by A. L. Cook
“Geez, Thomas, where’s the fire?” Mikey laughed.
Cam rolled his eyes. “That’s still not funny, dude,” he said. “I ran into Ebony.”
Mikey’s eyes widened in understanding before grimacing in sympathy. “Ah,” he said. “How’d you get away?”
Sighing, Cameron rocked back on his heels. “Let’s just say I’m going to owe Erin until the end of time.”
Gesturing for Cam to walk with him with a toss of his head, Mikey fell into step beside him. “So you’re pretty keen on her, huh?” he asked.
“Oh hell no,” Cam frowned. “It was one date, and apparently for her it was like I’d proposed. I swear she’s borderline stalking me.”
“Not her, idiot,” Mikey laughed. “Erin. The guys at the station are saying that it’s the first time you’ve ever been this into a woman before, and that you’ve got it bad.”
He had it bad all right. Cam couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so completely enamoured with anyone. He had spent the majority of his twenties doing what most guys in their twenties did- dating, having a hell of a lot of fun, and definitely not thinking about his wife-and-two-kids future. He knew his easy-going nature made him appealing to women, and he knew he wasn’t butt ugly, so he’d never had any trouble finding women for company for however long he’d wanted it. But he’d never wanted anyone’s company like this before, and had never been so tied up in knots caring about how a woman felt about him.
He sighed internally and wondered for the hundredth time since getting involved with Erin if he’d made a huge mistake. Was he wasting his time? Was there any way he could convince her that he was worth the risk, that she could take a chance on him and let him prove to her that what they could have would be amazing. Because it would be, he knew that with utter certainty. And the way she could be so joyous and open when she let her guard down made him want to give her that forever, made him want to spend the rest of his life working at making that smile with the gorgeous dimples a permanent fixture on her face.
But apparently his career was a massive stumbling block, which was a novel experience for him. Normally women heard ‘firefighter’ and threw themselves at him. He wasn’t about to give up being a firefighter, no matter how much he loved Erin, and there was no way she’d be involved with him while he still was. There had to be a middle ground, though, some way for them to make it work. Cam just had to figure out what it was.
“Sorry, Cam, I didn’t mean to pry,” Mikey told him, and Cam realised how long he’d been silent.
“It’s okay, I was just thinking,” he said with a smile. “The guys are right, though. I really like her.” He paused, and shot a sly glance at his friend. “Just like you really like Shelley.”
Bingo. Mikey’s blush could have warmed a warehouse. “She’s all right, but she’s way outta my league,” he sighed.
“What?” Cam asked incredulously. “You need to stop looking at your shoes every time you two are in the same room,” he laughed. “She’s as into you as you’re into her, buddy. And you’re not out of her league at all. You just need to have a bit of confidence and ask her out.”
“You think?” Mikey’s eyes were hopeful. “I mean, between her work and study and my job we wouldn’t get much time to see each other. You know, if she said yes.”
“When it’s worth it, you work at it,” Cam said, a phrase he’d heard his parents use many a time when he was growing up. “You make the best of the time you have and let that be enough.”
“Is that what you’re doing with Erin?” Mikey asked curiously.
“I’m working on it,” Cam told him, clapping him on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go see who wins the cake.”
They made their way over to where the majority of the food vendors had set up, to the growing crow congregating in front of the Sweet Temptations delivery van.
Cam looked around, hoping to see Erin, but was disappointed when he couldn’t find her. Someone handed Maggie a bullhorn and she stood up on a chair, flicking the horn on with a squeal before addressing the assembled crowd.
“Good afternoon, folks,” she greeted them. “Thanks for coming out and showing your support today! So, next up on the raffle schedule we have a custom made fire engine, made and decorated by our very own Erin Campbell. Some of you have ordered cakes from Erin before, and just about everyone has tried her brownies, so you know how good this bad boy is going to be. It’s a triple layer white chocolate mud cake with chocolate raspberry ganache, and it’s one of our most popular wedding cake flavour combinations. We are also going to draw tickets for a voucher for the winner to order a custom event cake of their choice, and for three lucky people to win a free breakfast at the bakery, any time they choose. So without further ado, feast your eyes on this!”
She gestured grandly to the back of the van where Shelley stood and flung open the doors, before removing the cake and setting it onto a trestle table with a tub full of tickets on it, waiting for the winners to be drawn from it. There was a collective ‘whoa’ from the crowd when the cake was presented, and Cam certainly agreed.
The entire thing was two feet long and almost a foot high. It had been carved into a replica of their Engine 21 in exquisite detail. Hoses, pumps, lights, the storage bays and pump panel- even the bell engraved with the christening date of each engine it had served on, passed on as each engine to have worn it retired was there, silver and shining. Cameron had known Erin was good- he had seen a few of her wedding cakes and there was no way Maggie would have hired here if she wasn’t incredible- but he hadn’t realised she was this good. He half expected the cake to light up with a miniature siren to sound out.
“Let’s pick a winner!” Maggie cried, and the crowd clapped and cheered. She stepped down from the chair and over to the ticket bucket, putting the megaphone down and showing empty hands before she reached in and sifted through the tickets, eventually pulling one out. “And the winner is Bradley Harvey!” Maggie shouted, a big smile on her face. “Bradley, are you here?”
A small person collided with Cam and he looked down to see a very excited little boy with a ticket in his hand, his entire face lit up. “Excuse me, sir,” the boy grinned, “I just won a whole cake!”
Cam grinned and looked at the crowd. “Well done, man,” he smiled. “Follow me.” He then raised his voice to be heard over the crowd. “Excuse me!” he shouted, “Fireman and raffle winner coming through!” Bradley looked fit to burst, and slid his hand into Cam’s as they made their way to the front together as the people assembled clapped and made way for them.
“Congratulations, young man,” Maggie smiled. “But how on earth are you going to eat a cake this big?”
Bradley, who looked to be around eight or nine, grinned again. “I’m going to take it to school and share it with my class!”
“What an excellent idea,” Maggie said, right as a man with a camera stepped forward and asked if he could have a photo for the Juneau Empire, the town’s newspaper.
“Where’s Erin?” Maggie asked. “She really should be here for this. It’s her cake.”
“I’m not sure,” Cam replied. “I saw her not long ago. But I doubt she’ll mind if you’re in the photo on behalf of the bakery.”
They allowed themselves to be posed behind the cake, Maggie, Cam in his formal uniform and Bradley, looking more thrilled than ever. He excitedly waved to his mother when he spotted her in the crowd, who looked slightly put out by the enormous cake she was now in ownership of. Maggie smiled and took pity on her, telling her to come by the bakery that afternoon before it closed and pick it up to save having to sort it out now.
Cam shook Bradley’s hand, bid Maggie farewell and collected Mikey on his way across the park to the small platform that had been set up as the stage for the auction. It wasn’t long before it began as the main event of the fundraiser, and people were starting to make their way there, standing around in groups talking, laughing and eating, or sitting in the fold-up chairs that had been arranged aroun
d the stage for the audience.
Ducking into the tent behind it, Cam and Mikey stepped into a crowd of slightly nervous and slightly cocky firefighters, captains, marshals and even some of the volunteers had been roped in, meaning that all up there were twelve men and women about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder for a date, all in the name of charity.
Rufus was giving the requisite ‘best behaviour while you’re representing the department’ speech when Cam and Mikey slipped in the back. Their entrance did not go unnoticed, and Rufus pointed at them. “That means you two,” by the way, he grumbled, rolling his eyes at their ‘who, us?’ expressions and throwing up his hands. “Just don’t get arrested,” he concluded, ending his speech.
The assembled emergency responders clapped and gathered around to see whose name would be drawn out of a hat first to determine the order of the auction. Rufus drew the first and cursed when he read out his own name. “Aw, damn,” he muttered. “My wife’ll never let me live this one down.”
The drawing continued, with Cam coming in second last and Mikey finishing the line-up. They grinned and high-fived each other, just as the area’s special Hazmat team chief, David Andrews stuck his head in the tent.
“Rufus, are you all ready to go?” he asked, grinning at the cheer that elicited before letting them know he was about to begin announcing the start of the auction before ducking back out.
“Remember what I told you,” Cam said to Mikey with a wink, after making sure Rufus was close enough to overhear. “When you tear your shirt open, tear it from the bottom, not the top. You’ll lose less buttons that way.”
Rufus stopped dead and looked like he was about to start shouting when Cam and Mikey began to laugh. “Why am I not at all surprised you’d know that, Thomas?” he asked, shaking his head before whistling for the attention of everyone in the tent. “All right, let’s get this show over with,” he called, leading them all out onto the stage for their introductions as the crowd began to clap, whistle and cheer.
Cameron clapped a newly-pale Mikey on the back and tipped his cap to a rakish angle. “Let’s go raise some money, Mike!” he exclaimed, eager to get out on the stage and find Erin in the crowd. After Ebony’s comment about the auction, he sure hoped Erin would be around to save him from her once more.
Seven
By the time Erin returned the auction was in full swing. There was a furious bidding war going on between Rufus’ wife, Adrienne, and someone whom Erin eventually deduced was Rufus’ best friend and was bidding in an attempt to take Rufus on a weekend fishing trip for his ‘date’. The audience loved the battle, shouting suggestions to the two main bidders while Rufus himself stood on stage and roared with laughter.
Erin grinned as she surveyed the crowd, lifting a hand in return when she saw Shelley waving to her. She made her way through the crush of people to where the younger woman was standing and smiled when Shelley hooked their arms together, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet as she watched the auction.
Rufus’ friend won the bidding to much applause and catcalling, and Shelley turned to Erin. “Cam’s second last to be auctioned off, and Mikey’s last,” she said, explaining the order to the line of firefighters standing at the back of the stage. “I’m so nervous!”
“About what?” Erin asked with a grin.
Shelley scowled at her. “You know what,” she said. “I’ve been saving for weeks so I can bid on Mike. But I don’t know if he’s even interested; I mean, I’ve been flirting like crazy, but he’s only ever interested in polite conversation, so this is my last chance. If I win a date with him, I can see if he’s really interested.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Erin told her, hugging her a bit closer where they stood side-by-side. “Hey, do you happen to know Ebony? According to her, she and Cam have a ‘thing’.”
With an inelegant snort and half an eye on the stage where the next firefighter was being auctioned, Shelley shook her head. “That’d be Ebony Ramses,” she explained. “Have you met her?”
“I had the dubious honour earlier,” Erin told her.
“Yeah, she’s a real piece of work. From what I can gather from rumours and gossip, in high school she was a cheerleader and he was a jock. He had nothing to do with her until college, despite the fact that she was always after him. Anyway, she finally wears him down or whatever, he agrees to go on a date, and it was apparently horrendous. She paraded him all over town, started hanging outside his classes waiting for him and telling everyone they were dating. He wasn’t interested, but she just couldn’t let it go.”
“Wow, that’s intense,” Erin shook her head, lifting her hand in a casual move to further the bidding.
“She’s pretty horrible,” Shelly agreed. “I know of at least two guys she’s dated from the station to try and make Cam jealous. One of them was pretty serious about her and had his heart broken. Not that she cared. Why do you ask? Oh my god, what did she say to you?” Shelley gasped, eyes wide. Erin relayed their earlier confrontation, making Shelley laugh. “Oh please,” she chuckled dismissively. “You are clearly exactly his type, given how hard he’s fallen for you.”
Erin laughed too. “I don’t know if Cam has a type, but even if he did, I’m sure she wouldn’t be it by default,” she said. “So I’m guessing I’ll have a bit of competition when it comes time to bid on Cam.”
“You’ll be fine,” Shelley told her. “Wait til the other bidders start to taper off a bit and then smash them at the end.” When Erin turned to her with a surprised look on her face, she shrugged sheepishly. “I may have Googled ‘how to bid at an auction’ for some tips.”
“You’re gorgeous, Shell,” Erin told her, the two women sharing a warm smile before focussing their attention back on the stage.
The auction progressed, making a fairly impressive amount of money for the fundraiser, until eventually it was Cam being announced. Erin smiled at the many women in the crowd who sat up a bit straighter as he strode to the front of the stage, confident, cocky, and drop dead gorgeous. The nervous butterflies that set up residence in her belly surprised her, but she ignored them and focussed on the stage.
“The second last item on today’s list is Captain Cameron Thomas,” David announced into his microphone. “Cameron is a ten-year veteran of Capital City’s Fire and Rescue Department, has a Masters in Emergency Medical Services, a Bachelor of Fire Science, and for six months of the year is a Hotshot module leader with the Alaska Fire Service’s interagency crews. He volunteers with the Mountain Rescue team, is an avid outdoorsman and let’s face it, ladies, he’s not hard on the eyes. Do we have an opening bid?”
“One hundred dollars!” an excited female voice called from the front of the crowd. Cameron swept off his glasses and treated the woman to a wink, before strolling along the stage as the bidding began in earnest.
Erin watched in amusement as hands shot into the air en masse. She waited, biding her time until the bids began to slow around the four hundred dollar mark. And that’s when she heard it.
“Four hundred and fifty dollars.”
Ebony’s silky bid caused a ripple of murmurs through the crowd.
“Five hundred,” Erin called back, the murmurs multiplying. She caught movement to her left where Ebony was sitting in the front row of seats, right in front of the stage as the brunette turned to look for her in the crowd. Erin smiled and waved, making Ebony snap back around.
“Five ten.”
“Twenty,” Erin countered instantly. She meant business.
“Thirty.”
“Forty.”
“Fifty!”
“Six hundred,” Erin replied, smirking internally at the glare Ebony shot her.
“Six ten.”
“Six fifty.” She’d had no idea she would enjoy an auction this much. Ebony wasn’t going to know what hit her.
“Six sixty.”
“Six seventy”
“Six eighty.” The crowd’s collective heads were swivelling back and
forth like they were at a tennis match. Even Cam had stopped to watch the proceedings with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows raised.
“Six ninety.”
There was a slight hesitation before Ebony raised her hand again. “Seven hundred.”
“Seven ten,” Erin replied, smoothly and instantly.
“Seven fifty!,” Ebony shouted, sounding somewhat desperate.
“One thousand dollars.”
There was a collective gasp from the crowd, then dead silence. Ebony glared daggers at Erin before standing, shaking her head and turning to Cameron.
“Sorry, gorgeous,” she purred, “but not even you are worth that much.”
The tension broken, the crowd laughed.
“Going once,” David called. “Going twice… and sold, to the lovely Erin Campbell,” he announced. “Erin, why don’t you come and collect your hard-won date?”