To Protect & Serve (16 page)

Although she really wanted to just chunk work, it was piling up, so Sunday when he called, she had to tell him no. Monday was the same story although he was on shift anyway. By Tuesday, however, Lisa was starting to worry that he might just stop calling altogether—although she had done her level best not to give him that impression on the phone.

As she sat in her office on Tuesday evening,
she glanced at the clock and concern traced through her. He hadn’t called, and as normal as that should’ve felt, it didn’t feel normal at all. The questions flowed through her. Had he been called in? Was there some big fire she hadn’t heard about? Hoping it would see nothing, her gaze traveled up from her paperwork and back over her shoulder to the bits of the sky she could see beyond the windows. No billows of smoke that she could see, and yet there was so much she couldn't see. “Stop thinking about that, you’re going to make yourself crazy.”

“Lisa,” Sherie said at the door.

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to take off.”

“Okay.”

However, Sherie didn’t move. “Umm, and there’s someone here to see you.”

Tucker
. The name slammed into Lisa’s consciousness on the dreamy sound of Sherie’s voice. Gently Lisa reached up and rubbed her still-tender shoulder as she prayed for the strength to fight him off. Knowing that letting him into her office would be a huge mistake, she stood and righted her suit jacket as Sherie turned back for the front office. Lisa’s stride held determination and dignity as she rounded the desk and followed her secretary out and into the reception area.

“Sherie, did you find those…” However, the instant Lisa stepped into the outer office, the sentence stopped. There, in the middle of it, stood a dream she hadn’t
even allowed herself to have. Black jeans, white T-shirt, denim cover shirt, that gold cross—the beauty of the single pink rose he was holding paled in comparison to him. “Jeff.”

“Hi,” he said, but his gaze couldn’t quite hold hers. “Umm, I thought I’d stop by and bring you this.” Awkwardly he held it out to her, and her left hand reached over to accept it.

“Th-thanks.” The petals looked like soft velvet, and Lisa couldn’t help but put it to her nose and breathe in its sweet, soft fragrance. Air flowing into her lungs felt so good that she took another long smell, and the top of her brain started swimming from all the oxygen.

“I’ll just…” Sherie said quietly gathering her things and pointing to the door. Lisa didn’t have the presence of mind to say good-bye.

Seconds flowed past each other like water over river rocks as in Sherie’s absence the silence of the office engulfed them. Finally Lisa’s sanity cracked back into place. “Um. Come… come on in.”

“You sure?” he asked as his hands found the pockets of his jeans.

“Yeah, maybe your brain will work better than mine seems to be.” In an I-can’t-believe-he’s-here haze, Lisa walked back into her office, feeling his presence fill the room around her the second he stepped through that door. At first she laid the rose on her desk, but the desk was such a mess, she picked it up again and laid it on the top of the computer monitor. In rapid succession her hands flitted over the desktop, trying to clear it off enough so she wouldn’t look so chaotic, and so she could actually see him when she sat down. Suddenly she noticed that he was still standing in front of the desk. “Oh, please, have a seat.”

Slowly he slid into one of the chairs, and his gaze on her yanked up her nerves in fistfuls. “So, this is where the magic happens.”

“Well, this is where something happens, but I’m not sure it could be called magic.” In her hands was a stack of files, and she looked around for a good place to put them. Finally in desperation, she stacked them on the floor next to the wall, careful to let her left arm do most of the moving. “I’m sorry. If I would’ve known you were coming…”

“Hey, you don’t have to clean on my account. I work in a fire station. Remember?”

Why that made a difference, she couldn’t quite tell but still she appreciated the effort. Seeing the utter futility of her cleaning efforts, she finally sat down and folded her hands on her desk. “So, what’s up?”

As if it took real effort,
he shrugged as he shifted slightly in the chair. “I was just driving by, and I figured you’ve seen where I work, so…”

She wished she’d had a week to get the office presentable. That’s why she usually used the conference room for one-on-one meetings. That way nobody saw how jumbled her life really was. Her gaze chanced around the office even now wanting to find a way to keep him from seeing the mess. “Did you want to go get something to eat or something?”

“No. I just… I’m sorry.” He started to stand. “This was a bad idea. You’re working. I shouldn’t have come.”

“No!” The word jumped from her throat and her heart simultaneously. “I mean you don’t have to leave or anything. I just thought, I mean, sitting in an office all night isn’t exactly the greatest date experience.”

“Yeah, well, we all know how wonderful the last one of those we had turned out.” That lop-sided smile played through her brain as half-standing, half-sitting he looked right at her. “How’s your shoulder anyway?”

“As long as I don’t get it past… there.” She raised it midway to shoulder level and winced in pain. “It’s great besides that.”

“See, maybe we’d be safer just hanging out doing…” He sat back down. “What is it you were doing again?”

Stress blindsided her, and she sighed heavily. “Kamden Foods. I’ve got to find a workable concept tonight, and nothing sounds right.”

Skeptically he looked across her desk at the scattered mock-ups. “Well, what have you come up with so far?”

She fingered one paper, wondering how he was suddenly sitting across from her asking to see her work. A moment of decision and she stacked the papers together and handed them across the desk. “They’re not very good.”

His gaze held hers for one second before she dropped the papers into his hands. Slowly he pulled himself up in the chair with his elbows. Then he grew still, and her heart stopped. Trying to find something else to think about or at least look at, she refocused her attention on her computer. Being graded, she hated that.

“This one’s pretty good,” he said after her nerves had crawled all the way outside her skin.

She looked over, and her eyebrows arched in revulsion. “That one?”

“Yeah, I like the fade thing on the edges.” He glanced at her. “What? You don’t like it?”

“That’s like the worst one of all of them.”

“Cool,” he said as his eyes danced. “If that’s the worst one, then there’s got to be something we can use.” He picked up a cotton candy pink one. “How about this?”

The laugh jumped to her throat as she shook her head. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not the color, but I like the line, ‘Where Houston Shops.’ Nice, short, catchy.”

“It’s not too bad,” she admitted with a small smile. Her hand reached over and clicked the mouse across her computer as she pulled that one back up and cut out the tag before placing it on a new sheet.

“Now I like this one—the whole display falling over on the guy. Funny.”

From the fringes of her eyelashes she looked over at him, and her heart said that not one of her employees had ever put even a tenth of this much heart into any project they had ever worked on.

“Here, look at this.” He pulled himself forward to her desk. “You take the tag from this one, and the color off of this one, and the concept from this one…” His gaze snagged on hers. “What?”

Lisa couldn’t have stopped the smile had she tried. “You.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” Had she tried to explain it, she couldn’t have, so she ducked her head. “Show me what you’re thinking.”

Three hours later they had mock-ups for the billboards, the newspapers, and the store circulars. Outside there was nothing but faded sunlight twining through the buildings beyond. Jeff watched her stand from her desk and stretch in that deep navy suit.

“So, how long have you been in that chair?” he asked as she got ready to go.

“How long have you been alive?” she asked, grabbing a few more things before she picked up her keys and the rose.

“You really need to get out more.”

“Uh-huh.” She followed him out and locked the door behind them. “We tried that, remember? I think I’m safer behind my desk.”

“Well, we don’t have to go that extreme.” He waited for her to lock the hallway door. “Maybe for you we should start with something small and safe—like flying kites.”

She turned a skeptical gaze on him. “Kites?”

He shrugged. “So long as we anchor you to the ground, I don’t think you could hurt yourself too badly.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Then we can work our way up to say bowling or something.”

“Oh, great.” Lisa pushed through the door to the stairwell and started climbing to the third level.

“By the way, what’s up with parking on the third level anyway?” he asked from behind her as they climbed. “Wouldn’t it be easier to park on the floor you work on?”

“Exercise,” she said as she opened the door and stepped out into the parking garage. To the far right sat her car, right next to it sat the dark muscle car with the top pulled down. “How’d you find me anyway?”

“Car. Building. Directory. Lisa.” He shrugged as his hands found his pockets. “It wasn’t hard.” The logistics weren’t bad, it was convincing his brain that this was all a good idea that had been the difficult part. “How about we go for some supper?”

“Hot dogs?” she asked.

“Your call.”

Talking with him, being with him was so unbelievably easy. The whole when-is-this-going-to-turn-into-a-wrestling-match thing was simply a non-issue with him. At the little café, he sat on one side of the booth, she on the other. No questions, no pressure.

In fact, he didn’t so much as even reach out to take her hand, and by the time they were speeding back through the Houston night to her car, the need to just touch him was overwhelming. So when he laid his hand on the gearshift, hers slipped over his and caught there. She smiled over at him as the night floated past them.

“You know, you’re going to have to teach me to drive this thing some time,” she said, brushing a wind-kissed strand of hair from her eyes.

His gaze jumped to hers in surprise. “You got a day in mind?”

“Friday, Saturday, Sunday?” It didn’t matter, to her heart any day, any minute that she could spend with him was the only one she wanted to be living.

Jeans. Lisa hadn’t worn a pair of them since junior year in college. That was the year the course of her life had been set in stone. Professional. It was how you dressed if you wanted anyone to take you seriously.

She gazed into the mirror at the ponytail holding her hair Saturday morning. Until that moment the one and only focus of her life had been to show the whole world that she was serious, that she was for real, that she was more than just some pretty face who had cotton candy for brains. Ponytails and jeans were for teenagers.

The knock on her door jolted her from the thoughts, and she had to beat down the pounding of her heart. On legs she forced to be steady, she went to her door; however, the sight of him on the other side of that threshold sent her heart into an all-out spasm.

“Hi,” she said as the softness of the gray jersey-shirt and the glint of the gold chain shining just beneath it at the edge of his throat stopped the breath in her chest.

“Hi.” His hands jammed into his pockets as his gaze fell from hers, and her brain waves scrambled. “I think I’m a little early.”

“That’s okay. Just let me grab my shoes.” She sat down on the couch, pulling the hard denim of her jeans down when they didn’t stretch with her. “So, where are we going?”

“I thought we could go over to Memorial Park. It’ll probably be jammed, but surely we can whittle out a few square inches.”

She stood, grabbed her purse, thought better of that move, and pulled money out to put in her pocket. “Ready.”

There had always been something about flying kites that had fascinated Jeff. It had ever since he was little when he and Kit would finally beg enough so their mom would take them to the little park near their home. After catching a nice breeze, the triangle, dragon kite sailed up, up, and away from him, and Jeff stepped back, watching it soar higher and higher.

“Impressive,” Lisa said from the blanket ten feet away.

“Yeah, I noticed you’re not over here helping,” he called in her direction teasingly.

“Watching. That’s much safer.”

“Oh, come on. I promise, I won’t let you fly away.” He stepped over to her, careful to keep the kite in the air as he reached down for her hand. One second of hesitation, and her slim, smooth hand latched onto his. She stood, and he didn’t miss the brush she did to the backside of her jeans. Gently he pulled her farther away from the tree, and out in
to the open field where he transferred control of the kite to her. “It’s not hard.”

However, the second she took control, her face set as if she was working on a micro-chemical component in a laboratory that might explode at any moment. His gaze chanced over her.

“Hey, this is supposed to be fun, remember?” he asked, but with only inches separating them, even he was having trouble remembering that.

“I’m not very good at fun,” she said, and he noticed how her whole body set to alert at the very word.

“Well, then we need to work on that.” Carefully he reached around her, and although the curve of her arm was only a breath from his, he managed to keep just that much distance between them. “Roll some out.” His hand helped hers without touching it.

“Aren’t you worried about highline wires?” she asked.

He laughed. “Look around you, do you see any highline wires?”

She brushed the hair out of her face from the breeze. “Well, no.”

“Here, let’s sit.” He folded himself onto the grass.

Her gaze jumped
down to him nervously. “What?”

Reaching up, he took her hand, and his brain instantly said that highline wires weren’t the only electricity conductors in the area. “It’s okay.” He pulled her down next to him. However, she sat like a rod, and the inches she put between them felt like miles. “Here. Man, you’re using way too much energy.” Gently he took her shoulders and pulled her back until her head was resting on the top of his thigh. “Now relax.”

“Relax,” she said as though she was having to tell herself how to do that.

“You don’t do this much, do you?”

“What? Fly kites?”

“Not work.” The middle of his chest filled as he looked down at her, the breeze blowing the loose strands of hair across her face. Softly he reached down, caught them, and wound them back around her ear.

“No,” she said, and her eyes turned liquid when her gaze caught his. After a moment, her gaze traveled back up to the kite. “No time.”

“There’s always time for the things that are really important.”

She squirmed. “Work is important.”

“So is this.”

He leaned back onto this elbows, and the kite soaring high above them didn’t seem all that different from his heart. How many nights had he wished for this very moment? And how many times had he simply decided that this was too far out of his reach to even attempt? Now, inexplicably, here he was, with her. “God,” he breathed to himself, “if I’m dreaming, I don’t ever want to wake up.”

Lisa really wanted to shoot whoever had come up with the concept of weekend shifts. Didn’t they know how hard it was to get to this place to begin with?  However, because he had to get back to
be ready for work the next morning, it seemed like mere minutes that she was back at her door saying good-bye. With those hands in his pockets, Jeff said his good-bye, smiled, and turned for the stairs taking her heart right along with him.

“Take care tomorrow,” she called softly as the bottom of sanity dropped out from under her.

He nodded, waved, and turned the corner. She didn’t move as she closed her eyes. “Dear God, please keep him safe.” At that moment he slapped the wall next to the staircase, and she jumped.

“What do you say? Monday? Your office? Five-thirty or so?”

The smile flashed through her. “I’ll be waiting.”

“So, do you want to try it?” Jeff asked Monday evening when they had left North Houston in the rear view mirror.

“Try what?” she asked fearfully.

“Driving.”

“Me?”

“Sure why not?”

Lisa could think of a hundred-thousand why nots, but before she could voice one of them, he pulled onto an exit. “I don’t know about this.”

“You said you wanted to learn.” The car stopped, and Jeff got out to run around.
             

After only a moment's hesitation, Lisa gingerly crawled across the gearshift and half fell into the driver’s seat. The wheel seemed much bigger from this vantage point, and she laid her hands on either side of it as he got in on the passenger side and slammed the door. When her gaze slipped over to the cross at his neck, she couldn’t help but think they were going to need every ounce of help it could give them.

“Okay,” he said. “First, you mash the clutch.”

“The clutch?” she asked, looking around for something that could pass as a clutch.

He pointed past her. “On the floorboard. The one next to the brake.”

“Oh.” Carefully she put her foot on the clutch and pressed.

“Now, you have to put it in first.”

In fear she looked down at the gearshift, knowing this was a terrible idea.

“It’s easy. First.” His hand moved the gearshift slightly. “Second. Third. Fourth.”

Memorizing
, even as half of her brain made a point of telling her how strong his hand looked, she nodded. “Got it.”

“Good. Now, mash the clutch.” She did. “Put it in first. Now let go of the clutch…
gently.” The car jerked forward with a lurch. “Gas.” And they were left sitting in silence.

“What happened?”

“Too much gas. Hit the clutch. Try it again.”

She gripped the steering wheel and pressed the clutch as he put the car back in neutral and restarted it.

“Put it in first and give it a little gas.”

All the rest of the world dropped away from her consciousness as she worked to coordinate her body in time with the car. It lurched forward but kept rolling this time. She looked down at the foot
pedals in fright. “Ahhh!”

“It’s okay. Just get a little speed up. Now, mash the clutch and shift.”

“Oh, yeah, no problem there.” Determination fell over her as she gripped the gearshift in a stranglehold. “Mash the... Ahh! Which way is second?”

“Down.”

A small click and she was in second. Slowly they drove to the stop sign.

“Now you have to go backward through the gears. Clutch, and back down.”

Somehow she got all of that done and got the car stopped too, but she had no idea how. “I think that’s a long enough lesson.”

“Come on, you’re getting it. One more time, just to the next
on ramp.”

In frustration she exhaled. “Okay, clutch, shift, let out the clutch, gas.” They rolled through the intersection. “Clutch, shift, let out the clutch, gas.” The car picked up speed.

“You’ve got it.”

“Don’t throw a party yet,” she warned, yanking all of her attention to her. She had been driving for more than a decade, and yet this was nothing like any driving she had ever done.

“Let’s go to third.”

Lisa pursed her lips together. “Clutch, shift, let go, gas.” Her whole body breathed in relief.

“See, it’s not so hard,” he said, and his hand dropped on top of hers on the gearshift.

Suddenly there weren’t enough brain waves left for everything.

Minutes had never flown by so fast. Where they had all gone, Jeff couldn’t quite figure out because in what felt like a blink he was standing on her apartment threshold saying goodnight. This was the part of the date he hated the most. Awkward uncertainty leaped through his chest like an out-of-control circus. If his body would just take a rest for a minute, walking away would be so much easier, but it was locked on telling him what an idiot he was for not kissing her already.

After all how long had they known each other? Kissing her should’ve been a no-brainer by this point, as easy as taking a breath, and yet every time they got to this moment, alarms started ringing through his head—simultaneously telling him to just go for it and telling him if he messed this up, he’d never get a second chance.

“Well, I’d better go,” he said, backing away from her as his hands slipped into his pockets. “All nighters on top of 24’s isn’t the best way to make a good first impression.”

The sight of her leaning against the doorpost threatened to pitch him down the stairs.
He had to keep talking, or he might actually do what his heart was begging him to do. “How about Wednesday night at your office?”

“Or we could meet over here,” she said, and the softness in her eyes wasn’t making leaving one bit easier. “If you want.”

“Six?”

“Sounds good.”

He stepped over to the stairs. “Take care.”

“K. You too,” she said as hazy dreaminess fell across her eyes.

With a nod he started down the stairs, but the need for just one more glimpse brought him back to the top, where he slapped the side of the wall and ducked back around. The sight of her slammed into him, and for a moment he forgot what his excuse for coming back was going to be. “You need me to bring something?”

She smiled. “Yourself.”

“Myself.” He nodded. “I can do that.”

The stairs were merely a formality as he floated down them and back out to the street to the car.

All night she was with him, in every dream in every thought so that by the next morning when Jeff pulled into the station parking lot, he was surprised that her car wasn’t actually sitting there. However, when he parked, the fact that no one was leaving crashed him back to reality, and with one motion he locked the car and ran to the station door. The trucks were gone.

In a blink she was gone, not because he wanted her to be, but because to get back to her in one piece, he needed every resource he had available. Yanking one set of cloths off and the other set on, he pulled the chain from around his neck and threw it into the locker.

“It’s a wreck.” Gabe strode through the locker room in full gear. “Pile up on Southwest. Sounds like a mess. You ready?”

Grabbing his helmet, Jeff stood. “Ready.”

Chaos flashed over chaos as they snaked their way up to the scene. People were everywhere, some obviously hurt, some simply trying to do whatever they could to help. The police directed their little truck to the smattering of emergency vehicles surrounding the twisted multi-colored metal that had once been cars and trucks.

“We’ve got more jaws coming,” Captain Hayes said as Jeff’s small company ran up.

“What’s going on?” Gabe asked for the group.

“We’ve got people trapped all over in that pile,” Hayes said, and Jeff looked over to the area where workers were swarming like bees. “There’re probably some we
haven’t even gotten to yet. That gas truck is leaking all over everything, and the whole thing’s a tinderbox that could go up any second. They’re trying to spray it down, but…”