Page 4 of Tameron

So I had zero idea why this year was kicking my ass so hard. The move to the new station was a lateral move, but it had come with a small raise and the promise of less chaos now that I wasn’t working in the city. Marin County wasn’t exactly some backwoods farmland kind of place, but there were definitelymore kitten-up-a-tree rescues than gunshot wounds, which I appreciated.

I wasn’t old, but I was starting to feel my age, and pardon the pun, I was starting to burn out.

And that was making me feel panicked. I didn’t want to lose my sense of self and purpose before I hit my peak years.

“Hey, Dayton?”

I turned to find Sutton wheeling toward me. He’d started the class a couple of months back after he was given the all-clear to resume working out after his accident. He was a former firefighter from LA who’d been in a violent car accident when his firetruck was crossing an intersection and a semi hadn’t been able to stop in time.

He was my first spinal cord injury student and it had taken me a long bout of research to find the right training for him.But after the initial struggle of finding an accessible routine, he was now one of my favorite students.

Of course I was also biased, being a battalion chief and all, but no one needed to know I played favorites like that.

I stuck out my fist and he knocked his knuckles against mine. “What’s up, man?”

“So, don’t take this personally?—”

I braced myself and let out a sharp breath. “Let me have it.”

“This just isn’t working.”

I pressed my hand to my chest. “Are you breaking up with me?”

His eyes lit up and he rolled them. “Claire would be devastated,” he said, referencing his wife, whom I loved, and not just because she baked me s’mores brownies twice a month. “But no, I’m not breaking up with you. I think the whole class will be okay if we hit pause until we find a better spot.”

There was a small part of me a little gutted about not doing my classes for a bit, but there was a bigger part wildly relievedbecause he was right. It wasn’t working here. The warehouse itself was perfectly set up for what we needed. It had a sturdy floor, plenty of mats, and high ceilings with massive fans to keep the place ventilated. It was mostly used by an aerialist company that did cirque performances during street-festival season.

But it was near several industrial plants, and they were renovating the building next door, which meant it was loud all the time. And hearing workers screamingfuck youduring shavasana wasn’t exactly ideal for the end-of-class meditation.

“Please don’t make that face. You know we love you,” Sutton pleaded.

I dropped down to one of the acrobatic cushions and shook my head, letting my forearms rest over my knees. “Nah, man. It’s not you. This really does suck. The station is in a damn tizzy because of this. You know how the crew feels when their routine gets fucked.”Apart from this class, half my people at the fire station had also gone to the gym where I taught.Then the damn thing had burned down and we were all left a little lost.

Sutton’s expression went sad for a beat when I mentioned the crew because even with accommodations, there was no way he could go back to work as a firefighter. Sutton was currently in training to work dispatch, but I could tell that for him, it was a compromise.

And not one he loved.

“Any leads on somewhere new?”

“Actually, yeah. One of the EMT rookies—I think you’ve met him. Nash?”

Sutton grinned. “That hulking Army dude?”

I couldn’t help my laugh. That was a pretty good way to describe Nash. He’d become something like a best friend over the last few months, and he came with a small group of veterans as his little family. I loved them, even if not all of them loved me back.

Tameron’s face flashed in my mind, and I felt a tiny tingle at the base of my spine. I’d expected to bond with him more than the other guys, considering I came from a Deaf family and he was hard of hearing and learning ASL, but for some reason, that seemed to piss him off instead of creating a bridge toward friendship.

“Yeah. His buddy goes to a gym not too far from here, and he’s checking into whether they can accommodate us.”

“Will you make sure I can fit through the door?” Sutton asked, patting his wheels.

“I won’t set foot in a place where your wheels aren’t welcome,” I told him.

His face softened. “Well, I hope it works out. Sorry class sucked today.”

That was one way to put it. I pushed to my feet and clapped him on the shoulder before walking to the desk. Sutton made his way out as I gathered my things, and by the time I’d locked up and put the key in the drop box, the meager parking lot had cleared.

A small rush of loneliness hit me in the center of my chest, but I shoved it away and quickly got into my car. I was determined not to let anything spoil my day off. I didn’t get a lot of them, but this transfer was supposed to mean more of those. The last ten years had been filled with work, the commute to work, and the commute home. The fatigue had begun to weigh so heavily on me that the most I’d had energy for was stealing a plate of leftovers my brother had thrown together and eating it in bed before passing out.

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