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“You’ll be there tomorrow, right?”
“Damn straight,” she said. “I wouldn’t miss it. Good luck, Sofia!”
“Thanks, Helen,” I said, hanging up a few seconds later and checking the clock. Just after nine. It was early, but that was the point. I shot off a text to Kieran to say good night and crawled into my bed, ready for a fun day.
22
KIERAN
The alarm went off at four, but I was already up.
Years of training had me able to lay down my head and wake up seven hours later without an alarm if necessary. It was a gift and a curse. Very rarely was I able to sleep more than that. Only if I was very sick or, as I discovered recently, wrapped up like a pretzel with Sofia’s head on my chest, was I able to sleep any longer than that. Especially if I was looking forward to something.
This morning, when the alarm went off, I was sitting on the edge of my bed, having done my crunches and push-ups already and waiting for my heart rate to slow before I got up and got coffee. It was a habit of mine to do exercises first thing in the morning when I had nerves about something, even before breakfast or coffee. And I was, indeed, nervous.
It wasn’t that I was nervous to lose. That was irrelevant to me. Winning would be nice and would do a lot for the department and my own stature in the community, but it wasn’t the end all be all anymore. Not after everything that had happened with the big forest fire. Now it was all about having fun and enjoying my time with Sofia before I got called off to train.
And that’s where the nerves came in.
I was nervous about how she was going to handle the news when I told her. Spending the last couple of weeks wrapped up in each other had been some of the best times of my life. I didn’t want to ruin it by telling her I would have to be away for so long. It would likely be an entire six weeks, doing intense training courses of both physical and mental types. It was a unique approach to promotions but something the governor thought was especially helpful.
I had to go. There was no way out of it. But at least I had today.
I could make the best out of today.
Driving over to the fairgrounds, I found myself among the very first people there. The light was still just barely beginning to make the sky less black when I was guided to my spot to set up, and I emptied my materials out of the back of my truck. Each station had the same general setup with a grill, some pots and other cooking materials, a canopy, and a few other things. I set up the canopy first, then put up some of the brochures and other materials for joining the volunteer staff at the department before getting on with everything else.
Minutes after that was all set up and before I could get food cooking, I noticed Sofia arriving, pulling a wagon with cooking materials of her own she was bringing to the table. She stopped as she passed me, on her way to her own station right across, and leaned in for a kiss. I pressed my lips into hers, and for a moment, our rivalry disappeared, and I started wondering if anyone would notice if we left for a while.
“Good luck,” she said. “You’re going to need it today.”
“You talk a big game,” I said, grinning. “Let’s see how well you handle the heat of competition.”
“Oh, I can handle the heat. I think you know that by now.”
I shook my head and laughed. She was getting into my head and making it hard to think with the correct head.
“Have fun in second place,” I said. “Silver medals are very nice.”
“Good,” she said. “You’ll look good in silver. As for myself, I prefer gold.”
She walked away, putting a little extra shake in her hips. I watched her in spite of myself, until she was in her station. I could watch her walk all day.
I went back to putting my things together, getting the fire going and the pot on, while I pulled out what little I was allowed to prepare beforehand.
The rules allowed us to prep our vegetables but not cook them. It also allowed for us to pre-season our meat, which I had done as well. Sealed in a bag with a little water and a hot sauce I’d brought from Nashville, the meat had spent all night in the fridge, gaining flavor. Now, as it sat in the cooler, I added some bacon to the skillet to get it cooked and to add bacon fat to cook the meat and veggies with.
