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Matt ran after Fran before she got away.
“The baby must be a turn-on,” someone else piped in. “Everyone’s having them now.”
Group laughter echoed through the bar.
“He’s dating thenanny,” brother Tony announced. “And if you saw her, you’d know why he’s not interested in Fran Walker.”
“Fran Walker who?” brother Jake replied, laughing.
Leon’s coat hung over a chair, and he was on his way to grab it when a phone alert went off. He heard it echoing from the phones of the other firefighters who were there for his birthday.
“Oh crap, all hands working, a call for volunteers,” Tony called out.
The men looked at their phones and read the notification.
“I’m going,” Leon said. “Thanks, everyone, for the party.”
“Yeah, I’m going, too,” Tony said. “Jake, let Ma know we’re headed out.”
I’m goingrang out from the other men. A brush fire in North County close to the Riverside County line was out of control. They were asking for water tankers, too. Station #34 would assist with men and equipment.
On the way to his car, Leon called Ava to tell her the news. “I’m going to work. We won’t leave until the fire is under control.”
“I don’t even know what to say. Just be careful.”
“This is the first time it’s happened to me, but I’m used to my dad and my brothers helping out in different districts. My dad was gone for two weeks once. A couple of years ago, my brother Joey was in Arizona for over a week.”
“Thank you for letting me know. I’ll have Violet here with me, waiting.”
“Oh, right, I’ll call my mom. You might need to get more of her stuff if I’m gone longer than a couple of hours.”
“I will call her in the morning. Be safe out there, Leon.”
They hung up from the call. Ava stood as still as a statue for a full minute, thinking. She hadn’t told Leon she loved him back because it would have been knee jerk.Oh, you love me, well, I love you, too.
And she wasn’t sure she was ready to make a commitment to him; for monogamy, yes because she wasn’t a party girl, but a lifetime commitment? No. It was too soon. And she wasn’t sure he was smart enough or interesting enough to hold her interest for a lifetime. Those thoughts filled her with guilt.
She’d be the nanny for at least the next two to three years, until Violet was old enough for preschool. And she did love Violet. What wasn’t to love?
Now with Leon going off to fight a fire, concern for his safety rose to a new level. Sleep would be impossible. Then her phone beeped again, a call from Roberta Saint.
“Did I wake you?” she asked.
“No, Leon just called to tell me about the fire. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep.”
Blanching as a heat wave of huge proportions swept over her, she hoped that statement didn’t reveal too much about her relationship with Leon.
“All the wives and girlfriends are going to get together to wait here. You’re welcome to come, Ava. I figured it out about you and Leon, just to clear the air. We’re okay with it. It’s a little weird, but whatever. I’m worried that when he doesn’t need your nanny skills anymore, someone is going to get hurt.”
“I understand,” Ava replied. “We’re taking it one day at a time, at Leon’s suggestion.”
“Lord, he got that from me. From AA. It’s helpful, trust me. So what do you think about coming here to wait?”
Dreading even the thought of hanging around with the wives and girlfriends whose men were risking their lives, she took a deep breath. She’d never used Alex’s death as an excuse not to participate, but tonight she would if she had to.
“Thank you so much for the invitation. I truly appreciate you reaching out to me. Violet is sleeping, though, and I hate to disturb her. And truthfully, I think being with everyone on a watch like that would dredge up too much pain from losing Alex. We did that. You probably don’t know. All the survivors got together at the airport and waited for word. No one survived the crash. I never want to go through that again.”
“I’m sorry, Ava. Let me know if you need anything. I’d better hang up. They’re starting to arrive.”
