boyfriend or anything else. The only man she had time for in her life was ten years old and upstairs being tutored in math. Being Dillon’s mom and being the best kindergarten teacher she could be was more than enough for her.
One by one the students started showing up, and soon she had an entire classroom full of kiddies. After a brief morning lesson, they’d take the six-block walk to Fire Station No. 5 and get a tour and a lesson in fire safety.
Aisha grinned in anticipation. She liked taking class trips almost as much as the kids did. She couldn’t wait.
Patrick Hightower eyed his squad as they lined up in the apparatus room for roll call. Of the five men on duty on any given shift, his position as fire captain never changed.
He was the officer in charge.
He took note of his men. All of them were present and accounted for, uniformed and ready to roll at the sound of an alarm. Reggie Smith, the rookie, was there and Patrick had a special assignment for him today. They had a group of kindergartners coming through later, and the rookie could give them a tour.
“Jones, you’re the driver today.” Patrick went down his list. “Carter, you’re position three. Stone, you’re position four. And Smith, you’re position five, waterman and general helper.”
“No big surprise there,” Reggie grumbled.
“Awww…the rookie’s getting tired of playing his position.” Lennie Stone playfully ribbed Reggie.
The other men laughed, and Patrick was tempted to join them. But he had one more surprise for the rookie. Holding back his own grin, he added, “And we have a tour today. So you can show us what you know, rookie, by leading the tour and giving a presentation to the group of kindergarteners we have coming in.”
“Kindergartners?” A look of horror crossed Reggie’s face. “Couldn’t my first time leading a tour be with some older kids? The small ones scare me.” Reggie offered a fake shiver.
“Hey, if you can face a fire you can face some five-year-olds,” Patrick said.
“I don’t know. I think I’d take my chances with the fire anytime.” Bryan Carter winked, shaking his head in mock sympathy.
Patrick went over the rest of the schedule for the day, knowing that one call would set his entire carefully planned schedule off for the day. Once he set out the schedule, the men went about checking the fire engine and equipment to make sure that everything was fully operational.
There were two other firefighters who were also certified first-responder and emergency medical technicians on this shift besides himself, and Patrick knew that the men would also check the medical equipment and verify that all medications were there.
Patrick went back to his office/bedroom to log personnel and equipment on to the computer and wrap up a few other administrative ends.
The room that he spent more time in than he spent in his own bedroom at home housed a desk, a twin bed, a couple of chairs, a computer and printer. The décor probably left a lot to be desired for most folks. The beige-and-brown comforter on the bed and the cream plaid chairs didn’t exactly scream high-end. But it was sufficient for the work he needed to get done.
His cell phone started ringing and he glanced at the caller ID before answering.
“Yes, Aunt Sophie?”
“How’s my favorite nephew this morning?” Her voice was way too pleasant for the time of morning and for her demeanor in general.
Something was up. She was that pleasant only when she was trying to hook him up with some woman she thought would be perfect for him.
Been there, done that and got the divorce papers to prove it.
There was no way he was going to allow her to reel him in and hook him up. Plus, if he weren’t at work it would be too early for his aunt to be calling him anyway. She must be trying to catch him when he was sleepy and groggy and liable to agree to anything.
“I’m fine, Aunt Sophie. But I’m at work and I can’t talk now. I need to run the guys through a drill and we have to handle chores at the station before a group of kids come through for a tour in a few.” He almost felt guilty rushing her off the phone. Almost. “So how about I give you a call later this week? In fact, I’ll try and make time to take my favorite aunt out to lunch. Okay? I really have to go now.”
“Well…okay…I guess I can run some things by you over lunch. I just think you’ve been single too long and it’s time for you to just—”
“Yeah, this is definitely a lunchtime conversation.” Not. “I’ll give you a call later this week and we can set up a time. Love you, Aunt Sophie. I’ll talk with you later. Bye-bye.”
“Well…fine…bye, Patrick. We will talk later—I have some ideas. I’m concerned about your happiness. I don’t think you’ve ever gotten over Courtney. And—”
“Sorry, gotta run, Aunt Sophie. I’ll call you. Bye.”
Yeah, he had to cut her off before she went there. Bringing up the ex-wife was a good enough reason for the dial tone. Sophie was lucky he had respect for his elders. He hung up the phone. The last thing he needed this early in the morning was a reminder of the biggest mistake of his life.
Shaking his head, he got up and started the drill exercise for the morning. They had just enough time to run through it before the kiddies came through.
People had these outrageous images of firemen just sitting around the firehouse playing cards and dominoes and waiting for the alarm to ring. Those images went out with Ward and Beaver. Today’s firemen were constantly learning and growing on the job, with multiple drills performed daily, as well as video training and lectures. They also had to clean the firehouse, cook and perform community outreach by going to schools and offering tours to students. The job was multifaceted and he loved that part of it, almost as much as he loved running into a blaze and saving lives.
He put the team through a drill of working the hose while on the ladder. And soon the little ones were coming through the door. He fully intended to greet them and then get the heck out of Dodge.
“Welcome to Fire Station No. 5, girls and boys. My name is Fire Captain Patrick Hightower.” He paused and gave them a chance to settle down a little. They were clearly hyped from the walk over, and some of them seemed literally ready to bounce off the walls. He scanned the crowd of munchkins, then sought out their teacher.
Good, he thought; there are two of them. They should be able to keep the kids corralled. His eyes skimmed right over the young woman with the weird boots, even though she did look familiar. Did she go to his church? She seemed to be striking a pose as if she was waiting to be noticed or something.
The other teacher was bent over, consoling a little girl who had apparently tripped coming into the building. He zeroed in on her behind and chastised himself even as he checked her out. A backside like that deserved more than a passing glance, but he knew it wasn’t the time or the place.
She was good with the little kid, though. She seemed to have the right amount of patience and kindness needed to deal with kids at such a tender age. The little girl seemed more embarrassed than actually hurt. But the teacher treated the child as if she were the center of the universe. And soon the little girl was cracking
