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She felt an uncharacteristic warmness in her chest that seemed to be traveling up her neck and into her cheeks. She quickly averted her eyes.
“Okay,” she heard him say. Her eyes found his once more as she waited for him to explain.
“You can post whatever photo you like, as long as you believe it is needed. I trust you.”
At the last sentence, a wide smile graced her lips. “I promise you won’t be disappointed with what I have planned.”
“I know,” was his simple reply.
Andrea used the time to get to know a little bit more about the staff, the types of equipment they had at the station, and how they responded to emergency calls. She even got the chance to slide down the fireman’s pole that ran from the third floor where they slept when doing anywhere from twenty-four to forty-eight-hour shifts.
Her first time down, she was scared to death that she would fall off and hurt herself. She felt as if the air was being pushed out of her lungs as her heart plunged to the bottom of her stomach with the descent. When nothing major happened, she chose to go a second time and then a third. It felt exhilarating to be slicing through the air as gravity pulled her down the length of the pole.
The team responded to one medical emergency for the day, and Andrea tagged along to take a few more shots of them at work.
“Hey, Andrea. The guys are going to the Leaky Tavern. Wanna come?” Celeste asked.
She was warmed by how quickly the crew had accepted her presence at the station. She’d been coming there for the past two weeks, but she wasn’t so sure it was a good idea to go out with them, seeing that after the project, she possibly wouldn’t have any reason to come to the station. But she would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy their company.
“I would love to. Is that all right?” she looked to Donny for approval.
“Yes,” he agreed. “You’ve been on two ride-alongs, so you’re practically a part of the family now.”
At the change of shifts, Donny left instructions with the new set of firefighters before they left for the bar. She ended up leaving her car at the station to travel with Donny and three of the firefighters.
“Hey, Gin, another round for the table,” Jay, one of the four paramedics that worked at the station, called out to the bartender, who raised his hand to indicate he would soon send them over.
The group of eight had been drinking and laughing for the past hour. It was getting late, but Andrea was enjoying the company. Although she’d only had one glass of beer, she felt a little light-headed, so she nursed a glass of water instead of another drink. Donny had expressed that he didn’t drink, not that he could have as he was the designated driver.
“Having a good time?” he turned to ask her.
“Yes, this is nice,” she expressed with a smile.
“We’re going to head out, Lieutenant. There’s this place we wanna visit, but we know how much of a stick in the mud you are, so we’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Donny threw a straw at Sam, who had spoken. “I am not a stick in the mud,” he denied. “I’m just not into your type of fun.”
“Yeah, yeah. We got you, Lieutenant. Andrea, I’m happy you came; sorry we couldn’t stay longer, but we should do this again,” Celeste spoke, giving Andrea a side hug before sliding out of the booth.
“I’m glad too. Thanks for inviting me.”
After the crew left, only Donny and Andrea remained seated in the booth.
