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She turned to a sea of new male faces coming toward her.
“Oh boy, here you go. Are you good with names?”
It was a joke; everyone’s names were either embroidered or written in laundry pen on their shirts.
“This is Geraldine Angel,” Bridget said, introducing her, and pointing out the men, many whose last name was Saint.
“You don’t have to remember names, not yet, anyway.” It was Chief Saint, holding his arm out to guide her into his office, away from the crowd of curiosity seekers. “Don’t mind the gang.”
She smiled at the faces and then followed his direction into the office. A stack of cellophane-wrapped dark blue cotton waited on his desk.
“Let me find a bag for these,” he said, searching around. He went to the door and called out, “Jake, find me a bag to put these uniforms in, will you?”
In a few seconds, a bag was produced.
“Jake Saint, Geri Angel,” he said, introducing him, and later, Geri said the attraction was immediate; she even got a little weak in the knees. Nodding, Jake stood looking at her with his mouth open while Charlie clumsily loaded the bag. “Here you go. Most of us use the laundry service for uniforms, but you can do your own if you want to save the money.”
“Jake, get back to work,” Charlie muttered, shaking his head. “My nephew.”
He walked to an inside door and pointed. “Here’s the bathroom. And I’ll clean all the junk off this cot and change the sheets. I rarely stay over anymore unless we have a big fire.”
“Wow.” The wordsa big fireresonated.
“Yep, we have a red flag warning right now, as you probably know. It’s November and we have ninety-degree temps. Add high winds and it’s a recipe for disaster.”
“My dad is at Rescue Station #45,” she said. “He was just saying the same thing.”
“Right! Gerald Angel. I should have remembered that. Can I ask a question? Why’d you apply here? Why not in the city?”
“I wanted rural,” she said. “And frankly I thought it would be easier for my dad if I wasn’t there. I’m the only daughter…”
“Okay, gotcha. Well, we’re happy to have you. The last ten years have been rough on the fire service because of budget cuts. We’re always short-staffed.”
She stood up when he handed her the grubby grocery bag full of uniforms. “Thank you again, Chief Saint.”
“Charlie,” he said, holding the door for her.
She smiled at Charlie and nodded, leaving the safety of his cozy office for the suddenly intimidating, cavernous garage. Unexpectedly, standing against the wall waiting for her, Jake Saint. He straightened up when she passed by, his lips parted a little, deep blue, shining eyes obviously unable to squelch his desire for her. With a black curl in the middle of his forehead, his slow smile shook her up, but she managed to return the smile, looking at him sidelong through hooded eyes.Why’d I do that?she admonished herself, shivering. The last thing she wanted was a relationship. Her only goal was to go to the fire academy. And all she could think of when she looked at Jake was OMG.
Chapter 1
When the tones sounded, she was completely disoriented.Where the heck am I?A rap on the door to Charlie’s office and the shout, “We gotta call,” brought her to reality.
“I’ll be right out,” she said, listening to the tinny dispatch voice echo over the loudspeaker.
There was a brush fire along Route 78. She’d slept in issued workout shorts that she’d find out later everyone wore to sleep in. Out in the bay she got into her turnout gear, grabbing her jacket and helmet, which she’d don in the truck. Riding in back with the men for the first time had a surreal feeling as they were all trying to wake up.
“Were you able to make out what dispatch said?”
She turned to the voice and saw Jake Saint sitting next to her. “A brush fire on 78?”
“Yep. Good for you. It took me about a year to figure out what they were saying.”
“English has never been your strength, has it, Saint?” someone said, and everyone laughed.
They were traveling through rural space, so it wasn’t necessary to put the siren on and wake up the dead. The smell of smoke soon filled the truck. Climbing the side of a mountain on a dirt road as far as they could go, the driver stopped and everyone piled out.
“Help get the hose out, Angel,” the crew chief, Sean Williams, called.
