Page 4 of Betting on Lizzie

“Hey,” another firefighter chimed in. “How about the Fire and Ice game? We could use you. And we practice during the day, so maybe you could fit it into your busy schedule?”

“That’s coming up again already?” Ben said. The Fire and Ice game was an annual charity basketball game where a team of firefighters played a team of police officers.

“Every January.”

“Huh,” Ben said. He’d played the last few years and had a good time. Daytime practice meant he wouldn’t miss any of Maya’s games and would still have the evenings free to spend with her. “I’ll think about it.” He held up his mug in a goodbye salute and returned to his office.

Ben had been a firefighter in New Bern for ten years before studying and testing to become an arson investigator. Now, he worked banker’s hours and spent most of his day behind a desk.

He sipped his coffee and opened the file outlining his latest case—a dumpster fire, set intentionally, outside a big box store. Not very exciting, but it paid the bills.

A minute later, three familiar beeps rang out from the overhead speaker. “Two-car MVA at Trent Boulevard and First Street. Possible injuries. Code three,” a calm voice announced.

Half the muscles in Ben’s body reflexively made a move to stand. The other half remembered that wasn’t his job anymore. He relaxed back into his cushy chair and hoped the guys had gotten enough of their breakfast while it was hot. Sometimes he missed being on the front lines. Sometimes not. The inspector job was more stable. Better hours. Better suited to his situation at home.

From his office, he heard the heavy garage doors rumble open, and the sirens begin to wail as the ladder truck and ambulance pulled out of the bay. Out his window, the big red engine sped by.

His cell phone rang, and after checking caller ID, he answered.

“Hey, honey. Shouldn’t you be in class right now?”

“Hi, Dad. It’s study hall period,” his daughter, Maya, said.

“Oh, okay. What’s up?”

“I’m calling to ask if I can spend the night at a friend’s tomorrow. We want to see a movie and then have a sleepover.”

“Sure. That’s sounds fine.”

“Cool. You coming to my game tonight?”

“First game of the season? Of course I’m coming. Seven?”

“Yep. See you then. Gotta go. Bye.”

He looked at the photo on his desk and sighed. The little girl staring back at him was now closing in on eighteen. How had that happened so quickly?

Since the photo, Maya had shot up to almost six feet and was the star of her high school basketball team. Attending her game would be the highlight of his weekend. The guys razzed him about not having a life. They thought he didn’t hang out because he was stuck up or fundamentally opposed to having fun, but really, he just had more important things to focus on.

But as Maya, and lately, his mother, kept reminding him, she’d be off to college this time next year. They worried he wasn’t prepared for that, and maybe he wasn’t.

Thinking of his mother must have conjured her because not ten minutes later, she called.

“Just wanted to find out your schedule for Thanksgiving. When will you be here?”

His parents lived in Knoxville, and since Maya’s mom wasn’t in the picture, they always spent the holidays with his family.

“We plan to leave here on Wednesday morning and drive straight through. Should arrive about five. Maya has a game on Saturday, so we’ll have to take off on Friday afternoon.”

“All right. Don’t suppose you’re bringing anyone else? A lady friend perhaps?”

Ben sighed. “Here we go…”

“Oh, stop. I just worry about you. You’re a handsome man. Surely, there must be women throwing themselves at you.”

“You’re not wrong,” he said dryly. “It’s a constant battle.”

She laughed. “We’ll see you in a couple of weeks. Give Maya a kiss from us.”

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