Page 75 of Her Braun
He went to the equipment room first to make sure that he had a clean set of bunker gear waiting for him. He felt like his coat was a few pounds heavier than it had been when he'd put in on a few hours before and when he looked up, he saw his reflection in a shiny glass surface a few feet away.
He looked like he'd walked through darkness and come out wearing it.
The news crews that had been at their last call had been practically crawling all over them until Chief Campanelli had told them to back off.
It was amazing how people who didn't wear a stitch of safety gear think that they can get within a few feet of a fire and come out unscathed. And that sometimes meant that they moved in too close, training their focus on the fire and what would be the most dynamic shot, paying no attention to the dangers they were opening himself up to.
A soft voice reached him in the middle of his thoughts.
"Braun? You okay?"
He looked up and smiled at Gloria Campanelli. She was everyone's unofficial mom at the fire house.
It didn't matter how much salt anyone had in their hair, she took care of them all.
"Good, Gloria. How are you doing?"
The look she gave him said she didn't believe that he was good.
Having been married to a firefighter for nearly three decades, she could pick out a lie, no matter how well intentioned it had been at thirty paces. She moved through the room, surrounded by turnout gear and other equipment looking as though she could head out on their next call with them.
She looked right at home.
"Aldo says that you're not staying at your apartment these days."
Gibson grinned. "Cutting right to the chase, hmm?"
"I believe the direct method is the best." She shrugged and folded her arms across her chest. "Over the years, Aldo can talk his way around pretty much anything to try and make me feel better even though he knows how much I'd rather hear the straight truth."
Gibson's smile deepened. "He's lucky to have you," he nodded. "And so are we."
She smiled brightly at that.
"So, from what I hear through the Station House grapevine is that you've fallen for Kay Hata at the hospital." She lifted her chin in the direction of Cole Medical. "How are things going?"
"I didn't expect to be living with her, but that's what we're basically doing right now, but it's mainly because she'd had a few break ins at her place."
Gloria raised an elegantly curved brow at that. "But it's more than that, isn't it?"
Gibson leaned against the wall and smiled at her. "I love her, Gloria. I think I've loved her for a while now."
"You think?"
"That I love her? Or how long I've been in love with her?"
Gloria watched him carefully. "It's not about what I think, Braun. It's all about whatyouthink."
"Well, when I'm around Kay, sometimes thinking isn't the easiest thing to do."
"Ah, I remember those days," she smiled. "Those halcyon days when it was easy for us to have... What was it they called it? Ah, yes. Roman hands and Russian fingers."
Gibson had to smile at that. "What does Vitalia say when you tell her that?"
Gloria shook her head. "My darling daughter has been known to clap her hands over her ears and sing LA LA LA LA when I'mtalking about what things were like with her father back in the day." Gloria was a woman who lived with her heart on her sleeve.
Her daughter, and yes, his Fire Chief's daughter was a force of nature, and seemed to blend the personalities of her mother and father, but that didn't mean that she didn't have unique characteristics all of her own.
Gibson knew Vitalia well.
