The Firefighter to Heal Her Heart

by Annie O'Neil

  The look of terror on the woman’s face tore at him.

  He either had to get that fire extinguished or get her out—but he didn’t have his tools. Half of the town was out at work. His crew hadn’t arrived yet. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  “In the back.” The words came out as a ragged half scream.

  “Where?” Through the fear, Jack could see she was telling him something. Emergency kit. Many people carried aerosol-style fire extinguishers these days. That had to be what she was telling him.

  He bolted to the back of the car, thankfully unharmed by the crash, and popped the rear door open. A small puppy lay cowering in the corner on top of a couple of wool blankets. The family pet. The poor woman’s car was on fire and she was worried about their family pet. The selflessness of the move doubled his drive.

  The vehicle was lodged in the veranda of the local milk bar and already the beams along the tin veranda roof were aflame.

  Jack swiftly lifted the dog in his arms, turning to bring him to the little boy. His eyes widened in amazement at the sight of the boy helping a young girl of around seven years old drag a huge fire extinguisher across the road toward him.

  “Good work, guys.” He handed over the puppy, simultaneously signaling for them to run back to the far side of the road. He spread the blankets for the boy’s mother, helping her to cover herself before he lifted up the fire extinguisher. If the flames got much hotter, the blankets would protect her somewhat. From there, he went into autopilot to extinguish the flames coming from the car bonnet. He needed to sever the connection between them and the burning storefront.

  A lone teenage employee came hurtling through the front door with two jugs of water.

  “No! Get out of there, mate. Don’t throw that water!”

  Water and oil didn’t mix. Ever. There was no guarantee the flames crackling up along the veranda beams hadn’t caught their fair share of oil from one of the vehicles caught up in the incident. His eyes snapped to the pin on the fire extinguisher, with a built-in triple check it was the right type. Dry powder was best. Everything slipped into slow motion. The teenager moved across the patio toward the flames. Jack tore to the front of the vehicle, slamming the gearshift into Neutral, willing himself to have the strength to move the car. There was no time to get the woman out.

  “Cover your face with the blanket!”

  The woman in the car looked terrified as he pressed onto the frame of the burning car with his back and shoulder and began to push. This was mind over matter. He had to move the car away from the storefront. He didn’t care what it took, but he was damned if he was going to let another little boy lose his mother to a stupid fire. Not on his watch.

  He saw it first. Then heard it.

  The teenager had ignored him and had thrown the jugs of water onto the flames.

  * * *

  Liesel collapsed on top of the shelving as the unit fell away from the woman with a crash. The force of what must have been an explosion outside the store had sent her flying. Or was it adrenaline? Or both?

  Jack was out there.

  She scrabbled to her feet, fighting the urge to run out onto the street. She needed to make sure Marilyn was stabilized.

  Where was Marilyn’s daughter? Liesel’s gut clenched, knowing she had been the one to send the child out into the street—the scene of an accident. She’d thought getting her out of the building had been a good thing.

  Where was Jack?

  A swell of nausea turned her stomach.

  She heard voices shouting. It was impossible to distinguish one from another. A small girl appeared in the doorway. Marilyn’s daughter.

  She looked shocked, but she was alive. Liesel heaved a sigh a relief. Thank God.

  The wail of sirens filled the air as Marilyn’s daughter ran toward her. Liesel held her in a tight embrace. The noises outdoors became more distinguishable. The guys were here. The CFS. Whatever had happened in that explosion could be dealt with now. If anything had happened to Jack...

  No. It was one night only. Nothing more. They were just friends now. But you could still love a friend, right? Just not be in love with them.

  “Marilyn, can you hear the sirens?” She released the woman’s daughter from their hug and knelt down on the floor. “Marilyn?”

  No response.

  Liesel moved her hand to the woman’s lips. A soft breath tickled her fingers. She was breathing. Okay. Good. “What’s your name, hun?”

  “Kirsty.”

  “Okay, Kirsty. I need your help again. Could you please hunt down some frozen peas for me? As many as possible.”

  Help was coming. But she needed to tend to Marilyn up until she was officially handed over to the emergency services. Each moment that passed meant more swelling around the damaged areas of her spinal cord. There was no chance she could conduct therapeutic hypothermia properly but a few tactically placed bags of peas would help. As soon as a crew arrived she would see if they had any methylprednisolone. The steroids could help reduce inflammation.

  Her eyes shot to the open front of the shop. Where were the guys? Her view was blocked by one of the haulage truck trailers. The sirens had stopped and a steady hum of activity had replaced the eerie silence after the explosion.

  Would anyone know they were in there? Or was what was happening outside so big they didn’t have any spare resources? She couldn’t believe how alone she felt. Not knowing... It was just like that day on the mountain.

  Tough. She had to pull it together for Marilyn.

  Liesel scanned the standing shelves of the shop for anything to help. Diapers. Not ideal, but it was an emergency. She grabbed a few packets of diapers using them as soft braces to keep Marilyn’s neck in place. They weren’t heavy enough. She needed something to weight them down.

  “Is this enough?”

  Kirsty’s arms were stacked to her chin with frozen peas. Perfect. She could place them along Marilyn’s spine—but she’d have to be incredibly careful. If the cold made her shift at all...

  Don’t panic, Liesel, you can do this.

  “What do you need?”

  The voice rolled through her like a longed-for drink of water. Her instinct was to run and jump into Jack’s arms and smother him with kisses. His face was a smear of soot and blood, a small clot knotting up at his hairline—but he was alive! Her heart soared with relief. Jack was alive!

  One night only. It was your choice.

  There was work to do. This was what she had to do now. Pour her passion into her work. It was the only way. Her focus sharpened.

  “We need a backboard. Possibly two.”

  Jack sent a questioning look. God, she loved those blue eyes of his. Keep your eye on the ball, Liesel, not on the hot fireman you thought you might have lost. The hot fireman who tugged at her every heartstring.

  “We’re going to have to roll her and I can’t do it on my own. She’s presenting possible neck or spine injuries.”

  “I’ll get one of the lads to bring you a backboard and lend a hand.”

  As swiftly as he’d appeared, Jack vanished around the corner, still managing to leave in his wake that incredible sensation of confidence and strength he always seemed to infuse in her. He was a man who could handle a crisis. And he clearly trusted her to the same level. Professionally. And that was the only bond they would share from now on. Work. It’d take a while, but she could suck it up. Eventually.

  * * *

  Jack was so engrossed in supervising Mr. Jones’s release from his truck that he jumped at the light touch on his arm.

  “Sorry! I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

  Liesel. A sight for sore eyes. “No worries. Looks like I’ve got a case of the jitters, eh?”

  “A big strapping fireman like you? Unlikely!” Her eyes teased but he could
see the concern creasing her brow. His fingers itched to smooth away the worry, kiss away the fear. But he needed to make sure Mr. Jones was all right first. The poor man had been knocked out by the impact of his air bag hitting him, but miraculously he hadn’t received any leg injuries. From the look of the front of his truck, Jack would have sworn some sort of higher power must have been on watch. It had been demolished. The EMTs would take him to hospital for a once-over just in case. Sometimes a frontal blow from an air bag could cause a broken rib or, in some rare cases, a heart attack. The hospital would definitely need to run a few tests before sending him home.

  “The EMTs have it covered. It’s your turn now, pal. Move it!” Liesel crooked a finger at him, making the come-here-now gesture look more sexy than he was sure she’d intended.

  Jack followed, presuming she was heading toward the flashing ambulance lights just visible beyond the haulage truck. If he had a right to stop her from turning the corner he would. His gut clenched as she came to an abrupt halt, his eyes soberly following hers. The milk bar was a cinder shell, three of his guys still at work tamping out the smoldering remains. The half-burned-out body of the estate car in front of it lay abandoned like a sun-dried carcass left for the scavengers.

  “Were there—”

  Her fingers flew to her throat as if the words were lodged there.

  “No. No, there weren’t. By the skin of our teeth there weren’t.”

  He ground out the words, unwilling to tell her how close it had been. Death. He wasn’t ready to hear the words spelling out the plain truth. She had been right to have backed off from him. Today had been dangerous. Too dangerous.

  An understaffed station was to blame for all this. He could have easily been killed, along with several others. And now Liesel was staring at the proof that her worst nightmares could, in fact, have come true. Today.

  “What happened?”

  “The kid who worked at the milk bar tried to lend a hand—he threw water onto the fire coming from the car. The water reacted with some oil in the flames and, I know it’s hard to believe, looking at this mess, we were actually incredibly lucky—” he scrubbed a sooty hand along his chin as Liesel stared at him dumbly in disbelief “—instead of igniting the burning vehicle, the flames were sucked into a fireball under the tin roof of the veranda. The milk-bar kid suffered his fair share of scrapes and bruises but is otherwise injury-free. Unbelievably lucky for such an incredibly foolish move.”

  He knew he sounded harsh and tried to soften his words. “He should have been educated. If we had more than one donor angel, we could afford to hire someone else. A part-timer, maybe, who could have come round town and taught everyone and made sure the proper extinguishers were in place.”

  “Donor angel?”

  “Someone’s sent in a couple of checks over the past year. Big ones. It’s been incredibly helpful, but the station was in very bad shape when I inherited it. Maybe if I hadn’t spent the last chunk on re-kitting out the truck...”

  * * *

  Liesel ached to see him in so much pain. It wasn’t right that he accept all the responsibility for what had happened here. One man couldn’t predict every accident that was going to happen in what was an expansive rural area. It just wasn’t possible.

  Jack turned to face her, his large hands taking hold of her shoulders. His eyes seemed to be searching for some sort of evidence that he couldn’t have done more. “You were right to worry, Liesel. I shouldn’t have ever have asked you to wait for me. At the rate I’m going, it could take years for us to get the sort of support we need.”

  “Jack, I—”

  “Shh...don’t worry, darlin’. This is on me. It’s too much to ask, taking on all this.” He nodded toward the smoldering high street then gave her shoulders a quick squeeze before releasing them. “Still friends?”

  “Of course.” The words came out as a whisper, followed by a silent always as he turned away from her.

  * * *

  Jack knew he was letting emotion cloud his logic. If only he could give up his professional calling, make friends with his father and go back to a nice, safe life at the winery. Then he’d be able to give Liesel the fairy-tale ending she deserved.

  If. There were so many ifs. He raked a hand through his hair, a masculine stab at keeping emotion at bay. No good. It was still charging through him like a herd of wild elephants.

  “Jack, if you ask me, I can’t believe you did so much good work today. On your own, no less.”

  Liesel’s voice broke through his rampaging thoughts.

  “You think this is good?” He swept a hand along the small high street. It looked like a film set in a disaster movie. After the disaster.

  * * *

  Liesel took a step back, shocked at the harsh tone of his voice. This wasn’t the Jack she knew. Today couldn’t have changed him that much, could it? “I think the good really outweighs the bad here. Surely you can see that? There were no fatalities, right?”

  He shook away her comment with a brusque wave of his hand. “Can you imagine what would’ve happened here if we weren’t around? If the station didn’t exist anymore? Today would’ve been a one hundred percent disaster. Can’t you see that?”

  Liesel felt herself suck in a deep breath. She wasn’t going to use Eric as a cheap playing card to get ahead in this conversation—but Jack was alive, and so were all of the other casualties here. They were alive! There was no way she was going to let him call this situation a failure.

  “I think I’m in a very good place to know when good outweighs bad.” She put a hand on his arm, wishing she could stroke his face, wipe away some of the soot, hold him in her arms. “Jack, remember, I know more than most how bad a situation can get, and I for one am amazed and pleased with today’s outcome.”

  “A mother almost died today, Liesel. Because of a careless mistake. I almost got her killed because I took my eye off the ball for just a few seconds!”

  The grief in his eyes went deeper than what was happening today. Much deeper.

  “Jack, what are you really talking about?”

  “I’m talking about my mum...” He raked a hand through his soot-laced hair. “I swore I wouldn’t let this happen again.”

  “But you didn’t! You saved her, you numpty!” The words may have been teasing, but Liesel’s heart was in her throat. How awful for him. She wanted to hold him, soothe away the grief that was so clearly eating away at him, but saw he was too charged to be held, comforted.

  “I didn’t really lay any of your fears to rest, did I?”

  “Not particularly.” Her lips set and she shook her head sharply. “But let me tell you this right now—if I hadn’t been so worried about you, I wouldn’t have come out and helped the people I did. You’ve helped, Jack! Many people. That woman in the store could be paralyzed for life if I hadn’t helped her—in the same way the woman in the car might not be hugging her son right now if it hadn’t been for you.”

  * * *

  Jack glanced over at the mother and son then looked back into Liesel’s clear eyes, sparking with intention. “You were worried about me?”

  “Of course I was! Can’t you see I’m nuts about you and the whole reason your job makes me crazy is because I can’t face the idea of losing you?”

  “Come here, you.” Jack pulled her in close to him, soot, filth and all, so she wouldn’t see the tears in his eyes. Liesel was nuts about him! He hadn’t wanted to admit it, but he’d been blindsided when she’d announced she just wanted to be friends after their very X-rated night together. And now she was saying their struggle to be friends hadn’t been because of an absence of feeling but because of so much feeling.

  Jack pulled his fingers through Liesel’s hair and held her tight to his chest. He ached to kiss her. Tip that little chin of hers up and taste that strawberry-red mouth again and
again. If she was nuts about him, he was positively cuckoo about her. Full steam ahead sparko. He was going to have to get some order in his life. Put things into a better place so he could make sure she had the life—and love—she deserved. Today was proof you couldn’t change the past. But he did have something to say about the future.

  First step, John Granville Keller. Mending fences with his father was a tall order, but essential to becoming the man he wanted to be for this woman he held in his arms. If healing old wounds couldn’t be done, then Liesel was better off facing the future without him.

  * * *

  Liesel clapped her hands with a big laugh when Marilyn wiggled a toe on departure. The ambulance crew had the young mum safely strapped to a hard board, and if the toe wiggle was anything to go by, then any trauma she’d received on her spine might not be permanent. She crossed her fingers behind her back and gave a wink up into the heavens for good measure.

  She reached out a hand to run down Jack’s shoulder and just as quickly as he’d been so present with her, he was gone again. A few meters up the road, she could see his eyes trained on the burned-out scene in front of them. It stung, but she knew it wasn’t personal. At least she understood him now, knew his whole story. The CFS was Jack’s life, whether or not he had a lovelorn school nurse on the scene.

  And, sadly, he was right. Without the local station, the accident could have left far more destruction in its wake. Other emergency services were a good hour away. She chanced a look at his profile. He was an incredible man. Strong, passionate, committed. His drive to help was catching. He’d definitely reignited the flames of community service within her. But what would be enough for him to lay his own demons to rest? She knew talking it out over a bottle of wine was not really a “guy” thing but maybe someday...when the chances of them ending up naked in bed again weren’t quite so high. A quick shake of the head was required to get that little picture out of her head before she approached him.