Page 54 of The Spark Between Us

“No. Tell me you didn’t!” His guilty look said he did. “Damn. After I warned you?”

We had problems every time guys rotated in from a station with a longer fire pole. They weren’t used to the shorter distance to the bottom and fucked up their landings. Every time. Lots of broken ankles. Many newer stations didn’t even have poles, but ours still had the original one, and most of the guys still liked to use it.

Duke would be lucky if all he had was a sprain.

“I know. I practiced a bunch of times, but I woke up from a deep sleep and rushed out on autopilot. Hit the ground hard.”

“Aw man, that sucks. Sorry.”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt that bad. But I’m probably benched a couple days ‘til it heals.”

“I’m betting a week at least, but I hope you’re right.”

“Thanks. I’ll be cooking for you all, I guess. Speaking of, you want some waffles? There’s extra.” He pointed to a stack I hadn’t noticed.

I helped myself to two, and poured on some syrup. Sarah and I had both overslept, but while she’d managed to seem perky, I felt spacey and was jonesing for any breakfast I could find. “These are good. You make these?”

“Eggo made ‘em. But I’ll hit the store later, and tomorrow I’ll get some hash browns going and omelets. Or, I dunno...” Poor guy, he looked miserable, his mouth pulled down into a scowl, body fidgety without exercise.

“Chin up, Duke. This too will pass. Maybe don’t use the pole anymore. Only saves about four seconds,” I chuckled. Firefighters were a stubborn bunch. We tended to learn things the hard way.

“One thing you can do is make sure we’ve always got two fresh pots of coffee,” I said, noticing that both of the pots were down to the dregs. I got the impression Duke hadn’t done much kitchen duty at his old engine company. The coffee job was as basic as it came.

“Sure thing.” He hobbled to the counter and started measuring beans. I took my waffles into the truck bay to get started on the day’s schedule.

Cash was out there polishing the ladder truck and flashed me a knowing grin. I hadn’t worked with him since Sarah’s collision with the rig, and of course he’d be itching to give me shit. I could see in his cocky face that we weren’t going to make it through the day without some comment.

“Hey, we’re going to flow water through the hydrants today, make sure they’re not broken. Head out in ten.” I told him, glancing at the clock on the wall.

He nodded and kept working. “How’s the new roommate?”

“Nerdy and annoying, thanks for asking. Now we’re heading out in nine.” I could be an authoritative asshole when I wanted to be.

“Looked pretty hot to me. You think she wants to socialize?”

“Not with you. Eight minutes.”

And there it went. No chance of getting through my shift without thinking about her. Not that I really had a chance at blocking her out. I liked the thought of her too much.

We each had a busy week at work, and I needed to pull two twenty-four-hour shifts in three days, so we could each cool down in our respective corners. There would be no repeat of last night.

For now.

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