Not a bad way to go, all in all.
19
Sophie
Several muscledmen in Cozy Creek Fire Brigade uniforms stared down at me. It was the Cozy Creek Fire Brigade charity calendar come to life. They weren’t shirtless in hot pants and suspenders as they should be, but their colored little station uniforms were almost as cute.
“Could be worse,” I muttered. The afterlife had a lot more muscles than I would have imagined. A lot more silly mustaches too.
A cool washcloth was pressed softly to my forehead. I blinked to sharpen my blurred vision and found Pace Leigh holding the damp cloth to me.
“I’m dead,” I whispered. “So pretty.” I reached a hand up to pat the cheek of Mr. August.
“She’s adorable,” another one said. This firefighter had short, cropped black curls, a diamond in his left ear, and dimples so deep when he grinned at Pace, they gave him a run for his money. The name embroidered on his uniform read “Lt. Jones.”
“Did she hit her head?” someone else asked. I couldn’t see them, but I vaguely remembered the voice from the night of the bonfire.
“I don’t know what happened.” Pace sounded grumpy, which was so far from normal. “I’m trying to figure that out. But she lost a decent amount of blood.”
“She’s got a strong pulse,” a different, good-looking man said.
“Thank you, Mr. April,” I said back to him, the one with dark hair that swooped like Clark Kent’s.
“Your reputation precedes you, Walker,” Lt. Jones grinned.
Walker, apparently not just Mr. April, grunted a response. “That calendar makes a mockery of us.”
“No.” I tried to sit up to defend that work of art that was the Cozy Creek Fire Brigade charity calendar. Gentle hands pressed me back down onto a soft cot.
“Easy, tiger,” Pace whispered. “That’s what got you here to begin with.”
“You are wrong about the CC—CCFB—CCFBC.” I made raspberries to clear out my mouth. “The calendar. It’s empowering. You should be proud.” I shook a fist at Walker. Or I tried to, but I was pretty sure my hand was still limp at my side.
But he got the gist. The other guy looked very abashed. Or something. Maybe amused.
It didn’t matter. Things were becoming clearer now. I was lying in the fire station, on the floor. The tall ceiling of the garage was above me, the smell of squeaky-clean rubber and cement all around. To the left, one of Cozy Creek’s finest fire trucks gleamed, and to the right, cubbies with the boots, pants, coats, and gear that kept the firefighter safe sat ready to go. Very smart. I should do something like that, and maybe my closet wouldn’t be so chaotic.
“Sure we shouldn’t call Doc?” Mr. April asked.
“For the tenth time, Walker,no. Not until Pace says so. For claiming to not like our new doctor, you are sure eager to see her.” This one had warm, friendly eyes and a mustache that extended down like a fuller version of what I thought was called the Fu Manchu.
“Sorry, I’m worried about the safety of his friend,” Walker mumbled.
I was overwhelmed by all the fuss my presence seemed to be causing. I wasn’t hating it, but I found myself wishing that I was meeting Pace’s coworkers under better circumstances.
These were the men he spent most of his life with, ate meals with, trauma bonded with.
I swallowed, and my mouth still tasted like iron, and I tongued a spot on the inside of my upper lip where I thought I might have a small cut. My brain threatened to remember the events at the bank, and I wasn’t ready.
Instead, I looked to Pace, who was balanced on his toes, crouched down to my level on the cot.
“Did I swoon? Am I a swooner now?” This time, as I leaned up to balance on my forearms, Pace helped me sit up, albeit very slowly. “I’m okay.”
“Yeah. You lost a lot of blood. And then moved a little too fast. When was the last time you ate?” he asked, worry still creasing his face.
I was so used to seeing the easygoing joy radiating from Pace that I didn’t care for his twisted-up features at all.
“I—um, well.” I tried to think. My head was throbbing and my mouth was parched. “I might have forgotten breakfast this morning.” I had been so anxious about the day ahead. And decided to have several cups of coffee. My mouth felt tacky with dehydration.
