August Heat

by Billings, Hildred

  “Hey. Over here.”

  Krys didn’t shout that, yet her voice rammed straight into Siobhan’s ear. How did she do that… Did her voice naturally carry so well? Was it practice from being a firefighter who had to shout a lot? Or was Siobhan so keenly aware of that voice that she could hear it in the middle of a crowd?

  Why in the world was she dwelling on that when she could be taking refuge on a picnic blanket beneath a tree?

  Krys had found an ideal spot, although some might not think it was. The tree created a natural wall behind them, and although they were far to the side of the screen, they were close enough to get a decent view. People weren’t as likely to bother them since all attention was pointed forward. Yet with nobody behind them, either, Siobhan took heart that she could sit down and not deal with strangers fascinated with her hair. Or the fact she was hanging out with the town player. The fewer eyes on them, the better.

  “Sorry I couldn’t get us any closer,” Krys said. “I had to pick up a shift at work and only got off two hours ago.” Her rolling eyes mildly amused Siobhan. Did this mean the best spots were already taken by the time Krys got off work?

  The first chill of the evening hit Siobhan as she lowered herself to the blanket. She pulled her jacket closer to her body. Yet she wasn’t about to say no to the assortment of cold beverages appearing before her. Sparkling water or soda! Which should she choose?

  “I’ve got…” Krys picked up two bottles of sparkling water, “something called ‘Pineapple Passion’ and another called ‘Berry Blaster.’”

  “Pineapple, please.”

  The bottle was heavy in Siobhan’s hand. Or was that how forcefully Krys handed it off, as if she didn’t know her own strength? She’s the kind of woman you imagine packing you around town. Bam. Right over the shoulder, caveman style. The crazy thing? Firefighters practiced that move, right? They had to carry people out of burning buildings. They knew all about carrying people, including those that weighed more than them!

  “Uh…” Krys snapped her fingers to get Siobhan’s attention. “Care to share with the class what’s got you giggling?”

  “I’m not giggling.” Siobhan opened the sparkling water and covered her mouth. “You’re misreading my body language.”

  “Suuure.” Krys’s curiosity remained locked on Siobhan for a little longer than was comfortable. When she finally looked away again, it was with her own smile on her face.

  Damnit. She’s too good at this. Siobhan couldn’t get anything past Krys. Not when the fit and flirty firefighter was aware of every smirk, every laugh, and every flicker of amusement behind Siobhan’s eyes. The thought of her knowing what Siobhan was thinking before the woman herself could comprehend the images in her head… yeah, that didn’t feel great. Siobhan didn’t like it when people read her as easily as they read the Sunday funnies.

  “You ever seen this movie before?” Krys asked.

  A placeholder image of the movie’s DVD cover appeared on the screen. Siobhan shook her head. “It doesn’t really seem like my kind of thing. I’m not into absurdist humor.”

  “Absurdist? Maybe that’s what it is. Classic lesbian movie, though. Surprised you’ve never seen it.”

  “Do you go out of your way to watch every movie labeled ‘lesbian’?”

  Krys shrugged. “I guess? Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because most of them aren’t good…”

  “Taste is subjective, huh? You’re stuck watching it now. By the end of tonight, we can say you’ve seen a few things.”

  Siobhan’s breath strangled her throat. What does that mean? Krys wasn’t under the disillusion that they were getting into bed that night, was she? I do not operate that quickly, even if I’m really into you. Jury was still out on how Siobhan really felt about Krys. Was she attracted to the abs? Duh. Was she attracted to the attitude and what might lie in their joint history? Absolutely not. Siobhan still wasn’t convinced that Krys was innocent. Not in practice. Maybe in heart. She could be telling the truth while still being guilty. Siobhan didn’t completely see the world in black and white, but when it came to shades of gray, she had to decide which shades were a little too off for her tastes.

  “I’ve got snacks.” A knapsack opened. Out spilled an array of crunchy snacks and a pouch of knock-off Twinkies. Wow. This is high dining right here. “Sorry it’s a weird selection. Didn’t have time to go home or hit the store, so I grabbed stuff from the station. The guys… really aren’t healthy eaters.”

  “It’s fine.” Siobhan plucked a lunch-size bag of pretzels from the pouch. “I had a light dinner earlier.” Gabriella was incensed that her niece dared to spoil her appetite for what was sure to be a night of wining and dining with Krys, but Siobhan had a hunch things would pan out like this. A sandwich and some leftover potato salad ensured she wouldn’t go hungry, while leaving a little room for a snack.

  The lights around the park dimmed. People whistled and kids were recalled to their families. Heads bobbed down. Soon, the only light came from cell phones and the projector.

  It was the perfect opportunity for a flirt to “accidentally” wrap her arm around someone. Siobhan braced herself for an awkward hug, as if this were a fifth date instead of a first one. Instead, Krys propped herself up against the tree and rubbed her eyes. “If you get cold, there’s an extra jacket right there. Ugh. My shoulders are so sore from work. Pray I don’t fall asleep.”

  “Isn’t this one of your favorite movies?”

  “I’ve seen it a hundred times before.”

  What did that mean? Krys easily fell asleep if she had seen a movie too many times before? She could recite it from memory? She didn’t want to accidentally spoil something for the virgin eyes in her midst?

  Applause echoed in the park as the opening credits began. Siobhan pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Within the first ten minutes of the movie, she knew for sure that it wasn’t her cup of tea, but she would be polite and stay behind until it was over. With any luck, Krys wouldn’t fall asleep and leave her there to stew in chilly boredom.

  Siobhan glanced at the people around her. A few families had their backs to them, but not too far away was a couple using the cover of darkness as an excuse to make out by the bushes. Siobhan didn’t recognize them, especially when it was so dark and she made a point of staying out of town. As long as they didn’t start stripping in front of God and Paradise Valley… whatever. Let them play their tonsil hockey.

  Halfway through the movie, she realized that Krys had been uncharacteristically silent. Siobhan looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, Krys had folded her hands over her stomach and snoozed against the trunk of the tree. She fell asleep on our date. Go figure. Another chill came with the summer night. Siobhan instinctively grabbed the extra jacket on the blanket, assuming it was a spare from the firehouse. It certainly was big enough to fit over her clothes. The hood flipped over her head. Only then did she realize that it smelled awfully familiar.

  It smelled like Krys.

  What should Siobhan do? Wriggle out of it and brave the cold? Or should she continue to wear it, although it gave her all sorts of twisted… feelings?

  This movie really is something else… A bunch of kids sent off to gay rehabilitation camp, played as a dark comedy. Siobhan felt both too old for the humor, but also too young to completely understand where it came from. Her parents were liberal progressives from the city, where Siobhan was exposed to “alternative lifestyles” from an early age. She had her first girlfriend at sixteen, and never looked back. Sure, assholes like Emily tainted her perception of love and devotion, but she never had to lie about who she was or fear for her life.

  Maybe that’s why I don’t really get along with people around here. Siobhan knew that most people moved to this town to get away from their pasts and to raise families in a country setting that wasn’t as homophobic as other places. Siobhan had agreed to join Emily here because it had been her dream. Siobhan merely appreciated the easy transit
ion into a new career.

  What had Krys’s life been like before she moved here? Where was she from? Portland? Was there something else about this movie that spoke to her?

  Siobhan wasn’t going to get an answer anytime soon. Not until the final act began and Krys jerked awake with a few mumbled apologizes. “Geez,” she said. “You’d never guess I’m only thirty. Always falling asleep everywhere as soon as the sun goes down. Go figure.”

  “You have a demanding job,” Siobhan said.

  “Only when I get a call! We get like… one a day. Maybe. Mostly small stuff.”

  She didn’t say anything about Siobhan wearing her jacket. Not even when the movie ended and they picked up their mess. Both agreed to wait for the others to leave. What was the point of avoiding cars in the dark when they would only be adding to it in a few minutes?

  “I actually didn’t drive,” Krys said. “I only live a few blocks from here, so I walked.” She waited for Siobhan to say something. When no words came, Krys continued, “So, uh… you wanna…”

  “I better get going.” Siobhan turned toward Idaho Street, hoping her car remained unperturbed. “I have a few appointments in the morning and need to sleep.”

  “On a Sunday?”

  Yes. No. Siobhan had no appointments on Sunday morning, outside of emergencies, but she also knew that she couldn’t be around Krys for longer than a few more minutes. Siobhan wasn’t worried about falling into bed together, but she was worried about succumbing to the charms of a master seducer.”

  “Thanks for inviting me to join you tonight.” Siobhan gave a half-hearted wave. “Maybe I’ll see you around…”

  Was Krys surprised or upset that Krys bailed on her like that? It’s not bailing, though! I stuck around as long as the movie! Bailing would have been leaving as soon as I realized she was asleep, or that I didn’t care for the film… After all, Krys had brought snacks and Pineapple Passion. It was only right that Siobhan be a decent guest.

  That’s what she told herself as she drove home. Not until she shut off her engine and headed into her house did she realized she was still wearing Krys’s spare jacket.

  Chapter 11

  KRYS

  “Hang on, ma’am!” Krys had barely hit the ground before she was expected to jump back up again. “We’re gonna get you out of there!”

  The adrenaline rush that came with these events never failed to set Krys so far on edge that she could single-handedly upright an overturned car on the side of the highway. Yet that wasn’t how it worked. God knows I wish I could flip this hunk of metal over and get everyone out of there! That was too dangerous, of course, even if she could physically push that car by herself, let alone with everyone else from the firehouse. Between herself, the chief, Quimby and Young, they had more than enough manpower to move some buildings. Yet they had to wait for the Jaws of Life to make it from the neighboring firehouse in Roundabout, where for some damned reason they remained after an incident two months before.

  The volunteer crew from Roundabout was skeletal at best, but they were there, and the chief was quick to bark his orders. Every other emergency vehicle in Paradise Valley was also on hand, including the EMTs who waited for the woman currently sobbing upside down in the driver’s seat of her totaled car. The sheriff had personally shown up to stand around and give his opinions. Krys would rather have Deputy Greenhill on hand, but apparently it was the day for a county sheriff to strut his stuff in sunglasses and swagger.

  Not that she had much time to think about that. Krys was on the frontlines with the Jaws of Life, since she had some of the most training and experience with the unfortunate things.

  “Stay still!” Even when victims were male, everyone agreed that Krys was the best to relay information to hysterical people convinced that they were on the brink of death. Maybe they were. Nobody knew for sure until the car was yanked open and the person pulled out. They were lucky that there were no immediate signs of fire. If there were…

  Krys didn’t want to consider it.

  “You got it, Madison?” Chief Johnson called. “On your way!”

  She and Quimby were down at the driver’s side window, planning the best course of extraction. As soon as the EMTs were given the sign, they brought down a stretcher and their life-saving supplies. The sheriff did nothing beyond stand in front of the local news crew that had been sent to catch everything live on TV. Great. I always love it when I’m on TV saving a few lives. No damn pressure, right?

  At least this was a good distraction from some of her personal business.

  These operations always managed to last an agonizingly long time while also snapping by in a flash. If Krys and Quimby made one wrong move, the woman inside the driver’s seat might die. They were lucky if she was conscious. While they proceeded with cutting open the car and calculating how to transfer her to the stretcher, the woman repeated the same prayer over and over, her monotonous voice providing a steady beat for Krys to count by as she backed away with the Jaws of Life and the rest of the crew took over extracting the woman.

  She was on the stretcher within thirty more seconds. By then, Krys had taken a deep breath to calm her nerves.

  “We’ll be staying behind to help with cleanup,” Johnson told her a few minutes later. By then, the woman was in the back of the ambulance receiving care. “Good job there, by the way.”

  “Thanks.”

  He knew better than to press her for more words. If there was ever a time to be treated like “one of the guys,” it was now, when silence said far more than a string of wordy nonsense.

  The more busy work, the better. The ambulance tore off into the distance. The worst of it was over. Krys jumped right into whatever needed assistance. The rest of the day would be spent methodically going through the motions to both calm down her nerves and to remind herself that everything would be okay.

  “Doesn’t ever get any easier,” Quimby said on the drive back to the station, “but we did a good job today, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

  Krys snorted. “Yeah, thanks for the help. Couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Is that sarcasm I detect? Because you actually could not have done that without me. It’s how physics work.”

  “No sarcasm, man.” Krys gazed at the passing trees beyond the window. Let’s keep praying that none of them catch fire soon. There was a close call during a brief electrical storm a few days ago. Sparks had flown when a transformer blew out and some old, dried grass smoldered where it grew. Luckily, the residents who called it in were the same ones who rushed to put it out with buckets before the firefighters arrived. Those are the people who deserve the medals. Not that Krys had any medals to give anywhere. She was content with her paycheck, benefits, and occasional dinner put on by the city.

  “Hey,” Chief Johnson said from the front seat. Young kept the fire engine on steady course back to town. “After we clean ourselves up, I’m ordering us some pizza. My treat.”

  “Oh, well, if it’s your treat,” Krys said, “then sign me up. I love it when you empty your pockets, Chief.”

  “You guys keep giving me reasons to spend money on you, and that might happen.”

  Krys wasn’t hungry now, but she knew that as soon as they were back in the safety of the firehouse and cleaned up with showers and fresh clothes, her stomach would gnaw a hole through her skin. The call had come around eleven, a whole half hour before Krys was allowed to take her lunch break. Whatever she had in the fridge to inhale was long forgotten. Pizza sounded awesome now that it was well past one and her head hurt.

  The best part about being the only woman on the whole squad was that she got to use one of the communal showers all to herself. She had no problem with showing off the goods to those she worked with, though. That was all on Quimby, Young, and Chief Johnson, of course. Too shy for their own goods. Young and Johnson were married, anyway. The chief’s wife in particular was a bit weird about Krys being there. The only reason she doesn’t see me as a threat is b
ecause I’m gay as hell. Krys thought about that as she changed into a fresh pair of pants and a PVFD T-shirt she kept in her locker.

  The pizza was already ordered by the time she stepped out in her clean change of clothes and wet hair. Quimby dragged her into the lounge, where she watched a recorded replay of the live news footage of their grand rescue. Both Quimby and Madison were on bright display in their gear. Young quipped that this was going to see an uptick in dates for Krys.

  “Ladies love those Jaws of Life!” he said as he threw himself into his favorite chair. “Every time your hot ass ends up on the news, I swear to God, you’ve got three dates lined up for a whole week. If I were single, I’d ask you to tell me your magic, but I know where I live. I know what your magic is.”

  “She’s left-handed?” Quimby asked.

  “Har, har.” Krys was about to say something else, but the ringing buzzer at the front of the station had her leaping out of her couch. “That must be the pizza! TV star’s honors, boys!”

  She expected to see that Skylar girl delivering the pizza, since she was usually the one who stopped by at that time of day. Instead, an unexpected – but not entirely out of the norm – face popped through the opened garage door by the main engine.

  “Since when are you delivering pizzas on the side?” Krys asked the muscular woman carrying a box of delicious carbs and cheese. “EMTs not paying you a living wage anymore?”

  That got her a chuckle and a raise of a pair of sunglasses. Ariana Mura may not have the most chiseled jaw in town, but she knew how to strut. She handed Krys the pizza box and said, “Saw Skylar getting out of her car outside and decided to spare her some work. Just because you guys are being lazy doesn’t mean she has to pick up the slack.”

  “You know her well enough to take pizza from her, huh?”

  “You kidding? She’s my girlfriend’s best friend. We’re practically sisters now.”

  “Well, I ain’t tipping you.” Krys popped open the pizza box and inhaled. “Now that’s the stuff. You know this is our prize for doing our jobs today?”