydraulic jacks, saws and all kinds of things that can destroy a car in a hurry if you’re trying to get someone out.”

“Is this truck mostly for car accidents?”

“Often. We usually roll it along with the ambulance when we get called to an accident if we have the manpower. We use it for fires, too. When we get inside, you’ll see extra air tanks and supplies for containing hazardous materials. We also keep bottled water and some food in here.”

“In case there’s no one available to bring you coffee in the middle of the night,” Laura said. Her voice was soft and Tony saw a hint of the vulnerability he’d noticed the previous summer. “My sister told me about her adventure with Jane the night that Kevin saved the family’s cat.”

Tony vividly remembered the house fire a few doors down from Nicole’s place. A family had lost their home but not their lives that night. He’d seen many nights like it, but what he remembered most was Nicole and Jane showing up out of the darkness with coffee and blankets. Despite her brother’s death by fire, Nicole had come to help. Tony realized what strength that must have taken, and he wondered if Laura had the same—or even greater—resilience.

“Those are the best nights,” Tony said. “And Kevin got way too much credit for saving the cat. He found it hiding under the truck after the fire was over, but the family considered him a hero.”

Laura laughed and rolled up one of the doors and started at the bottom, pulling things out. “Should we just do one cabinet at a time in case an emergency comes in?” she asked. “I’d hate to have everything dragged out all over the floor if somebody gets in an accident.”

“Good plan,” Tony agreed.

As Laura took each item out, she checked it against the list on the clipboard. She had to ask what some of the tools were for, and Tony took his time explaining. Truck inspection followed by breakfast was usually over in a few hours, but he had all day and seeing each piece of equipment for himself was a good idea. He had the ultimate responsibility for everything that happened and every life that was jeopardized by equipment or training failure.

They moved on to the second cabinet, and Tony stepped away for a moment to check on how things were going. His cousins had helped while he was preoccupied with the rescue truck inspection. Kevin gave him a questioning glance. “You didn’t have to take a truck, and I’ll be glad to finish that for you if you want. Mine won’t take long, and I know you’re anxious to supervise the ladder training yourself.”

“It’s okay,” Tony said. “If I do it myself, I won’t have to try to read your lousy handwriting on the logs.”

Kevin laughed. “Suit yourself.”

As Tony walked back to where Laura knelt on the station floor surrounded by equipment and tools, he didn’t think he was suiting himself. It would be a lot easier to keep his distance from Laura. He felt as if he had to tread carefully, knowing what had happened to her brother...even though she had signed up for this job. Rather than say the wrong thing, the safer bet would be to say as little as possible.

But he couldn’t do that. Being a leader meant he had to be as involved with his people as much as keeping them safe required. And he had to keep Laura safe—for her family who had already suffered a loss to the fire service.