Fire at Sunset: The Firefighters of Darling Bay 4 (3 page)

Bonnie heard more male laughter join Tox’s. She sighed. At least there was no way he could have peeked in downward. The worst he’d seen was the top of her wet head. Good thing, too. If he’d seen more, Bonnie would have cheerfully called his girlfriend Grace from the day room so everyone could listen, and she would have taken great pleasure in telling Grace what her big dumb captain boyfriend had done. Bonnie pulled down her towel and dried herself.

Idiot boys. It was like living with eight big brothers.
 

She pulled on her uniform roughly, not caring the backs of her knees and spine weren’t totally dry. Speed was important while getting dressed at the station. She’d been tempting fate wasting time in the shower anyway.
 

The six o’clock tone buzzed overhead, and over the intercom, Tox yelled, “Dinner! Dinner time.”
 

Bonnie checked with dispatch before going down to the kitchen. Only Lexie was working, Sue must have already been in the dorm on her sleep shift. “You eating with us tonight?”
 

Lexie looked over her computer screen, her red curls crazily piled on her head, her smile bright. “Nope! I’m good!”
 

“Dang, you’re cheerful. What’s up with you?” Bonnie tapped the tiny firefighter wind chime that dangled next to Lexie’s terminal, making it tinkle softly.
 

“Um…”
 

From the floor behind Lexie’s terminal, Coin Keefe said, “Hiya.” He was lying on the floor on his back, next to Lexie’s chair.

“Holy—” What had she interrupted? “Get a room, you two!”
 

“It’s not what it looks like,” said Coin.
 

Bonnie looked at Lexie for an answer, but she was giggling too hard to answer.
 

Slowly, Coin sat up. “You know I got that neck pain.” He pointed to the pillow he’d been lying on. It was covered with tiny plastic spikes.
 

“Oh, no,” said Bonnie, backing up, her hands in front of her. “Seriously. If that’s some kind of kink, I so don’t need to know. At
all
. Private lives should be kept that way…”
 

Lexie laughed harder and then finally choked out, “It’s an acupressure pillow. Grace gave it to me when my neck was bothering me, and it’s been helping Coin. He just didn’t want y’all down the hall to know.”
 

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. “So that’s the only reason he’s hiding out of sight behind your work station?”
 

Blushing, Lexie nodded. Coin, never the most outgoing of Bonnie’s shift mates, said, “And that’s my cute. Dang. I mean my cue…” He hurriedly dropped a kiss on Lexie head and raced out of dispatch.
 

Lexie, finally bringing herself under control, said, “He’s ridiculous. I have no idea why I put up with him.”
 

Bonnie sank into a chair. “You’re crazy about him.”
 

Lexie ducked her head. “Anyway. What’s up? Why aren’t you eating?”
 

“I’m going to. Wanted to see if you wanted anything.”
 

“Nah.” Lexie waved a hand at a plate of rice and beans on her terminal. “I’ve been picking at this for hours. I’m fine.”
 

“Cold food isn’t the same as fresh, warm stuff.”
 

“Dispatchers are used to cold food.” 911 rang. Lexie reached for the button and said, “Speaking of which…” While she questioned the caller over her headset, she dispatched Engine Three and Medic Five using her foot pedal.
 

“No, ma’am, don’t slap him on the back. That could push the marble farther into his windpipe. Just keep him still.” She gave a kind laugh. “I know, it’s hard with a three-year-old to keep him from climbing around. I know you’re doing a great job. I’ll just keep you on the line till the first unit pulls up, okay? You let me know when you hear the siren.”
 

Without asking, Bonnie picked up Lexie’s plate, added a sprinkle more of cheese on top, and zapped it in the microwave. By the time the engine was on scene and Lexie had hung up, her food was warm again.
 

“You didn’t need to do that.”
 

“I know,” said Bonnie. “But you’re just so
stuck
in this cage.”
 

“Hey, I like my cage. It fits me.”
 

Bonnie rubbed the edge of the round table. It was slightly sticky, and that, unlike Lexie’s food temperature, was none of her business. She had to spend enough time cleaning the kitchen and day room with the rest of the guys—she didn’t need to clean in here, too. “Your cage doesn’t get to roll lights-and-sirens to anything.”
 

“My cage doesn’t need to be mopped down for blood.”
 

Bonnie pointed at the stickiness on the table. “For germs, though.”
 

“Dang it,” said Lexie. “I
told
Sue she had to clean up after using her dang pressure cooker, but she never listens.”
 

The firehouse was a family. And it was a nice thing, of course. The camaraderie that automatically came with the job was something Bonnie loved. What most people didn’t know, though, was how dysfunctionally family-like firehouses could be. It wasn’t funny or cute when one captain refused to
ever
rinse a plate before sticking it in the rather mediocre dishwasher. When PeeWee left the house’s groceries on the counter for six hours because he didn’t “feel” like putting them in the fridge, and three of them got sick on the pork as a result, they weren’t grateful PeeWee was a fire brother. No, just like any other brother who screwed up, the firefighters had hated his guts for a good week. He’d had to clean the station bathrooms for a month in penance, and that was no small punishment.
 

Lexie got out a wet wipe to scrub at the spot.
 

“Later,” said Bonnie. “Eat your food, lady. Before you fall over from hunger.”
 

Lexie patted her not-very-thin waistline. With her bright red hair and lips and her blue uniform, she looked a little like a pinup girl stuck in the wrong clothes. “Do I look like I’m suffering? If Coin and his daughter don’t quit making me those caramel turtle cookies, I’m going to need to get a new pair of uniform pants, stat.”
 

“Yeah, I think Coin likes you just fine the way you are.”
 

Lexie grinned and reached for her plate. “Yeah, I guess. He likes a girl with handles. And hey, I like the way he handles me. Oh, how did that last call go? Why did you have to return for cleanup if you didn’t even transport the patient?”
 

Bonnie groaned. “It’s what’s-his-name’s fault.”
 

“The new guy? Caz…” Lexie scrabbled for her Telestaff roster. “Caswell Lloyd, that’s it. I’ve only met him once. He’s your new partner, right?”
 

Sighing, Bonnie said, “Yeah. Because he was too busy flirting with old Mrs. Simon, I had to deal with why she pushed her medical alert.”
 

“Which was…”
 

“Her toilet.”
 

“Oh, no.”
 

“Oh, yes.”
 

“She’s been getting pretty bad lately. I worked overtime the other day on C shift and I took a call from the alarm company. She pushed the button because she couldn’t get her beer open.”
 

“You’re
kidding
.”
 

“I sent one of the rounds guys instead of a full engine, but apparently she yelled at him after he dropped the beer—it was her only bottle— and he came back looking pretty pale. I felt kind of bad for him. So you had to, what? Plunge a backup?” Lexie snorted.
 

“I wish. That’s how it started, but it turned out that while they were out in the living room yukking it up, I might have been a little too…emphatic in my plunging.”
 

“Mmm?” Lexie folded in her lips and her eyes danced.
 

“I yanked the whole thing off its seal because of the slant of her old crooked floor, and the whole thing tipped over. It crashed.”
 

“As in broke?” Lexie covered her mouth.

“As in shattered. I was covered in—”

Lexie held up a hand. “I’m eating.”
 

“You can eat through anything! I’ve seen you drink a milkshake while listening to a guy vomit in your ear.”
 

“That’s different. That’s far away.” Lexie wrinkled her nose in Bonnie’s direction. “You, you’re closer. You were covered in…poop. And then you put
cheese
on my
plate
.”
 

“I took a shower! A long one! New clothes!”
 

“Hmmm.” Lexie appeared to be considering whether or not to let her stay. “I suppose…”
 

Bonnie stood. “Fine, I have to eat dinner anyway.”
 

“Wait, wait. What did you do?”
 

“What could I do? That’s why we were out of service so long. I had to clean and disinfect her whole bathroom and remove the rubble. Then we went to the hardware store, where I bought her a new toilet.”
 

“Your own money?”
 

“Can you even imagine what Susie Costello would do if I turned it in for reimbursement? She’d deny it so fast she’d get a nosebleed.”
 

Lexie laughed.
 

Bonnie glared. “You’re not being very helpful for someone who says she’s in the helping business.”
 

“You put it in? Yourself?”
 

Straightening her shoulders, Bonnie nodded. “Turns out I’m good with plumbing. Even though I
hate
it. I even added one of those fancy new seat-warmer bidets.”

“Holy crap. Pun intended.”
 

Bonnie couldn’t help smiling. Mrs. Simon had really liked the idea of it, giving her a smile that had up till that point been reserved for Caz. And pleasing her had been the goal. If it kept Mrs. Simon from filing a complaint, then Bonnie didn’t mind the couple hundred bucks she’d dropped to do it.
 

No, what she minded was the way Caz Lloyd had handled himself on the call. “So you’re saying you don’t know anything about the new guy?”
 

Lexie shook her head. “Just that he lateraled in from a department up north. Los Robles, maybe? I can’t remember. People say he’s pretty quiet.”
 

Not with Mrs. Simon, he hadn’t been. He’d been all charm, as if the old woman had tapped his side for maple syrup. But in the rig on the way to the hardware store, he’d just stared straight ahead as he drove. His only change of facial expression had been when he’d rolled down his window and the airflow wafted her stench over him. “Noxious,” he’d muttered.
 

Bonnie had been too irritated to say anything at all.

“Caz helped you install the toilet, though, didn’t he?” Lexie’s eyes sparkled.
 

“You’re loving this, aren’t you?”
 

The dispatcher nodded. “Best story I’ve heard all day.”
 

“No, he did
not
. And I hate him for it.” Any other of her coworkers would have been in the bathroom with her, manhandling the pipes and telling her she was doing it wrong but helping anyway. “What he did was sit in Mrs. Simon’s kitchen while she made him—and I’m not making this up—fresh peanut butter cookies. Meanwhile, I installed a new toilet, hooked up an electric bidet, and sanitized a room that was disgusting even before I dumped dirty toilet water all over it.”
 

“Did you get a cookie?”
 

Bonnie’s face burned. “I asked for one.”
 

“They denied you?”
 

“He said I should clean up first or risk giving myself a disease.”
 

“Did he bring one back for you?”
 

“You know he didn’t.”
 

Lexie said, “All right. He’s on my to-be-woken-at-one-a.m. list.”
 

Bonnie nodded in satisfaction. “That’s all I’m asking. Hey! No, wait. I’m his partner! If you wake him, you wake me.”
 

“Just enjoy his pain, my friend.” Lexie gave her patented grin and Bonnie was grateful all over again to have the job she did. There was nothing better than working with friends.
 

She’d just
make
Caz become one. Whether he liked it or not.

CHAPTER FOUR

Bonnie tried for the next few medical runs to make Caz laugh. The first was at one a.m., just as Lexie had promised (not that Lexie had anything to do with it, she knew that, but it was satisfying to see Caz’s sleep-creased face frowning in the dim light of the darkened apparatus bay). That was an easy run, a kid with asthma who was having difficulty breathing because she’d lost her inhaler. One hit of the nebulizer had stabilized her and they rolled code two to the hospital. Bonnie had told the little girl all her best jokes. (What’s brown and sticky? A stick!) When she’d run out, she’d raised her voice to say, “Hey, Caz, what’s your favorite joke?”
 

He’d ignored her.
 

“Hey! Buddy! You hear me?”
 

“I’m trying to drive here,” was all he said.
 

“Yeah,” she muttered with a cheeky grin at the girl. “Apparently he can only do one thing at a time. Me, I can take your blood pressure while I blow up this balloon.”
 

“That’s not a balloon!” the little girl said. “That’s a plastic glove!”
 

Bonnie pretended surprise. “Oh, my gosh! I thought it was a turkey! Look! Here are all his feathers… Let’s draw a face, huh? Here, use this pen.”
 

Caz didn’t even bother to glance over his shoulder at their awesome bird.
 

The next medical wasn’t until eleven the next morning. The call was an elderly male with chest pain, and it was Caz’s turn to be primary care while she drove but he remained tight-lipped through that run, too.
 

No, she took that back. He’d only been tight-lipped with
her.
Bonnie could admit that. Mr. Schmidt had been grumpy as sin when they got there, annoyed that his wife had called, annoyed that they were cluttering up his view of the television with their gear and bags.