“The best way to get over that is to practice so that everything is instinct. You won’t even think about it—you’ll just know what to do.”
Tim nodded. “But don’t you think the other guys might lose confidence in me if they notice me doing that?”
Rory understood. “Come on. I’ll run some drills with you. My dad always said the only way to be on one hundred percent of the time was to always keep working at it.”
“Really? Your old man is Derrick O’Roarke, isn’t he?” Tim asked.
Rory gave a clipped nod. He was proud of his old man and the fires he’d fought, but he didn’t want to trade on his name.
“What was that like? Growing up with him as your father?” Tim asked as Rory stood up.
“Lots of drills,” Rory said. Firefighters always wanted to hear about his dad, wanted to know if Rory could give them any inside tips. “So where do you start feeling like you’re going to choke?”
Tim rubbed the back of his neck. “When I get on the truck.”
“Let me run it by the lieutenant and see if we can get a few extra practice runs in.”
“Don’t do that. I don’t want him to know.”
“Tim, everyone might be teasing you for being the new guy but we all know we can only be as strong as our weakest man.”
Tim nodded and Rory left him to go find Frank. He thought about what he’d told Tim and couldn’t help but think about applying that same theory to him and Meg. They weren’t a couple because they were both afraid.
Too bad there weren’t drills for coupling. Think how much easier it would be to date someone if he knew he couldn’t be hurt the way Natalie had hurt him before. He had a feeling Meg wouldn’t mind that either.
But this wasn’t about Meg, it was about Tim. The firehouse was starting to feel like his home again, and dealing with someone else’s fears had allayed his. He knew how to be a leader. He’d taken young rookies under his wing before because he had always known that their fear wasn’t that far from his own.
He got to the lieutenant’s office when the fire bell rang and everyone swung into gear. He ran for his turnout gear, grabbed his helmet and hopped on the truck one step before Tim. The other guy gulped as their eyes met. But then he gave Rory a shaky smile.
“What’s the call-out, Lieutenant?”
“House fire on the outskirts of town. Some kids saw smoke from the window. I think it’s Maeve Delany’s house. She lives alone.”
The sirens wailed as they flew through town and Rory waited for his nerves to settle and his instincts to take over. Please let them take over.
SMOKE BILLOWED from the house as they pulled up in front of it. It was a two-story structure, one of those old Victorian-style houses that lined the street leading out of town. They hopped out and followed the lieutenant’s orders methodically. Rory didn’t even allow himself time to think about freezing.
There were five men on their team and the lieutenant assigned Rory and Tim along with veteran J.J. Miller to mop-up duty. That meant they were to stand their ground while the lieutenant and Mick Flynn sprayed fire retardant on the blaze. Fires needed three things to survive—oxygen, heat and fuel. Given the temperatures that had been soaring around them, it was a given that the heat would be hard to contain. But once they got the oxygen suppressed they’d—he, Tim and J.J.—would go in and put out any remaining hot spots.
“Is there anyone inside?” Rory asked.
“We think the homeowner might be. But we don’t know where. Look for an entry point,” Frank said.
J.J. went left, Rory went right and Tim stood there. But they didn’t need a third man to circle the house. The back of the structure wasn’t on fire at all. Rory and J.J. found a window they could enter. The front door was out of the question.
“Let’s get the ladder,” J.J. called.
They ran back to the truck and Rory signaled for Tim to join them. They got the nine meter ladder which three guys could easily carry and brought it around to the back of the house. They had it positioned against the side wall and waited for the all clear from the lieutenant before they started up. J.J. went first while Rory held the ladder. The lieutenant came around to add his support to the ladder, allowing Rory to go up, followed by Tim.
They all wore their oxygen masks as they moved through the house, clearing the rooms. They communicated with two-way radios in their helmets as they moved.
“Crap,” J.J. said.
Rory followed him down the hall. “What’s up?”
“Old lady Delany must have been smoking in bed,” J.J. said. “This room is a mess. She really burned the house down.”
Rory entered the room, checking it as he moved closer to the bed. The shape of the body was barely recognizable. And the open bottle of Jack Daniels on the nightstand told Rory exactly how the fire had spread so quickly and burned so very hot.
Tim was still in the guest room, moving toward them. Rory thought of cautioning the younger guy to stay where he was. Burnt bodies were hard to take. It was one thing to see one in a training film or analyze photos of one in class, but it was something else entirely in real life.
Tim stepped up and Rory heard his gasp and the gagging sound before he stepped back and tried to move away. J.J. reached for Tim just as the younger man stepped through a hole burned in the floor. Rory dove for Tim, grabbing him by the back of the jacket and yanked him straight up out of the hole and fell with him into the hallway where the floor was solid.
Tim was shaking and coughing and J.J. stared at him for a long minute. Then Tim gave him the thumbs-up and stood up, but was shaking.
“The rooms are clear,” Rory said. “Tim and I will make sure the upper level is safe. There wasn’t anyone else in the house.”
“I’m behind you. We’ll wait for the county coroner to get here and collect the body. I bet they call the arson investigator too,” J.J. said.
Rory wondered if that investigator would be his brother-in-law who worked the central region of Florida. He got back to the ladder, but Tim still stood there, staring at the hole in the floor.
Rory was still running on adrenaline. Later, he knew he’d worry about what had happened, but right now, he just wanted to get out of the house.
“Let’s go,” he said to Tim.
“I can’t,” he said. “I’m shaking.”
“You did great. Why don’t you go down first? I’ll be right behind you the entire way. Okay?”
Tim didn’t answer.
“Listen, we need to move,” he said in an authoritative voice. “Either you go down under your own steam or I carry you.”
Rory took a step toward Tim, and he snapped out of it. Tim walked to the window and looked down the ladder. “Thanks.”
Rory nodded at him. “There’s plenty of time for gratitude when we are out of this house.”
“Of course,” Tim said, climbing shakily onto the ladder and slowly making his way down to the ground.
Rory followed him down. When he hit the ground, he pulled off his mask and helmet. The heat of the day, the smoke from the fire and the gruesome scene in his mind overwhelmed him. He wanted to walk away, but he couldn’t. He needed to keep his mind on his job.
“What happened up there?” Frank asked.
“There was a fire hole in the floor and Tim almost went through. But we got him out.”
“Good job,” Frank said. “You need a break?”
“Just water,” he said.
The lieutenant nodded at him and waved him toward the truck. “Tim, go take a break.”
“I’m okay, sir,” Tim answered back.
“I’m not. That scared the crap out of me,” J.J. said, coming up beside them.
And Rory noticed that Tim relaxed. J.J. was a good man. He obviously guessed at how Tim was feeling. As
Rory walked over to the truck to get a drink, he noticed a small red Toyota by the side of the road watching the fire.
Rory walked over to where Meg was parked on the side of the road. She got out of her car and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. It felt as if she might never let go, and, for a split second, he didn’t want her to. He was more than content to stay in her arms for as long as he could.
“What was that for?” he asked, pulling slightly away from her. “Why are you here?”
“I saw the truck and knew that you were on shift,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I am,” he said. But he wasn’t so sure. That hug had thrown a wrench into his plans for rebuilding himself. Here was another woman looking at him with relief in her eyes. Then he thought of Tim almost falling through the ceiling and possibly dying. Would it matter to Meg if it had been him?
He suspected it would. And that just made her more dangerous. Hell, he was hugging her in front of a fire scene. This was crazy.
She wasn’t the right woman for him. The caring in her eyes told him that more than anything else could. The last woman to “love” him had tried to change him and left him a hollow shell of the man he used to be.
There was no indication that Meg loved him, but he knew that he was vulnerable now. He had wanted a wife and a family so badly that he’d left firefighting to get it. And it still hadn’t worked out.
He dropped his arms.
“I’ve got to get back,” he said.
She nodded and got back in her car. He walked away from her across the short lawn where he noticed another firefighter watching him. The other guy didn’t say anything and Rory took a glance over his shoulder. His eyes met Meg’s seconds before she put the car in gear and drove away.
“What was that about?” J.J. asked.
“She’s a friend,” Rory said.
“Be careful, there. Your new friend has a very protective papa,” J.J. said.
Great. Just what I need. He had just invited the entire fire department to comment on his personal life. And Meg had an old man that sounded just like his. “We’re friends. That’s it. She’s not really my type.”
“Whatever you say, man,” J.J. said, walking toward the back of the house and the rest of the crew.
But the lie he’d just told lingered in the back of Rory’s mind. Meg definitely was his type. He’d known it from the moment he first met her.
He wanted her. In his bed, of course—who wouldn’t want someone like her? But more than that, he was coming to realize that he wanted her in his life, too. But he knew she was the type of woman who’d want to make him over. The way she did everything else.
Just once, he wanted to be enough for someone, simply as he was.
Chapter Eleven
MEG KNEW AS soon as she saw the smoke that Rory would be on the crew who responded. Not that she’d been stalking him or anything. She’d meant to keep her distance after their last encounter. It was smarter for her to concentrate on fixing up the house and her plans to leave Twin Palms.
She’d parked her red little Toyota next to the road by the Delany place and as she’d watched him walk around to the back, fear had paralyzed her. This was way worse than sitting at the dinner table waiting for her dad to come home
She’d told herself to put the car in drive and get out of here. But she couldn’t.
How could she leave before she knew that he was okay? And it was at moment when she finally understood that Rory meant something to her.
Denying herself his company hadn’t helped. Deleting his photo from her phone hadn’t done it either—images of him were etched firmly in her mind. When he came around the corner of the house, sans helmet, and their eyes met, she’d hesitated.
She should have definitely driven away, but she couldn’t. Her eyes drank him in. He was safe and whole.
She wanted to go to him and hold him. She shook her head. But that was the truth. She was worried about a lot more than just his physical safety. So she’d gotten out of her car and gave in to what she was feeling. She hugged him as if her life depended on it.
He lifted his hand and she finally realized she couldn’t stay here. No need to give the townspeople even more to gossip about.
So, after a short time in awkwardness, where neither she nor Rory knew what to say, she got back in her car. Then, putting it in gear, she drove away.
She drove until she was outside the city limits and pulled the car onto the paved shoulder and sat there with the engine running and the air conditioner on full blast.
She was covered in a cold sweat just thinking of what might have happened to him. After their talk at the basketball courts, she’d known that he could hurt her, that it was best to walk away. But now that seemed stupid. She had no idea what the next day was going to hold, and Rory still intrigued her.
Her cell phone rang. Pulling it from her purse, she glanced at the caller ID, which read WITHHELD. She hesitated for a second, but then answered it. “This is Meg.”
“Meg, hello. This is Cooper and I’ve got some good news for you.”
“Hi, Cooper.” He was her producer friend from HGTV. And if he was calling, that meant he must have liked the stuff she’d sent him. A rush of adrenaline went through her, stronger because of her previous fear for Rory. Her hands were shaking and she held her breath, waiting to hear what he’d say next.
“We loved your Skype interview last week and would like to send a crew down to film your place before you start working on it. It will have to be done in the next week or so. I know it’s close to the Fourth of July, but the sooner we get on it, the better.”
She reached into her open bag and grabbed out her Filofax. She knew that for most people, pen and paper were passé but she liked them better. She flipped her calendar open.
This was what she’d wanted for so long, and yet she didn’t feel the big rush of joy she’d expected to. Maybe it was because seeing Rory in danger had been a punch to the gut. A wake-up call telling her that she liked him far more than she’d been willing to admit.
“Meg?”
“Sorry, I was driving and had to pull over to find my notebook,” she said.
“No problem. So next Monday, the third, how’s that look for you?”
“Fine. I am closing on the property tomorrow and I already have a carpenter lined up.”
“Great. We want to film you and your town. Maybe even talk to your family,” he said. “A production assistant will be calling later to do a pre-interview. I need you to send the information to her about your family and friends.”
“Uh, you can’t talk to my family yet,” she said.
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated, Coop. Can we put it off for a little while?”
“I can give you a little leeway but I wouldn’t wait too long. It’s something that will help push the money men in your direction. Give them a personal connection to you.”
“Everyone in town knows I left to make it big and came back with my tail between my legs. I didn’t want to say anything this time until I knew, for sure, that it was going to work,” Meg said at last.
“I know, but this is important. Last time you weren’t ready for it.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You’re going to do great. You have a much better producer behind you, this time, as well.”
“Okay.” But she was still filled with trepidation. She swallowed hard. It was time. She’d been hoping to keep it a secret for a little longer until she had it all under control, until she knew she’d made it on to the show and would be leaving.
But really, she’d been hiding the truth so that if she failed, nobody would ever know.
“I’ll get you what you need as soon as I can,” she said. She’d have to go and talk to
everyone and let them know what she was doing.
“I’m texting you my PA’s info. She’s new and I think some day she might be as good as you were,” he said before disconnecting the call.
She put her head back against the seat. It was what she’d said she always wanted. A chance to make it on her own and finally get the fame that had always eluded her. Too bad she’d only just realized that she now wanted something—someone—else.
MEG SET OUT some mini tacos and nachos that she’d made from scratch and then fiddled around her house, as if there was nothing on her mind. But she knew that today had changed a lot of things. Rory in the fire, the HGTV folks confirming she’d made it onto their show. Getting the keys to the Clapham place tomorrow.
She should be celebrating the last bit, but her thoughts about for Rory were eating her up. On one hand, he was just a guy she’d dated twice . . . but she knew he was more than that to her. She missed him.
She liked him.
She wanted him.
“Ugh!”
She was a mess of desires right now. Every thought she had should be about the Clapham place and her plans for it. But instead, she was sitting here wondering if she should go to Rory’s place and make sure he was okay.
Fine. She’d do that as soon as she talked to her sister about the interviews Cooper wanted to conduct. Anne had already arrived and had opened a bottle of Spanish red wine.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before this,” Meg apologized. “But do you remember how desperate I was to get the Clapham place?”
“Yes,” Anne said. “I’m glad you brought Rory around to your way of thinking. Did you see his brother? Wow! Is there anyone in that gene pool who looks average?”
Meg hid a smile. “I did see him. He’s going to be doing some carpentry work at my new old house.”
“Really? I thought he was a firefighter. Rory said that’s what his family did,” Anne said, taking a nacho and munching on it.
In The Heat 0f The Night (The O'Roarkes Duet Book 2) Page 10