Joe helped the woman clear the equipment away with another two men. Then seeing a couple of other firefighters talking to each other, she realised Joe was standing alone. She forgot her promise to stay in the car and got out, running through the driving rain to reach him. She called out his name a few times before he heard her.
Joe looked in her direction, a surprised expression on his face and, seeing her there, hurried to meet her.
‘What are you doing here? You could have been hurt. There’s debris everywhere.’
‘I’m fine,’ she insisted. ‘I’ve been in the car the whole time,’ she said, indicating Bruno’s car over her shoulder.
She looked him up and down, noticing how drained he appeared. ‘Can you come back with us to the farm, or do you need to stay here with your colleagues?’
‘I’ll need to go back but I’ll see you at the farm as soon as I can. Don’t wait up for me though. I might be longer than I expect with all that’s happened.’
‘You did very well to save him,’ she said, aware her voice was loud to be heard against the wind and driving rain. ‘You were incredibly brave.’
He seemed embarrassed by her comment. ‘It was a team effort. I couldn’t have done anything without the other guys. We’re trained to work together.’
Her respect for Joe and those he worked with grew massively. ‘I’ll leave you to it then,’ she said, before running back to the car.
‘He’s OK?’ Bruno asked.
‘Yes, he’s tired but seems fine other than that.’ Realising she had done the opposite of what she had assured Bruno she would do, Skye leant forward in her seat. ‘I’m sorry for getting out. I know I shouldn’t have done, but I sort of forgot myself.’
She saw Bruno’s eyes crease in a smile in the rear-view mirror. ‘I’m sure he didn’t mind all that much.’
Embarrassed to have behaved like she had, Skye hoped she hadn’t made things awkward for Joe when he returned to his shift the following day. ‘He wasn’t impressed to see me there,’ she said, hoping to put the onus back on her.
‘Don’t worry,’ Bruno said, starting the car. ‘I promise I won’t say anything to wind him up.’
Skye sat back against the seat as Bruno drove them to the farm and thought about how these people risked their lives each day and how incredible they were to be so selfless and brave. She thought of her mother and her absent father gone from her for different reasons, but a loss to her nonetheless. She needed to stop whatever this was between her and Joe before she fell too deeply for him. His job was a dangerous one and if tonight had shown her anything it was that she wasn’t ready to lose another person in her life.
The outcome of the rescue might have been a positive one, but she saw how easily his colleague had been damaged and knew how easily the three men in the sea could have died. Whatever she thought of Joe she couldn’t bear the thought of him being badly injured or, worse, losing his life. She wasn’t strong enough for that emotionally, not after all she had been through in her life. No, she decided as much as she liked him, and she did, a lot, she couldn’t face losing him. There was nothing else for it but to stop whatever had been going on between them immediately.
34
JOE
Joe arrived back at the farm exhausted but relieved that everyone had survived pretty much intact after the dramatic rescue. Dan was still at the hospital waiting for a scan on his arm but his wife was with him now and Joe had been told to go home, so after a hot shower at the station and changing into dry clothes, he had driven home looking forward to spending time with Skye and having something to eat.
‘You’re back,’ Skye said as he walked in through the front door. Spud pushed past her to give their usual excited, waggy welcome and he crouched to pat and cuddle the dog before standing slowly. ‘You must be hungry, or have you eaten something?’
He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination but she seemed out of sorts. ‘Starving but it’s late. I can get something myself. Why don’t you sit and tell me how your meal went with Carlos and Bruno. Did you have a good time getting to know them a bit better?’
‘I did, thanks, but I’m more interested in how you are after your evening.’
‘Not much to tell,’ he said, unsure of the undercurrent he was picking up from her. ‘Are you OK? You seem a little…’ He wasn’t sure what.
‘I’m fine. I suspected you might need something to eat so took the liberty of ordering a delivery,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t sure what to get so took a chance and chose for you. Go and get comfortable in the living room and I’ll sort out the plates.’
He hoped the drama of the evening hadn’t caused Skye’s meal to be interrupted. ‘Didn’t you three get to eat at the restaurant yet?’
She shook her head. ‘The food hadn’t arrived when Bruno noticed something happening and soon after I insisted on coming out to see what was going on.’
‘How did you know? I would have thought it was almost impossible to see with all that rain and sea spray.’
‘Someone was filming it and live-streaming. Bruno found it and shared it with Carlos and me.’
Why had Bruno done that? Joe mused. Surely he must have known that Skye would be concerned. Maybe it hadn’t occurred to him.
Wanting to placate her, Joe did as she asked. He sank back into the comfortable sofa and noticed she had also lit the fire. It was a sweet touch and made him smile. This was the difference between being with someone and living alone, he reminded himself, deciding he could get used to this sort of welcome.
