Page 38 of A Spot of Trouble
On Tuesday morning, Sam was scheduled to give another fire safety demonstration at the Turtle Beach Public Library. Since news of Cinder’s impressive skillset had hit the island’s rumor mill, he’d received a mountain of requests for presentations. They ran the gamut from scout troops and beach camps to garden clubs and ocean conservationist groups. Apparently, Turtle Beach was home to a special hospital and rehabilitation center for endangered sea turtles, and even the turtles were allegedly interested in fire safety and prevention.
It was pretty much a dream come true scenario for a newly appointed fire marshal. Since Sam’s new role involved stopping fires before they started, the more people he and Cinder could educate, the better, so Tuesdays and Thursdays had been designated as community outreach days on his calendar. He’d devote the remaining three days of the week to various inspections and upholding the current fire code, which no one on the island realized was an actual thing.
That was fine, though. It was his job to get the islanders up to speed, and as daunting as the task seemed at times, it provided the perfect distraction from his wager with Violet March. Word had spread about that too, of course. Nothing that happened in Turtle Beach went unnoticed. His Dalmatian could sneeze and it would probably show up in theTurtle Beach Gazette.
“Welcome, Marshal Nash, and welcome to you too, Cinder. We’re so pleased you could come today!” Hazel Smith, the librarian, grinned as he entered the building located on the boardwalk alongside Turtle Beach’s popular stretch of ice cream parlors, surf shops, and art galleries offering watercolor prints of the island’s famed sunsets and local landmarks.
With its shaker shingles and crisp white lattice, the Turtle Beach Public Library looked more like a beach vacation rental than a book lover’s paradise, but so did everyplace else on the island. Sam still wasn’t accustomed to the casual island vibe. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be. This morning, he’d ironed his TBFD uniform and shined his silver badge with a soft flannel cloth, as he did every morning, Monday through Friday. Currently, he was the only person in the room wearing closed-toed shoes instead of flip-flops. Most of the children sitting cross-legged on the floor, waiting for him in the story circle, were dressed in swimsuits and cover-ups.
No wonder he couldn’t get Cinder to stop making his bed in the morning. He wasn’t exactly setting a great example in the chilled out department.
“We’re happy to be here. Thanks for having us.” Sam glanced down at Cinder, and she woofed a greeting on command.
“Oh, just look at her.” Hazel pressed a finely manicured hand to her heart. “The kids are going to love this.”
She ushered Sam to the center of the room, and a chorus of oohs and ahhs followed Cinder as she pranced alongside him. Before Hazel could say a word, half a dozen little hands went up in the air.
“Yes, Kyle?” Hazel motioned to a little boy who looked to be about six years old, sitting on the front row.
He bounced in place, eyes glued to Cinder. “Can I pet the dog?”
“I want to pet the dog too!”
“Me too!”
“Pleeeeeeeease, can I pet her?”
Sam slid his gaze toward Hazel. “Something tells me they all have the same question.”
“You might be right.” She laughed. “Would it be okay if they took turns petting Cinder? Or is she not allowed to do that since she’s a working dog?”
Sam’s thoughts careened back to Violet’s dismay at not being allowed to feed his dog a cupcake. He would have preferred not to think about her ten times an hour, but he couldn’t quite help it. Everything reminded Sam of Violet. It was thoroughly inconvenient.
“Sure, they can,” Sam said. “But we should probably give our demonstration first, while Cinder is alert and ready to go.”
Being mobbed by a dozen or so small children with salt and sand and all manner of beach smells clinging to their tiny bodies was sure to be exhausting, even for an animal as well-trained as Cinder. Sam himself was already feeling a tad claustrophobic. Fire, he was used to. So much interaction with people, not so much.
He liked people, obviously. He’d just assumed his new island life would be more…solitary. Nor had he anticipated that so much of his new job would feel like public relations instead of fire prevention. When he’d signed on to be the island’s new fire marshal, he’d imagined inspecting sprinkler systems, electrical systems, and fire extinguishers—not this.
Cinder leaned against his leg and placed one of her paws on the toe of his shoe.Hello, there. Let’s get on with this.
“Good girl,” he murmured, and her spotted ears swiveled back and forth.
“Aren’t you two just thecutest?” Hazel the librarian’s eyes twinkled and she sighed in a very non-librarian type of way. Very fanciful. Very breathy.
Sam suddenly wondered if his presence at the library’s circle time had anything at all to do with fire safety. He took a backward step.
Not that there was anything wrong with Hazel the librarian. On the contrary, she seemed perfectly lovely—friendly, sweet, and attractive, with glossy blonde hair and a beaming smile that told Sam she would never dream of printing up T-shirts with embarrassing hashtags on them. Dating her would probably be fun. Drama-free. Easy.
The only problem was that Sam wasn’t interested in easy. He was apparently too fascinated by a woman who wanted to dress him up like a pink baked good to have even the slightest bit of interest in anyone else. Lord help him.
“The kids are getting antsy,” he said. “Shall we begin?”
“Of course.” Hazel tucked a strand of her silky hair behind her ear. Sam was somewhat distraught to notice a bit of eyelash fluttering.
He turned his attention to Cinder while Hazel proceeded to give the children a gushing introduction of Sam and his special canine partner. And then while the librarian sat by, mesmerized, he got on with his Dalmatian presentation.
To the children’s delight, Cinder performed all the same crowd-pleasing tricks that she’d done at the senior center. She barked out 911, showed them how to stop, drop, and roll, and taught the kids how to escape smoke inhalation by staying low to the ground. Since the program was aimed at young people this time instead of retirees, Sam added a few new tricks too.
