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Slowly, she opened the oven door and lifted the giant pan out. When the foil came off the top, the aroma filled the kitchen and went out to the sitting area, getting their attention.
“What’s that wonderful smell?”
“The rookie made corned beef for lunch.”
A wave of men in uniform converged on the kitchen, and Geri couldn’t help it, she started to giggle. Along with them came a wave of self-confidence.
“Grilled Reuben sandwiches or corned beef on rye? It’s up to you.”
When the consensus was that they wanted both, she laughed. “I’ll cut up meat for sandwiches so you can eat while I grill.”
The next minutes were fun for her, surrounded by her new colleagues while they waited to be fed. It wasn’t the usual scenario, Bridget whispered, where one of the guys made a big pot of something and they sat at the table to eat while looking at their phones.
This was good, a time to put names to faces. Since she would be the lucky person to answer the phone when the station office manager was busy or gone for the day, she quickly made a list of the last names she saw on shirt pockets, and when the man’s first name was mentioned, she made a point of jotting that down.
A platter of corned beef sandwiches made its way to the table. In the fridge there was a giant tub of commercially made potato salad and the fixings for a tossed salad, too. Then she opened a can of sauerkraut and, with Swiss cheese and Russian dressing, made the grilled sandwiches. That was the cincher; Geri Angel was accepted on the first day as one of the crew.
***
Just as the evening chores were accomplished, the last load of towels folded and put away, and the others were in bed, she turned off the lights and headed for Charlie’s office. She quickly got out of her uniform and into shorts and a T-shirt and was just lifting the sheets to slide into bed when the tones went off again.
“Oh, Lord Jesus,” she muttered. “No way.”
The disembodied voice issued a second alarm, asking for help down in town, where a brush fire along the interstate was threatening homes in the foothills around the reservoir.
She quickly put her dirty uniform back on and ran out to get into her turnout gear.
“Ride with us,” Sean said, nodding toward engine six.
She followed him and climbed into the back with Jake and two other crew members. Sean drove the engine, with Rick Jackson in the passenger seat. The EMT truck followed. Everyone but Sean closed their eyes, but Geri was too excited. They merged onto the highway, which even at that late hour was still heavily traveled. She was familiar with the area, too: a well-known county park with trails around the mountainside leading to the water.
“My family lives up there,” Jake said, pointing to the lighted homes. “Fire’s gettin’ personal.”
“Yes. I’m sorry,” she said, jumping out.
“Do you live in town?” Jake asked.
“Yep, in the Sunset apartments.”
He looked over at her as they got their gear. “I love that place. It’s so mid-century.”
They were interrupted by Sean directing the crew. During the next hour spent clearing brush, Geri got her second wind, so that by the time they returned to the firehouse at two a.m., she could have stayed up all night working. But Connie saw to it that she finally got some rest.
“Go to bed,” she said. “I’ll clean up this mess. You’ll be worthless tomorrow if we get slammed.”
Happy to oblige, Geri thanked her and went to bed.
By the fourth morning, she was ready to go home. The oncoming crew took over after getting report, and she slipped out of Charlie’s office after getting her bags without anyone approaching her. The air was thick with fog, the marine layer, they called it, and she’d be extra careful on the mountain roads. The little sports car was parked in back, out of the way, and she had almost reached it when she heard boots on gravel.
“Geri!”
It was Jake Saint running toward her. Taking a deep breath, she smiled, turning to wait for him. He was gorgeous, but all the Saint men were handsome, even Big Mike, who liked to eat too much. But she could tell that in his youth he had probably been as handsome as Tony and Joey and Charlie and Jake. Charlie was Big Mike’s brother, and this was where it got incongruous. Charlie wasGQhandsome with a body that the younger men in the crew envied, often teasing Big Mike about it. His refrain:I got the brains; Charlie got the body.
When they had downtime and the work around the firehouse was caught up, they were supposed to work on physical fitness. Charlie never missed a workout. In her shorts and T-shirt, the same getup she slept in, Geri had worked out on the second day on the job. There was nothing seductive about the way she looked, or so Geri thought. The shorts were long enough to be modest, she wore a heavy-duty sports bra, but Jake noticed her body, the muscles in her calves and a bulge of cleavage over the top of where he imagined her bra must have ended, and the physical attraction for her caught up with the mental one growing when they worked side by side out in the field.
“Can I join in?” Charlie had asked them.
“Yes, sir,” Geri said, feeling a little intimidated.
