Page 51 of Once Upon a Summer Night

Now if only she could find an open position near Bourbon Falls…

*

Chase arrived atthe fire station Wednesday morning to find yesterday’s crew chumming it up with Hannah more than before. And to not only a sparkling clean kitchen, but a surprisingly neat and tidy garage. Austin shook his head and admitted that Hannah had showed them all up the day before. Then he’d laughed and congratulated Chase on finding himself one hell of a woman.

Chuckling, Chase headed to the office to find said woman, curious as to what she’d done. Funny, she hadn’t mentioned showing anyone up. But one step into the office, he froze with surprise.

In his absence, the mountains of paper in her father’s office had dwindled to molehills. There were even a few places around the room where he could see the tops of actual furniture that’d been buried for as long as he could recall. While he’d been worried the guys were giving her a hard time, she’d been at the station going to town.

“Whoa, someone’s been busy.”

Hannah looked up from her work and smiled, a shiny new scanner on the desk to her right. “Sure have. Thanks for suggesting I talk to Mildred—she had this sent over within the hour. It was ordered for another department’s secretary, but she’s out on maternity leave for the next few months. They’re going to order her a new one and let us keep this one.”

“Nice.” He glanced around the room. “You think your dad is going to be okay with all of this?”

She laughed. “No, but I’m thinking whoever steps into his role after he retires will thank me for it. I’ve got folders on the computer for everything. And, in case he does flip out, I’m not actually throwing anything away.” Hannah pointed to a row of banker’s boxes along the back wall. “If he really wants his papers, they’ll be in storage, the descriptions on the boxes matching the folders on the computer. Hopefully, though, he’ll go ahead and recycle it all.”

It was genius, really—bending the chief’s “no throw away” rule without actually breaking it. Part of Chase wished he’d been the one to come up with the idea. He took a seat atop the now-cleared desk across from hers and folded his arms.

“Rumor has it you did some showing off here yesterday.”

Amusement replaced the worry on her brow. “Is that what they’re calling it? I mean, they’re the ones who accepted my ladder truck challenge.”

He groaned. “A climbing contest? How badly did you beat them?”

“Oh, it wasn’t even close.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Don’t tell, but I paused at the top to ease Scot’s humiliation on Monday.”

Chase busted out laughing. “Oh, I’m totally hanging on to that little tidbit. I take it Austin came in second yesterday?”

“Yep. He was quicker than the others, but talked enough smack that I didn’t bother to pause at the top. Only beat him by fifteen seconds.”

“Wish I could have been here to see their faces. I take it one crew earned kitchen cleaning duty for their loss?”

She nodded. “Austin was thrilled, I assure you. And Monday’s crew got to help get the garage area in shape.”

“Saw it when I came in,” Chase admitted. “Looks like a whole new space in there.”

“As it should.” She leaned back in her chair, the action so like her father it was uncanny. “How often do you guys do safety walk-arounds?”

Chase blinked.

“Okay,” she said, “then at least tell me who’s on your safety committee?”

“We’re supposed to have one of those?”

Hannah’s shoulders dropped. “Seriously? How does Dad get by skimping on safety like this?”

“Well, hold on, now. The town building manager stops by each month to make sure everything in the station is working the way that it should. And the commissioner sends someone out quarterly to make sure we’re up to code.”

“Have you ever seen the report they send with their findings?”

Chase scratched his chin. “Can’t say that I have.”

“Well, guess what? I’ve read them all. In fact, not a week ago, they were sitting where your butt is now. The inspector comes in, points something out, and recommends Dad correct their findings. Only, he doesn’t seem to, because the same items show up time and again.” She tossed her hands up. “Why is no one holding him accountable?”

“Probably because no one has time to. We’re already stretched thin here, and the commissioner’s staff got cut last year after the state elections.”

“Damn. I remember when I was looking for jobs when we were still in Lafayette, their fire department was looking for someone to fill their safety inspector. Sounds like maybe you guys don’t have someone like that assigned to this region.”

---