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The next morningas soon as the fire chief arrived, I was in his office. “Frank,” I paused and for just a moment, I wondered if this was the right decision or not. Roxy’s sweet smile flashed through my mind as her words of love echoed inside my head, and I knew it was. “I’m sorry to do this to you, but I’m going to be resigning from my position.”
He looked surprised. “Something I should know about? I didn’t realize you were unhappy here.”
“I’m not unhappy, but I’m going to take my old position back in Millerstown. My parents are getting older, and I want to be close to them, and—” I paused again. “I met someone who lives there.”
He raised his brows. “Didn’t you already chase a skirt when you came here?”
I laughed a little uncomfortably. “Yes, I did, but this is different.”
He shook his head and asked when I was going to be leaving. I handed him my official resignation, and we talked a little while longer before I left his office. While I knew he was unhappy about me going, I knew that we had three EMTs that would be happy to grab my spot on the ambulance and work with Brett. I had little doubt that by the end of today, my position would be filled.
“You’re really going to do it?” Brett asked me after I told him on our way to a call for a woman fainting.
“Yeah, I’m really going to do it.”
“For a girl?”
I barked out a laugh. “I can’t help it, Brett. I’m in love with her. I want to see where this can go. It’s not like last time where I thought I really liked Susan. I know I’m in love with Roxy, and she feels the same.”
“She told you that?”
“Yep, she did.”
“Well, I’m gonna miss the hell out of you, and if they stick Marshall in here with me, I’m going to hate you.”
I laughed harder as we pulled to a stop in front of a small café. “I’ll talk to the chief and see what I can do to help you out with that.”
“Yeah, you do that,” he muttered as we climbed out. We grabbed our medical bags and headed inside. As soon as we crossed the threshold, a waitress pointed toward one of the back tables where several people were crowded around someone, including one of our local police officers.
“Hey, Joe, what have we got?” I asked him as we approached.
“Susan went to stand up and passed out, hit her head on the chair as she went down.”
My head snapped to the patient who was holding a towel to her temple. She smiled up at me tentatively. “Hi, Lee.”
“Susan,” I peered sideways at Brett, and he raised a brow. Ironic that we had just been talking about her, but as I looked at her, I realized I had absolutely no feelings for the woman. None, zip, nada. “What happened?”
“I got woozy when I stood up, and then I woke up on the floor.”
I crouched down in front of her while Brett pulled out the equipment that we would need to check her vitals. I took out my penlight and got on my knees to peer into her eyes, my hand on her cheek to steady her face as I did. She smiled at me. “It’s nice to see you again.”
I smiled back, being polite. “You, too. Did you just eat, or were you about to?”
“No, I just ate and then wasn’t feeling so well. I was going to go back to the bathroom, but when I stood up, I just slumped to the ground.”
I lifted the towel she was holding and found a small laceration that would probably require a couple stitches. “How are you feeling now?”
“A little sick to my stomach. Maybe something I ate didn’t sit well with me.”
I told Brett to go get the stretcher while I checked her pulse and blood pressure, then noted that they were within the normal range. I asked her a series of questions about medications, allergies, and any health conditions. By the time I was done jotting those down on the small notepad I carried, Brett was back.
“I hate that I made such a scene,” she said as she glanced around, and I knew that she was lying. She loved to be the center of attention, always had. It was something that had quickly turned me off about her once I got to know her better.
I didn’t reply to her about the scene but gathered up the gear I’d used and stowed it back in the bags as Brett brought the stretcher in and moved a few chairs aside.
“Okay, can you stand? You can put your hands on my shoulders, and I’ll hold on to you in case you feel dizzy again.”
She slowly stood and swayed toward me. Automatically, I wrapped my arms around her to hold her up. “I got you.”
