To Protect & Serve (18 page)

“Yes!” She was on her feet, following as the ball sailed over the outfielders who were all running for it, following even as it dropped right over the ad on the right field fence. The crowd around her screamed in delight, jumping and celebrating even as she did her own little celebration dance. “Yes! Go, Jeff! Woohoo! Yes!”

As he rounded third base on the way to home plate where Dustin stood waiting for him, Lisa thought she saw him glance up into the stands at her, and she raised both hands in the air to make sure he saw her applauding. At the plate he simply stepped on home and caught both of Dustin’s raised hands in the air. Together they swung down and clapped at the bottom of the arc.

Happiness for him scattered through her. What he really needed now was his friends—and a reason to celebrate. She was glad he had Dustin, someone who understood. His statement about taking the time for the really important things drifted through her, and when he turned for the dugout and his gaze caught hers, she had the impression that she had never occupied a moment that was more important than that very one.

After a few more moments the celebration died down and play resumed.

“Man, it’s a good thing I decided to come on over,” Eve said, sitting down next to Lisa. “That was some hit.”

“No kidding.”

The next batter took up his position.

“So I guess this means Jeff finally got up the nerve to make that phone call,” Eve said with a sly smile as she looked over at Lisa.

Lisa’s eyebrows arched questioningly.

Eve shook her long locks as she leaned back on the bench behind her with her elbows. “Jeff’s such a great guy, but he’s so dang shy nobody knows he’s around half the time.”

“So, you’ve known him awhile then?” Lisa asked
treading through the conversation carefully.

“Almost a year.” Slowly Eve shook her head. “And six words is still a stretch.” She laughed. “We tried to set him up once—double date with us and Dustin’s cousin. Boy, was that a disaster.”

“Why? What was so bad about it?”

Eve laughed as though the question itself was funny. “I don’t think he got a full sentence out that entire night, and he was so jumpy, I was afraid he might actually have a heart attack on us right there. Dustin tried. Man, did he try, but there was no salvaging that wreck. It’s just so weird because when Jeff’s with just us, he’s shy but he’s not
that
shy. I mean he’ll actually laugh and joke around a little, but bring a girl around—Oh, Disaster City.”

Protectiveness for him slipped into Lisa’s heart as she looked out to the field where they were retaking their positions. So he was quiet. That wasn’t such a bad thing. In fact, she could think of things far worse.

“I thought Dustin was going to have to come find you himself,” Eve said softly, and Lisa’s heart jumped as she looked over into the beautiful almond eyes.

“He… they talked about me?”

“Of course they talked about you.” Eve laughed as she sat forward. “Dustin thought Jeff should go knocking on all the office doors in your building to find you, but Jeff… well, let’s just say I’m glad whatever he did worked.”

Yeah
, Lisa thought as she gazed out into left field. It had definitely worked.

The players for the second game of the day were on the field warming up as the four of them stood at the fence talking. It was then that Lisa really realized how Jeff naturally stayed a foot away from her. She had noticed it before, but now there was some semblance of a reason behind it. More than that, she now knew it wasn’t her he was staying away from. The hesitancy, the tentativeness in his stance and in his eyes weren’t her doing. It wasn’t her so much as the whole idea of her. Standing there, it was clear how ill at ease he was with the whole situation.

The more she watched him, how far they had come together slipped through her. If what Eve said was true, then Lisa knew she was privileged beyond measure by the risks he had taken to get even this far, and that understanding pulled her that much closer to him.

“You can’t leave already,” Dustin said in dismay when Jeff looked at his watch and said they should probably getting back. “How about we watch this next one? At least a couple of innings. Of course it won’t be as good as ours, but...”

“Hey, Mr. Wonderful,” Eve said, in her normal position right in the crook of Dustin’s arm, “you might want to remember who the real hero of that game was. Nice hit, Jeff.”

Instantly Jeff’s gaze dropped to his shoes, and Lisa could see the reluctance flash though him like a laser beam. Slowly she reached over to him and put a hand on his back. “That was some hit,” she said, and his gaze jumped to hers in surprise. The tenderness in her heart transferred to her smile, then through her smile to his eyes and then into his smile.

“I think it had something to do with the cheerleaders,” he said as their gazes locked. The world jerked to a halt, and suddenly she wanted nothing more than for him to kiss her. A breath and she had to shake out of that crazy idea.

“You know, they might make us play this next one too if we keep standing here,” Dustin said as two team members crossed past them to the gate. “Let’s go grab some seats.”

When they turned for the bleachers, Lisa didn’t wait for Jeff to take her hand. Hers simply slid down his rock hard arm and twisted into the crooks at the bottom. His fingers entwined in hers as if they were made to fit that way, and had she tried to keep it from her heart, the smile would’ve come anyway.

“I got moved to B shift first of May,” Jeff said as he and Dustin sat behind the girls in the stands. He was fighting not to notice how Lisa’s hair kept brushing across his knees with every gust of wind. He liked her hair down, and he really liked those jeans. She just looked so much more relaxed and… happy.

“They switched you already?” Dustin asked, raking his fingers through Eve’s hair casually. “That’s a pain and a half.”

“Yeah, well, they had a whole shuffle at the top, so the bottom got
reshuffled too.” Wanting only to get closer to her, Jeff rested his elbow on the knee that was right next to Lisa’s shoulder. After a moment all his hand wanted to do was touch the glinting strands flickering across his sweatpants. Gently he laid his hand down on his knee and twirled one strand of her hair across his knuckle. Strange what that did to the insides of him.

“Isn’t it a pain, Lis?” Eve asked, leaning back into Dustin’s knees. “Having him gone all the time?”

However, when Lisa looked up at him, softness was all he saw. “I work all the time anyway so it’s not that big a deal.”

Dustin tilted his head to look at her. “You’re not working today.”

“Yeah, well,” she said as she smiled up at Jeff, “sometimes you have to make time for the really important things.”

Had they been anywhere else, all the nervousness about kissing her would’ve made no difference whatsoever. Unfortunately they were in the middle of a ballpark full of people, and that wasn’t the most romantic place in the world to kiss somebody for the first time. The breeze picked that moment to whisk her hair across her face, and softly his finger traced across her forehead to corral it. Gently he tucked it over her ear.

Gazing into her eyes, he knew she was thinking the same thing that was screaming through his soul. Slowly she leaned back against his knee. At that moment the stands around them erupted into cheers, but all the noise in the world didn’t have a chance of breaking through the spell that had snatched them from reality.

Without warning,
she reached up and wound her hand over his. That touch, that hand. Never had he felt anything like it. He knew she didn’t want to be watching a game, but if they didn’t want to end up under the bleachers in the next five seconds, the moment had to be broken.

Mischievousness spread through him as he leaned down to her ear. “You’re not watching the game.”

A laugh jumped right onto her face as she gazed up at him. “You’re not either.”

His laugh matched hers even as his gaze reluctantly traced back out to the field. She turned back out to the field
as well, but her body never really left his knee or his hand behind. When his glance chanced over to Dustin minutes later, there was a smile on his friend’s face that he had never seen before. He had to admit, Dustin was right. This was more than worth it.

“Thanks for going with me today,” Jeff said when they were standing at her door, their hands meshed between them as they had been since the
baseball diamond.

Safe. It all felt so safe to Lisa, and she had almost forgotten how that even felt
before he showed up. “I had fun.”

“Fun?” he asked as one side of his smile came up. “I thought that word was taboo.”

She laughed. “It used to be.”

His gaze dropped between them and then twisted back up to find hers. “So what’s changed?”

The laugh faded from her as she looked into his eyes feeling every single thing she had felt since the first time she had surprise attacked his arm. “You.”

“Oh,” he said softly. “I could’ve sworn it was you.” His free hand slipped up to her neck and traced through her hair.

Fight was the last thing going through her mind as he closed the space between them. Joy was so much closer. The first brush of his lips across hers sent a gasp through her body that threatened to take her knees right out from under her. Not one single atom escaped the heat that surged through her with that touch. Rock-solid and yet intoxicating, his arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer until she could’ve melted right into him. His lips found hers again, and haze clouded through her mind. Suddenly in all her world there was only him, and that was perfectly fine with her.

A heartbeat and then two and his lips left hers, but his arms had gone nowhere. Her body slipped into the protection of his, and the world was absolutely perfect for one single moment.

“I’ve got to get home. Work tomorrow you know,” he said after several long moments of simply holding her. Still he didn't let go. Instead, his lips brushed across her hair.

Tenderly her fingernail traced its way across his chest. “Can’t you call in sick or something?”

He laughed as pulled her back and leveled his gaze at her. “Oh, yeah. I’ve heard bosses love that.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Yeah, they’re thrilled.”

“No.” He pulled her back into the circle of his arms and tightened his grip. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll be back.”

“Promise?”

His smile was filled with only peace. “Promise.”

Life had never been so right in Jeff’s world. For two weeks they had been together at every available moment. When he was off and she gave up on work, they ate at her place. If she didn’t, it was becoming increasingly easy to rationalize a trip to her office. He could help her lock up. She shouldn’t be there so late by herself anyway. The excuse didn’t matter. What mattered was that he could be with her, and that for one more moment reality couldn’t get in.

It was Thursday, the fifth of June when reality took its first real swing at them again. Two days earlier Lisa had gotten word that the school district had finally okayed the youth conference idea, and she had been working on it nonstop ever since. Jeff had even resorted to bringing supper to the office the night before. She hadn’t really eaten so much as inhaled the food, but he was glad he could make sure she was eating just the same. Because she needed to talk to Hayes, they met in the fire station parking lot Thursday afternoon, planning to enjoy a long evening together. With him, days off seemed few and far between, so they had to squeeze them in when they could.

“How’s work?” he asked, catching her hand two seconds after she stood from her car.

“Work. Joel and Kurt are having a contest to see who can come up with the dumbest campaign.”

“Who’s winning?”

“Not me.” At the station door, he stepped in front of her and swung the door open.

“’ Course I got mine,” Dante said, rolling a tire back to the workbench from the truck where Hunter stood. “Didn’t you get yours?”

“Yeah, Tracy saw it, too,” Hunter said. “I just don’t get what it is about women and formal dances. You’d think the prom would be enough to keep them happy for…” He stopped when he looked over to the door. “Oh, hi.”

“Hi,” Lisa said not sounding wholly comfortable.

“Come on.” Between them Jeff took her hand. They walked over to where Hunter still stood, and Dante stepped back to join them. “Guys, you remember Lisa? Lisa, this is Dante and Hunter.”

“Nice to see you again,” she said, and the relaxed tone from moments before was gone. It was all business now. After the introductions she stood for one awkward moment. “Umm, is Captain Hayes….?” She pointed up the stairs.

“No, he was in the break room last I saw him,” Hunter said, recovering before his partner.

“Oh, okay. Thanks.” She turned from them, and when Jeff snagged her gaze, he couldn’t quite read everything that was written there.

When she disappeared around the corner, Dante was the first to move. “Are you seriously kidding me?”

“What?” Jeff asked.

“What? How did someone like you end up with someone like her?”

A hard ball of revulsion smashed into Jeff’s chest at the implication. However, voices from behind them yanked his gaze that direction. Lisa, locked in conversation with Hayes, walked out from the dim hallway.

“We’re confirmed on Oct. 16
th
and 17
th
. I was wondering if you could think of anyone else I could…”

A blare so loud it lifted Jeff right off the floor blasted above them, and simultaneously all five of them looked up. “
A 10-7 in progress on 3836 Silver Street. Repeat 10-7 in progress 3836 Silver Street. All units respond.”

“Crud! Not today,” Hayes said in frustration. Then he looked over to the little knot of firefighters. “Taylor? We’re two guys short, you mind giving us a hand?”
             

“Sure thing,” Jeff said, and quickly he ran past her and the captain on the way to the lockers. “Give me two minutes. I’ll be ready.”

It was like a whole sleeping system snapped awake around her. People she had no idea where they had come from were suddenly running in every direction at once.

“Sorry, Ms. Matheson, we’re going to have to do this some other time,” Captain Hayes said, but she was too stunned to do more than nod.

Men, gear, boots, equipment, and then just as the truck roared to life, the last fireman in full gear flashed by her and jumped into the back door. All the air vanished from the earth itself when he slammed that door closed. The blaring continued above her, but she hardly heard it as her eyes blurred against the sight. Slowly the truck pulled out into the street, leaving her standing alone in the empty station house.

“Oh, God, please, let him be all right.”

Smoke streamed from the orange flames jutting out of the roof of the little house until the whole thing was engulfed by it. Jeff ran back for the truck after cutting the power to the house with Dante. It was truly amazing to him how close together people built houses in this city. The other little wooden structures, barely standing the way it was, could light at any moment.

“Get some more water over to the side,” Hunter commanded, and Jeff grabbed the hose Dante was unwinding. “If that side collapses, that next house will be toast.”

The heat from the blaze, now licking into the early evening sky, was like a broiler, but still Jeff pressed closer to it. They couldn’t get between the houses, which was where they really needed to be to forestall a collapse.

“More water!” Jeff called. “We need more over here!” From the middle of the roof to the back, the whole structure wobbled unsteadily. “Get some water on that next house or we’re going to lose it, too!”

To his right another set of firefighters appeared, hoses pumping gallons onto the conflagration.

“More on that roof!”

The heat from the front was dying down, and Jeff yanked on the hose, which Dante immediately pulled behind him. They had to get closer.

The office was dark save for the light from Lisa’s computer screen. She’d watched the early news, but there was no report. What was a 10-7 anyway? Somebody choking on something? No, they had called out several units. That was worse. Another wreck? Or a fire maybe?

Under her blouse, her skin itched with the thought, and slowly her nails went up and down the silky cloth. If she just knew he was okay, just had some way to contact him and make sure. She looked over to the phone, willing it to ring so she would know everything was all right. Her eyes closed with the knowledge that it could very well be morning or after before she heard anything. The sinking thought of what that news could be seeped through her. “Dear God, I’m asking You. Please, keep Jeff safe out there.” Her heart had never meant a prayer more.

Although charred, the second house had withstood the fire’s onslaught. Of course the first house hadn’t been so lucky. The whole right side sagged sadly down to the ground over its own blackened remains. But the fire was out, and for this time the crisis was over.

Back at the station, Jeff glanced at the clock. 11:30. She was probably asleep already—no need to wake her. Yet the fear in her eyes said waking her would probably be merciful. He of all people knew about lying there, staring up at the ceiling, wondering… Technically he could have gone home, but the truth was they might need him again tonight, and he wasn’t going to abandon them.

Trying not to think about it, he picked up the phone and dialed her number. It rang and rang, and then her voice via the answering machine came on to greet him. He loved that voice.

“Hey, Lisa, where are you?” he asked, spinning the phone under his chin. “Well, just wanted to tell you I’m fine. I was hoping we could get together tomorrow. I’ll be home in the morning. Call me.” He hung up the phone, but he didn’t move. A beat and he picked it up again as a thought traced through him. The phone on the other end had barely gotten through the first ring when it snapped in his ear.

“Hello?” There was nothing but anxiety in that voice.

“Hi, Lis.”

“Jeff? Oh, thank God. Are you okay?”

He smiled although the fact that he had made her worry at all bled through him. “Yeah, I’m fine. It was a residential.”

“A fire?” And he heard the soft gasp.

“Yeah, just a little one though.”

“But you’re okay?”

“I can stop by your office in the morning so you can see for yourself.”

A laugh. He liked that laugh.

“I’d like that.”

Since he had driven away the night before, Lisa had gotten absolutely no work done. Even after he called, she couldn’t shake the nagging thought of what happened after they hung up. Was there another call? Another call meant more danger. And more danger meant…

“Knock, knock,” Jeff said, softly rapping on her office door at seven a.m., and when Lisa looked up, she had never seen a more wonderful sight. Black hair, shower-shined, black shirt over blue jeans, that cross and that smile.

Tears sprung to her eyes as her thoughts said simultaneously,
He’s alive, and thank You, God for keeping him that way
. Office or no office, she jumped from her desk and met him halfway around it. Those arms. His arms. So strong and steady around her, righted the wreck that had been her world for 16 hours.

“Man, I’m glad to see you,” she breathed.

“Not half as glad as I am to see you,” he replied, and she felt the breath pull into his chest. It was the epitome of remembering how to live.

By the time he left, promising they would go do something on Sunday when he was off again, work was the very last thing Lisa wanted to be doing. Why was she here? She should be with him every second of every moment that she could. A picture of Eve and Dustin sitting in the booth that first night traced through her, and suddenly she understood far more than she ever thought she could.

One moment. It was all anyone was guaranteed, and yet how many had slipped by without her ever even noticing? That, she swore to herself right there, would never happen again.

“I want to drive,” Lisa said on Sunday as they drove out of North Houston to fly kites. Her kite was now tucked safely in the trunk next to his.

“You sure?” Jeff asked, looking over at her, and those sunglasses did nothing but yank her alarm system to its knees.

“Yes, I’m sure. What? You think, I forgot how already?”

He didn’t bother to answer, just pulled onto the exit, stopped the car, got out, and ran around as she dove into the driver’s seat. The size of that steering wheel never ceased to amaze her. She looked over at him playfully. “Better buckle up.”

With a laugh, he complied. Slowly she exhaled, put her hand on the gearshift, one foot on the brake, and one on the clutch, marveling at how easy he made this look. She looked out the windshield, put the car into gear, and looked behind her. “Let the clutch out,” she said softly. “Gas.” The car jerked forward but didn’t die.

“Very nice,” he said appreciatively.

“First gear,” she replied. “It’s a start.”