AllFreeNovel
Share Us
TUCKER
“Keep it up, Sam! Almost there.”
Sam drags the hose across the parking lot until he reaches the next marker where he has to drag a dummy across the finish line. He’s in full gear, running through a timed sprint. It helps with skills and endurance while creating a little competition between the guys, which is always fun.
Charlie holds the record, but the guys attempt to beat it every time. It’s a point of pride for her that they haven’t yet.
Sam runs through the last challenge and yells, “Time!”
“Five minutes, thirty-five seconds,” I call out, and a chorus of groans go up from everyone except Charlie, who has a shit-eating grin on her face.
“Damn it. I’m coming for you,” Sam says, pointing at Charlie.
“Whatever, you weren’t even close.” Charlie rolls her eyes. With her record of five minutes even, she’s not completely wrong.
“Who's next?” I holler before they can get too out of hand.
“I’ll go, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to try and beat Charlie’s time. I’m too old for that shit.” Rodney walks to the starting point and gets his gear on.
We all cheer him on as he goes through the course, and while he isn’t as fast as Sam or Charlie, for a guy in his late forties, he’s pretty damn fast.
“Seven minutes, twenty seconds.”
“Hell yeah. New PR.” Rodney fist pumps.
“What about you, Cap?” Brody taunts. “Think you could beat Charlie?”
“Definitely not, but I might be able to beat Sam,” I tease.
“Whatever.” Sam shakes his head.
I hand the timer to Charlie and gear up. I run through each obstacle, closing off my mind. All of the mechanics and training are like second nature at this point. Uncle Jack started training with me when I was sixteen and needed an outlet for my anger at the world. He still holds the record for the whole station. At four minutes and forty-five seconds, none of us have been able to even come close to Uncle Jack’s time.
I get to the last obstacle and drag the 175-pound dummy down the parking lot as quickly as I can.
“Five minutes, fifteen seconds.”
“Fuck yeah!” I cheer as everyone yells in excitement.
I wrap my arm around Sam. “I still got it, kid. You’ll have to work a little harder next time.” I wink at him.
“Hey, has anyone noticed Cap is smiling an awful lot recently?” Sam taunts in retaliation.
I wondered when people would start commenting on my behavior. Before Natalie, I didn’t have much in my life to make me smile or laugh. The guys at the station were about the only thing who could come close, but I very rarely joined in on their antics.
This past month with Natalie has taught me how to live in the moment and accept that I don’t have to constantly wait for the other shoe to drop. I’m allowed to be happy even though my life hasn’t always been rainbows and sunshine.
“Yeah, you got yourself a girl, Cap?” Rick asks, a teasing glint in his eyes.
“Not that it's any of your business, but yeah, I do.”
“Who is she? Do we like her?” Taylor asks, joining in on the teasing. Being one of the resident paramedics, he doesn’t do the drills with everyone else, but he enjoys watching us compete against each other.
“Yeah, we like her a lot.” I grin.
“Oooo. Our fearless leader’s in looove,” Brody sings, and I shove him in the shoulder.
“Shut up, asshole.” But I’m smiling as I say it.
