To Protect & Serve (22 page)

Simultaneously Jeff and Lisa slid their feet out of the walkway. When Gabe was gone, Lisa leaned down to Jeff’s ear. “I think I’d better go.”

“Go?” he asked in surprise. “Why?”

“You’re supposed to be working.”

“I am working,” he said seriously. “I’m helping you put the best face on the fire department’s newest ad campaign.”

“This isn’t the fire department’s ad campaign.”

Half his smile went up, and he raised his eyebrows. “Close enough. Come on, at least let me get through the rest of this.”

She sat, still fidgeting behind him.

“Now, I like this one.” He held one of the flyers up as if she hadn’t had the opportunity to see it yet.

The fidgeting stopped. “You would,” she said in mock horror, and when he leaned back onto her legs, she didn’t move them. In fact, she draped one arm over the shoulder next to the wall. “That one looks just like you. It’s a little on the loopy side.”

“Loopy?” he asked, looking up at her as if he was offended, but the light in her eyes was enough to make his spirit float right off the earth. “I’m hurt.”

“Why? Loopy can be a good thing.” Quickly she bent and pecked the top of his forehead. Then she sat back, looked at him sheepishly, and started laughing. “Oops.”

“What oops?”

She bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing as she looked at his forehead. “I forgot to put my kissable lipstick on today.”

“Oh, great. You’re going to have to think about these things,” he said, wiping his forehead, which he was sure now sported a nice off-red set of lips.

“Just kidding,” she said mischievously as she fought back the smile.

Instantly he stopped wiping. “Okay, now that was just cruel.”

“But it was funny, wasn’t it?” Reaching to the edge of his ribs, she worked her fingers into his side. “Admit it, that was a good one.”

“Hey, cut that out. I’m supposed to be working, remember?”

“You were the one who wanted me to stay.”

“How very loopy of me,” he said with a laugh as he twisted away from her fingers. “Remind me not to say that again.”

“Back down,” Gabe said, suddenly appearing at the top of the stairs behind them with an armful of boxes. Instantly their laughter stopped, and they slid away from the railing in embarrassment as Gabe stepped past them. “Sorry.”

When he was gone, Lisa smoothed her skirt and pulled herself up. “I really should be going.”

As she stepped past Jeff to the next step down, he carefully folded the pages into their home and handed the stack back to her pulling himself up as well. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“My place or yours?”

“Better make it yours, my frig is empty.”

“Mine it is then,” she said. With a quick check to make sure they were alone, she tiptoed back up to him and caught his lips with hers. Then she backed up with a wink. “Take care.”

“You too,” he said, feeling her slipping away as she went down the bottom three steps. “Oh, Lisa.” He leaned on the railing as she turned. “Spaghetti’s fine.”

A small smile, a nod, and she left. If it weren’t for the leaving thing, his life would’ve been perfect.

The wail of the alarm jerked Jeff’s attention up from the television fifteen minutes into the ten o’clock show the next Friday night, and he was on his feet.

“Time to go to work,” Gabe said, swinging out of his chair and following Jeff to the truck.

When the truck screamed around the last corner, it was a relief to not see flames or smoke. However, Jeff wondered at the exact nature of this call as he and Gabe jumped from the door and ran up the sidewalk. The door opened before they knocked, and a frightened young woman barely more than 20 stood there in near hysteria. “It’s the baby. It’s the baby. I can’t get her out.”

“Okay, calm down, Ma’am,” Gabe said slowly. “Where is she?”

“Upstairs. In the bathroom.”

Jeff pushed into the house, fighting to get his bearings just as a cry from up the stairs met his ears. Six strides and his legs were carrying him up the stairs. “How long has she been in there?”

“I don’t know. Thirty, forty-five minutes? I tried to get it open, but I can’t find the key, and she’s been screaming and screaming.” The mother followed them up to the second floor where Jeff banked and met up with the door from which the screams were emanating. Carefully he laid his hand on the door, willing the knob to just turn, but it didn’t. He bent down and examined the knob.

“I didn’t think she could lock it,” the mother said.

“What kind of lock is it?” Jeff asked.

“
It’s one of those turn kind. Where the inside of the knob turns. I didn’t think she knew how to work it.”

“Was there any water running?” Gabe asked as Jeff inspected the knob.

“No, I’d almost started it when the phone rang. I knew you weren’t supposed to run water with babies.” Hysteria was taking over her voice.

“How old is she?” Gabe asked.

Helpless tears streamed down the mother’s face. “Almost two.”

“What’s her name?” Jeff asked as the terrified screaming on the other side hit a crescendo.

“Alicia.”

“Hey, Alicia,” Jeff said in a soothing voice as he stood and
knocked softly on the door. “Hey there, my name’s Jeff, and we’re going to get you out. Okay, sweetheart? But, listen; you’re going to have to be a little patient with us. This might take a minute or two.”

The volume of the screams decreased a notch.

“You must be a big girl to do something like this,” he continued as his hand jiggled the knob, but it held fast. “How are you at picking locks?” he asked Gabe who stood behind him.

“It’s not my specialty.”

Jeff exhaled as the little screams escalated again. “I’m going to need a screwdriver or something flat like that.” Gabe turned to leave. “You might bring a hammer too just in case.” He heard the gasp, and he looked over at the mother. “It’s okay. We can get in without hurting her.” Gabe left. “How big is the bathroom?”

“Umm, there’s a sink right by the door, and then the toilet and the bathtub.”

“And there’s no water in the tub?”

“No.”

He nodded and bent back by the door. “Alicia, sweetheart. How you doing in there?”

Sobs of fear but the screams had dissipated.

“Yeah, I hear you, I’m not big on tight places either,” he said. “Listen, I’m going to need you to do something for me. Can you?” He waited, pleading with God to do His part on the other side of that door. “I need you to go over by the bathtub. Okay? Can you go over to the bathtub for me?” It was difficult to tell, but he thought the sobs moved.

“Here you go,” Gabe said, holding out the screwdriver and the hammer.

Jeff chose the screwdriver. “Alicia, hang on, sweetheart. We’ll have you out of there.” He bent down to the door. “Let’s hope this works.” Carefully he fitted the end of the screwdriver into the notch on the knob, but with little light to guide his hand it slipped off and cracked into the door.

F
ear from the noise jumped out from the other side of the door out at him. “It’s okay, Alicia. It's okay. It’s still just me. Hey, do you know how to count to five? Tell you what, why don’t you count with me? One, two.” Fitting the screwdriver back into the notch, he turned it slowly, willing it to work the lock. “Three, four, five.” The door sprung open. “Hallelujah.”

He stood and stepped back, knowing that a man in black boots and full fire gear wouldn’t exactly be a calming sight for the frightened little girl. In half-a-heartbeat the mother had the little girl in her arms and was kissing the top of her head and sobbing. Alicia, frightened and wary, stuck her thumb in her mouth as big teardrops shone in her tiny eyes framed by a plethora of blonde curls.

“Hey, kiddo.” Jeff cocked his head so he could look at her as he reached over and ruffled the soft locks. “You had us pretty worried there, you know that?”

Through her tears the mother smiled as she bounced the little girl in her arms. “Tell, the nice fireman thank you. Can you tell him thank you?”

The fear never left the little eyes.

“That’s okay,” Jeff said with a quick wink at the child. “That’s what we’re here for.”

Although she was fighting the tears, it was clear they were winning as the mother looked at him. “Thank you so much.”

He smiled. “No problem. Glad we could help.”

“You know,” Gabe said as he swung into a chair next to the one Jeff occupied when they were back at the station, “I’m curious.”

“’Bout what?”

Gabe looked at him for a long moment as if deciding if he should really ask the question. “I’ve been watching you, and I can’t really explain it, but you always seem to know exactly what to do, exactly how to calm people down. Why is that?”

Jeff shrugged. “Never really thought about it.”

The intensity of Gabe’s gaze narrowed on him, and Jeff felt it to the core. “It’s like you know what they’re thinking—it’s like… it’s like you’ve been where they are. How do you do that?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just think how
would I feel if I was them.”

Slowly Gabe shook his head. “It’s more than that. It’s like they can sense that you know, like they trust you completely the minute you start talking to them.”

“I didn’t know that was a bad thing,” Jeff said, laughing even as his insides curled into a tight ball.

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” Gabe said. “I just wish I knew how you did it— that’s all.”

“If I knew, I’d tell you.” The words barely made it from his heart.

“Yeah.” Gabe nodded and stood. “Well if you ever figure it out…”

“Seventeen.” Dustin dribbled to the center of the court Saturday afternoon as Lisa sat on the bench watching and clapping absently.

The sunshine pouring down on her felt heavenly. Shorts and a tank top were hardly her style, but they
sure felt good today. She leaned back, resting her elbows on the hard wood behind her. On the court Dustin drove around one side and passed the ball off to Jeff at the last second. Instantly Jeff drove in underneath the flailing arms and flipped the ball up to the net. It rolled around and back out again. Six bodies went up for the ball, crashing together in one twisted knot.

It was nice he had this Saturday off, but she was already dreading next Saturday when all she could do was sit and watch the clock, ticking off seconds until he was safe again. She hated those Saturdays and those Mondays and those...

“Foul!” Jeff yelled as he tried for another shot and got hammered by an opposing player coming the other direction.

Panting, they stood under the basket, and Jeff took the ball. The shot bounced off the front of the rim with a clang, and three guys dove for it. Had Lisa tried that, she would have been bruises from head
-to-toe, but they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying getting bashed to pieces by the other guys on the court.

“Well, Lisa-Lisa.
Dustin said you were coming,” Eve said, swinging up next to Lisa without so much as a hi. “So you got conned into the wide world of sports again, huh?”

“Basketball, softball… I’m becoming a regular Howard Cosell.”

Eve laughed. “Wait ‘til it’s time for skiing.”

“Oh, Lord, I don’t want to know!”

As the body-smashing game continued on the court, Lisa’s gaze slipped back to it. Something about Jeff with no shirt on riveted her gaze to him so that she had to think it wasn’t humanly fair to do that to a person.

“So, how are things up north?” Eve asked. “Is Jeff behaving himself?”

Lisa laughed at that. “Always. Me on the other hand…”

Eve’s gaze joined Lisa’s on the court. “Basketball’s so much better than softball.”

“I’m not arguing.”

From the top of the key, Dustin pulled up into a jump shot, and the ball swished through the net. “Twenty-one! Woohoo!”

The two women clapped on cue.

“What do you say?” Dustin asked as the five others stood with their hands on their hips, fighting for more oxygen. “Best of three?”

“You’re on,” his opponent said, grabbing the ball.

When Jeff shook his head in exhausted exasperation, Lisa laughed. He wasn’t going to back down, but though the spirit was willing, the body was hardly awake enough to compete for hours on end with five guys who hadn’t been on call and awake the whole night before. From what she could tell, he was liking the new shift better, but she knew he was still adjusting to life at the fire station—if, in fact, someone could ever fully adjust to that life.

“It’s nice to see Jeff getting out,” Eve said although her gaze never left the court. “All Dustin had to do this time was ask. Usually it’s begging, ‘Please, Jeff. Please, please. We promise won’t try to find somebody there who’d be perfect for you.’” She laughed. “He’s such a hermit.”

“I think the station’s probably helped that,” Lisa said, brushing the hair from her eyes.

Eve looked over at her and smiled. “Yeah, the station.”

It didn’t take a brain surgeon to catch the implication. “So, how’s Dustin doing at his station these days?”

“Oh, great.” Eve’s gaze traveled back out to the game and then dropped to the bleachers.

Concern jumped to Lisa’s heart. “He doesn’t like it?”

“He likes it fine,” Eve said softly, and then she looked over at Lisa with pensive eyes. “It’s not such a joy ride for me though.”

Sympathy flooded through her. “I hear you there. I mean we’re not even married or anything and every time Jeff’s on shift, it’s all I can do to keep myself in one piece.”

The smile Eve trained on her said she understood implicitly. Then she exhaled. “They had a fire the other night over at the college. Real bad one. Me and God got to know each other real well over those 12 hours.”

“Have you told him?” Lisa asked as much to get her own life in line as to know about Eve’s. “Have you talked to him about how you feel?”

Slowly Eve shook her head. “It wouldn’t do any good. I don’t like to fight with him.” She laughed softly. “Besides, that’s part of the deal. If you love him, the job comes with it. That don’t make it any easier, but that’s the way it is.”

Lisa nodded, knowing in her heart how true that statement was. “So, does he talk about it—the fires and stuff—when he comes home?”

“No,” Eve said and the word was short. “That’s honor code or something. The fires stay at the fire.” She fell silent for a moment and then brushed the wavy strand of black hair that caught on the breeze away. “That’s why I was glad Jeff could come today. Dustin’s been pretty down.”

“Yeah, it’s nice when somebody understands.”

A smile lit Eve’s eyes when she looked at Lisa. “Yeah, it is.”

The steaks sizzled on the grill three feet away as Jeff sat, head back, in the soft lawn chair soaking up the afternoon sun. It felt so good, he was afraid he might actually go to sleep although he knew that wasn’t exactly what Dustin had in mind when he’d invited them.

“How about a cold one?” Dustin asked, breaking into the quasi-dream Jeff was having.

When he opened his eyes, the beer was already being offered. “Sure.”

Transfer made, Dustin took a drink of his own and stepped over to the grill.

“So,” Jeff said, pulling himself to an upright position, “you guys going to the ball next weekend?”

Without turning, Dustin looked over his shoulder. “Probably. Eve wants to anyway.”

“And you don’t?” Jeff asked, concerned by the tone in his friend’s voice. “I didn’t think you ever passed up a party.”

Dustin sniffed, turned one steak, and took a drink. “I just think it’d be nice to stay home for a night. I mean I see those guys all the time, do I really want to go see them on my night off too?”

Slowly Jeff stood and stepped over to the grill as orange flames shot into the air. With a flick Dustin grabbed a spray bottle and tamed them.

“I hear you there. Sometimes I think I’m going to go completely nuts if I have to spend one more minute at that station.”

The spraying slowed as did the sphere of reality around Dustin. “But you wouldn’t trade it. Right?” His gaze trained on Jeff as if his friend suddenly possessed some miracle potion that could make all the bad disappear.

“No, I wouldn’t trade it,” Jeff said softly, “but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.” He watched as Dustin set the bottle down, picked up the brush, and put the barbeque sauce on. Dustin wasn’t going to say it, but Jeff could see it in his friend’s eyes. He shifted his weight slightly to get a better view. “I read about the college.”

Dustin didn’t look up. He didn’t have to. “We had three guys that almost didn’t make it out.”

“And you?”

“I was back up. I was headed in right as the thing got totally out of control.” There was hardly breath behind the words. “They were lucky to get out.” The look in Dustin’s eyes froze Jeff’s blood solid. “I just kept thinking about Eve. You know? How if things had been just a little different she’d be here all by herself right now. Of course her parents would be here, but…” Slowly Dustin shook his head, unable to get more words to come.

“Do they have someone at the station you can talk to?”

“I did.” He rubbed the edge of his nose. “I don’t know how much it helped though.”

“I think it always helps to talk about it,” Jeff said, kicking the memories out of his mind even as he said the words.

Softly Dustin smiled. “I know this has.”

“Yeah,” Jeff said, comprehending far more than he could ever put into words. “For me, too.”

Honor code
. That phrase was on a repeating loop in Lisa’s brain as they drove back into the thick of the city hours later. She knew it. She understood it. She had lived it. Yet something about it still snagged in the spider web of her mind.

“You’re awful quiet tonight,” Jeff said as the darkness sped by them. Gently he reached over and laid his hand on hers. “Want to talk about it?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the wreck?” Lisa asked so softly the night almost swallowed the words.

“The wreck?” His hand stiffened but didn’t move. “I did tell you about it.”

“No, you said it was bad, but you never really told me what happened.”

“Oh. Well, there was this semi that jack-knifed, and a car…”

“No, I don’t mean how it happened. I mean what happened… after you got there.”

His hand slid off of hers and traced back over to his side although his gaze stayed firmly outside the windshield. “I think it’s better if that stuff stays at work.”

“Why?” she asked, pursuing him even though she knew he didn’t want her to.

One brief glance and his gaze returned outside. “Because you don’t need that to deal with, and the less I think about it, the better.”

Her new reality was beginning to sink in. “So you’re never going to tell me what happens out there? Just that it’s bad, or kind of bad, or really bad, and I’m supposed to decipher the whole story from that.”

His gaze jerked over to her face, but it couldn’t hold. “There are things… Look, things happen out there that…” He exhaled. “You wouldn’t understand.”

The words crawled through her. “Is that what this is about? That I won’t understand? Then help me understand. I want to know, Jeff.”

Although he was supposed to be watching the road, it seemed that his gaze was anywhere but there. After several long moments he looked over at her, and his eyes were a mix of pain and pleading. “Could we talk about something else? Please.”

She knew how badly he didn’t want to talk about it. What he couldn’t know was how badly she did. Irritation dropped over her as she crossed her arms and slumped back in the seat. “Sure. What do you want to talk about? The Ball?”

As if grasping for the last thread before he fell off a cliff, Jeff lunged for that one. “It starts at seven on Saturday. I thought maybe I could pick you up six or six-thirty.”

Her eyes fell closed as she stepped through the emotional door that slammed shut behind her. “Fabulous.”

“I need a huge favor,” Jeff said Monday morning as he and Gabe went through the checklist of safety equipment.

“What’s that?”

“You remember you said you’d talk to Wade if I wanted you to?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I guess I want you to.”

Gabe’s eyebrows arched. “You guess?”

For a second Jeff thought about it, and then he exhaled. “I’m prepared to beg, and I’ll go as far as groveling if necessary.”

The skeptical look didn’t leave Gabe’s face. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

Jeff shrugged. “It was the least worse of two options.”

The goatee on Gabe’s chin moved back and forth. “Then I’d hate to hear the other option.”

“But you’ll do it? You’ll talk to him?”

“You’d better find yourself a tuxedo.”

“We’re all set,” Jeff said over the phone Tuesday evening, his voice sounding breathless. He didn’t know if it was her or the ball or the thought that she might bring up the wreck again that was holding his chest in a clench like a pipe wrench trying to break a seal.

“For what?” Lisa asked, sounding wholly distracted, and he knew he was off the hook. Work. Blessed work. For once, he couldn’t have been more thankful for it.

“The Ball, silly.” Then a horrible thought hit him, and his head dropped on the weight of it. “That is if you still want to go.”

“I thought you had to work.”

“I called in a favor.”

“I thought you didn’t dance.”

“I don’t,” he said as his heart fell, “but maybe we can find a table that needs holding down.”

For a moment he thought she might actually turn him down flat, and the middle of him screamed for a way to go back and do everything over again so they wouldn’t end up at this juncture. Then through the fear, he heard her sigh.

“Six-thirty?” she finally asked.

“Make it six,” he said, knowing the very next moment wouldn’t be soon enough.

“I’ll be ready.”