Turbulence
Authors: Jessica Matthews
E-mail from: Mitch Kannon, fire chief, Turning Point, Texas,
To: Dan Egan, fire chief, Courage Bay, California
Hurricane Damon is revving up and evacuees are pouring into the emergency shelters here. We just got a call in about some Boy Scouts and their leader trapped in a van. Seems they had a little run-in with some cattle on the road a ways from here and ended up upside down in the ditch. Injuries don’t sound serious, but we want to get them help as soon as we can.
That gal EMT you sent down—Dana Ivie—had her hand up in the air the moment I asked for volunteers. She looks as fiery as that red hair of hers, and knowing she’s one of your firefighters, I felt sure I could count on her. I also figured she could hold her own with our pilot Micky Flynn.
I don’t think Dana was too darn happy when she found out she’d be heading to the rescue on a plane, but they’ll be able to spot the van a lot better from the air. I know it’s dicey going up with a hurricane on the way, but I’d trust Flynn with my life. The guy loves a challenge, but he’s the best pilot around. I know he thinks taking a woman along is a liability, but I’d bet money that by the end of this stint, Dana will have made him change his mind.
JESSICA MATTHEWS
first fell in love with romance books when she read Laurie McBain’s
A Devil’s Desire
and Kathleen Woodiwiss’s
The Flame and the Flower.
The idea of writing a romance of her own didn’t come until years later, and now she happily combines storytelling with a career in clinical laboratory science. When she’s not at the hospital or tied to the computer, she attends her son’s high school sporting events, visits her daughter in college and takes trips with her husband.
TURBULENCE
Dear Reader,
I’m delighted to be a part of the Code Red series and am thrilled to share Dana and Micky’s story with you as they travel down their “stormy” road to romance!
Working with other authors on a continuity series was a wonderful experience. Not only did I have an opportunity to branch into something a little different writing-wise, but I also learned a lot about air travel, hurricanes and the great state of Texas! I met some wonderful authors during the course of working on
Turbulence,
including Kathryn Shay, Julie Miller, Darlene Scalera and Carol Marinelli. Arranging series details to mesh with our individual stories was both challenging and fun as we tugged on our thinking caps and played “what if?”.
I hope you’ll find
Turbulence
as much fun to read as it was to write, and may all the storms in your life be minor.
Best wishes,
Jessica
www.jessicamatthews.com
Dedicated to First Responders everywhere. Your selfless dedication has changed potential tragedies into second
chances for the people you’ve touched.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation for all those who patiently answered my endless questions: Battalion Chief John Stettinger (Great Bend Fire Department); Martin Miller (Great Bend Airport Manager); Ed Weatherford (Midwest Aviation Sales); Charles Schmitt and Wendy Douglas for airplane tips, Day LeClaire, Theresa Gaus and my brother-in-law, Mike Berkley, for telling me about hurricanes, especially the Texas variety! Your help was invaluable and any errors are my own. Thanks, guys.
“W
HAT ARE YOU DOING HERE,
Alex?”
Crouched near a pile of her turnout gear inside the small Courage Bay airport, firefighter Dana Ivie stared up at her childhood friend and team captain, Alex Shields, and tried not to read more into his presence than she should.
“I came to see you off. Isn’t that what friends do for other friends who are going away?”
“This isn’t a vacation,” she said as she checked one final strap before rising to meet his amber gaze. “This is a working trip.”
The Courage Bay Fire Chief Dan Egan had asked for volunteers to shore up the faltering Emergency Services in his hometown of Turning Point, Texas. Hurricane Damon was due to hit in about twenty-four hours, and his old friend Mitch Kannon had requested his help. Without hesitation, she’d answered Dan’s call, along with Nate Kellison, one of their paramedics; Cheryl Tierney, a trauma nurse from the local hospital and Amy Sherwood, an emergency physician.
“I know, but you don’t have to do this.”
“No, I don’t,” she agreed. “But I want to.” Actually she
needed
to, but she didn’t feel comfortable telling him that. Ever since he’d fallen in love with her twin sister, Lauren—the twin she hadn’t known about until last year—she’d been struggling to keep her distance. The ring on Lauren’s fin
ger shouted that his loyalties were to her, not Dana, and while Dana’s learning curve had been slow at first, she’d gradually stopped leaning on him for moral support. At first, it had helped to have a sister to share confidences with, but she and Lauren were complete opposites, and because of that, Lauren didn’t always understand what made Dana tick.
On the other hand, not only did she and Alex share a past that stretched back to their childhoods, but their interests were similar, as well. Whatever he’d done, she’d followed, until finally, he’d led her into the profession she loved—firefighting. With all that in common, it was hard to take second place, but for the sake of Lauren and Alex’s relationship, Dana had done her best. It was still a constant, daily battle.
“You shouldn’t have come,” she said firmly. “It’s late and I said my goodbyes to the whole family, both of them in fact, at dinner. You were there, too. Remember?”
From the time she’d called home that morning to announce her decision about flying to Turning Point, her parents, Helen and Tim Ivie, had organized a last-minute family barbecue to send her off. Everyone had come.
“I know, but I had a few things to say that I couldn’t with everyone underfoot,” Alex explained. “This past year has been hard on you. Realizing you have a twin, that you were separated at birth—”
“Not to mention that we each ended up with different parents, thanks to an unscrupulous doctor who tried to cover up his mistakes,” she said wryly. While they’d been fortunate to tie up all the loose ends of George Yube’s plot and meet the couple who’d given them life, Gloria and Cleveland Barclay, it had been equally surprising to discover they had another sister, Jenny, and two nephews, as well.
He nodded. “Naturally it takes time adjusting to every
thing. Going from a family of three to a family of ten is unsettling. It is for Lauren, so I expect it is for you, too.”
I’m not Lauren,
she wanted to cry out, but didn’t. Of all people, he should know that—they’d been lovers before she’d realized they were better off as friends. Even if that hadn’t been the case, it was quite obvious to those who looked beyond their physical similarities that she and her sister’s temperaments were as different as night and day. Lauren was the quieter, the less daring and athletic of the two, while Dana was more outgoing and thrived on excitement.
“Look,” she began, “I know you well enough to know that you didn’t come out here to say ‘bon voyage’ or to rehash the past year’s events. Lauren sent you, didn’t she?” She craned her neck to survey the terminal. The only people she saw were her fellow volunteers and a few hardy souls at the ticket counter who were catching the late-night flight. Businessmen, she decided, noting their briefcases and overnight bags.
“Yes, but I would have come anyway.” He ran a hand through his dark brown hair, a sure sign of his frustration. “If you know me, I know you just as well. You’ve always been eager to see what lies around the next turn on the roller-coaster ride of life, but you also run when something’s weighing on your mind.”
He paused to study her intently. “I think you’re running now. Just like you have been for the past few months. You’ve always tested your limits, but lately, it seems as if you’re pushing the envelope more than usual.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Alex, I am not,” she lied.
He raised an eyebrow. “Scuba diving, parasailing, joining a parachute club? Now you’re headed into a hurricane?”
He’d pinpointed part of her problem, but she’d never confirm it to anyone but herself. She simply didn’t have the heart to tell Alex that she missed their camaraderie and his listening ear far more than she should.
At first, it had been hard to break those habits of calling Alex and discussing everything on her mind and in her heart, but she’d managed, because she’d focused her energies on building a sisterly bond with Lauren. On the surface, Dana knew it appeared that she’d accepted Alex’s shift in loyalties, but deep down, she wasn’t handling it quite so well. As a result, she’d turned to more active pursuits to keep both mind and body busy.
Now she was tired of the constant inner turmoil, the ever present feeling that something important was missing. If Dan had asked for volunteers to go to the Himalayas or the Amazon, she would have agreed. She wasn’t good at maintaining emotional distance, so perhaps physical distance was the answer.
“I can’t sit at home and dig in the flower beds like Lauren does,” she reminded him. “That isn’t me.”
“I realize that, but you don’t have to do this,” he repeated.
“Dan asked for volunteers, and I volunteered. People need my help and I intend to give it to them. And why shouldn’t I go? It isn’t like anyone will miss me. I live alone, without so much as a houseplant or a cat to worry about, for Pete’s sake.”
“Of course we’ll miss you.”
He would, but it would be in a superficial, not deeply emotional sort of way. Trying to explain the difference required time and an inclination that she didn’t have. And even if she did have plenty of both, the information would only make him feel ill-at-ease and put him in an untenable position both on the job and off. This was
her
problem, not his, which meant that ultimately,
she
had to solve it.
“Please support my decision and don’t read more into my good deed than a simple desire to help where I can,” she said simply.
He hesitated, then nodded slowly, as if he either accepted her explanation or realized that she didn’t intend to confess anything else. “Okay, but be careful.”
Alex’s famous last words. Dana grinned. “You know me. Safety is my middle name.”
He chuckled. “Just come back safe and sound. I don’t want to break the news to Lauren that she lost her sister so soon after she found you.”
“You won’t,” she answered breezily. “I’m sure I’ll be sitting in some concrete basement, playing solitaire and drinking bottled water while the storm is raging overhead.”
“Poker is more like it. Have mercy on your opponents. I still need to win back some of my money, by the way.”
Nate called to her from the ticket counter. “Come on, Dana. Time to roll.”
Dana turned back to Alex and gave him a quick hug. “You heard the man. I have to go.” She hoisted her gear over her shoulder and joined the rest of her group. When everything was checked into baggage, she turned back to the spot where she’d left him.
Alex was gone.
She drew a relieved breath. Obviously she hadn’t hidden her restlessness quite as well as she’d thought she had during the past few months. She should have suspected that Alex and Lauren would sense that things weren’t quite right in her life. At first, Dana had hated losing him to her sister, but she’d gradually accepted his choice, because deep down, she recognized that Lauren completed him while she did not.
He’d wanted to know what she was running from. She hadn’t realized what it was until just recently herself, but by then, everyone had seemed to settle into their new family dynamics and she didn’t want to stir up matters.
How could she explain that even though she had gained so many new people in her life, she still mourned the loss of her very best friend?