With a teasing grin, she said, “I thought you were going to have it mounted and hang it over the fireplace at home.”
“Haven’t gotten around to it yet. Been too busy keeping tabs on a young woman I know who needs a keeper.”
“Hah! More like you spend your time bossing her around.”
“That, too,” he agreed, his bright blue eyes teasing her. “Not that it does much good.”
“Can we see it?” another child asked.
He shrugged. “I guess. When you go upstairs I’ll show you.”
“When we go upstairs, I’m gonna slide down the pole,” Jason announced.
“No, you’re not,” Stephanie reminded him. “The firefighters don’t allow children on the fire pole.”
Jason scowled at her defiantly. She’d have to watch the child like a hawk once they were upstairs.
“Okay, kids. Who wants to sit in my fire truck?”
“I do! I do!” they all chorused, and within moments they had turned the truck cab into a jungle gym with sound effects included.
“You did that very well,” Stephanie commented. “Distracting the youngsters.”
“We’ve got a couple of probies on shift,” he said, talking about probationary firefighters. “They’ll be delighted to polish off all the fingerprints the kids leave.”
“Yeah, I bet.” She laughed while still keeping an eye on the children. “I talked to Kim yesterday about the advertising market in Paseo.”
“And?”
“Among other things, I discovered Janice Strong, Logan’s wife, works for Kim at the station.” It had been nice to visit with both firefighter wives, although some of their questions—those about Stephanie and Danny—had been difficult to answer. “But the main thing I learned is that there’s some old duffer in town who hasn’t had a new thought about advertising in the past twenty years and seems to have the market locked up. Kim thinks someone with a few original ideas and a little savvy could make a living in the business.”
“So are you going to give it a shot?”
She saw the challenge in his eyes and felt her own excitement. She might have left Paseo in search of adventure but she was home now, ready to dig herself some roots in the community. If there was a decent chance to make a living here at what she loved doing, she had to try.
“Absolutely,” she said.
He leaned forward, his hand braced on the fire truck beside her head, his face close to hers. “Did you ever see that movie, Backdraft?”
She swallowed hard. At the moment her memory—or lack thereof—was the least of her troubles. The pounding of her heart appeared far more critical. “Something about firefighters?”
“Right. In it one of the firefighters got this gal up on top of the fire truck and made love to her.”
“Really?” Now she remembered, all to clearly.
“How would you like to climb up there with me, Twigs?”
“I never thought those accordion-folded hose lines would be all that comfortable.”
He grinned and waggled his dark brows salaciously. “I promise, you wouldn’t even notice.”
He was kidding. She knew he was. There were twenty preschoolers milling around the fire engines, not to mention a dozen firefighters and her own boss. He couldn’t possibly want to—
“Hey!” someone shouted. “Who’s that kid up in the fire tower?”
She and Danny separated, goosed by a serious case of the guilts.
Looking outside, she spotted Jason’s small face peering through the second-floor window of the training tower at the back of the station, and he was waving to the onlookers below.
She groaned. “I don’t know how that kid is going to make it to kindergarten, much less to adulthood.”
“I’ll get him,” Danny said, and he trotted off toward the tower and the cluster of firefighters who had gathered beneath it.
EVERY CHILD HAD A CHANCE to try on a fire helmet and discover how heavy a firefighter’s turnout coat was. When they stepped into a pair of boots, they nearly vanished out of sight. One of the volunteer mothers, who had come along on the field trip, snapped dozens of pictures to be shared in gift albums for the parents at the end of the school year.
Then they rounded up the kids and seated them at a picnic table at the back of the fire station to have their morning snacks—crackers and peanut butter Stephanie had fixed at the school earlier. Alice poured cups of juice from a thermos and Stephanie passed them out.
While Logan talked to them about having an escape route in their homes and what to do if their clothes caught on fire, the preschoolers ate their snacks.
Stephanie watched the proceedings, acutely aware of Danny, in turn, watching her. He did have the most intense way of focusing on her, as though she were the only person in the entire fire station.
Or maybe she was kidding herself and he was only trying to translate the writing on her colorful maternity blouse that read I’m Pregnant in a half-dozen different languages.
He eased up next to her. “So what’s the next step in getting your business up and running?”
“Buying a computer and a color printer and designing my letterhead. I’ll put together a portfolio of some of the projects I worked on in San Francisco, then I’ll have to hit the pavement looking for clients.”
“I don’t know much about computers but I know a couple of guys who are in business for themselves. You know, old high school buddies. I could give them a call.”
“Really? That would be very nice of you.”
“All part of my exasperating-neighbor duties.”
She laughed. “I hate to admit it, but you’re not nearly as exasperating as you used to be.” But definitely more sexy, as if that were possible. And more frustrating since he hadn’t made love to her again and she was overcome by a raging case of shyness, reluctant to jump his bones without asking for permission.
“Be careful. I may revert to form any minute.”
“I have no doubt you will.” As soon as his coaching duties were over, he’d no doubt vanish from her life—except for an occasional glimpse of him through the kitchen window.
She glanced toward the children and noticed Tami had managed to latch on to Buttons. The child was petting the dog and feeding him her snack.
Stephanie stifled a groan. The poor Dalmatian was licking his chops and having little luck swallowing the sticky substance Tami had given him.
“What do you suppose peanut butter does for a dog’s diet?” she asked Danny.
He followed her gaze and laughed. “He’ll probably survive.”
Stephanie certainly hoped so. The Dalmatian was a favorite with the children and with her.
WHEN LOGAN FINISHED HIS lecture about fire safety and the kids finished their snacks, Danny escorted the youngsters upstairs to the living quarters.
“Wow! That’s a big TV,” one of the boys said as they walked through the rec room, which was filled with a dozen recliners all facing the television.
“Well, there are a lot of us to watch it,” Danny answered.
“The hard part is that there is only one remote for all those men,” Stephanie chimed in.
He snapped his head around and gave her a mock glare. “Seniority rules at a fire station.”
A smug grin crinkled the corners of her eyes and made him want to laugh—or kiss her senseless. Probably not a good idea here at the fire station or in front of a bunch of four-year-olds.
The little blonde Danny remembered from his visit to the school piped up. “My mommy hides the remote from my daddy if he doesn’t do his chores.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t have that problem here. We all do our chores when we’re supposed to.”
“Do you take out the garbage?” blondie asked.
“Sure. Sometimes.”
“And wash the dishes?”
“When it’s my turn, sure.” It wasn’t at all clear where this conversation was heading. “We take turns cooking and cleaning, too. That’s part of being a f
irefighter.”
“Could you come teached my daddy so he doesn’t get into trouble with my mommy anymore?”
He glanced at Stephanie for guidance but all he got was a helpless lift of her shoulders. “Uh, I’m sure your mom and dad will work things out.”
“Why don’t we let Firefighter Sullivan show us the rest of his quarters?” Stephanie suggested, finally coming to his rescue.
The tour of the kitchen didn’t take long. Then they headed down the hallway past the door Greg was guarding so none of the kids inadvertently fell down the hole where the fire pole was.
“You’re doing great, hotshot,” Greg commented. Standing at ease with his hands linked behind his back, he looked amused by Danny’s discomfort with the kids’ questions. “A regular Pied Piper.”
“Next tour you get to play the heroic firefighter.” It wasn’t that Danny was all that uncomfortable with the kids. It’s just that they were all so short. And there were so many of them. And how the hell could anybody answer their questions? What did he know about moms and dads and how they worked out their problems? His folks hadn’t made the grade.
He ushered the boisterous preschoolers into his sleeping quarters, which contained a twin bed, a desk and floor-to-ceiling lockers. “Three of us use this room and we all have our own locker for our gear.” He opened his to show the kids.
“You all sleep in the same bed?” a little voice asked, he wasn’t sure which one.
“It’s like a sleepover, dummy,” another responded.
“Jason, no name calling,” Stephanie reminded the child who had already lost points by climbing the training tower.
“We take turns,” Danny assured them, beginning to sweat now. He could easily lose control of the situation with these short people. “There’s a guy from each shift who is assigned to—”
“Ms. Stephanie, I gotta go pee,” blondie announced.
Smoothly, Stephanie took the little girl’s hand. “I’ll take the girls and you keep track of the boys?”
“Fine.” He was sure she’d been at the station often enough to know the rest room was right down the hall from his quarters. “Don’t forget to flip the sign on the door from Men to Women or you’re likely to get some surprised male visitors.”
“Right.”
The number of kids in his room was cut in half, and a couple of the boys wanted to test out his bed. Danny figured that would be okay. It wasn’t like he’d have to stand inspection anytime soon so if they messed up the covers it was no big deal. He’d just keep an eye on them to see that they didn’t break their necks.
Stephanie came back with the girls and did a quick head count.
“Danny, where’s Jason?”
“Who?”
“Oh, my God!” She took off running toward the rec room. “Jason! Don’t you dare—”
Danny followed her. He didn’t know what was up but suspected whatever was going on wasn’t good. He rounded the corner in time to catch a glimpse of a small child sliding down the fire pole. An instant later, Stephanie threw herself down the same hole.
“Stephanie—no! Greg!” he bellowed, diving down the pole after her. My God, she was seven months pregnant. Why the hell hadn’t Greg stopped the kid—and Stephanie. The chief would have them all up before the disciplinary board if anything happened—
His heart was in his throat by the time he landed on the ground and found Stephanie hugging the little monster who had started all this. Without thinking, he grabbed them both into the circle of his arms and held on tight, hoping his heart wouldn’t fly right out of his chest, it was beating so fast and furiously.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he admonished them both and thanking his lucky stars someone upstairs had put a halt to the kids sliding down the pole. “You scared me to death.”
“It was fun,” the boy insisted, an unrepentant grin on his face.
“Are you all right?” he asked Stephanie.
“Except that you’re squeezing the life out of me, of course I’m all right.”
Relief mixed with the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. “What kind of an idiot stunt were you trying to pull? You could have hurt yourself badly. And the baby, too.”
She looked startled that he was so upset and no less repentant than the boy. “Don’t be silly, Danny. My father’s a fireman. That wasn’t exactly my first slide down a fire pole.”
Feeling foolish, he sat back on his haunches and tried a little deep breathing to calm down. Maybe he had overreacted but it wasn’t easy to convince his racing heart that there had been no danger. The image he’d had of Stephanie, broken and crumpled at the base of the pole had been too vivid for him to ignore.
She palmed his face, her hand warm and soft on his cheek. “Don’t look so worried. I’m fine. Really.”
“In that case—” he came to his feet, helping her up, too “—it’s this young man who I have a beef with. You have any idea how upset your folks would be if you’d hurt yourself doing something stupid?”
The kid hung his head and shrugged. “They wouldn’t care.”
Stephanie cupped the back of the boy’s head. “I would, Jason. A whole lot. And so would Ms. Alice. What you did was very dangerous.”
Right on cue, Alice and the rest of the students showed up. The head teacher took over, informing Jason in no uncertain terms that he’d have a time out as soon as they got back to school. Field trip over, she hustled the youngsters to the vans.
Stephanie lingered a moment. “That was quite an experience, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t think I’m cut out to be a preschool teacher,” Danny admitted. Unable to help himself, he took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. It felt good to hold her, even a little. She didn’t object.
“Somedays I don’t think I am, either.” Walking together, they headed toward the vehicle she had arrived in. “I guess, since you’re on duty, you’ll miss the childbirth class tonight.”
“No, I’ve got it covered. I’m taking a pager with me and if there’s a problem, dispatch will give me a shout. I’ll meet the crew at the scene.”
“You sure?”
“That’s how all the guys handle it when their wives are pregnant.” He realized what he’d said the moment the words were out of his mouth. Stephanie wasn’t his wife. He was only her coach.
And like seeing her slide down the pole, that slip of the tongue scared him more than he cared to admit.
“DINNER IN TWO MINUTES,” Logan announced from the kitchen as he set two huge pots on the counter.
Danny didn’t need a second invitation to get a plate full of clam linguini, Logan’s specialty. He was first in line right ahead of Jay when the phone rang in the adjacent rec room. A minute later Diaz shouted, “Sullivan! It’s for you.”
He cursed the caller’s bad timing, and then had a panicky thought it might be Stephanie with a problem.
“Save my place, okay?” he asked Jay.
“Not a chance. If your girlfriends don’t know when it’s mealtime around here, it’s your tough luck.”
“Thanks, buddy. Remind me not to do you any favors either,” he grumbled, though not with any malice. There’d be plenty of linguini to go around, although they sometimes came up short on second helpings. Whoever was calling, he wouldn’t talk long.
He picked up the wall phone. “Sullivan.”
“Yo, buddy. Did I interrupt your dinner?” Moose Durban laughed, knowing darn well that’s exactly what he’d tried to do.
“Naw. Already ate,” Danny lied. “What’s up?”
“Thought we’d compare our times, see how we’re doing for the triathlon.”
“You mean you called me up so you can brag?” Which was exactly what Moose loved to do, part of his effort to psych his opponent out before a football game or a track meet. It wasn’t going to work this time, Danny vowed.
“Not me. I just thought you’d be happy that I did my personal best in the two-mile swim at training today.” Moose gave him a nu
mber that was thirty seconds faster than Danny’s best time.
“You’re carrying so much blubber around, you float on top of the damn ocean,” he countered. Moose might be a longtime friend, but the triathlon was a blood rivalry as well as a personal salute to the buddies Danny had lost in Idaho. “I figure I’ll sail right by you on my bike after you’ve blown a tire with all that extra load.”
Moose laughed. “Hey, when are we going to get together? I dropped by the Smoke Eaters the other night and nobody had seen you in ages.”
The Smoke Eaters Bar and Grill, which was around the corner from Station 6, was a hangout for firefighters from all the surrounding towns. Danny hadn’t been there since Stephanie had gotten back to town.
“Yeah, well, I’ve been busy,” he said.
“I hear you, man. It must be a girl.”
It was—two of them, one inside the rounded belly of the other.
He checked his watch. He had just enough time to eat something before he left for the childbirth class. “Gotta go, Moose.”
“Right, chump. Enjoy your dinner. I’ll put some swim wings in the mail to you so you won’t drown in my wake.” His cackling laughter ended with the click of the phone as he hung up.
Danny grimaced. Forget the honor of the Paseo fire department and even the buddies he’d lost. He really wanted to beat the socks off Moose Durban and have the last laugh.
ONE COUPLE WAS MISSING from the class that night. The woman had gone into labor a month early and had delivered a baby boy that very morning. Although the baby was in the Intermediate Neonatal Unit, he seemed to be doing fine and would be able to go home soon.
Stephanie shuddered at the possibility of anything going wrong with her delivery or the baby. The prospect was simply too scary.
Sitting next to her at the conference table in the classroom, Danny said, “I sure hope you don’t have the baby early.”
“Me, too,” she agreed. “Premature birth is—”
“Well, not just because it would be hazardous to her,” he said, glancing at Stephanie’s midsection.
“There’s another reason?” That seemed the most important one to Stephanie.
“Yeah, the triathlon. You’re due in what, seven weeks? The triathlon is in six weeks. I really don’t want to miss that puppy.”
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