Page 13 of Falling for my First Crush

After I drop my stuff in my locker, I remember to check the schedule. I’m pleased that I actually know most of the guys on this shift. I notice Julius’ name, and I frown. Why do we keep getting stuck together on shifts? As far as I can recall, Julius is a part-timer, so his schedule shouldn’t overlap with mine as much as it does. That’s fine, though. Maybe I’ll be able to figure out a way to get more information out of him about his relationship with Maia, if it could even be called that. They’ve only had one date…that I know of.

I shake my head hard to clear my thoughts. No other woman has ever gotten to me the way Maia Moretti does. Still, to this day. From the day I met her, as a kid, I didn’t know anything about unrequited love. I just thought that my crush was deeper than other people my age. So I never made a move or asked her out. I never told her how I felt. Then I left to pursue life, and now I’m back. I’m not sure what any of it means.

Walking through the nearly empty building to the truck bays, I realize that there aren’t many people here yet. The guys from the last shift are in the office, finishing up their documentation, which means that there was a call sometime over the last few hours. Their acting captain seems to be debriefing them, from what I can gauge through the window. I catch sight of Adam and Trevor standing next to their equipment, doing their daily check. It’s the first of at least four checks that we do over the course of our shift. If we have a call, that increases the amount of times that we check everything. There would be nothing worse than having a call where your equipment wasn’t working properly.

“Hey,” I say as I approach.

“Did you hear about the call this morning?” Adam asks as his gaze flickers to the office.

When I follow his line of sight from where I’m standing now, I can see that the guys from the earlier shift all seem pretty somber. That means that something bad went down. I get a pit in the center of my stomach. After the ambulance ride yesterday, I’m not sure how much bad news I can take right now.

“I didn’t,” I say.

“Fire at the animal shelter,” Trevor says gruffly. I can tell that he’s trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.

“Whoa,” I say. Kids and animals are the hardest calls. Always. “Any, uh, fatalities?”

“Thankfully, no,” Adam says. “The staff got all the animals out to a second building on the property, but now they don’t know what they’re going to do. They don’t have any kennels or cages, and some of the animals need to be separated.”

“What they really need is a bunch of foster homes,” Trevor says. “My wife and I foster kittens all the time, so we’ve already volunteered to take a few more in, but we already have eight cats in the house. I’m not sure how many more we can handle.”

“I felt so bad for that woman who runs the place. What is her name?” Adam asks. “Alexa, right?”

Trevor nods. “She’s been doing it for a long time, but I don’t think she’s ever faced anything like this before,” he says. “Hey, you guys should consider fostering an animal or two.”

“That doesn’t really mesh with our schedules,” I say.

From the way Trevor frowns at me, I know that was definitely the wrong thing to say. “You could foster a dog,” he says. “Not a puppy, but maybe one of the older ones. And you could bring it here for your shifts. It wouldn’t cause any issues. In fact, a few guys have done it in the past, and the dogs became part of the ‘fire family’, really.”

I pause to consider his suggestion. I recall now that there’s been guys who have worked here that brought their dogs with them while on duty. I do like dogs. Besides, it would be a temporary thing anyway. No long term commitment. Just helping out a community organization until they get back on their feet. I don’t want to alienate anyone here at the station either.

“Maybe,” I say, as noncommittally as possible, even though I know myself well enough to know my fate is doomed, and that I’ll say yes.

“I’ll text Alexa,” Trevor says. “Maybe she can bring some dogs by later for you guys to meet.”

I hear myself agreeing to this crazy arrangement, although I’m not totally upset about it. The thought of helping out an animal shelter is appealing, and I haven’t had a dog since I was a kid. It’ll be fun to have one around, even if it will only be for a short time. We decide that if there’s time after dinner, Alexa should bring the dogs over then.

We start going through our daily checklist of chores, so there isn’t any more socializing. I don’t mind the routine. There’s something soothing about the sameness of it all. I try to block out the chatter of Julius and one of the other guys whose name I can’t remember at the moment. I know Julius is talking about Maia. He hasn’t said her name, but he mentioned something about her having three sisters.

“I’m done, man,” Julius says as he closes the equipment door on the truck. “Let’s go see if there are any leftovers in the fridge. I’m starving.”

I glance at them as they leave the truck bay to head toward the kitchen. The other shift has cleared out, and the station is quiet, save for the sounds of chores going on around me. Tension has snaked through me, and I’m not sure why. It could be the fact that I agreed to take on an animal that surely has trauma. But more likely it’s the fact that Julius is dating Maia, while I am still harboring feelings for her, even after all these years.

Thinking about Maia isn’t anything new for me. Until I came back to Cranberry Creek, though, I had assumed that I’d never have a chance with her. I’m surprised she hasn’t found a steady partner yet. Julius doesn’t count, as I don’t think that he could be considered steady by any stretch of the imagination. He’s too…young. And cocky. And just…not right for her. Obviously.

I nearly laugh out loud as the thought enters my head. I sound like an old man, not a thirty-two year old. I’m well aware that Maia can date anyone she wants. I have no claim to her or her affections, and if she told me to back off, leave her alone, whatever, I would respect her choice. But I want at least a chance to ask her if she would want to date me.

After finishing my chores, I head toward the kitchen. I’m sort of hungry, too, and I just want to eavesdrop on Julius some more, if I’m being honest. The part of me that is a masochist just wants to get all the details I can. The main thing I want to know is how serious he and Maia are.

Unfortunately, Julius has already vacated the kitchen when I get there. Adam gives me a wave and then returns to rummaging around in the fridge. I grab a sandwich off the counter and drop down into one of the chairs around the counter. No one says anything, but there is a companionable silence in the air. This is the best part of being here at the station. There is camaraderie that I’ve only ever found with other firefighters. You have to have that camaraderie, or you’ll fail. No two ways about it. You have to have each other’s backs. Your very lives are often at stake, and you have to know you can trust one another in a moment of dire stress, no matter what.

I’m just finishing my sandwich when the alarm starts to go off. We all immediately jump into action. On my way back to my locker to get my equipment, I hear the robotic voice of our intercom system say, “Warehouse fire.”

I hurry into my equipment and get onto the truck. I’m not driving today. The address of the warehouse doesn’t sound familiar to me, but why should it? I’ve been away from Cranberry Creek long enough that parts of it have been completely built up since then. A warehouse fire should be simple enough to contain, and hopefully there won’t be any people trapped inside. House fires with kids and pets involved are the hardest to face.

It isn’t until the truck is screaming down the street that I realize I’m in the cab with Julius driving. How did that even happen? No one else is with us, so an awkward silence descends. I try to focus on all the steps I need to take when we get to the scene. These few moments of reprieve are often the only time I have to get my head in the game. Distraction can be deadly.

“Whoa,” Julius says as we pull up to the warehouse. It’s a large structure that is nearly completely engulfed in flames.

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