Page 8 of Steel

Blinking, I forced myself to look away before things got completely out of hand.

“What’s a smokejumper?” Sheila asked.

“An elite wildland firefighter who generally parachutes into remote locations to provide an attack on wildfires.” Every one of us turned our full attention to Wayne. He shrugged, his grin more of a smirk. “My brother-in-law wanted to be one before he figured out he had to be in top physical shape. They work out every day. A requirement.”

Brenda and I looked at each other first. Then I glanced at both Sheila and Debbie who were practically drooling.

“Where are they located?” I asked.

“Missoula,” Brenda answered. I’ll be damned if she didn’t have a shit-eating grin on her face.

“As in Montana?” That was definitely a little farther away than I was thinking. It was also a place that had a permanent place in my memories, one of the few that I had of my parents being together.

“God’s country,” Greg piped in.

It might as well be Europe. “There is no way Eric is going to spring for allowing us to go to Missoula.” A couple of visions crowded my mind. I remembered a river and one day going swimming. I was very young, five or six, but I envisioned laughing and enjoying the bright, warm afternoon.

That was before everything in my life had gone south.

“Is something wrong?” Brenda asked. “I mean other than the obvious.”

“No, I was in Missoula a couple times years ago. A small town.”

“So I’ve heard. Good memories?”

I thought about her question. “Decent ones. Anyway, that’s a lot to ask Eric to consider.”

Everyone nodded. “But a change in venue would be great,” Wayne threw out.

Yes. Maybe. I wasn’t certain bringing up old memories was good at this point. I had enough of them to deal with.

While I was debating internally, Steel’s picture was right there for the girls to continue lusting over and make the men eager to head to the bathroom and do a little size comparison.

“What other choice do we have? I mean really?”

Unfortunately, Mark was right.

I sat back, closing my eyes briefly and thought about a plan of attack. “You’re right. We don’t. This is it. Our one shot. Is everyone in agreement?” I popped open a single eye to see everyone in the group nodding.

“Let’s do this,” Brenda said, her voice full of excitement.

“Alright. Let’s go. Let’s try and have everything ready by six. I know it’s a long shot, but maybe…” I grinned without finishing.

“We can do it!” Debbie said, clapping her hands together. “Work. Work. Work. Go team.”

For whatever the reason, the team was full of more energy and excitement than I’d seen from them in a long time. They worked together seamlessly while utilizing Brenda’s design skills to put it all together. Yes, the campaign was crude, but it was also artistic, exciting, and very, very real.

Real men doing real manly jobs in God’s country.

What could be better than that?

When we were finished, we all took a deep breath. Not one of them said anything as I made the final run through, checking and double checking.

And it was five minutes after six. Maybe we’d get lucky and Eric would have the time to make his decision tonight.

And of course, my hands were sweating. Even my pulse was skipping, going higher and higher until I was at the point of hyperventilating. But we were ready.

“Okay, guys. You’ve done such an amazing job with this. I am so proud of you. Wish me luck.”