by Amy DeMeritt
“Are you serious?” Erin smiles really big and darts forward to firmly kiss Ashton. She gives her a deep passionate kiss, and as she pulls away, she says, “Yes, god, yes. Where are we going?”
“Let me surprise you.”
“You really know how to win a girl’s heart, Lieutenant Hyland.” With a serene grin and a twinkle in her pretty green eyes, she kisses Ashton’s lips. “Let me know when and I’ll block myself out on the schedule.”
“I’ll check with Captain Hunt tomorrow to see when I can get a few days and I’ll text you the dates.”
Erin lays her head back down on Ashton’s shoulder and they sit in silence while they watch their comrades wield the hoses to bring the raging fire under control. The fire has completely destroyed the first and second floors – all of the windows have blown out and white and black smoke is billowing out of them. The third floor is completely consumed and the fire is creeping up to the fourth, but the firefighters have slowed its progress. If the wind doesn’t pick up, they should be able to get the fire contained before it reaches the fifth floor.
“Lieutenant.” Captain Hunt walks over with Fields and Perez on either side of him and Erin quickly lifts her head off of Ashton’s shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
“Great. What can I do for you, Captain?”
“I need to make a statement to the media. Since you were first on the scene and orchestrated this plan, I would like you to join me.”
“Yes, Sir.”
She gives Erin’s arm a brief squeeze and gets in step next to Captain Hunt with Perez and Fields walking behind them.
Ashton has been friends with Elijah Hunt for many years, even before she was reassigned from Station 13 to Station 10 about eleven years ago. Elijah is nine years her senior and has four more years of service as a firefighter, which is the only reason he received the promotion to captain above her. But for Ashton, it was a relief, not an insult.
She prefers to be leading inside – not staying outside watching her crew work. Unless a higher-ranking firefighter is onsite, such as the chief, the captain doesn’t get to forge into the unknown as often as the lieutenant does. The captain does much more paperwork, manages schedules, and building inspections than Ashton wants to be bothered with. She’s not ready to trade her axe and air respirator for a desk. She has a desk – but she doesn’t sit behind hers nearly as much as the captain’s duties require him to.
“I see you and DeLuna are back together.”
“We are.”
“Is this going to cause me problems again?”
Ashton releases a small laugh, which earns her a quirked eyebrow and stern look from Elijah. Which, of course, makes her laugh again. She clears her throat and shakes her head, saying, “No, Sir.”
“Right, that’s convincing.” He stops behind a truck before approaching the media, and says, “Okay, heads up, the security bars on the first floor were installed after the last fire code inspection, which was verified with the management company. The security alarm system malfunction is still under investigation. We’re not going to mention this at this time, but the lack of a secondary exit from the basement is also news to us. We need to inspect further, but our maps show two exits, so either you couldn’t find it in the dark, or they illegally sealed it up. We received confirmation from the hospital that all patients brought in for treatment are stable.”
“So, the girl I brought out – Skylar, she didn’t have any serious injuries?”
“They’re going to do a full CT scan just to be positive, but she’s stable.”
Ashton nods in understanding and puts her jacket on and tucks her helmet under her left arm. “Okay, I’m ready when you are, Captain.”
Chapter Nine
“Excuse me. Can you tell me if Lieutenant Hyland is here?”
Morgan looks up from her computer and licks her lips with intrigue as she leans back in her chair. She studies the girl, who can’t be any older than herself. She’s hot, which is Ashton’s type, but she’s much younger than she would expect Ashton to get involved with. Plus, she knows Ashton is back together with Erin. But the girl is really pretty. She has caramel colored hair with natural blonde highlights that reaches her breasts, which is styled with a slight curl framing her almond shaped light bronze face. She has pretty light brown eyes and pink kissable lips. She’s not even gay and she thinks they’re kissable. The girl is built on the thinner side, like maybe she’s a dancer or runner.
“Uh, why are you just staring at me?”
“What do you want with the boss?”
“I was…” She exhales hard as she looks around nervously. “I just want to talk to her.”
“She’s busy.”
Morgan goes back to her work on the computer, but the girl doesn’t budge. After two full minutes, Morgan looks up with agitation written all over her face and waits for the girl to explain herself.
After another minute of just staring at each other, the girl finally concedes, quietly saying, “She saved my life. I just wanted to come by and thank her.”
“That’s all you had to say. Down the hall and third door on the right.”
With a brisk tone, the girl says, “Thank you,” and walks away, making Morgan roll her eyes.
It’s common for people to show up to thank the firefighters for saving their lives. Morgan figured if she wasn’t a love interest, then she had to be someone Ashton saved. But she refuses to let anyone into the firehouse without an explanation for their presence.
Ashton laughs as Ember pounces on her hand while she’s trying to write a reminder to herself. She lifts Ember and moves her a few inches away to try again. But Ember meows and leaps forward again, wrapping all four legs around Ashton’s hand and biting at the pen. She lifts her hand and kitten to give Ember a kiss, but as she looks up, her eyes lock with a familiar face. The young woman is smiling but looks nervous.
“Good afternoon.” Ashton stands up and pulls Ember off of her right hand to hold in her left hand. “Can I help you with something?”
“You probably don’t remember me, but I’m Skylar West. You...”
“Oh, of course. Yes, I remember. Would you like to come in?”
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be a bother? If you’re busy…”
Ashton waves a dismissive hand then motions to the couch for Skylar to take a seat. “It’s no bother. Besides, Ember has made it her mission today to prevent me from doing any desk work, so you can’t possibly make my job any harder.”
Skylar smiles and reaches out to pet Ember as Ashton sits in a chair across from her. “She’s cute.”
“That she is. How are you feeling?”
“I’m alive and have no injuries, thanks to you.” She bashfully smiles and toys with the curled ends of a strand of hair. “I hope it’s not weird that I just showed up here. I just really wanted to come thank you again. I thought about bringing you something, but I didn’t know what would be customary to bring the person who saved your life.” She releases a shy laugh with blushing cheeks. “I even Googled it.”
Ashton smiles and shakes her head. “The thought is appreciated, but it’s really not necessary.”
“Well, hey, you haven’t even heard some of the ideas I found. You might change your mind.”
She laughs and nods, saying, “Okay, let me hear it.”
Skylar smiles brightly as she looks in Ashton’s eyes. She twirls her hair around her first two fingers, then drops her hands to her lap. “Well, there was the typical glass plaques with ‘my hero’ type sayings engraved on them. Which, I thought was pretty corny. Then there was the cliché go-to fruit baskets or mini-muffin baskets that somehow just fit every single occasion. What is up with that? Why do fruit and muffins make every bad situation better or help you celebrate every good situation?”
Ashton laughs and shrugs a shoulder as she leans back in the chair and allows Ember to walk up her chest to nuzzle against her neck. “I think I would have picked the mini-muffins, if I had to choose.”
“Nope. I have zero food allergies, that I know of. The only allergy I have is to bee stings. One sting and I’ll look like Will Smith in Hitch.”
Skylar laughs. “I love that movie. See, now I feel bad I didn’t bring the muffins. I know a really good place too. Have you heard of Singer’s Bakery?”
“Heard of it? I lived in it. Well, not literally. My mom was a baker there for twenty-six years. Many of those recipes they still use today were her creations. Have you ever had the cinnamon roll cake?”
“It is only my favorite thing in the world. Your mom created that?”
“She did. She got lazy one day and didn’t feel like making rolls. Sometimes, the greatest things come out of laziness.”
“That coming from one of the hardest working people there is means it must be good wisdom. You’ll have to tell your mom I think she’s a genius.”
“Ah, well, thank you, but my mother passed away four years ago.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. How are you doing with your situation?”
“I have renter’s insurance, so I’ll be able to replace mostly everything. I had some pictures and stuff saved on my computer that I didn’t back up to a cloud, so that sucks, but I’m still alive, so I’m not going to be heartbroken over it. I’m back at my parents, which I told myself when I was eighteen would never happen. They’re sweet – they’re just overprotective. This really spooked them and they’re of course trying to convince me to just stay home. My mom lost it this morning when she saw I was already looking for a new apartment.”
“My mother moved into my apartment for two months before I could get her to go back to my dad after my first three-alarm fire. I was eighteen and had only been out on my own for four months. She baked and cooked so much food that I swear she was trying to fatten me up so I wouldn’t be able to perform as a firefighter anymore.” Skylar laughs hard, making Ashton smile. “It was a rough first year for my parents, but it got easier over time.”
There’s a knock on the door, and Ashton looks over to see Erin in the doorway. “Hey, Lieutenant, you have a minute?”
Ashton smiles as she stands up and waves her inside. “Yeah, come on in. Babe, this is Skylar West from the fire at Fifth and Stevenson’s a few days ago. Skylar, this is my girlfriend, Erin DeLuna. She’s a volunteer firefighter here.”
Skylar stands up and shakes hands with her, saying, “It’s really nice to meet you. I just came to thank the lieutenant for saving my life. I can go if…”
“No, no, you don’t have to go. I can’t stay. I’m glad to see you’re okay.” She turns to Ashton. “I need a big favor. A very big favor.” She walks out of the office, then walks in with a dog so big he looks like a horse.
“Holy shit.”
“Like she said. Babe,” Ashton laughs a little as she steps forward to pet the Great Dane’s head, “whose dog is this?”
“He’s a patient. His owner had a heart attack in the waiting room and was rushed to the hospital. I haven’t been able to reach anyone at his home phone number and I don’t have anywhere at the clinic to hold him. He’s too big for any of the kennels I have. I have three back to back surgeries or I would watch him. Can you please look after him? I promise, he’s just a giant teddy bear. He’s not aggressive and I have never even heard him bark.”
“Yeah, sure. Did Morgan see him?”
“She wanted to dognap him.”
Ashton laughs and nods as she accepts the leash from Erin. “Okay, good to know she’s not terrified of him in case I get called out and need her to watch him. Did you happen to bring food or can I just give him a hamburger? Oh, and why was he in? Is he sick?”
“No, he’s fine. He has arthritis so he can get antsy or tire easily on long walks, but he shouldn’t be a problem. There is food in the bag I set by the door.” She looks at her watch. “I’m sorry, but I have to get back to prep for surgery. I’m removing a gnarly throat tumor from an English bulldog.”
“Okay, babe. Good luck with surgery. Drive carefully.”
“Thanks.” She grabs the sides of Ashton’s face and stands on her toes to give Ashton a brief full mouth kiss. “Thanks for this. I’ll have my office call if Maxwell’s owners are able to come and get him before I’m out of surgery.”
“Okay, no problem.”
Erin gives her another quick kiss on the lips then rushes out of the office. Ashton looks down at the Great Dane and then at Ember, who is curled up in her left hand, peeking over her fingers at the giant dog.
“Any minute now, a duck is going to waddle through that door pulling a wooden boat on a string.”
Skylar laughs, and asks, “Why do you say that?”
Ashton turns to look at her as she takes a deep breath and laughs a little. “Just seems like that kind of day.” Ashton sits down and Maxwell walks over to sit on his hindlegs next to her, which puts his head right in line with her shoulder because he is so large. “My day started with one of my neighbors banging on my door at 4am. A bat flew into her open bedroom window.”
“A bat?”
“Yeah, here.”
Ashton hooks the dog leash on the armrest of her chair and pulls her cellphone out. She brings up a picture of a bat hanging on the window curtain.
“Wow, what did you do?”
“I spoke Transylvanian to it and it flew right back out, of course.” Skylar releases a small giggle and Ashton grins. “Bad joke, I know. I used a pillowcase to catch it and let it outside. Then our first call today was for a poor deer with a ball of fire stuck on his antlers in Westmont Park. Literally. Some stupid teens were playing soccer with a ball they had wrapped in gas-soaked burlap and it landed on the deer’s antlers.”
“Oh, no. Was he okay?”
“He sustained some mild burns, but he’ll be okay. Animal control brought him to an animal sanctuary to heal before they release him back into the wild.”
Skylar stands up and walks over to the door to look up and down the hall, then looks back at Ashton, saying, “No duck yet, but after hearing about your day, I’m willing to bet it happens before you leave here today.”
Ashton laughs and nods, making Skylar smile brightly as she walks back to sit on the couch. “So, you’ve been a firefighter since you were eighteen?” Ashton quirks an eyebrow, and Skylar clarifies, “Your story about your mom coming to live with you – you said it was when you were eighteen.”
“Oh, right. Yes. I’ve been a firefighter for, well,” she laughs a little, “for as long as you’ve been alive – twenty-two years.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of lives you’ve helped save. Thank you for your service. Is that lame to say? I always feel awkward about how to say thank you to someone like you – like the military and so forth.”
“No, it’s not lame, at all. You’re welcome.”
“So, is the kitten a drop-off from your girlfriend as well?”
Ashton smiles as she looks down at Ember and shakes her head. “No, Ember is mine. I rescued her from a warehouse fire a couple of weeks ago.”
“Wait, that was you? I saw that on the news. You saved a boy and then jumped out of that wall of fire. Holy shit, Lieutenant, you are a serious badass.”
“Well, to be fair, it took seven of us to save that boy.”
“A humble hero. That’s sweet. Am I allowed to ask how the boy is?”
“I can tell you what was in the follow-up interview that was released to the public – he lost part of his left leg, from the knee down, but he’s going to be fine otherwise.”
“By that answer, I’m guessing he had some complications. But you don’t have to elaborate. I know you’re not allowed to share non-public information.” Skylar’s eyes get big and she laughs, drawing Ashton’s attention away from her and to the Great Dane sitting next to her. He’s yawning with his ja
w open wide enough to fit a human head in his mouth. “Wow. Do you think I’m allowed to pet him?”
“Erin said he’s not aggressive. If you want to try it, go for it.”
Skylar takes her purse off and sets it aside. She slides to the edge of the couch, and since the dog doesn’t react, she kneels in front of him and pets his head.
“He’s soft.”
“Probably not as soft as Ember.”
Skylar looks up at Ashton with an amused smile. While she pets the Great Dane with one hand, she pets Ember with her other. “You’re right. Ember is like silk. Can I hold her?”
“Sure, but just to be safe, not while you’re only inches from that giant mouth of his.”
Skylar nods as she sits back down on the couch. Ashton holds Ember out to her, and as Skylar’s hands wrap around hers to take the small kitten, their eyes meet briefly. Ember meows and tries to turn around to get back into Ashton’s hand, but Skylar makes shushing sounds and pets her head to calm her.
“She’s so cute.” She looks up at Ashton smiling. “Is it okay that I’m still here?”
“I’m not rushing you out, but if that is your polite way of trying to inch towards the door, you don’t need to…”
“No, that’s definitely not what I’m doing. I just don’t want to overstay my welcome. I’m having fun talking to you.”
“Then you’re welcome to stay till I get called out on a fire alarm.”
“Thanks. So, your girlfriend, is she a vet?”
“She is one of the finest.” Skylar looks up with a grin, so Ashton adds, “Yes, my girlfriend is hot, but I was referring to her skills.”
Skylar laughs a little and nods, saying, “I knew what you meant, but yes, she is. And so are you.” Ashton quirks an eyebrow at her and she blushes with a small bashful laugh. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to… Anyway…” She laughs at herself again as she needlessly adjusts her hair. “That’s a pretty impressive combination – being a vet and a firefighter. Does she also build rocket ships in her free time?”
“Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past her. She’s brilliant and very adventurous. So, what do you do?”