by Amie Denman
“When are we doing CPR training in our class?”
“Next week.”
“Good,” Laura said. “I’m certified, but a refresher will be good.”
“I like how you asked what you would have done. Remind me to tell everyone at the class next week about that. It’s a useful skill, visualizing scenarios in advance and always thinking about what you would do.”
“Right now,” Kevin said, “I’m thinking of running through a drive-through on the way to the restaurant and getting a preemptive cheeseburger just in case it’s all fancy stuff that doesn’t look like food. I’m starving.”
“See?” Tony said. “Kevin’s a true professional.”
They pulled into the restaurant, and Laura opened her door and slid out before Tony could come around the truck. Riding with him in the back seat had been strange enough. She’d tried not to notice how his blue shirt matched his eyes and how neatly combed his short blond hair was. Tried not to notice his navy blue socks with a narrow gold stripe and his dress shoes that were perfectly clean as if he had just shined them.
They walked side by side behind Kevin and Nicole, and the lady at the seating kiosk directed them to a cozy table in a nook by a window. Tony pulled out a chair for Laura and took the one right next to her. Kevin and Nicole sat across from them, looking like two people so in love that their chairs seemed to inch closer together. Laura glanced down at the three-inch gap between her seat and Tony’s. She wasn’t sure it was enough to remind her that the handsome, thoughtful man next to her was completely off-limits. If she wanted to be taken seriously as a firefighter and give her new life a chance, there was no way she could date the chief.
* * *
TONY WAITED UNTIL everyone else had chosen their entrées so he could pick something different. He’d volunteered to go last because he wasn’t fussy about the food and would have been happy with the beef tips, chicken Marsala, lasagna or pork chops. He was glad the waitstaff seemed to be moving quickly, and they had already placed their drink and appetizer orders. The faster the evening went, the safer he would be from blundering into something he shouldn’t say to Laura.
“While we wait,” Nicole said. “You should tell me a funny story about growing up with Kevin. Something I don’t already know.”
He sipped his soda and smirked at his cousin over the rim of the glass. “Does she know about the haunted house?”
“Yep.”
“And the broken arm?”
“Uh-huh. I already confessed everything embarrassing because I knew she’d hear it all from you or Tyler otherwise.”
“You’re no fun,” Nicole said.
“Actually, we’re in luck having your sister here,” Kevin said. “I’ll bet Laura can tell us something funny from your childhood.”
“No way,” Laura said. “Most of those stories would implicate me, too.”
“So it would have to be a good story. Something not embarrassing,” Tony suggested. The mood at the table was light and friendly, and he hoped to keep it that way. Sharing fun stories from childhood seemed a much safer topic than talking about Laura’s new firefighting interest. Tony hadn’t talked with Nicole directly about it, but he had the impression Laura’s sister wasn’t thrilled. Bringing up the day’s ambulance run had been acceptable shoptalk in the truck, but the restaurant was a different atmosphere. Tony was careful to never talk about their calls in public because people who had suffered an emergency deserved privacy, and he never knew who could be listening.
Laura gave him a grateful smile. “Telling safe stories is a good idea, and we can all remain friends until at least the appetizer round. If you want a nice story, I could tell you about Nicole’s love for animals. She was like a magnet for them. We always seemed to stumble on abandoned litters of kittens or lost puppies.”
“And you adopted them?” Kevin asked.
“We always swore we would if we had our own houses, but our parents had different ideas. They were willing to accept two kittens born under our neighbor’s back porch, and those cats lived to a respectable old age. They even let us keep the puppy we found under the slide on the school playground for a few days before Dad found someone at work to take her,” Laura said.
“The raccoons didn’t go so well,” Nicole said.
“Raccoons?” Kevin asked.
“We found a bunch of babies whose mother had been hit by a car. They weren’t all that friendly, but we felt sorry for them.” Nicole said.
“And you took them home?” Tony asked. “I’m guessing that didn’t turn out well.” Even though he could already imagine the disaster that probably ensued, he liked the idea of Laura and her sister taking in lost woodland creatures. The sisters had big hearts and a desire to help.
Laura nodded. “Our fatal mistake was not knowing they’re nocturnal and like to creep around at night. Plus hiding them in the bathtub wasn’t the best idea. I was only eight, but Nicole was old enough to know better.”
“I was ten,” Nicole said, laughing. “And the bathtub was your idea.”
Tony laughed. “I’m picturing this.”
“I thought it would be cleaner that way,” Laura said. “They were pretty smelly.”
“What happened?” Kevin asked.
“Mom got up in the night to use the bathroom,” Nicole said. “The baby raccoons scattered, everyone was screaming and we couldn’t remember how many babies there had been in the first place. We thought we had them all but we found one in the hall closet the next day.”
“And what did your parents do?” Kevin asked.
“They were furious,” Nicole said. “I remember Dad saying something about rabies and distemper and Mom getting out the vacuum cleaner as if that would erase any traces of wild animal from the shag carpet in the hallway.”
“Adam was so sad he’d missed all the excitement when he got home,” Laura said wistfully, and Tony noticed the hitch in her voice. “He was only gone for two nights on a Cub Scouts thing, and he was sure mad we didn’t keep any of the baby raccoons for him.”
“I think it was very sweet of you to try to save them,” Kevin said. He kissed Nicole on the temple and looked at her as if he wouldn’t mind her bringing home baby snakes or lions. It created an awkward tension at the table, and Tony was glad when their combination plate of appetizers arrived. Everyone else dug in, but Tony waited.
“Aren’t you having any?” Laura asked.
“I’ll eat whatever’s left. I like just about everything.”
“I’ll bet it comes in handy at the fire station.”
Tony nodded as he took two items that remained on the plate. “And at the family dinner table.”
“Do you have brothers and sisters?” Laura asked.
“Two younger sisters,” he said. “One is going to med school and wants to be an ophthalmologist and the other one works at the day care center.”
“She must like little kids,” Laura said. “That’s a tough job.”
“Tiffany had a son her senior year of high school. He’s four now, and the job has been a blessing because she can take him to work with her.”
“So you’re an uncle,” Laura said.
“I try my best. If we’re lucky, my nephew, Brandon, will decide to join the fire service when he’s older.”
When their entrées arrived, Tony waited until everyone had their food. It all looked and smelled delicious, and he didn’t see how Nicole and Kevin were going to choose. Laura had chosen the baked chicken over a bed of homemade noodles, and Tony had to admit it looked better than his pork chops.
“Want to try some of mine?” Laura offered to everyone at the table. “These noodles are delicious. Remember Grandma’s homemade noodles?” she asked her sister. “I used to wonder why Mom never made those, but then I watched a cooking show about making your own noodles and realized Mom didn’t have all day.”
&n
bsp; Tony considered the thick homemade noodles heaped on Laura’s plate, but eating off the plate of any woman would be too personal. It would be especially inappropriate because she was one of his trainees. He hated to admit to himself how special she was becoming to him, and crossing even the narrowest line would make it hard to go back.
“Try some,” Laura said. She shoved her plate so close to his that they almost touched. She looked at him expectantly, and when he glanced across the table at Kevin and Nicole, they were also waiting for him to make a move.
“Thanks,” he said, quickly forking a few noodles onto his plate. He was comfortable being a leader at the fire station but not so happy to be the object of everyone’s attention here. Did Nicole and Kevin suspect how he was beginning to feel about Laura? If he was lucky, the dinner would be over soon, and he knew there wouldn’t be dessert tonight because Kevin had already told him dessert would be wedding cake.
All he had to do was keep a professional layer between him and Laura for a little while longer and then on the ride home and he could forget how nice she looked, how sweet she smelled sitting next to him, and how he’d been unable to resist eating off her plate. For a man accustomed to a dangerous job, he wasn’t prepared for this.
“I heard the city got a grant to expand the beach access near the beach shack,” Kevin said.
Nicole nodded. “Jane told me. Council wants to begin construction later this summer after they bid out the project. She said the plans call for better handicapped accessibility, more parking and even some mixed retail space.”
“It should be great,” Laura said. “We heard rumors, but I haven’t seen any official plans.”
“Jane said the timing was a shame because it won’t be done by the time school starts and the beach quiets down,” Nicole said, directing her words to her sister. “But it gives you a good excuse to come back and visit us next summer.”
Laura put her fork down deliberately and lined it up neatly with the side of her plate. Tony sensed a shift in the table atmosphere. Maybe it was Laura’s raised chin or the long pause before she replied to her sister, but there was definitely something in the air.
“Maybe I’ll be around to see it before then,” Laura said.
“Oh?” Nicole asked.
“Maybe I’m not totally sure I’m going back to teaching.”
“But you have to. It’s your job,” Nicole said.
“It was my job. I have until the last day of July to bail out of the school year without losing my teaching license. I’m not sure I want to go back to the tenth-grade classroom where the kids spend all their time sneaking looks at their phones or wishing they were seniors. Maybe I’ll stick around here.”
Tony was stunned. Was Laura serious? Did her work at the fire station have anything to do with it? He didn’t want to be responsible for completely upending her life.
“What are you talking about?” Nicole said. “You can’t just quit a decent job and move to Cape Pursuit.”
“That’s what you did last summer.”
Tony expected Nicole to argue that her situation was different. He knew Nicole had left her job in Indiana and made a temporary move to Cape Pursuit to stay with her friend Jane and work in Jane’s art gallery. He had no idea how permanent she had planned for it to be, but he was glad for Kevin’s sake that Nicole was here to stay.
Instead of arguing, Nicole sat perfectly still in her chair, her eyes a little shiny. Kevin put his hand over hers. Tony glanced at Laura, hoping he wouldn’t see watery eyes. He couldn’t put his hand over hers to comfort her. He couldn’t do a thing in the middle of the messy scene.
It was one of those moments he wished his phone would ring and he’d be called to an emergency. Tony didn’t move or say a word. He hated seeing anyone in a miserable situation, and it was clear this decision was very monumental for Laura. He wanted to make it better somehow, but he was afraid anything he said would only make things worse.
“If those noodles are so good your sister is thinking of moving here, I think we should definitely have them at our wedding,” Kevin said.
Tony thought his cousin was taking a huge risk trying to inject humor at such a tense time, but Kevin knew Nicole. He’d won her over when she’d been dead set against falling in love with a firefighter. Love must have some strange magic, but it wasn’t something Tony had experienced yet. He hadn’t dated anyone he would have fought to win over. Maybe he needed to date more, but he hadn’t found anyone who understood the demands of his career.
Laura would understand.
Tony took a deep breath and willed himself fifteen minutes into the future when he could escape the confines of the table and his own struggle to fight the feelings Laura evoked in him.
“I’m trying some,” Kevin said, reaching across the table with his fork and scooping up several noodles from Laura’s plate. He stuffed them in his mouth, rolled his eyes and groaned. “Amazing.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Nicole said, a tiny smile breaking the tension on her face. She swiped at her eyes with her napkin. “And you’re ridiculous, too,” she said to Laura. “You can’t keep your job here when summer ends. The beach gets really quiet in the fall and winter.”
“I could do something else.”
“Not firefighting,” Nicole said.
Laura leaned back in her chair and put her napkin on the table. The last family dinner Tony had been involved in that was this tense was the night his eighteen-year-old sister announced she was pregnant while his mother served up meatloaf and carrots.
“There’s plenty of summer left,” Kevin said. “But only a few weeks until our wedding. So I’m going to vote for noodles and chicken breasts.”
Everyone turned to look at him.
“Maybe a salad, too.”
Tony was amazed that Kevin had managed to dispel the tension and stick with the task at hand. He was accustomed to bravery and leadership from all the men in his family, but he was impressed.
On the way out, after Tony insisted on leaving a generous tip even though their meals were complimentary, Kevin and Nicole stopped to talk with the restaurant’s catering manager. Laura and Tony paused on the small patio outside the main entrance. There were benches and low lighting mixed with potted trees and plants. “Want to sit down?” Tony asked.
Laura shook her head. “I’m sorry I made that so uncomfortable.”
“It’s okay.” Tony reached for her hand and gently squeezed it. It was a gesture he’d used many times, comforting someone at a fire scene or dealing with a serious illness. But the feel of Laura’s hand in his reminded him that she wasn’t just anyone. She glanced up at him with an open expression of vulnerability he hadn’t seen since the previous summer, and he let her go.
“I’ve been trying to tell my sister how unhappy I was with my job,” Laura said, “but she doesn’t seem to think I’m serious. I don’t know why not.”
“Maybe it’s because you seem so put together. She has a hard time picturing you doing something radical.”
“I seem put together?”
“Yes.” He wouldn’t have thought so based on his brief interactions with Laura the previous summer, but from his first contact with her on the beach as she rescued those teens from the surf, Laura had impressed him with her determination. He just didn’t know where her determination might lead her. “This year,” he clarified with a grin.
“I’m a work-in-progress,” she said.
“A good work.”
Laura smiled, acknowledging a conversation they’d had weeks ago. “It means a lot to me that you think so, but you hardly know me, Tony.”
“That’s true, but—”
Kevin and Nicole came out of the restaurant and interrupted him, and he was very glad. He’d just been about to say that’s true, but I’d like to know you better.
CHAPTER NINE
LAURA LI
KED THE RAIN. She enjoyed watching it streak down the windows of her classroom on the days when she didn’t have bus duty. She liked sitting by the window on a Saturday and reading one of the many historical novels that popped up as suggestions on her e-reader. She even liked going for a run in the rain, as long as it was a warm rain and she could find her old running shoes in the bottom of the closet.
Proving her strength and agility in the pouring rain while wearing turnout gear, a heavy helmet and clunky boots was not any fun. Not that she had signed on for fun.
“We didn’t tell you much about tonight’s activities because I didn’t want you to get too worked up about it. This is practice, and we want you all to pass the test,” Tony said. He stood just inside the open bay doors at the back of the station, the class of eight volunteers just inside. Rain fell in sheets behind Tony, and Laura thought he looked as if he were standing in front of a waterfall.
“I considered canceling the outdoor part of the agility training tonight, but I decided it might make an excellent point. We get called out in every kind of weather imaginable. Snow is a rarity, but ice has knocked us on our can more than once. You might think rain would extinguish a fire without our help, but you’d be surprised by how long a fire can rage inside a building before it breaks through.”
Like people, Laura thought. She wondered what kind of fire was burning inside her fellow volunteers. A night like this one would test whatever was there. Most of the people in the class had developed a congenial relationship, leaning on each other in class and at the hands-on CPR training earlier in the week. They would need each other tonight, but Laura wondered if Allen would be willing to partner up and trust anyone. So far, he’d been a loner. She glanced over at him as he grimly listened to Tony. Maybe he had his reasons, but the firefighting world seemed to have a strong social component that Allen wasn’t in tune with.