by Hope Ford
Reluctantly, I knock on the chief’s door. I need to talk to him anyway and maybe he has talked to her.
“Come in,” he says.
I walk in and get straight to the point. “I need to talk to you about something, Chief.”
He nods and closes a folder that was open on his desk. “Sure. Does this have anything to do with firefighter Catlett?”
I nod instantly. “Yes. Is she okay?”
His forehead creases, and he looks at me questioningly. “Okay? Yes, she’s okay.”
I rub my hand across my chest. “Where is she?”
The chief laughs. “It’s not my day to watch her, Graves.”
I clench my fists at my sides. “I know that. I’m just worried that she hadn’t shown up for her shift.”
He puts the folder in his hands on his desk before getting up to file it. “Oh, well she requested to change shifts. She asked me if it was okay for her to date another firefighter, and she requested to change shifts.”
Change shifts? Fuck. I’ve already tried to figure out how we’re going to work together, and now I have to figure out how I’m going to be off work when she could be fighting fires and putting herself in harm’s way.
“Thank you, sir,” I say before I turn toward the door, but the chief stops me. “Aren’t you curious what my answer was?”
I shrug. “Sir, I know the protocol for dating in the department. I know it’s frowned upon but it’s not against any rules. But with all due respect, sir, I don’t care. She’s mine.”
He laughs. “Does she know that?” I don’t take any offense, though. He understands what I’m feeling because he went through the same thing with Bela Andrews, the owner of Bela’s Bakery. There was nothing stopping him from claiming her.
“Not yet, but she will.” I don’t wait for his response. I walk outside, pulling my phone from my pocket.
I dial Ava’s number and wait for her to pick up.
“Hello?” Damn, even the sound of her voice turns me on.
“You could have told me,” I say to her.
“I know. But I didn’t want you to talk me out of it. This is for the best.”
“I’m not giving up on you, Ava. You can change shifts, you can leave Cherry Falls, you can do whatever to push me away, but I’m coming for you, and I’m not a quitter.”
Her breath in is heavy on the line. “I’m not pushing you away.”
“You are, you...”
“I’m not though, I promise. I want you... I mean this with you, but I don’t want it to interfere with your work or mine. You know this was the right move.”
I tilt my head back and look up at the sky. The sky here in Cherry Falls is different than anyplace I’ve ever been. I’ve stayed out here many nights to try and count the stars in the sky. I want to argue with her. I really do. But I also know she’s right. “You’re right.”
“I am?”
I roll my shoulders to try and ease the tightness that has been there since I walked into the station and Ava was nowhere to be seen. “Yes, you are. I’ll worry about you, and I don’t know how we’re going to date, but I promise you, you and I are happening, Ava.”
She doesn’t try to deny it. “I know.”
“So go out with me.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” I ask her.
She giggles, and it’s the most lighthearted sound. It makes my body tremble just wanting to be closer to her. “Yes, okay, I want to go out with you.”
“When?” I ask her, wanting to get a set time down. It’s like I’m afraid she’ll change her mind or something.
“I dunno. I go in tomorrow afternoon –“
“Yeah, and I’ll be getting off work,” I say begrudgingly. “It’s okay, we’ll make it work.”
I can hear the smile in her voice. “Okay, sounds good.”
At that moment, the alarm goes off, and I start jogging inside. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Over the shrill of the alarm, I hear her say, “Be safe, Kent” before I hang up the phone.
I pocket my phone. She still has no idea. Nothing is going to happen to me. Absolutely fucking nothing is going to come between Ava and me.
Ava
Being on this end sucks. I’ve always worried about my dad and my brothers for years, but this feels different. I all but run to my kitchen and grab the scanner to listen to it. I listen for a few minutes and discover that there’s a debris fire out at the Ranch Lands.
My heart is racing when I start to think of all the possibilities. Debris fires are sometimes hard to deal with. There are so many things that can change the pattern of the fire. I turn the news on and listen for the weather. The weather man talks about the lack of recent rain and how windy it is tonight. My heart drops again.
When Kent was talking to me the other day about how he’d worry about me on a call, I instantly got defensive. But now I get it, I understand. Kent is very capable and has been doing this for years, but that doesn’t mean anything. The future is unknown and can change in an instant.
Is this what it’s going to be like every time he goes on a call?
I walk outside with the scanner in my hand. I look to the west toward the Ranch Lands, but of course I don’t see anything. How can I sit here all night and not be there?
I pull my phone out and text the chief. I hear you have a debris fire. You need more hands?
Technically, I could help with this fire, but if I do, it will make tomorrow night’s shift short. But if I’m needed, I’ll do it. The chief texts back. We got it under control. See you tomorrow, Catlett.
I take a deep breath and decide I can’t sit here and worry all night. I try to keep myself busy by cleaning the house, doing laundry, fixing dinner. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t keep my mind off Kent. I can’t text him. I need him to focus on what he’s doing, and I don’t want to be a distraction.
When I’ve done all I can at the house, I curl up under the blanket on my bed and listen to the staticky scanner. It’s hours later, and thankfully, they’ve gotten the blaze under control. I fall asleep early in the morning wondering if it’s always going to be like this.
8
Kent
Meet me at the Fountain at 4:30.
I look at my phone again. I sent Ava the text this morning and she read it, but she hasn’t responded. Not until now.
Okay is her only response. I try not to read too much into it.
I had to pull some strings to get off thirty minutes early. And I had to promise I’d be just down the block until the end of my shift, but it’s totally worth it. This may not be how I imagined our first date, but I’ll take what I can get.
At exactly four-thirty, I’m sitting on a blanket at the Fountain. I have a basket of food spread out, and I stand up when I see Ava walking toward me. She must have parked at the station and walked over.
“Hey!” she says with a huge smile on her face. “What is this?”
I pull her into my arms and kiss her. I’ve missed her, and I told myself I wasn’t going to paw at her, but obviously I can’t keep my hands off her.
She pulls away with a giggle. “Are we supposed to be doing this in uniform?”
I raise my eyebrows. “You can take yours off. I won’t complain.”
“Har, har.” She brushes her hand across my brow and searches my face. “Are you okay? I heard it was a doozy with the wind and everything.”
I grab her hand and pull her back to the blanket. “Oh yeah, how’d you hear that?”
She blushes. “The scanner.”
I notice the dark smudges under her eyes. “Did you stay up half the night listening to the scanner?”
She nods almost reluctantly, like she doesn’t want to admit that she did just that. “Were you worried about me?”
“I was.”
I take a deep breath, and my chest hurts like it has a weight on it or something. “I’ll be the same tonight.”
She squeezes my hand. “I’ll be
fine.”
“I know you will, but I’m still going to worry.”
She wants to say something. She opens her mouth but closes it quickly. “What is it?”
She shakes her head and looks around. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“I’ve been thinking about our first date, and I wish we could have at least gone to a restaurant, or at the very least been out of uniform... but I didn’t want to wait.”
I hand her a sandwich. I really need to thank Caroline Park at Virgin’s Diner. She put together a really good spread and on short notice. She even had it delivered and set up for me.
Ava takes the plate and holds it. Her eyes are a shade darker, and she doesn’t try to hide the fact that she’s checking me out. “I don’t need a restaurant. I’d be happy at home eating dinner with you.” She takes a bite of her sandwich and smiles cheekily at me. “I’d probably even let you get to second base.”
I swallow the food in my mouth and almost choke on it. I reach for her and pull her against me, knocking my plate of food off to the side. She’s against me, her eyes big and surprised. “You can’t say something like that to me and expect me not to react. I want you, Ava.”
She scoots closer until she’s practically in my lap. She pulls me down for a kiss. “I want you too.”
I press my lips to hers, and the kiss goes from simple to molten in a second. I’m burning up for her, and if I’m not careful, all of Cherry Falls is going to know it too. I pull away but hold her tightly against me. The fountain is busy at this time of day, and it doesn’t help that it’s on the corner of Hope Avenue and Love Lane. We’re almost right downtown.
She cups my jaw. “What is it? You don’t want people to see you making out with me?”
Possessiveness like I’ve never known goes through me. “I want any and everyone to know you’re mine.”
She licks her lips, and the playfulness is gone now. She looks at me seriously. “You want me to be yours?”
I lean forward and whisper into her ear, “Oh, you’re mine, baby.”
Her whole body shudders against mine, and I’m about to kiss her again when the alarm from the station goes off. My shift is officially over, and Ava’s is just starting. She’s instantly all business and jumps up. “I have to go.”
I barely get to kiss her before she’s running across the street. “Be safe!” I holler to her.
She turns. “Thank you for the date!” And then she’s off, and I’m a mess, already worried about her night ahead.
Ava
I hate that I didn’t get to properly thank Kent. Everything was so rushed, I barely had time to put my gear on. As I ride in the truck across town, all I can think about is Kent. The closer we get to the fire, the more I force him out of my thoughts. With this kind of job, you have to be aware and can’t have anything else on your mind. If you’re not focused, you’ll get yourself or someone else hurt.
The fire is an apartment building in Kissme Bay. When we arrive, it seems everyone is already standing outside. At least we think so, until a woman runs to us. “Please help. There’s kids on the second floor. Their mom is at work. Please help them.”
Me and a few of the guys are instantly in action. The chief starts giving out orders, and when the lady points at the apartment window, another firefighter named Alex and I set the ladder and start to climb. Everyone else starts to fight the blaze.
As I climb, I holler to the woman, “What are their names?”
“Michael and Angie.”
I’m to the window first, and luckily it’s unlocked. I don’t see any flames, only smoke, so I lift the window and climb in. As soon as I’m in, I’m looking under beds and in closets. “Angie, Michael. Come out, kids. I’m here with the fire department.”
It seems like hours as Alex and I search the whole apartment but in fact, it’s only minutes. When we get to one of the small bedrooms, I bend down and look, and sure enough, both of the kids are hiding under the bed because they’re too young to know better. I hold my hand out to them. “Hey, Angie, hi, Michael. Are you guys okay?”
They just stare wide-eyed at me.
I take off my mask. “It’s okay. We’re going to get you out of here, but you have to trust me. We’ll get you outside and take you to your mother.”
Michael’s the first to respond. “C’mon, let’s go.” He nudges his sister, and they both crawl out from under the bed. “I got them,” I call to Alex.
He’s in the room in a second. “We gotta go. Fire’s spreading fast.”
I give them both oxygen, but they seem to be okay.
I put back on my mask and we make our way back the way we came, Alex leading the way and me in the back. Alex climbs out first with Michael belted on to him. I belt Angie on to me and maneuver the two of us out the window.
It’s hot. There’s chaos all around us, but all I focus on is Angie and each step to the ground.
When we’re finally safe, I unlatch Angie, and she and Michael hold on to one another. I won’t get on to them now, they’ve been through enough, but I’ll definitely make sure they know fire safety before all is said and done.
The kids are taken to a waiting ambulance to be checked out, and I turn to the chief. “Where do you need me?”
9
Kent
She’s an amazing woman. I stood and watched the fire truck take off down the road. I had an internal battle, but at this point, all common sense left me. I couldn’t just stand there at the fountain and wait to hear if she was okay. I packed up everything and got into my truck and arrived at the scene shortly after the fire trucks did.
I stood off in the corner and watched. Literally, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I wanted to run into the building with her and make sure she was safe, but I also know that she is a good firefighter. I’m not going to be with her all the time, so all I can do is stand back and wait. If I was needed, I would have gone.
It felt like hours as I held my breath when she disappeared into the building. The longer it took, the more I edged toward the building. No one spotted me, and I didn’t want them to. But I was close enough that I could hear what was happening. I heard Braxton reporting on the situation inside and that they were searching for the children.
Time stood still until I heard Braxton say, “Catlett has them. We’re on our way.”
My legs about buckled, and I bent over, hands on my knees as I watched intently at the window. Braxton with a kid came first. Shortly after was Ava. She had a little girl with her, and she took her time coming down the ladder. When her feet finally touched the ground, I raised up. I felt almost physically ill watching her take her mask off. She said something to the little girl and then turned to the chief. It’s like I was watching a movie unfold, and I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Ava didn’t take a break... she went right back to fighting the blaze.
I stood on my feet in the shadows watching the rest of the night. I learned a few things last night, and one of those is that Ava is a hell of a firefighter. She’s trained and knows what she’s doing. The Cherry Falls Fire Department is lucky to have her.
The other thing I realized is that I’m not going to waste any more time. Tomorrow isn’t promised, and I don’t want to waste a second of us being together. I have so many regrets from my past with Kendal. Things I should have maybe done differently. I don’t want to make the same mistakes again.
When the crews were packing up, I finally went home to sleep. I slept into the next day, but I made sure to be at Ava’s house when her shift was over. I needed to see her. I have to. Even if she doesn’t let me in, I need to see that she’s okay.
I’m sitting on the porch when she pulls in. Emotion wells up inside me when I see her. She’s clean and in a fresh uniform, so obviously she had time to shower after last night’s fire. “I’m sorry to just show up like this,” I tell her when she walks up the steps of her porch.
She doesn’t hesitate. She walks right into my arms and pu
lls my head down for a kiss.
“I need you, Kent,” she whispers against my mouth.
I pull her up into my arms, and her legs go around my waist. She pulls back just to put the key into the door, and I push it open, kicking it closed behind us with my foot.
I’m standing in the entryway, holding her, kissing her, loving her when I force myself to slow down. “I didn’t come for this... I just had to make sure you were okay.”
“I saw you.”
I blink. Busted.
“I saw you last night. You didn’t try to save me or make me stop. You stood there, and I could feel you the whole night, watching out for me, hoping and praying I was okay. I felt that, Kent.”
I put my forehead against hers. “I was so worried about you.”
She shakes her head. “I was the same way the night before. I listened to the scanner the whole night and couldn’t go to sleep until I knew you were safe back at the station.”
“How is this going to work, baby? We can’t go on like this.”
She tightens her arms and legs around me. “We’ll figure it out. I’m not giving you up, Kent. Not now. I can’t.”
My heart is pounding in my chest. “I don’t want to be a distraction... I don’t want to hurt you.”
She lets her legs go and slides down my body. She grabs my hand and pulls me down the hallway and into her bedroom. I follow behind her because I’m not strong enough to stop her or say no.
She pushes me onto the bed, and I sit in awe as she starts to undress. “You said the other night that you knew me. Well, I know you too, Kent Graves. You’re a good man and well respected not only at the fire department but in the community. You volunteer anytime you’re needed. You stand by your friends, and you love Cherry Falls. You want to save everybody... and for some reason, you think I need saving from you. I don’t. You’re good for me, Kent.” She is peeling off clothes, and I’m doing my best to focus on her words. “I know you love your wife. I know you do. I know how hard it is for you to move on, and it scares the shit out of me that you could change your mind about me... about us. But I can’t let you walk out of my life without trying, without seeing where this goes. I know I’d live to regret it.”