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“I’ll put him in his crib, and you go back to sleep for a while.” She went into the next room, a little alcove that she’d set up as a nursery. “On second thought about taking him out, have the folks come here if they want to see him. They can put a little effort into it. They haven’t been here once.”
Pulling the sheets up to her chin, Caitlin laughed. “Turn the monitor on so I can hear the kid.”
“Oh, trust me, you’ll hear him. I’m outta here.”
“Have a great first day. Text me.”
Nerves didn’t hit until she left her apartment. It was still cool, the marine layer of fog heavy, as usual for an early summer morning. Commuting to the station was easy for her; her apartment complex was on the same main road, due east ten miles. Driving slowly due to the fog ticked off the drivers behind her, and by the time she arrived at the station, she was shaking. Pulling into the parking lot, she happened to glance over and saw the truck that had tailgated her for the last ten minutes right behind her.
The driver glared at her, but when she got out of her car and he saw her uniform, he was immediately contrite.
“Oh jeez, forgive me for that. How embarrassing.” He held out his hand to her, ashamed for being a jerk because one look at her and he was smitten. “Anthony Saint, but everyone calls me Tony.”
“I couldn’t see to drive,” she said, reluctantly taking his hand. “Bridget Clark. You scared me to death.”
“I’m so sorry. I can be a jerk when I’m late for work,” Tony replied, stammering. “I’m sure we must have met.”
It was a lesson about being kind on the road, especially when his heart started thumping.
“We did, but I was nine months pregnant,” she replied, laughing.
Later, she’d tell Caitlin that his face literally fell. “Oh, gotcha, now I remember,” he said. “You were…” He rolled his hands over his belly to indicate a beach ball.
“I was,” she answered, laughing. “Flynn is two months old.”
“What’s your husband do?” he asked, crestfallen.
“I’m not married,” she answered, and he brightened right up, and she could see he was trying to reel it in.
Biting her lip so she didn’t laugh in his face, she finally asked him, “And what does your wife do?”
“I’m not married either,” he said, a big grin on his face.
She melted, the possibilities zooming through her mind. He was interested. And then she came to her senses. His interest was the last thing she needed. “Well, now that we have that cleared up, I’d better get in there before I get fired.”
“After you,” he said, holding his hand out to lead the way. “Trust me, it will take a lot more than being late to get fired around here. We’re desperate.”
“Is that right? I promise not to take advantage of it.”
He looked at her with his head cocked to the side, taking in the view. The new EMT was gorgeous. One of the other guys would probably make a move. His own romantic life was so messed up, and a nice new girl with a pretty face might light a fire under him to do what he should have done a year ago to straighten out the mess.
“I’m going to raise the flag. Do you want to join me?”
“They call Tony the flag man here,” someone yelled from the garage.
“I like ceremony, so shoot me,” Tony fired back good-naturedly.
“I like ceremony, too,” she said, looking up into his eyes.
Standing with him out by the flagpole, Bridget happily watched Tony perform his maneuver, unfolding the flag and attaching it to the clips, but the joy was more about his muscles flexing under his T-shirt, his powerful arms grabbing the rope and hoisting the flag to the very top that got her attention.
“There we go,” he said.
“Do you take it down, too?”
“I do. My dad or my brothers take over when I’m not around.”
Once they were back inside the garage, Tony waved the battalion chief over.
