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5
Jordan
Man, talk about theworstluck.
Generally, I preferred to take things slow with women. Nothing was ever gained by rushing into something, or getting too physical too fast. It was better to take your time, get to know the other person, and draw it out. That way, when thingsdidstart getting hot and heavy, it was even better.
Yet something about Clara Ricci made me want to abandon that mindset and dive right in. We clicked on our first date in a way I had never felt before. We had a connection that was tough to explain. Even though we only exchanged a few pleasantries whenever she delivered our food, it felt like I had known her much longer than that.
It was the kind of spark I thought only existed in cheesy rom-coms.
But it was real. It was so, so real.
As I walked her back to her car, I didn’t know what I should do. Normally, my go-to move on a first date was a kiss on the cheek. But I wanted to do so much more with Clara tonight. I wanted toreallykiss her. I wanted to fold my arms around her and feel her curvy body against mine.
I want to take her home and…
Then my phone rang.
Any other time, and I would have ignored it until I was back in my truck. But it was pushing midnight, and there was a short list of people who would call me this late. Sure enough, the name on the screen saidCaptain Dahlkemper.
“Get down here,” he told me. “We’ve got a situation.”
I was tempted to joke about him intentionally torpedoing my date, but something in his voice had me on edge. “Okay, I’ll be there.”
And that’s how I ended up giving Clara Ricci a polite kiss on the cheek.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” I berated myself in the truck on the way to the firehouse. It was a crummy ending to an otherwise perfect night. I could have taken a few seconds to end the date properly. Arealkiss, full of warmth and promise. The way Clara deserved.
But I knew that Derek wouldn’t be calling unless it was an emergency, and every second might count.
When I got to the firehouse, the first thing I noticed was that both fire engines were still in the garage. That was strange. If there was an emergency, at least one should have been gone. I walked through the garage and into the living room. The three guys from second-shift were sprawled out on the couches and recliners, watching a replay of the Giants game.
Firefighter shifts varied from firehouse to firehouse, and state to state. In big cities, the most common shift schedule was twenty-four hours on, then forty-eight hours off. Another popular shift schedule involved twelve-hour shifts, four days a week.
For a small town like Riverville, we didn’t have the luxury of those kinds of schedules. Instead, we did four days on, then three days off. My shift started at 9:00 PM on Monday and ended at the same time Friday night. Then, the backup shift took over for three days while we were off.
In a major city center, this would be a grueling schedule. But around Riverville, we just didn’t get a lot of calls. It was mostly false alarms or quality-of-life responses. For example, in the past week, the most excitement we’d gotten was when little Jeffrey Parker got his head stuck in his fence.
“What’s going on?” I asked the second-shift guys.
“How the fuck should we know?” Billy replied.
I liked most of the other firefighters in town, but Billy Manning was a grade-A asshole. Thank goodness I got matched up with Derek and Taylor rather than his crew.
“Chief called me,” I replied. “Said it was an emergency.”
Billy rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the game. One of the other guys jerked his thumb and said, “Chief’s in one of the bunks.”
I gave him a grateful nod and went that way.
The hallway between the garage and living area had six bedrooms. All of them were open except the one markedCaptain Dahlkemper,which was closed. I gently knocked, then opened the door.
Unlike the other rooms, which contained bunk beds, Derek’s room boasted a single queen-sized bed. Derek and Taylor were standing over the bed with their backs to me. There was a strange sound, one I couldn’t quite place.
Taylor looked over his shoulder at me. He gave me a look:Holy shit, dude.
“Chief?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
