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Five minutes later,Kyle choked down his coffee quickly before smiling politely at the older woman as he got to his feet. The radio was crackling on his shoulder, and he knew he was out of time. The truck would leave without him if he didn’t hurry.
“I’ve gotta go, Mrs. Kendall. My team is calling…”
“You need to be the rascally one…”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Kyle grinned, winking at her. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“See you next week, handsome,” she laughed happily.
“You know,” Kyle began knowingly. “If you ever get out and want to play bingo… check out the nursing home. Bob is an avid bingo player and maybe you’ll catch me there with my girlfriend in the future.”
“I knew you liked older ladies…”
“I like feisty ladies,” Kyle chuckled, blushing, “but my girlfriend’s mother lives at the nursing home and we go visit – so any coffee and visiting could be after hours.”
“Ohhh,” Mrs. Kendall smiled and winked at him. “Sounds like a date. Bob, huh?”
“Oh yes – ask for Bob,” he grinned, and heard the truck horn honk loudly. “Gotta go…” he said bluntly, racing out the front door, because if Justin left him – Kyle would lose his ever-lovin’ mind…
“I’ll be back…” he hollered, waving over his shoulder, and running across the yard just as the truck started to advance. Kyle grabbed the pull on the side and pulled himself into the vehicle bodily, feeling his arms protest painfully after all the painting and work he’d done at the café during his time off.
“You okay, loverboy?” Andy mocked, grinning wolfishly.
“Yep. Same visit as usual. She’s lonely.”
“She’s a holy terror to red-blooded men…”
“She sniffs around more fellas than a lonely hound dog…”
“She’s very kind in a strange way that doesn’t sit well with most people. It’s cute that she’s sweet on ol’ Kyle… and yeah, she’s lonely.”
“That too,” he chuckled knowingly, shaking his head, because what they said was true. The radio on the truck interrupted anything else they would say as they all turned to listen to the announcement.
“Dispatch this is Ladder 47’s chauffeur, we are enroute,” Justin said openly in the microphone. “Please repeat.”
Residential fire on Mockingbird Lane, please advise on ETA
“Dispatch, I am five minutes out…” Justin chirped, before yelling. “Hang on, boys…”
The truck suddenly surged forward, sending all of the firefighters nearly off their seats as they clung to their handholds in the cab of the vehicle. If Justin said five minutes, they would be there in three…
The man meant business – and they had work to do!
As the truck suddenly came to a stop, they all flew into action.
“I’m takin’ a walk fellas…” Chase called out, leaping out of the truck.
Kyle smiled to himself.
Chase had the weirdest way of making this seem like a normal event, but in fact he was doing just that. He would walk the perimeter to assess the situation before any of them got into something too deep where they could get injured.
Getting out of the truck, they began to move quickly, heading for the nearest ‘plug’, or hydrant, while Kyle began to unroll the heavy hoses.
“Bros beforehoses…” Austin guffawed, slapping him on the back, playfully mocking the offensive slang term yet twisting it to make it fit his own corny personality. “Get it? Eh – you get it? We’rebroswith ahoseinstead of bros and hoes…”
“Austin, stop while you are ahead… seriously. Stop.”
