To Protect & Serve (21 page)

“No, that sounds cool,” A.J. said slowly. “I’ve never done that kind of thing, but how hard could it be, right?”

“Well, if you’d like to meet her to get a better feel for the project, I can give you her number.”

“Just a sec, let me grab a pen.”

Jeff waited until A.J. came back. Then he transferred the name and number. “I’m sure she’d really appreciate any help you can give her—even if it’s just to give her somebody else’s name.”

“I’ll give her a call.”

“Thanks, A.J. I’d appreciate it.”

“Call on line one,” Sherie’s voice jumped over the intercom.

“Matheson,” Lisa said, laying the phone on her shoulder absently.

“Hi, this is… A.J. Knight. I’m with the EMT. Jeff Taylor asked me to call you.”

Her pen dropped to the desk as her heart jumped at the name. “A.J. Oh, good. I was hoping you’d call.”

Jeff was working. That much she knew when she hung up with A.J. Had there been a good way to call and be assured that Jeff would answer, she would’ve ventured out and called him. However, there wasn’t so instead she sent up a small prayer so that God would keep him safe long enough for her to adequately thank him at some future moment.

“Thanks for coming,” Lisa said the next afternoon when she sat down across from A.J. at the conference table. “I know this is a little formal and all, but…”

“No, hey, it’s cool,” A.J. said, looking rather out of place in his black, backward baseball cap and over-sized jersey-shirt. Then he remembered the cap and quickly yanked it from his head as he smoothed out his light brown hair. “Jeff didn’t say to dress up or anything…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. We’re not the fashion police around here.”

“I’m really glad Jeff called me,” A.J. said, and she could hear the nerves in his voice. “I mean I was surprised and all. I figured he’d have a hundred people he could call before me for something like this.”

Lisa’s eyes narrowed inquisitively as she opened the folder ready to make her presentation. “Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

A.J. shrugged and pulled himself up in the chair on his elbows. “He’s just so… I mean everybody has such respect for him and everything.”

Now she was really intrigued. “Well, I have respect for all you guys. I never realized how tough your jobs are—getting in there, risking your life to save others, that’s pretty awesome.”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean… about Jeff and all. That guy’s fearless, you know? Jumping into cars that could explode at any minute, walking into smoke pouring out the other direction, crawling into spaces that no human should be able to fit into. I’m telling you, that day on the bridge would’ve been enough for me.”

“It was bad, huh?” she asked, just to keep him talking. Every piece of information she could glean was one more that held the keys to who Jeff really was.

“To this minute I can’t believe that kid didn’t jump.” A.J. shook his head as Lisa fought not to question the statement. Apparently A.J. thought she knew all of this, and she wasn’t going to let him in on the fact that she hadn’t heard a single word. “He was so shaky, you’d have thought he was on crack or something, but Jeff, man, he never backed down, never gave that kid the slightest reason to think he wasn’t completely serious about how much he wanted him to come back across. I was just glad Jeff was there, or Parker would’ve been a goner.”

Her body absorbed the story as her mind fought to slide it into the right pigeonhole. Of course she had heard about the kid, Parker, but never had she known… “I guess the wreck the other week was pretty bad,” she said as if she had heard most of that story too.

“Yeah, they don’t get much worse,” A.J. said softly as he folded the hat in his hands tighter, a move Lisa took to mean he didn’t want to talk about it. However, after a heartbeat, he continued. “Mangled metal, blood and bodies everywhere, and that gas smell…” He stopped and looked at her with soft, golden-bronze eyes. “I try not to think about it much. It can get to me sometimes.”

Tenderness for him—for them—seeped through her. “I’m sure.” The more she looked at him, the more she understood. “It’s hard to care that much and never have a guaranteed outcome.”

“It’s hard to care that much. Period.” He took a breath and exhaled. “But if it means somebody’s life, I guess that’s a trade I’m willing to make. I’m just glad I’ve got people like Jeff out there to watch my back. I’m telling you, he’s the definition of a hero in my book.”

“Yeah,” she said softly. “Mine too.”

As soon as A.J. left, Lisa picked the phone up and dialed Jeff’s number. “Have I told you how wonderful you are lately?” she asked when he said hello.

“Now that’s one I don’t think I’ve ever heard before,” he said with a laugh.

“Too bad. Somebody’s been falling down on the job then,” she said. “I just talked to A.J. He’s exactly what I needed.”

“I’m glad.”

She twirled the phone cord around her finger. “So, you got any dishes that need washed?”

“That’s a trick question.”

“Just asking,” she said innocently.

“Seven?”

“Let’s make it six.”

“Six it is.”

The music wafted softly into the kitchen from the living room speakers as Lisa, heels kicked under the table and hair flowing down over her shoulders stepped up behind Jeff as he put the finishing touches on a homemade potpie he’d just taken out of the oven. Letting her eyes fall closed, she put her arms around him, leaned against his back, and swayed with the music.

“Hey, now,” he said over his shoulder. “That could get you in trouble.”

“Oh, yeah?”
Her hands slid up to his shoulders and then drifted down across the jet black of his T-shirt and onto his biceps. “How about this?”

“Yeah. That too.”

At the moment she didn’t care, she just wanted to feel him close to her. It felt like forever since she’d seen him. “Hmm.” She heard his eyes close as a sway at a time, he turned to her and laid one arm on either side of her. Greedily she snuggled closer to him as her spirit floated away. Together they simply held each other in time with the strings and the words which hardly made any difference anymore. “Hey, I thought you didn’t dance.”

He smiled at her. “Yeah, so did I.”

“So, are you going to the Ball?” Gabe asked as he replaced the blankets in the truck the next morning.

Jeff stuck his head around the side of the engine where he was rechecking the ladder’s rigging in preparation for their training run later. “The Ball? What am I? Prince Charming?”

“Hardly,” Gabe retorted. “No, the Ball. You know, the big fireman thing at the end of the month.”

“Well, let’s see, last weekend of the month, B shift, night, dancing. I’m thinking no.” He went back to work.

“Oh. And Lisa’s okay with that?” Gabe asked.

Instantly Jeff looked around the side again. “Lisa?”

“Yes, Lisa. You know. She’s about so high, nice long hair, body that should be on a runway somewhere… Hello.”

“Oh, well, yeah, Lisa.
Of course. But what does she have to do with the ball thing?”

Gabe stopped what he was doing to look over at Jeff. “Okay, did I totally miss something here? You’re going out with her, right?”

Defensively Jeff ducked back into the safety of the engine. “We’ve gone out.”

“Uh-huh, and that whole can’t take your eyes off of her thing?”

Okay there was no explanation for that.

“You should ask Wade since he's on C Shift now,” Gabe continued. “Besides, he owes you.”

“I didn’t do that so he would owe me.”

Gabe shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. He still owes you. Besides Pat won’t let him go anyway. Not after that year she had to take him home in the back of their truck because he was going to ruin the upholstery up front.”

“I’m sure Wade’s got better things to do than to fill in for me.”

“Well, I’m supposed to help him study for his final driving test Sunday night. I could ask him for you.”

Why did people think he couldn’t handle arranging his own life? “Thanks, but I don’t think the Fireman’s Ball is exactly our… I mean, my style.”

However, Gabe’s face implied that the idea wasn’t dead. Jeff’s only hope was that he would somehow forget the whole dumb
thing. The thought of accidentally dropping something off the top of the truck occurred to him, but it wasn’t worth that—almost.

It had been the longest 24 hours of Lisa’s life, and when the clock wound around to 4:30 on Friday evening, she could take being away from him no longer. Grabbing her purse and the inch thick leadership folder, she strode out. “I’m going to take off.”

“Late meeting?” Sherie asked, looking up.

“Yeah, something like that.”

The first thing Jeff noticed when the truck pulled back to the station on Friday at five was the little white Cavalier sitting at the edge of the parking lot, and his heart jumped at the sight as he struggled out of the last of his turnout gear. “Come on, Taylor, it’s just a car.” But the fact that it could be her car twisted through him. That was ridiculous. What would she be doing here on a Friday evening? If nothing else, she knew he was working. They’d talked about it the night before. True, neither of them were really focused on work at the time, but still that white Cavalier held out the hope of seeing her again.

When they pulled into the station, it took only seconds to spot the car’s owner, tucked securely between Captain Hayes, Dante and Hunter whose hazmat class had just adjourned for the evening. Something in the middle of Jeff didn’t like the arrangement at all. Telling himself it would be ready in case of a call, Jeff left his gear in the truck and jumped to the ground.

“Jeffrey!” Dante said by way of greeting when Jeff started over to them. “Have you seen this production Lisa’s putting together?”

A slow step at a time, Jeff approached the group as his hands found the pockets of his pants.

“They’re going to have like 500 kids at this thing,” Dante said. “Man, I would’ve killed to go to something like this when I was in high school. Then maybe I wouldn’t have wasted six years changing majors.”

Jeff’s gaze caught hers, and he smiled slightly as Hayes looked at his watch. “Well, boys, looks like that’s a day. Thanks for bringing that by, Lisa. It’s looking good.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, nodding. “I’ll let you know how the registration goes in August.”

“Good enough.” And Hayes turned from the group and made his way out the front door.

“So, Lisa.” Dante swung an arm over her shoulder, which Jeff immediately wanted to knock off. “Save me a dance at the Fireman’s Ball? Okay?”

“The… Fireman’s Ball?” she stumbled as she wound a piece of hair over her ear.

“Yeah,” Dante said. “You’re coming with my man here, right?” Dante’s other arm dropped over Jeff’s shoulder.

“Oh, yeah,” Lisa said, recovering. “Yeah. I’ll save you one.”

“Cool.” He smiled and backed away. “Come on, Wit, I’ve got a date tonight.”

“Lucky you,” Hunter said unenthusiastically. “See ya, Lisa.”

“Yeah, see ya,” she said softly. Neither she nor Jeff moved until Bip and Bop had vacated the room and closed the door behind them. “Fun guys.”

“You think?” Then he really looked over at her. “This is a surprise.”

Her gaze bounced to the floor. “Yeah, well, I needed to show the captain our latest schedule. He said I could meet him here.”

“Oh,” Jeff nodd
ed. “Mind if I look?” His hand came up expectantly.

A hesitant inch at a time, she pulled the folder away from her chest and handed it to him. He took it, but quickly realized that holding it, reading it, and keeping the pages corralled while standing in the middle of the station was a feat too arduous for his stumbling brain. “Mind if we sit?” he asked, indicating the mesh steps.

She shrugged and followed him over. He waited for her to choose a step before he took the one immediately down from her. Slowly he thumbed through the papers. “So you got in touch with the construction guys?”

“Confirmed this morning,” she said.

“And the travel agency?”

“I’m meeting with the owner on Monday, but she sounded excited about it.”

He examined the paper with the master schedule and one entry dropped a lead ball into his stomach. “What’s this computer one?”

“Oh, that’s something the Cordell board of directors came up with. I figured it was a good addition.”

“Sounds good.” Wishing he could brush his feelings away as easily, he slipped that paper away to read the letter she had sent to the superintendent and principals. Top notch, as always. “Hayes sounded impressed.”

“Yeah, at gunpoint,” she said with a laugh. “Your friends didn’t exactly give him room to sound anything less than enthusiastic.”

Sliding to the side, he leaned against the wall even as he continued down through the file. “You know who would be good?”

“Who’s that?”

“That guy, the one that owns all the dry cleaners in town.”

“Dry cleaners?”

“Yeah, he was in the paper last week. Came here from Vietnam or Japan or something. Didn’t have a dime, and now he owns like three-quarters of the dry cleaners in Houston. It was an amazing story.”

“Do you remember his name?”

“Ummm.” Jeff leaned his head back against the wall as if he was trying to read it out of the air. At that moment his attention snapped to Gabe who had just come into the room. “Hey, Gabe, what’s that guy… the one with all the dry cleaners?”

“Takashi?”

“Yeah, that’s him Takashi Suni. You should call him.”

Gabe strode to the stairs and started up them. “Excuse me. Got some people to check on.”