Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Instead, I let her scramble up and carry the kid out, the loyal dog right on her heels, protecting his charge.
Lia
The news cameras catch me emerging with the boy and dog. Later, when the fire is out, they get my name and ask me questions about how long I’ve been on the squad and what it’s like to be the only woman.
Knowing this is PR for the whole department, I keep it one hundred percent upbeat and positive. We just put out a fire in Manhattan—these people might be the kind who want to donate to our fundraisers.
To my utter humiliation, the whole crew watches the evening news at the station over a spaghetti dinner. There I am—covered in soot and looking almost as small as the boy I have slung over my shoulder.
Then they cut to me with my helmet and SCBA off. “So what’s it like to be the only woman on your crew?”
I sound like a politician running for mayor. “It’s an absolute honor. I’ve wanted to be a firefighter my whole life and working with these guys is a dream come true.”
Rocket leaps from his seat, affecting a fairytale princess pose and using a high-pitched voice. “I just love working with the dreamy guys at Ladder 61!” he mimics.
“Shut up.” I throw my balled up napkin at him.
Blaze’s face comes on the T.V. and I turn back to listen.
“What’s it like having a woman on the crew, Captain?”
My stomach tightens. I’m embarrassed to be watching this in front of everyone. Embarrassed to be talked about on T.V.
The Blaze on camera appears annoyed by the question. “You know, I wasn’t sure how it would work out at first. I mean, I knew she could do the job, but I didn’t know how it would change our team dynamics. But I have to say, she brings something to the crew we didn’t have before. That kid she saved was caught in a tight place. She was the only one small enough to crawl through and get him. If she wasn’t on our team, it might’ve been too late by the time we cleared the path.”
I drop my eyes to my spaghetti and blink back tears. I saved a kid today. It’s the first time it’s hit me. I’m living my dream—saving lives. I have to fight back the disconcerting sensation that I’m going to start bawling like a baby.
“Eight years I’ve been fighting fires and I’ve never been on television. Guess I need a set of tits,” James mutters.
The urge to cry evaporates. I lift my eyes to James, but he won’t look at me.
Rocket shovels a bite of spaghetti into his face and talks with his mouth full. “Duh. She’s a helluva lot prettier than you, asshole. You think they want to put your ugly mug on T.V.?”
“Well, they put on the captain’s,” Scott points out. “And he’s the meanest and ugliest of all of us.”
Blaze grunts and stands, dropping his dish in the sink before walking out.
He’s a man of few words around here, which normally makes me giddy when I think about how expressive he is when we’re alone, but since Sunday, only makes me uneasy. I still don’t know anything about his daughter or his history.
I stand up and clear the dishes. I’m on dish duty again, but Scott helps me.
“So how’s it feel?” he asks, taking a wet dish from me and drying it.
“What?”
“Saving a life.”
I draw in a breath, not even sure how to label all the emotions swirling around me. “Humbling,” is the one I finally pick.
“Yeah, humbling—I agree.” He takes another dish. “A million times better than when you fail to save someone.”
I stop washing dishes for a moment, the weight of his words pressing in on me.
“God, I’m not prepared for that inevitability,” I confess.
“Yeah, you never are. No matter how many times it’s happened. Blaze takes it the worst of any of us. He’s got a rescuer complex, you know?”
My scalp starts to tingle with some awareness I don’t want to have.
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” I manage to say.
“Once we were putting out this fire. The neighbors were yelling that there were kids in there. We went in through the upstairs window.” He just shakes his head, like he can’t go on.
I don’t want to ask, but I still do. “It was too late?”
“Yeah. Six kids. All lying there on the floor. Blaze didn’t speak for two weeks.”
“Does he—” I swallow. I both want and don’t want this information. “He has kids of his own?”
Scott makes a dismissive sound. “Not really. The kid isn’t his. That was another rescue mission of sorts. He started dating this pregnant woman. He supported her through the whole thing—coached her through the birth, stayed up all night with the crying baby, changed diapers, took care of the little girl on his days off. He played full-on daddy to that little girl. And then when things get easier and the kid is a preschooler, the bitch dumps him and goes back to the baby-daddy.”