by Naomi Niles
“Pale?” I asked.
“What I meant was upset,” Vanessa cleared up. “You seem bothered by something.”
I sighed. “Trust an artist to pick up on that,” I smiled. “It’s nothing, really. I just ran into Erica today before we drove over here.”
“Ick,” she said, with distaste. “That broad needs to mind her own business. What exactly did she say to upset you?”
“Nothing major,” I said fairly. “It’s just her tone…the way she says things. It makes me feel like I’m doing a half ass job.”
“With what?”
“With motherhood,” I admitted.
“Come on, Mia!” Vanessa cried indignantly.
“No, I’m serious,” I said before she could tell me I was being ridiculous. “Half the time, I feel like I’m faking it, and the other half, I feel as though I’m failing miserably.”
“Most parents feel that way,” she said calmly. “It’s normal. And you of all people have a right to feel overwhelmed sometimes. You lost your husband and you’re raising a child on your own. Remember what it was like at the beginning, right after the accident? You and Renni have come a long way since then.”
“But it’s not getting any easier, Vanessa,” I said tiredly. “It’s been two years since we lost Clint and…everything’s still so hard. I mean, this was never the plan. When I got pregnant, I was terrified. I was only twenty-two and barely out of college. The only reason I believed I could do it at all was because I had Clint by my side. We were a team; we were going to do it together. That was the plan.”
“Plans change, darling,” Vanessa said sympathetically.
“I know,” I sighed heavily. “I just wish life wasn’t that unfair. Renni needs a man in her life. I know she misses Clint terribly, and she’s craved a male presence ever since he died.”
“Hang in there, Mia,” Vanessa told me. “Life can change on a dime.”
“Not fast enough,” I breathed.
“Be patient.”
“Patience,” I repeated. “It’s the one thing I was never very good at.”
“Maybe meeting someone would help,” Vanessa said innocently, as she sipped her wine.
I rolled my eyes. “You bring that up every three months.”
“Because you always avoid talking about it.”
“With good reason,” I said. “I’m not interested in a relationship.”
“Why not?” she demanded. “It will be good for you. And who knows? It might even be good for Renni.”
I took a sip of my wine. “I’m not ready,” I said stubbornly.
“Fine,” she sighed. “If I can’t convince you to date, can I at least convince you to come to the art gallery tomorrow to see my new collection?”
I smiled. “Now that I can do.”
Chapter Five
Sam
I was walking into the day room at the exact same time that Jackson turned up. He gave me a wave and a look that clearly indicated he wanted details from the night before.
As usual, the day room was chocked full of activity. The television had been pushed to one corner of the room with the large dining table on the opposite end, next to the kitchen.
There were a number of small seating areas between the table and the television for everyone to kick back and relax between shifts. Jackson and I picked a spot and sat down together. We liked being early for our shifts; it gave us a little time to harass a few people before we started our day.
“So?” Jackson asked immediately. “I saw you leave last night with the hot blonde. How’d it go? Was she as wild as she looked?”
“Oh yeah,” I smiled. “The plan was to fuck her in the backseat of my pick-up-”
“The whole reason you got that upgrade in the first place,” he interrupted.
I smiled. “Not entirely, but certainly an important part of my reason.”
“You didn’t fuck her in your backseat, then?”
“She got in the front seat before I could stop her,” I explained. “And she told me to take her some place where she could show me how flexible she was.”
“Damn!”
“Right?” I said. “How could I refuse?”
“You took her home?”
“Fuck, no,” I said, shaking my head. “You know I don’t take women home.”
“Pete’s again, then?” he asked with a laugh.
I smirked. “He’s not going to be happy when he wakes up to find her in the den.”
“Are you fucking serious? You left her there?”
“In my defence, I tried to wake her before I left,” I said. “She was sleeping so soundly she was actually snoring.”
“Charming.”
“The magic always breaks by the next morning,” I nodded.
Just at that moment, my phone rang and I glanced at the name on my screen. “Ah,” I smiled. “Right on cue.”
“Peter?”
“Who else,” I said, as I answered his call. “Hi, bro, what’s up?”
“You little fucker!”
I snorted into the phone. “Good morning to you, too.”
“I have told you a million times to keep your one-night stands out of my house.”
“Please, I haven’t even brought half that number home,” I said. “But give me time.”
“Sam!”
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “But come on, Pete; you kind of have to accept part of the blame here.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, what did you expect me to do after you went and added a sex room to the house?”
Peter stuttered over his words. “Sex room! It’s a fucking addition that was supposed to be used as a den, not your own personal sex room.”
“Oh,” I said innocently. “I didn’t get that memo.”
“Your little bootie call nearly gave our mother a heart attack.”
“Oops,” I said. “Mom.”
“That’s right… Mom,” Peter agreed. “Or have you also forgotten that she’s living here for the time being.”
“What did she say?”
“She said that she’s going to pray for your soul.”
I smiled. “Can you also tell her to pray for my continued virility?” I asked. “Because I would really appreciate that.”
“You have no shame.”
“Aw, thanks.”
“Go back to work, you little turd,” Peter said in a dark voice. He only ever used that tone when he was secretly amused, but didn’t want me to know.
“See you soon, big brother,” I laughed before I hung up on him.
Jackson looked at me with amusement. “Peter owns a gun you know,” he reminded me.
“He loves me too much to ever use it on me,” I said smugly.
“Are you willing to risk it?”
“Always.”
“Okay,” Jackson said, heaving himself to his feet. “We’d better get ready. The crew on engine twenty-two is coming in soon.”
Jackson and I headed to the lockers to change into our bunker gear and gather our supplies. Mitch, Sean, and Hamish joined us moments later. Hamish glanced at Jackson and me wearily, but I gave him a little smile to show him that our hazing was all in good fun. He returned my smile a little skittishly and then began to suit up.
“Crew twenty-two just came in,” Mitch told us. He was the officer in charge for our crew, mostly because of seniority, but also because he was so damn level headed all the time. “So we-”
He broke off as the alarm sounded. “That’s us,” he said, his tone changing instantly into one of urgent action. “Let’s go, boys.”
“That was fast,” I breathed, grabbing my trauma and medical boxes on the way out.
We jumped into engine forty-one, the fire truck that was more or less designated to our crew, and headed west on the main road.
“It’s a three-seventeen,” Mitch informed as, as he spoke to the dispatcher through the truck radio.
I turned to Hamish. He looked a little pale, but also
determined. “Three-seventeen, kid,” I said. “You know what that means?”
“It’s a… an automobile accident.”
“That’s right,” I nodded.
“A car slid off the road on route thirty-three,” Mitch told us as more information came in.
With the siren belting through the air, we got to the lake in a few minutes. We jumped out of the truck and took in the scene that greeted us. The car had obviously skidded on the icy road, smashed through the weak fence separating the road from the lake, and now it was half submerged in icy water.
There was a small group of civilians staring in horror at the accident. They looked on helplessly as we arrived. Immediately, my brain kicked in to action mode, and I surveyed the scene. There were two people in the car, the driver and the passenger. If we waited much longer to get them out, hypothermia would set in.
“We need back up,” I heard Mitch say, but I tuned him out and turned to Jackson.
We had a moment of silent communication, and it was like we both knew what we had to do. I stripped off my heavy bunker gear, and Jackson followed suit. Then, before anyone could stop us, Jackson and I dove into the lake from either side and started swimming towards the sinking vehicle.
The moment my body hit the water, I felt daggers stab at every inch of my skin. It was enough to turn a man’s brain numb, but I pushed through, knowing there were two lives at risk if I couldn’t hold it together for the next few minutes. Thankfully, the car wasn’t that far into the lake, and I reached it quickly. I was at the driver’s side, where I could see the lifeless form behind the wheel.
His neck was still above water, but it appeared he had lost consciousness, either from the cold or from the impact. There was a small bleed on the corner of his forehead. I used all my strength to force the door open. I took a deep breath and submerged myself, keeping my eyes open so that I could unfasten his seatbelt and free him from the car.
Once he was unstrapped, I grabbed a hold of him and pulled him out from the vehicle before it sank. I kept a firm grip on is body as I pulled him to the bank. I was unaware of anything but the unconscious man by my side. The moment we made it to the edge of the lake, I heard a cheer go up from the watching bystanders. The paramedics were already there, and they took charge as I approached.
Coughing and shivering, I dragged myself out of the water. Someone, I think it was Hamish, shoved a blanket into my hands, and I quickly wrapped it around my shoulders.
“Where’s Jackson?” I asked, the moment my teeth stopped chattering.
“He hasn’t come up yet,” Hamish said in a shaky voice.
I whipped around, forgetting the urgent cold threatening to shut down my body. I stared at the now submerged vehicle, looking for any signs that Jackson might be about to pop out of the surface.
“Fuck,” I breathed. I took a step towards the water, ready to jump in again if necessary.
And just at that moment, I saw air bubbles burgeon on the surface of the water and a second later, Jackson appeared with a body at his side. He had the passenger under his arm, and I breathed a sigh of relief as he started swimming towards the bank.
I stepped forward as he approached and helped him up as the paramedics closed in around the passenger. “Nice work, buddy,” I said. “You had me worried there for a second.”
Jackson gave me a frozen smile, but I knew he wasn’t in a position to start talking just yet. Hamish handed him another blanket, which he draped around his shoulders gratefully.
“You two better let the paramedics check you out,” Sean said. “Make sure everything is okay.”
We were sitting in the back of the rig with our matching blankets, having just been examined, when Mitch came at us with burning eyes.
“What the fuck were you two thinking?” he demanded. “Did you not hear me say we needed back up?”
“If we had waited, we could have lost them both,” Jackson said firmly. “We didn’t have time to lose.”
“What you two did was stupid and irresponsible,” Mitch continued, shaking his head. “We could have lost four people today, instead of two.”
At that moment, one of the paramedics who’d seen to the driver approached us. She looked drawn and serious, but I could tell from her manner that she was bringing good news.
“Just thought you should know that they’re both breathing,” she said. “We need to get them to the hospital to run a few more tests, but there’s no reason to believe they won’t make a full recovery.”
“Excellent,” Jackson smiled.
I turned to Mitch. “We just saved two lives – how does that make us stupid?” I challenged.
“You got lucky,” he snapped. “Don’t think for a second that it might not have gone the other way.”
“We’re fire fighters, Mitch,” Jackson reminded him. “Every situation we’re in can go either way.”
Mitch shook his head at us and walked away to deal with the aftermath of the situation. Jackson and I turned to each other and exchanged a smile. “This story is totally going to get me laid,” Jackson said happily.
“I wouldn’t go out on a date just yet,” I teased. “Cold water causes shrinkage.”
He laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.
Hamish shuffled over to us with wide eyes. “That was… That was seriously amazing,” he said, with awe in his tone. “You guys were great out there.”
“I know,” Jackson said, with a smug smile.
“I… I can’t wait to do something like that,” he said in a shy voice.
Jackson grabbed the helmet from Hamish’s head and flung it into the lake so that it sat close to the shore. “There,” he said. “You can wade in there and practice with your helmet.”
Hamish looked shocked for a second and then he smiled, realizing that this was just another form of harmless hazing. He rushed to retrieve his helmet before it floated out of reach. I put my arm around Jackson and let myself feel the triumph of a successful rescue.
“Good job today, bro,” I said in a self-congratulatory voice. “We saved two lives today.”
Jackson nodded. “All in a day’s work.”
Chapter Six
Mia
I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I hadn’t worn this particular dress in years. The cap-sleeved dress with a bow at the waist and a long flowing skirt was one Clint had bought for me before Renni was born. The floral pattern that adorned the dress was too bright and whimsical for my taste now. Apparently, I’d gotten too cynical for this style in the past few years.
I removed the dress and rifled through my closet. In the end, I picked a pair of nice black boot cut pants and paired them with a white silk blouse that hugged my body and hinted at the lace Victoria Secret bra I was wearing underneath. I turned back to my reflection and decided Vanessa would be happy with my look.
The thought made me realize that I dressed more for my girlfriends lately than I did for men, or even myself. I tried not to be too depressed by that thought as I sat down in front of my dressing table to apply some makeup.
First, I applied a thin layer of foundation to my skin, making sure to match my skin tone. Then I dotted some eyeliner onto my eyelids and smudged it out with a brush, making sure to pull out the edges to give myself a winged catlike look. I softened the edges of my eyes with some dusky caramel-beige accents, and then I finished off with a natural toned blush and a little nude lipstick.
My dark brown hair had always been straight and naturally limp, so I left it loose around my shoulders. Slipping on some comfortable black wedges that added three inches to my height, I went to Renni’s room.
“Sweetheart?” I called. “Are you ready?”
Renni had her back to me and was rifling through her drawers, obviously trying to find something she wanted to wear. I smiled at the sight.
“You know what?” I said. “Since this is a special occasion, you can wear whatever you like tonight.”
“Whatever I like?” she repeated, looking thrilled.
“Yup,” I smiled.
Renni opened her second drawer and pulled out a little blue dress, which she slipped on over the white t-shirt she was wearing. The t-shirt didn’t go with the dress, but I kept my mouth shut, true to my word. I watched as Renni went to the corner of the room where her shoes were lined up and picked out her yellow rain boots. She slipped them on and turned to me with a huge smile on her face.
“Ah… Are you sure you want to wear that honey?” I checked.
“Yup,” she nodded. She picked up her little pink purse and hiked it over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
I smiled and nodded. I grabbed my own purse and Renni and I headed over to Vanessa’s art exhibit, which was right across town. It took us nearly half an hour to get there, but there was ample parking, and I found a free spot easily. Renni and I walked in hand in hand as I looked around eagerly for Vanessa.
We went over to the section where her artwork had been displayed. Her images were whimsical and romantic. She was a bold and aggressive painter, and the colors she used in her work were nothing short of fantastical. She painted mostly abstracts, but there were a few paintings that were a little more definitive. It was all part of her new style. Once we were done admiring her work, Renni and I continued our search for Vanessa.
We circled the gallery twice before I found her. She was near the bar with a drink in hand and in animated conversation with two men in great suits. She took a sip of her martini as she spotted us. She excused herself immediately and headed over to Renni and me.
“There you are!” she said. “I was scared you weren’t coming.”
“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” I said. “Would we, Renni?”
“Nope,” Renni confirmed. “Not for anything. Your paintings are perfect, Aunt Vanessa.”
Vanessa placed a hand over her heart as she smiled down at her. “Thank you, my love,” she said, obviously touched by the compliment. “You have no idea how much I appreciate that. And I can just say, that outfit is off the walls.”
Renni beamed with pleasure.
“I have a little surprise for you,” Vanessa said.