Page 54 of The Fire Captain's Unexpected Baby
For the first time in four days, I fall into a deep and easy sleep. The kind where I don’t dream of anything—not Paige, not my past, and not the future. It’ll all be right here when I wake up, but not now.
Chapter Sixteen
Aaron
The alarm blares, echoing through the room and dipping into the recesses of my mind. Pure adrenaline spikes through my veins. Before I can even consciously process what’s going on, the blankets are thrown off me.
Levi and I are both racing from the beds down to gear up.
“What do we know about it?” I yell over the din.
The other men are more solemn than usual. Immediately, I know that we’re not going on another house call to see Paige and her burnt pancakes.
When I’m met with silence, the truth hits me.
This is no ordinary house fire.
Zachary is down suiting up, his first day back since his lengthy honeymoon. And what a welcome back.
I clap him on the shoulder, and a weak smile manages to break through the worry and concern.
“Wildfire.” He confirms my worst fear. “Outskirts of town, but the call said it’s getting close to the houses there.”
Someone curses loudly from beside me. I start grabbing gear off the wall and throwing it into the back of the truck. I have no idea what it will look like when we get there, how long we’ll be there, or what we’ll need.
Better to be prepared.
“Let’s ride out,” Levi shouts over the din.
The last couple of firefighters are stumbling to get into their gear, the adrenaline making it difficult to focus. They’re new, and I wonder how they’ll handle the pressure.
I slam the back of the truck closed. The driver flips on the sirens, navigates out of the bay, and swings wide onto the main drag.
The fire that we put out the day I rescued the puppies was rough. This would be worse.
I lay out the strategy for our approach in the truck to absolute silence. No one speaks up or argues about protocol. The rapt attention on their faces makes me realize that somehow they have learned to trust me.
“Zachary, you’ll stay with me on the left side of the fire. We’ll take care of the retardant near the houses before we head back and beat back the flames,” I order. “Samson, evacuate the families on the block. We’re not taking any chances with casualties or injuries.”
Levi chimes in, “Everyone else, on the right with me. We’ll revisit the split once we get there and see what we’re working with. Be open to change. Keep your wits about you.”
“We work off instinct in this job,” I remind them. “Speak up if something doesn’t feel right.”
“We all go in,” Levi says solemnly as we feel the brakes catch.
“And we all go home.” The chorus of voices jolts me into the present.
The men around me tap each other on the helmet or rest their big hands on each other’s shoulders. Wewillall go home.
Wehaveto.
The doors are wrenched open, giving us the first glimpse of a wildfire that has been out of control for some time. I gulp but try to maintain a careful exterior, not betraying my fear and doubt.
Heat rolls over me in one huge wave, but I don’t have time to think about discomfort.
Zachary signals to me that he’s ready to go. We take off to the left to survey what we’re working with. Samson is a couple of strides behind us, veering away as we come to the houses. By the time we pause, he’s already knocking on doors.
The fire is too close to the houses. Way too close.
