12. Chapter Twelve
Chapter twelve
J unior Firefighter Days are some of my favorites, especially when Thor brings Gunner, his older brother with Down syndrome, around. He’s older than the teens who joined the club, but still enjoys learning about the trucks and using the equipment. Plus, I’m basically his favorite person so he really doesn’t need an excuse to stop by and see me. Gunner laughs at Captain Swanson’s jokes while Thor and I stand to the side.
“You are not Gunner’s favorite person,” Thor teases.
“Then why does he ask to come see me all the time and bring donuts?” I retort while licking jelly from my fingers.
“You just keep telling yourself that.” Thor crosses his arms and leans against the wall. “How did things go with your friend last night after you darted off in the complete opposite direction from which you came?”
“You are so nosy. How do you know she doesn’t live that way?”
“Personal bodyguard, remember? I probably know more about your friend now than you do. Did you know she graduated top honors or something like that? Fancy office at the hospital, too.”
“Can you not look her up like some kind of stalker?”
Thor chuckles. “I have to look out for my friends.”
“Yeah, well, Whits is pretty perfect. You’re not going to find a speck of dirt on her.”
“You’re right. I tried.” He’s teasing me again, working to see how much he can poke to get more information out of me. “Is she going to be able to go back to work soon?” Thor winces as if he already knows the answer.
“I don’t know. She still doesn’t have feeling in her left hand, but I suppose only time will tell. It doesn’t seem like she thinks she will though, not based on the message I got from Jackson before you arrived.”
Thor pushes his bulky body off the wall and assumes a firm stance. He can’t help it. The military in him is always on guard, and becoming a bodyguard was probably natural for him. “What do you mean?”
“He asked if I knew anyone offering a job. I was about to call Christian and see if she could do some work for him temporarily, but then you pulled in. I’ll call him after.”
“Nah, go ahead. I’ll go finish up with Gunner and head out. You can tell me how it went later,” Thor says.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, besides it’s like I said, Gunner didn’t come here for you.”
I roll my eyes while Thor walks off laughing. In the quiet of my bunk room, I pull up Christian’s phone number and tap call. There’s a good chance he’s not in the office, but if I leave a message he’ll get back to me soon.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Oh, you answered,” I say, reworking my plan since I had anticipated leaving a message.
“You called,” Christian teases. “So, what’s up?”
“Uh, so I know this might sound weird but I was wondering if you have any temp jobs available? Whits needs something at least to hold her over for a while. I’m not sure what will happen in the long term, but for now, you know?”
“Can’t say I have anything open for a trauma surgeon, but I’m sure I can come up with something that needs doing around here. What else is she good at?”
“It’s been a while. I’m not sure but when we were kids she was always a take-charge kind of person. You could trust her with any task you need done, especially on a deadline. She seems to thrive on deadlines, which I suppose makes sense. She’s detail-oriented. Yeah, I guess any skill one would need as a surgeon might work well in other areas.”
“Good point. Let me see what I can do. Can you have her contact my receptionist and set up an interview for next week? In the meantime, I’ll see what I can find to match her skill set.”
“It’s not putting you out is it? I don’t want you to be put in a bind over this.” I know Christian will do anything for his friends. I never want to put him in a position that takes advantage of his kindness, but Whits really needs something to keep her focused and healing. A new job, even if it’s temporary, might do that.
“Cai, it’s really not an imposition. Actually, I already have an idea that might be brilliant. Have her set up an interview and we’ll take it from there.”
I breathe a sigh of relief and my body relaxes. “I owe you one, Chris. I really do.”
“You don’t, especially if this brilliant idea of mine pans out, okay? I’d be up front with you if there was nothing I could do, but I want to give it a try.”
“Okay. Perfect, thank you so much.”
“Not a problem. Send her my details and I’ll be waiting for the interview.”
“Right. Will do. Let’s just hope she takes it well. Whits is sweet, but she does have a certain fire about her when she’s caught off guard.”
Christian chuckles. “Yeah, I’ll leave that to you to figure out, Mr. Firefighter. Talk to you later.”
“Later,” I say and end the call. I peer out the window and spy Thor and Gunner heading out of the parking lot. Gunner is all smiles, which in turn makes me grin with happiness. I guess now is as good a time as any to call Whits and give her the news and pray Jackson didn’t set me up for failure by asking me to do something he did not get permission to do. I tap her number and wait.
It almost goes to voicemail but she grabs it at the last second, puffing out an exasperated, “Hello?”
“Are you all right?” I ask.
She laughs. “Yes. Just doing a little cardio. Someone bought me a bunch of books, and I’m being a lazy person reading through them. I needed a little exercise.”
“Okay, then,” I say and buckle up for the next part. “So, I’m hoping that Jax already told you that he asked me about helping to find you a job?”
She sighs and mumbles, then says, “Yes, but listen, you do not need to feel obligated to find work for me. You have already done so much, so if you can’t then it isn’t a big deal. Jax is such an annoying pain in the—”
“Whoa, whoa there, Whits.”
“I was gonna say rear end, and you know it.”
I chuckle. “I know, I meant whoa on the assumption I can’t work job magic. I got you something. I mean, assuming you want it. You remember Christian from last night?”
“I do. The billionaire guy, right? Hard to forget.”
“Yeah, him. He’s always hiring this and that, and he said you could come in, he’ll talk with you, and see where he can place you. Is that okay?”
“Cai, I don’t know. I don’t want to impose on your friends. I definitely don’t need him to make a pity position for me at his company.”
Hearing her put it that way, I sort of get it. I probably wouldn’t be crazy about it either, but knowing Christian, the last thing he is doing is offering a pity position. “It’s not that at all. Christian needs people he can trust, and since he trusts me and I trust you, the trust flows downstream I guess,” I say with a chuckle.
She sighs again and the line fills with silence. Eventually, she shuffles something in the background and says, “Okay. Do I need to call him?”
“Awesome. Yeah, he says he’s free a few days next week. I’ll send you his receptionist’s information. This’ll be great, I promise. He’s a great guy and you’ll love working for him, at least until you know about…you know. How things will pan out.”
“Yeah, I know.” Her tone seems so final, almost as if she’s already either decided I’m lying and she’ll hate the job, or that surgery is out of the question for her forever.
“Hey, it’s going to work out, Whits. Will you call me after your doctor’s appointment?”
She clears her throat, and I know she’s been crying. She might have been exercising, but there were some tears mixed in with that cardio. There’s a certain way she does it, the throat clearing, when she’s emotional that’s completely different from when she’s sick or has a throat tickle. It was most assuredly an emotional throat clearing.
“Yeah, I can do that. Um, I’m going to shower, finish up my book, and relax a little. We’ll catch up soon, though, okay?”
It isn’t like I thought one day spent with me would cheer her up permanently, but I had hoped it would last longer than twenty-four hours. I’m not sure how her lunch with Jackson went, but it’s possible he pushed too hard. That is his status quo, but when he does she usually comes to me to get him to lay off. She used to, anyway.
“All right. We still on to meet up in a couple of days?”
“Yep, sure thing.”
She’s forcing a sunny attitude now so she can hide that she’s upset, but I accommodate her wishes and pray she knows I’m here for her. “Okay, see you soon, Whits.”
“Bye, Cai.” She hangs up, leaving me wondering if I might be doing more harm than good.