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Lerner stood from their chair. “You know, guys, I was thinking you could do a show and donate proceeds from it to the community center. Based on everything I’ve read about the center, they do good work in the community and could use some donations to get the center up and running again.”

River jumped up and snapped his fingers. “We need to get some feedback on the album, anyway, so we could do a listening party and perform a few songs. We have two weeks before Rocktoberfest, so we can use social media to get the word out. We just need to find a location.”

Of course everyone turned to Lerner. “Fine. I opened my mouth. I’ll be happy to find us a venue.”

Lerner stared at me with a grin.

“What? I don’t have any place to hold a listening party.”

“I was thinking we could make an event of it. If the fire department would come out and bring fire trucks for kids to check out. Maybe I can get a dunk tank, and we can charge people a dollar a ball to dunk a firefighter. Do you think that’s something your station would be up for?” Lerner asked.

Free community relations were always helpful, and we loved going to schools to give safety demonstrations. I knew my crew would be game. Maybe El Segundo PD would be into it as well? It was worth a shot.

“I’ll talk to my captain about it, and maybe we can get PD to join us. It would be a great community relations event, and we’re always looking for ways to meet the community where they live. Uh, let me talk to my chain of command and let’s see what we can do.”

It was a great idea, but I wasn’t sure if we could pull it together in such a short amount of time. I’d do everything I could to make it happen if it helped out Jordan’s band.

Sunday morning, I had a shift, so River and Kit agreed to take River home. After I was dressed in a fresh uniform, I sat on the bed and kissed Jordan on the forehead. He opened his brown eyes and grinned. “You leaving already?” It was four-thirty in the morning, but I wasn’t leaving him without saying goodbye.

“Yeah, honey, I want to catch Cap before he leaves. I’m sorry to wake you, but I wanted to tell you goodbye and make sure you brought your house key with you. Do you need any money?” I asked.

Jordan smirked. “I have money, Thatcher, but thank you for asking. Besides, Lerner’s here. They always have cash and then charge it to our accounts. Will you text me later to let me know if your captain liked the idea about the listening party and the fire station’s part in it? Lerner mentioned a friend they have in radio, and they’re going to do ads on some of the stations in the area.”

“That’s good, and if Cap gets it approved, we can put it on the county website. I think Cap will go for it. I’ll let you know as soon as I have anything to tell you.”

After a passionate kiss that I’d take with me all day, I let myself out of the back kitchen door. Nate had said he wouldn’t engage the security system so I could leave without alarming the whole house. I appreciated it.

Forty minutes later, I arrived at the station, seeing everything was still buttoned up, which meant there probably hadn’t been any calls the previous night. I hurried in through the side door to the office, grateful to see the light was on inside, which meant Cap was already awake.

“Yeah?” Cap responded when I knocked.

“It’s Ember.”

Cap opened the door. “You’re early. Everything okay? How was your party?”

“The party was interesting. The band had an interesting proposition for us.” I then explained about the listening party and short concert the band was prepared to give, with the proceeds going to the youth center near the beach.

“I realize it’s short notice, but they have a show in Nevada coming up, and they’d like to do it before. I’ll work with their agent on the details if the chief gives it the thumbs-up.”

“Yeah, good. Do you mind starting the equipment checks while I finish getting dressed? I’ve gotta get ready to eat some crow for breakfast.”

I started for the door but stopped in my tracks and turned. “Put a little ketchup on it. It makes it go down easier.”

Cap laughed. “Always a smartass. How’s your emergency contact? When will I get to meet him?”

“If we get to do the concert, you can meet him that day.” I left the man to his privacy so he could get ready to start his day. It sounded as if it was going to be a long one.

Later that morning, I got a call on my cell from Cap’s personal line. “Emberly.”

“It’s me, LT. I spoke to the chief this morning. He loves the idea of using it as a community outreach event. It’ll be a good time to remind citizens to change the batteries in their smoke detectors since winter’s coming soon. It’s a go. Keep me in the loop, okay?”

“Will do, Cap. Thanks a lot.” We ended the call, and I texted Jordan.

Honey, will you have Lerner call my cell? The FD is excited to be part of the event. I’ll be leading our efforts, so I need to talk to Lerner about details. I hope you’re having a good day. ILY

I shoved my phone in my pocket and headed to the lounge. We’d cleared all checks earlier in the day, and since it was Sunday, I decided not to run any drills. Procter was back to full duty, and I wanted to see when he would be ready to resume practicing for his Candidate Physical Ability Test. It was the next step in his path to becoming a full-time firefighter, and with his injury, he’d been sidelined for almost a month.

I rounded the corner to find Collins and Procter coming out of the kitchen. “Who’s cooking?”