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Going back to work after his mandatory medical leave took a battle of wills and was a legal matter for Big Mike Saint. After devoting all of his adult life and five of his sons, sacrificing one of them, to fighting fires in San Diego county, having to beg his brother Charlie and the powers that be to allow him to return to work took almost all the energy he had.
Yet another visit to the doctor to pick up signed release papers stating he was physically able to work was the last straw.
“I’ve been to that damn doctor more in the past two weeks than I have in the last twenty years,” he grumbled.
“You gotta clean bill of health,” Roberta encouraged. “Be glad you’re a man your age who can still do that job.”
But he wondered if he really could do it. After weeks of euphoria, his mood had plummeted. Loathing the backlash of Geri Angel dragging him down that mountainside, he just hoped his humiliating rescue wouldn’t be a topic of conversation.
No, but it could be worse. On his day back, everyone was waiting for him in the garage, including the fire chief and a reporter from theTribune.
“Oh my God,” he moaned, crossing the threshold.
He looked around the crowd and saw his sons but no Geri Angel, thankfully. Hopefully, she was off that day. The thought of a public display with her small stature against his gargantuan one made him dizzy. They’d make a big deal out of the fact that a little woman saved the life of a big helpless man.
After a round of applause, Big Mike’s heart sank when he saw the fire chief make his way toward a makeshift podium set up with a microphone. Words were spoken that Big Mike didn’t understand, the air plummeting his eardrums so voices sounded like there were underwater. The fire chief beamed at him, and it took all of Big Mike’s willpower not to flip him the bird.
Slowly moving back out of the view of the photographer, fear rose in his chest. Why would Charlie do this to him? Then from the background, a blushing Geri came into view and was gently pushed to the podium. The smiling fire chief presented her with a nice plaque, honoring her for her courage in the face of danger. Big Mike’s name wasn’t even mentioned.
The relief was so intense he almost broke down crying. In spite of the cold damp outside, the heat in the garage was oppressive. He would find his way out of the area and try to calm down, but he had to congratulate Geri first; his disregard would be too obvious if he didn’t at least try. Once the crowd thinned out with the crew going back to work, the fire chief left without even acknowledging Big Mike, and with the reporter and photographer gone and no longer a threat, he approached her. When she saw him, Geri just beamed, and that made him happy that he’d made the effort.
“Well deserved,” he said, hugging her. “Thank you again for what you did.”
He took the plaque from her and held it up to admire. The cheapskates couldn’t even get her a real wood plaque; this was made of some composite crap.
The memory of her arms around him, helping him to stand, the words she’s spoken to him as they made their way precariously down the mountainside came back to him, and he had to fight the tears. She was his hero, but he had to squelch that scenario because it would be misconstrued; it would make him look weak.
“We’re okay, right?” she asked, looking up at him with a concerned expression.
“We’re fine,” he replied hesitantly.
But he couldn’t be surehewas fine because he could feel heat coming off her body, fragrance like oranges wafting toward him. He looked at her face, at her young, unblemished skin. As much as she tried to hide her figure, the word he’d use in his head to describe Geri Angel waslush. He tried not to picture his young stud of a son on top of her, but the visuals came swift and hard, and before he knew it, he was backing up to feel the wall behind him, needing to sit down before he fell over.
“Mike, you’re okay,” Geri whispered, pushing him to a folding chair behind a truck. “Take a deep breath, Mike. You’re fine. What we went through together shouldn’t have happened to my worst enemy.”
Her little hand was on his chest and the tenderness in her voice hit him like a medicine ball to the face, and unable to help it, he burst into tears. Holding him in her arms again, she patted the back of his head, murmuring words to him. He didn’t understand what they were, but they comforted him, and in a minute he found the strength to pull it together. Grabbing a roll of paper toweling, she tore off a sheet and gently wiped his face.
“You look okay,” she said, looking at him from side to side. She felt his wrist for a pulse. “Strong and regular. No worries. Your color is good, too.”
“I’m so sorry. I came back to work too soon.”
“Do you want to leave?”
“I do,” he said. “I’ll wait out in my truck for a while before I drive. Until I feel better.”
“I’ll go with you,” she said, noting that Charlie was observing them, but, in a move to allow his brother some dignity, he let Geri handle it.
Getting up from the chair, Big Mike towered over Geri. She took his big rough hand in hers and they walked out to his truck together. There was such a trust between the two of them, they talked like old friends on the way out, and she knew she was going to tell him about the baby. She’d swear him to secrecy.
“Big Mike, I have to tell you something, but I’m afraid because it’s really personal.”
“If it’s about my son, I know he’s in love with you. You’d have to be unconscious not to see the way he looks at you. It’s almost embarrassing.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. That’s awful.”
“No, it’s not. It’s what Roberta and I prayed for. All our sons, all except Marty because he’s still young, have found true love. That sounds like a crock of shit coming from a guy like me, but it’s true.”
“Well, I’m glad it’s obvious that he loves me. I love him, too. But it’s something more.”
