No Easy Choice Read online

  Dropping to her knees where she knew it was supposed to be cooler in a fire, she began to crawl. Oh, wait. She put her hand on the wall to feel her way. Quickly she encountered something. Stairs. She climbed them and bumped into a horizontal surface. Another wall. To the right—another wall. To the left, ah-hah, an opening. A door. She reached for the handle and pushed it open when she remembered she was supposed to test the door with the back of her hand before she touched the handle. If the door was hot, the handle would burn through her Nomex gloves. Shit! Forget it and go on. Don't let it get to you. Immediately behind the door was a ladder. More rungs, but going down was harder. Man, she had to maneuver with bunker boots? Without seeing what she was doing. But she turned and put her foot on the first rung. Once, she slipped, but righted herself. Okay, she wouldn’t get points off for that one.

  At the bottom, she dropped to her knees, crawled again. Finally, she came upon the dummy. Whew! Now all she had to do was find her way out. Bending over she tugged on the pretend victim’s armpits. Nothing. She tugged again. Nothing. Hell, the dummy was tied down.

  Annie took off her glove and reached for the clippers that Colin had tied onto her turnout coat.

  They were gone. And she was in trouble. And literally, in the dark. Her pulse rate tripled and her mouth went dry. What should she do?

  At the end of the morning, the recruits met in a classroom with Camp, Daniels and Cartwright. Annie knew what was coming. An oral review of what everybody had done right and wrong. She hated this public embarrassment. Colin stared over at her and gave her a sad smile. He knew what was coming, too.

  The Cap began. “Let's debrief. And remember, each of you did some things wrong, so no snickering or arrogance at the expense of others.” Cartwright glanced at Mackenzie. The girl did everything perfectly, but she could be cocky. And she didn't like Annie at all, so maybe that statement was a warning to her.

  Her gaze transferred to Annie. "Ferris. You got a four out of five on our rating scale."

  Annie took in a breath. Hell, she expected a one because she left the dummy.

  "Know why?"

  "Um…"

  Cartwright glared at her.

  "I know I made one mistake by not trying the door to see if it was hot before I used the handle."

  "You did."

  "And I lost the clippers."

  "Which can happen to all of us. So…"

  Annie was besieged by something she didn’t often experience. Pride. "So, when I couldn't get the dummy out, I left her there to get help."

  That was the right answer! Cartwright smiled, one that said, Good girl…

  When they reached her home, Annie stopped thinking about the past and got out to get her daughter. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s get ready for a showdown with Daddy.”

  The baby gurgled and smiled and kicked her feet. Then she gave Annie a raspberry. How cute. Annie gave her one back and Bridget laughed.

  She snagged Bridget out of her car seat and carrying dinner that she’d made at Brooke’s in the other hand, she walked into her home through the side door. The house felt oddly empty. Maybe because she’d had so much company yesterday. She went into the living room, put the baby mat on the floor and set her on her stomach for tummy time. She immediately rolled over. It filled her mother’s heart.

  She took Bridget out for a twenty-minute run in the stroller, then came back, showered and dressed in matching lilac shorts and a T-shirt. In some ways, she was a sap. This was Colin’s favorite color on her.

  When the stir fry dinner was on the stove along with rice, she went into the living room.

  And waited. Colin walked in when she was watching the six o’clock news, the baby in her crib playing with the mobile. Annie said simply, “Hi.”

  She saw the tension in his jaw, on his brow. This was hard for him, and she felt a deep pull in her stomach to comfort him. But hard discussions had to be had.

  “Want something to drink?”

  “Coffee.”

  “Not something stronger.”

  “No.”

  “I’ll make it. Say hi to Bridget.”

  He walked to the crib. “She’s asleep.” He followed her into the kitchen.

  When she served the coffee, he sat facing her.

  Annie controlled herself. “You start, Colin.”

  “First off, I have to know if you want me to take the lieutenancy?”

  Annie was determined to be honest. And determined to keep both their best interests front and center. “I’m not sure. Let’s talk about what you have to do to get it.”

  He went through the things he’d read from a note.

  “Ah, so it starts right away with a training. Tomorrow night.”

  “Yeah.” He’d explained about the BC’s call. “This is something I have to prepare for.” He sighed. “And then the official class for lieutenant prospects starts. Four sessions, one a week. If I’m working when they’re held, I get time off. If not, I’m on my own time.”

  Locking her gaze on the man she’d loved nearly half her life, Annie struggled to be fair. “Colin, how much do you want this?”

  “Very much. Like you said, we both do.”

  She looked out the front window for a long time, then turned to him. “I’m not going to deprive you of that. I love you and want what’s best for you.”

  “Thanks. But I want what’s best for you, too. I think I’ll be home more in the long run, when the fire house opens.”

  “Probably.”

  He sneaked his hand over and clasped hers. The contact felt good. “But this is akin to me working at the garage, which I scaled down on. My concession to making you happier is I’ll quit the garage altogether.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  “To get you some free time, we could ask my mother to babysit.”

  “No. Cora would be abhorred when I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.”

  “I guess she would. Do you have any other ideas?”

  Annie thought of Tess’s visit last night. “Uh-huh. Isabella DiMarco is getting her babysitting certification. Part of that is having supervised experience. I already agreed she could come and do eight hours with us and I’d show her the ropes.”

  “That sounds like more work than being with the baby by yourself.”

  “No, Izzy’s a doll. And she’s very responsible. Not only that, but once she’s certified, she’s free until the end of the summer to come over and help.”

  “That’s wonderful.”

  “We’d have to pay her, though.”

  “When I shadow, I get overtime pay. We’ll use that.”

  “You won’t get money for training for the exam. Studying for it.”

  His beloved blue eyes were so serious, it almost broke her heart. “True. So, if we have to, we’ll charge some things on a credit card and use the money we would have spent on things to pay her.”

  Annie whispered, “You’d do that for me? That’s been a stumbling point all along.”

  “I’ll do it now. I love you and need you to be happy, as happy as we can make you, under these circumstances.”

  “This could work.”

  His shoulders relaxed and Annie felt relief. Fighting with him like this didn’t happen often, but when it did it was draining.

  “Did you get any sleep last night?”

  “Some. You?”

  “An uninterrupted six hours before she woke up. Then we both went back to bed.”

  A crooked smile, like the cocky Colin in high school. “Wanna go to bed anyway?”

  “What about dinner?”

  “We have time for a quickie while she sleeps.”

  She bolted up. “I’m on if you are.”

  Makeup sex was the best thing in the world.

  Chapter 4

  Grinning, Annie pushed Bridget’s carriage through the entrance of Meadows Park. Colin was working the last of his day shift, and she hadn’t been here in a while, so she was anxious to see her friends.

  All f
our were seated at a table in the shade, and the kids perched at a small one nearby, sliding off and onto the bench, and digesting treats.

  “Hey, there she is.” Brent stood and squeezed her arm. “Ms. Brave Firefighter.”

  Annie greeted him.

  Barbara Keller got up and hugged her. “We haven’t seen you in a while, again.”

  “Things got busy.”

  Barb looked into the carriage. “She’s not awake yet?”

  “Momentarily. She sleeps when we roll, but she wakes up when we stop.”

  “May I hold her? I love babies.”

  “I can tell. And of course you can hold her.” Annie hadn’t even parked the carriage yet when Bridget awoke. Instead of crying, she peered up at them.

  “Oh, Lord, those eyes!” Barbara leaned over and picked the baby up. “Make sure you value these days with her. They grow up so fast.”

  “I know. I feel that more every day.”

  Brent said, “Sit, Annie. There’s a thermos of coffee and monkey bread.”

  “This big blob of dough, covered with cinnamon is monkey bread?”

  “Yep. Don’t know where the name came from. It’s made of balls or slices of dough with butter, brown and white sugar and cinnamon. Throw the dough into the mixture and bake in a Bundt pan. Then, pull pieces off.”

  “Hmm. Which of you moms made it?”

  “You wound me, girl.” Brent put his hand over his heart. “I did.”

  “That was sexist. Sorry. You bake?”

  “Yeah, you?”

  “I made a perfect Baked Alaska for my friends two nights ago.”

  “Send me the recipe.” The group had exchanged emails, and took hers, too. “Though I don’t bake fancy much for myself and my kids except for things like this…” he motioned to the dough “…and cookies.”

  “You should taste his chocolate chips. They’re delicious.” Sally asked her, “So, how’ve you been?”

  “It’s been an interesting week.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “No, thanks.” She wrinkled her nose. “Except, I’ve been spending a lot of time with a group of women who trained together in the academy ten years ago, along with one of our instructors.” She chuckled. “Privately, we call ourselves The Sisters of Fire.”

  “A double entendre?” Brent asked.

  The other women frowned.

  “You’re sisters to each other because of your friendship and sisters of real fire which you fight every day.”

  “I think we meant sisters to each other, but that’s pretty cool.”

  “What do you like to do outside of work?” Sally continued the conversation. “Besides be with your friends.”

  “Read. Work out. I did play basketball with one of my friends’ group. And we went ax-throwing.”

  The last piqued everybody’s interest and she explained their night out. “What about you guys?”

  Barbara walked Bridget up and down the grass. At one point, she…oh my God, she started to waver. Annie bolted up. But Brent was closer and sprang into action. He snatched Bridget from Barb’s arms and in the process, Barb jarred him going forward.

  He stumbled backward and fell onto his back, with the baby cocooned against his chest. “She’s all right,” he said breathlessly. “I took the brunt of it. See to Barb.”

  The kids ran over to their mother. Cries of “Are you okay?” “Mommy!” “Daddy.” Barb was already coming around. Her kids stayed at her side.

  Sally said calmly, “Quiet down guys. We’re all fine.”

  And Bridget started crying.

  Taking a deep breath, Annie scooped her from Brent, who rolled to his feet. She laid the baby on the table. Checked her head. Arms and legs. Put her ear on her chest. “She isn’t hurt.”

  “You’re an EMT. See to Barb. I’ll take care of her.” He lifted up the baby.

  Sally had kept Barbara in a seated position on the grass. Annie went to them, knelt down and did pretty much the same to her friend as she had to the baby. Then she asked, “Are you dizzy?”

  “I was. Sally said Bridget didn’t get hurt?”

  “Thanks to Brent.” This from Judy.

  “Is your stomach queasy?” Annie continued.

  “No.”

  “So probably no concussion. Mommy’s good, guys.”

  They nodded and Jay, the littlest, sucked his thumb.

  Judy and Sally corralled Barb’s children and their own, brought them back to their table and sat with them.

  “I know what this is,” Barb confessed to the others in a soft voice. “I’m pregnant again.”

  Everybody stilled.

  Annie helped her up and kept hold of her. “Dizzy now?”

  “No. I’m appalled at myself. I never fainted when I was carrying my kids. I wouldn’t have asked to hold her if I’d ever done it before.”

  Annie helped her to sit facing out from the picnic table. She was shaky. “Let’s all take a few breaths.”

  Brent was flanked by his own children. “I’m fine, Collette. Charlotte. Daddy’s fine. Now go join your friends.” He led them over.

  Soon Bridget dozed. Annie put her in the carriage and took a seat next to it.

  Brent sat, too, and slid his arm around her. “You okay, Mom?”

  “Yeah. Of course. Remember, I’m a firefighter. I’m used to dealing with emergencies.”

  “I would have fallen apart if it had been my daughter.” Sally smiled at her. “You did good, Annie.”

  “Near misses with babies are upsetting,” Brent put in. “Every time, and it doesn’t get easier.”

  “I can handle this.” Annie asked, “Are you happy about the pregnancy, Barb?”

  “I am.”

  A man holding a phone came over. “How’s the baby? And you guys?” He focused on Brent.

  “We all escaped injury.”

  “I’m glad.” He walked away.

  “That was nice of him,” Barb said.

  Actually, Annie thought it was a bit odd.

  They all went quiet again. Annie felt obliged to say, “None of us are hurt. Let’s not let this ruin our day.”

  Brent shook his head. “You’re something else, Annie O’Shea.”

  Sure, Annie was feeling some after effects of the situation, but she managed a smile. They stayed their usual time, then left the park.

  At six-fifteen, Colin walked through the door. Annie was putting the finishing touches on spaghetti sauce. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” His brow furrowed. “Something wrong?”

  “No, I’m just flushed from the heat. I have to feed Bridget as soon as I’m done.”

  They could hear her babble from the living room. Colin walked over to her. “Hey, princess. How are you today?” He picked her up from the crib and sat down facing her. “Did you have a nice day?”

  “Baa baa goo goo.”

  “Aren’t you cute.”

  Annie appeared and handed him a beer. “Time for dinner, sweetheart.”

  “Do it out here. I turned on the local news.”

  “Sure.”

  He grabbed the remote. “There was a bad fire today, not with my house. Is it okay if we watch it?”

  “Of course.”

  But when the news came on, a camera panned a local park. It took Annie a minute to realize what this was. She tensed causing Bridget to bite. “Hey, stop that.”

  At one point, the anchor came on. “The footage you just saw was of Meadows Park. Where we learned that tragedy was averted.” The small vertical picture showed the action clearly. “And our own B.J. Winslow was the hero, as shown in this cell phone video sent to us from a bystander.”

  Colin surged to the edge of his seat. Annie watched with horror as the scene unfolded. Barb starting to fall…Brent leaping into action, grabbing Bridget then falling, too.

  “Fuck.” He slashed an angry look at Annie. “Our daughter could have been seriously hurt.”

  Once again, Annie had to keep calm. “She wasn’t.”

/>   “I want to check her over.”

  “I already did that. Calm down, Colin. She wasn’t hurt. You can see that on the video.”

  He swallowed hard. Took breaths. Then he frowned over at her. “No more park visits, Annie.”

  “What?”

  He repeated what he said.

  “That’s not your decision.”

  Scowling now, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

  “You turned on the TV before I could.”

  “You could have called me at work.”

  “And upset you? Over nothing.”

  “That wasn’t nothing.”

  She shook her head and focused on the baby.

  * * *

  At bedtime, Colin came down the hall, passed the nursery and stopped. Annie was rocking Bridget, who slept soundly against her chest. She frowned at him. “Why are you still in uniform?”

  “Chief Roncone called. He wants me to observe some training. He’s the BC who’ll be in charge of my new house.”

  “I forgot you said you had to train tonight.”

  He loved Annie so much, but he couldn’t take her not telling him things. “I’m still pissed off.”

  “I can tell.”

  “Annie…”

  She got up and gave him her back. Settling Bridget in the crib, she kissed the baby goodnight, then pivoted around. “I won’t be awake when you get back. Bridget was up three times last night.”

  Before he could respond, she brushed past him, went into the bedroom and closed the door.

  He couldn’t believe it. She acted like she was in the right about this. That he was unreasonable. He was trying to protect his child.

  At Truck 2, he pushed his family trouble out of his mind. He found the group gathered in the driveway in front of the bays. It was still light enough to conduct the training outside at eight at night. Orange cones, like the ones used by construction workers, were already set up. A heavy steel spreader laid on a table. Whatever this was, Colin had never done it.

  Captain Daniels shook his hand. “Glad you could come over, O’Shea. Congrats on the promotion.” He turned to the group. “Listen up, now. You have two tasks. First, using the spreader on that table over there, pick up one of the blocks set out for you. The goal is no dings in the blocks. Wearing full gear.”