Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“You sure, Caleb?” Sean asked as he stuck out a hand to pull the other guy up. Caleb made a halfhearted effort to brush himself off, but he ended up merely smearing the mud around.
“Nothing a shower won’t cure.” Caleb stretched, sending more dirt and chunks of mud sprinkling to the ground. “Think I’ll go find one now. Sorry again, Tony.” He nodded in my direction without making eye contact, which was probably for the best. “And happy birthday, Eric.”
“Thanks.” Eric and Sean waved as Caleb beat a hasty retreat. Walking quickly across the park, Caleb almost tripped twice but managed to right himself.
“Is he okay to drive?” I asked. Perhaps he’d dipped into the drink cooler a few too many times.
“He’s sober. Never seen him drunk. Just sometimes slightly clumsy.” Sean gave a friendly big-brother chuckle. “And I wish he’d stuck around.”
“Oh?” I tried to sound neutral, but I was relieved. I didn’t need the temptation to sniff him again.
“He’s a fellow firefighter. Good guy. I’m planning to have him train you.”
Fuck me running. The fire station was down a captain, so Sean was filling in. Badly. “Him? Train me?”
“Well, yeah, rookie.” Sean bopped me on my bum shoulder. I winced at the contact and the reminder I was starting over. I hadn’t been entirely sure what to do after putting in my twenty in the army, but I had so many friends in the first-responder community and a few credits from way back in the day. Then, when I had the opportunity to continue taking fire-science classes a few years back, I figured I might as well. Even if it meant being the oldest damn rookie in the Northwest. “Caleb was a probie not too long ago himself, and he’s volunteered for maintenance work while we’ve been shorthanded. Seemed like a no-brainer.”
“Sounds fine.” I clamped my jaw around the obvious comeback. I’d known coming into this situation that I’d be lowest in the pecking order, doing equipment management and maintenance at the station while working on completing the last of my fire academy requirements. I forced a brighter tone. “Just gotta wrap my head around having younger bosses. Not unlike the green second lieutenants West Point keeps churning out.”
“See?” Sean matched my fake-hopeful tone. “You were a master sergeant in the Rangers. A small-town fire station will be nothing for an operator like you. It’ll all work out.”
I nodded. Vast experience had shown me that attitude was everything. If I acted like this was the right path for me long enough, perhaps I’d start actually believing it.
Chapter Two
Caleb
Come Monday and my first shift of the week, I’d pretty much recovered from that disaster of a football game at Eric’s birthday barbecue. I’d spent the weekend cleaning and getting the place ready for my younger brother’s arrival and letting my pride heal. Yes, I’d bowled over the hottest dude I’d seen in a long time, and yes, he was about to be a coworker, but with any luck, I could avoid Tony as much as possible.
Until, that was, my luck took a flying leap out the break room window at the firehouse when my acting captain Sean found me doctoring my first cup of coffee and made a request that had me groaning.
“You want me to show a freaking Ranger the ropes of cleaning fire engines and taking inventory?” I gave Sean a hard stare. He might be acting captain, but we were also buds enough I could get away with the skepticism. Also, he’d seen me face-plant in the mud in front of said Ranger. He could have at least given me more warning before booking me a ticket on the train to Awkward Town with the dude.
“Why not?” Sean shrugged. I was slightly taller, but he was stockier, older, and oblivious to the coming disaster. “You’re good at those things.”
“Good at doing doesn’t equal good at teaching.” I took a sip of coffee and promptly burned my tongue.
“No time like the present to add more leadership skills to your arsenal.” Sean sounded exactly like every captain I’d met despite his repeated assertions that he’d rather be a crew member. He’d let his father, the fire chief, talk him into being acting captain while the department searched for a permanent solution. “Good for the resume, but it’s also good to challenge yourself.”
“Decent point.” I didn’t bother arguing, but unlike me, Sean was a born leader, the type people naturally listened to. Me? I might have traded in my clumsy class clown role, but I still found it far easier to earn a laugh than respect.
“That’s the spirit.” He clapped me on the shoulder. A few months back, the gesture would have given me a pleasant flutter rather than made me grit my teeth. But now Sean was happily partnered, and I was increasingly unhappy in my role as the station’s comedic relief.