by Amie Denman
“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.”
He was glad to have something to talk about with Laura. Every exchange they had might bring him closer to understanding what motivated her and how he could decide if letting her join his department was the best way of helping her.
Not that she’d asked him to help her.
Laura laughed. “Relax. You’re wearing navy blue suits. Rented, matching, and you don’t even have to pick out your own ties.”
Tony swiped a hand across his brow. “Huge relief,” he said, grinning.
He thought ahead and realized that the new training class would finish at the same time as the wedding. When Nicole walked down the aisle and married Kevin, Laura could be ready to be a volunteer member of the Cape Pursuit Fire Department. But would she officially join the department? It didn’t cost him anything to let her join the class since he was running it anyway and the prospective volunteers would use borrowed equipment. Still, it was unusual to train a volunteer who appeared to have no plans to stick around. He wanted to ask how long she planned to stay, but then he remembered her response to his question about whether she’d consulted her sister. She would probably ask him if he asked all potential volunteers how long they planned to stay in the area.
“Are you going back to Indiana after the wedding?” he asked instead, hoping Laura would consider his question a natural offshoot of their conversation instead of a pointed question about her dedication.
“I’m in no hurry,” she said and didn’t elaborate further.
He wondered if Laura had anyone special back home. She was physically beautiful, although in a different way from her sister, and Tony doubted that she had escaped the notice of the opposite sex. What impact would an attractive young woman have on his department? He immediately felt a streak of shame at the thought. He hadn’t considered the physical appearance of any of the other volunteers. But Laura was different. She was practically family now that her sister was marrying his cousin. He should look after her if he could.
“Ready?” Kevin asked as he strode toward them. Tony turned away from Laura and began to follow his cousin, but Laura put a light hand on his arm. It was a friendly gesture, but her soft touch reminded him that he should keep his distance.
“What’s the training you’re going to?” she asked.
“Incident command training. We’re taking an advanced course for officers in the fire service. It’s good if you want to move up the ranks, and it’s also good for continual improvement.”
“Haven’t you moved up as far as you can get already?” Laura asked.
“Being the chief is a huge responsibility, and there’s always something to learn.”
Tony had no intention of being one of those leaders who rests on his accomplishments. Becoming the chief at the age of only thirty meant he had a lifetime of leadership ahead of him. He wouldn’t let down his department or tarnish his father’s legacy.
Laura smiled. “Then I guess I’ll be in good hands when the training starts next week.”
“I hope so,” Tony said. Something about having Laura in his class and potentially under his command brought home all the heavy responsibility of being a leader in a very dangerous job.
CHAPTER FOUR
EVEN THOUGH SHE knew it was stupid, Laura changed her outfit three times before heading to the fire station for the first night of training. She’d obsessed over every detail in the online application and fussed with her exact word choice in the short essay about why she wanted to be a firefighter. She hadn’t wanted to appear too eager or they’d think she was a risky candidate with a thirst for danger. But she hadn’t wanted to seem too matter-of-fact either, because they might think she was lukewarm about public service.
Laura had asked her summer worker Rebecca for her Aunt Diane’s phone number, and the two of them had exchanged messages and even met for coffee. It would be a comfort walking into the class already knowing someone, and they had discussed their answers on their applications. Her sister, Nicole, had drawn the line at helping Laura get on the department. She wasn’t going to stop her, but she certainly wasn’t going to proofread her work and advise her on what to wear.
Which was why Laura rejected the first pair of jeans with a college T-shirt. And the next pair of chinos with a button-down blouse. She finally settled on jeans with a navy blue elbow-length T-shirt. Not too casual, definitely not dressy or frilly. What if they had to climb a ladder or pull hoses off a truck in an icebreaker sort of event?
She paired practical sneakers with her outfit and grabbed a shoulder bag in case there were books. She hoped for bookwork. If there was something she could read up on, she’d be in her element. A quiz or essay? Golden.
Despite her enthusiasm, her confidence would be a whole lot stronger if she knew what to expect. She drove her car—a blue hatchback with all-wheel drive that suited the winter conditions in Indiana—instead of riding her bike because it would be dark when she returned to her sister’s place. Nicole was spending a lot of time with Kevin in anticipation of their wedding in six weeks, and Laura was in the lucky position of having a fully furnished house all to herself most of the time.
She parked on a side street near the station and noticed another car doing the same thing. She wished she had arranged to ride with Diane, but she knew she had to step outside her comfort zone, anyway. Two men got out of the car and walked in the same direction she was. After crossing one street and staying together, Laura smiled at the men.
“Are you going to the fire station?” she asked.
They nodded.
“Me, too,” she said. She took a breath and made herself say it out loud, testing the words that represented such a bold move for her. “I’m signing up to be a volunteer firefighter.”
There was a slight hesitation, and then the younger man stuck out his hand. “Richard,” he said. “I’m starting the volunteer class tonight, too. And this is my brother, Oliver.”
“Ollie,” the other man said.
“I’m Laura.” As she shook hands with both men and they started walking together toward the station, Laura relaxed. They were both in their twenties like her, and maybe they were also nervous about what they were about to do.
“Have you ever done anything like this before?” Ollie asked.
“Not exactly,” Laura said. “I did some coaching so I know CPR and basic first aid. I’m not a great cook, so I did have to put out a kitchen fire once.”
“Really?” Richard asked.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Laura said, laughing. “It was mostly a boil-over that I knocked down by putting the lid on. I have a habit of reading while I’m cooking, and it doesn’t always turn out well.”
As they approached the open doors of the station, Laura saw others already gathering. How many people were here for the class? She nodded politely at them, wondering if they were trainees or perhaps just visiting friends or relatives at the station.
“Hey, Laura,” Diane said. Her short brown hair with a few grays sprinkled in curled over her ears and the rims of her glasses, and she wore a pink T-shirt, jeans and an unzipped Cape Pursuit sweatshirt. “I may be the oldest person in the class,” she said, lowering her voice and looking around at the people standing nervously in the station. “But I’m hoping wisdom will make up for it.”
Laura was about to assure her that wisdom trumped a lot of things, youth included, but a door opened along a side wall and Tony stepped out. “In here,” he said. “Welcome to the first night of firefighter training.”
He held open the door and nodded at each of the new recruits. “Sign-in sheet on the table and name tags,” Tony said. “You only have to wear n
ame tags the first night, and then I’m sure we’ll all get to know each other without them.”
Laura was the last one through the door. She glanced at the line ahead of her. There were a total of eight people in the class. Not too many names to remember, but also a small group, making it impossible to blend in.
“Sit anywhere,” Tony said. He moved to a table set up at the front of the room. Laura guessed the department used the room for regular meetings and training, because there were three rows of eight chairs each. As the last person to move toward the seats, she found her options were limited. In typical fashion, the six men in the class had spread out in rows two and three, leaving seats in between them. Laura couldn’t take any of the buffer seats without looking incredibly awkward.
Diane had taken a seat at the end of the first row farthest from Tony, but Laura parked herself squarely in the front row in front of him.
The seats creaked and Laura crossed and uncrossed her legs, trying to settle into the wooden folding chair. She heard whispered conversations behind her and she caught Diane’s eye and smiled at her. Tony shuffled papers next to a set of spiral-bound books on the table in front of her. She knew they weren’t waiting for any more class members because hers had been the last name unchecked on the sheet by the door and she’d taken the last name tag and written LAURA in neat capital letters.
Tony cleared his throat. “I think we can get started. I’m Chief Tony Ruggles, and I’ll be your instructor for the next six weeks. A little bit about me—I’ve been on the department for twelve years, since I was eighteen and could officially join, but I’ve been hanging around since I was old enough to walk. My dad was the chief, and I have several cousins and other relatives on this department or in the fire service. I got my instructor’s certificate two years ago, and you are my third class of volunteers.”
He paused and turned down the volume on his radio, which he placed on the desk.
“We’ll be together quite a lot in the next six weeks and beyond, so I’d like to get a sense of what brought you here tonight and what you hope to get out of this class. We appreciate your willingness to serve, and I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. Our volunteers get in the thick of it right alongside the full-time guys. I can’t promise you’ll never be in danger, but I can promise I’ll do everything I can to prepare you to handle it.”
He let his words soak in for a few seconds. “Let’s go around the room, have you tell us your names and a little about yourselves and why you’ve decided to join the department. We can start in the back,” he said, vaguely gesturing toward the brothers two rows behind Laura.
“I’m Richard,” one of the men Laura had met before class said. “I work at the surfboard factory outside town, and they need some of us to get some fire training because we work with a lot of flammable materials. Insurance company dictating it, you know. So I figured I’d learn something about putting out fires to help me get ahead at work, and I wouldn’t mind volunteering and helping out my hometown, too.”
“Oliver,” the next man said. “My brother talked me into coming,” he said, jerking a thumb at Richard, “but I like the idea of doing something more interesting than teaching welding at the vocational school. I guess you could say I play with fire at work, and this is the opposite.”
Laura liked both brothers, and they had solid reasons for being there. She focused on listening to her new classmates while also thinking of what she was going to say. She couldn’t say, I’m Laura and I’m here because my brother was killed fighting fires and I think this is the best way for me to heal my own soul while helping others.
Tony pointed to the next man in the back row.
“Skip,” he said. “My uncle is a firefighter over in Virginia Beach, and he let me hang out with them and even ride along on a few calls. I just graduated from high school, and I want to be a firefighter like my uncle. I’m getting my feet wet as a volunteer, but I’m hoping I don’t stop there.”
Tony smiled at the guy. “Always room in the fire service for another good man. Or woman,” he added, nodding at Laura and Diane. Laura felt heat radiate up her neck at being singled out and Diane was frowning when Laura glanced over at her.
“Sorry,” Tony said. “I didn’t say that to be a jerk. I really mean it. There are some amazing women in the fire service.”
“Thank you,” Diane said with a congenial smile, and Laura admired her instantly for being nonplussed in an embarrassing situation. Maybe she was right about wisdom.
“I’m Brock,” a man in the second row said, cutting through the tension. “I officially retired from the city last year, and I’m driving for the senior center, delivering meals now. I think I’d be more useful if I learned how to handle an emergency, and I was glad to see there wasn’t a maximum age for volunteers when I filled out the application.”
“Me, too,” Diane said. Brock had to be in his fifties, and Diane had already told Laura she was forty-eight, so Laura could understand Diane’s relief at not being the oldest person in the class.
“I might as well go next since I opened my big mouth. I’m Diane, my house is a quiet empty nest and I’ve always wanted to drive a fire truck.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Tony said, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he pointed out the last two men in the middle row.
“Allen,” a dark-haired, broad-shouldered man with a thin smile said. “I can drive a truck and I’ve never backed off from a challenge. I’m not afraid of anything, so I think I’m the kind of guy you can use.”
Tony kept a polite expression, but Laura noticed the smile had disappeared from his eyes. “I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been afraid a few times. Justifiably afraid. But knowing what to do in those situations is the best way to keep yourself and your partners alive, and that’s what you’re going to learn in this class.”
Laura heard Allen’s chair creak, and she wondered how he’d received the subtle put-down from Tony.
“I know you, Marshall, but I don’t know if anyone else does,” Tony said, pointing to the only person left aside from Laura.
“I’m Marshall, and I’ve been on the police department here for five years. Sometimes we get called to the same situations the fire department does, and I’d like to be more knowledgeable and more helpful in those situations. That’s why I’m here.”
“And we appreciate it,” Tony said. “In a small town like this, you’d be surprised by how much crossover there is between the police and fire departments. In fact,” he said, pointing to Laura, “we work with the beach rescue also, where our last class member comes from.”
Was Tony trying to help her by giving her a cue or a suggestion of what to say? She couldn’t claim he was treating her differently than the other volunteers, but something about this half introduction made it seem as if he were trying to encourage her. Was he?
“I guess it’s my turn,” she said, smiling and turning in her seat to face her seven classmates. “I’m Laura, and I am working on the public beach this summer. I’m not a lifeguard, but I helped rescue someone last week and it was part of what inspired me to be here tonight.”
Part, but not all, and maybe as time passed and she knew her classmates better, she would eventually tell them. But not tonight.
“You did a great job,” Tony said, and Laura felt the uncomfortable attention of everyone in the room. Was this how Tony was going to act? Drawing attention to her, even in a positive way? It wasn’t what she wanted, but it would be hard to tell him to knock it off when he was being nice. She didn’t want to come off as defensive.
The door to the meeting room opened and a young firefighter dressed in uniform came in. He moved with confidence to the front of the room and stood next to Tony.
“This is Gavin Kennedy,” Tony said, introducing the firefighter. “He’ll be helping me with this class. He’s only been out of the academy two years, so he remembers what it’s
like to be in your shoes.”
Gavin smiled politely as Tony picked up the stack of books and handed them to his helper. “Pass these out.”
“Sorry I missed the introductions,” Gavin said. As he handed a book to each class member, he read their name tags and said their names aloud. “I’m bad with names, so I’m going to need to practice.” When he got to Laura, he paused and said, “Hey, you’re Nicole’s sister. Kevin told me you were coming.”
Laura smiled, wondering how much Kevin had said about her. Did the other men on the department know about her brother’s death?
“Let’s take a quick look at your books,” Tony said. “These will also serve as an overview of the class. There are twelve chapters, and we’ll cover one most nights, but you’ll have to read a lot on your own. We’ll meet here for three hours each of the next Tuesday and Thursday nights, and you’ll also be expected to be here for truck inspections, meetings and trainings on Sunday mornings.”
Laura ran a finger down the table of contents. Fire behavior. Fire suppression. Emergency scenes. Hazardous materials. As a teacher, she was confident in her ability to read, break down information and memorize what was necessary. The book work would be the easy part. When it came to putting on heavy gear and testing her strength and will against a real fire, she would have to dig deep.
“Chapter one,” Tony said. “Becoming a firefighter.” He looked up and smiled. “I knew I was going to be a firefighter all my life, but that didn’t mean I knew what I was doing. When I screwed up as a rookie, nobody cared that I was the chief’s son. They were letting me know about my shortcomings.”
“Uh-oh,” Oliver said, and he was greeted by nervous laughter.
“Don’t worry,” Tony said. “I’ll share my wisdom. For example, don’t put on your seat belt and then try to pull on your turnout coat and fasten it. You might be successful getting the coat on while you’re on the way to a fire, but you’ll just about kill yourself trying to get out of the truck.”