Chapter 13 #2
Brigit didn’t miss the fortifying breath Priya took, nor the way she deliberately avoided looking at Maisy. Priya set her glass down and smiled at them, but her eyes brimmed with concern.
Brigit couldn’t help but ask, “Is she…doing okay?”
Priya gripped her purse until her knuckles were white.
“I’ve always felt like I should apologize for the way she acted, but I talked myself out of it.
Now we’re adults and she’s still —” She shook her head.
“Anyway, I’m so sorry, Brigit. For everything.
I should’ve told her straight up to stop.
Instead, I ran ahead of her and tried to minimize anything she’d find to pick on.
Hindsight and all that. Anyway, it was great seeing you two and, uh, together. ”
Caleb gave her a little wave as she left, but he didn’t steer Brigit back to their table. “That was unexpected.”
“In so many ways.” An old nemesis hadn’t turned into a friend, but at least she was no longer an enemy. And she was someone Brigit could commiserate with. “I don’t think her friendship with Maisy is in the same place it was ten years ago.”
“Maisy might be in the same place, but the rest of us aren’t.”
The rest of us? That pool felt tiny. Maisy was the same, if not worse, and guys like Teddy treated her no differently than before.
Moore hadn’t changed, but Brigit had just stood up for herself.
And not everyone in Moore insulted or somehow demeaned her.
There were people like Priya, who was actually pleasant.
Or had she always been that way, but Brigit had been too jaded to see it?
The longer she stayed, the harder it was to see everything that Moore didn’t offer.
The fire engine was washed, and its red exterior was shiny enough to see his face in. After the snowfall in the last week and the extra car accidents the weather had caused, it had needed a good cleaning.
“Apparatus looks good, Cruise.” Tate McGill gathered the hoses.
“I can wash this thing in my sleep.” Caleb helped Tate put all the cleaning supplies away.
“Was that Priya Patel I saw you talking up at the bar last weekend?”
“Yeah, but we’re just friends.”
“Right. I’ve heard the guys say something about Brigit Walker.” Tate leaned against the apparatus.
Caleb scowled at him. He hadn’t talked to his crew much about Brigit. Mostly because he didn’t want to face all the questions and advice about when she got a job in a big city, not because he wasn’t dying to talk about the woman who was the center of his world. “You’re a nosy fucker, McGill.”
The guy laughed, his boom filling the garage. “Brigit Walker it is, then. Congrats, man. You’re finally seeing someone for more than one night.”
“Nah. It’s not that serious.” His stomach twisted just saying it. “She’s moving soon, once she gets a job.”
Tate’s smile faded. “That sucks. I mean, I thought since she was someone you were actually dating…”
Damn Tate and the way he seemed to see through all their bullshit. “If I could have my way.”
A voice crackled over the intercom. “Cruise. Come to my office.”
“The LT wants to talk to you. What’d you do?” Tate chuckled. “Kidding. But seriously, you’re not trapped here. You’re a firefighter with experience. If she’s worth having, don’t let her get away.”
It wasn’t up to him whether she left or not, and he couldn’t make her ask him to come with.
Caleb jogged to his lieutenant’s office, rolling through everything he’d done.
He’d seen the fire chief walking through earlier, too, but he was on good terms with the man.
They used to be neighbors, but now the chief’s sons ran the ranch.
Not long ago, there had been trouble between Caleb and them, but that had been resolved.
One of the silver linings of the tornado.
The office came into view. Chief Bradford sat in one of the chairs across from the LT’s desk.
Caleb nodded to him as he entered. “Chief.” He glanced at Lieutenant Johnson. “Sir.”
“Have a seat, Cruise.”
Nerves rippled in his gut. His butt hit the chair and he settled his hands on his legs. He couldn’t lose this job. A firefighter with experience was no good if he’d been fired.
LT did all the talking. “Cortez put in his resignation.”
Cortez was one of their driver engineers. He and Caleb didn’t work together often, but he’d heard talk that Cortez’s wife had gotten a promotion that’d take them to the East Coast. But what did that have to do with him?
“So that means we have an opening. And Lieutenant Mills is talking retirement.”
Caleb had heard the same, but he’d been too distracted with planning ways to afford his house and get more income out of his ranch to dwell on it.
The chief cut in. “What are your plans for the future, Caleb?” The chief had a way of treating all of them like sons. Maybe that was why his owns sons had resented Caleb, but that was water out of the hose.
“I’m working on my emergency management degree.” He loved both of his jobs. “My plans are to stick with the department. I love my job.”
LT rested his elbows on his desk. “And we’d like you to stay. We’d also like to see you move up. Have you given thought to continuing your education so you’ll qualify for these openings as they happen?”
“I did. Before the storm.” With sheer fortitude, he’d continued with his college courses. Both to feel like he was still moving forward, and because, like the LT had said, he needed to keep thinking about his future.
The other guys nodded, knowing exactly which storm he meant.
“You have a lot on your plate, Cruise,” LT said. “However we can help, let us know. But I’d like to see your name in the pool of applicants for driver engineer.”
That driver engineer position would be one rung up the ladder. One step closer to lieutenant. He’d been working here long enough to start considering promotions. Hadn’t he been telling himself that he was a firefighter with experience?
The chief’s gruff voice interrupted his thoughts.
“We’re not in our twenties forever. Sometimes, it’s the back that goes.
Or our knees. Or we have an accident, illness, what have you.
My point is, you gotta start planning now for when you’re older and can’t haul hoses and crawl up ladders anymore.
And a promotion won’t hurt the checkbook. ”
Reality sank in as he calculated the starting wage for a driver engineer. If he got the job, he could approach the bank again. On that salary, he could afford a higher mortgage even without widening the income and expense gap of the ranch.
And if he could build on that income, he’d be set for when he was promoted again.
LT tapped the desk. “Why don’t I email you the job qualifications and all the information I have on continuing ed? If you have any questions, hit me up, anytime.”
“Thank you, sir.” He nodded again to Chief Bradford. “Chief. Thank you.”
“You were always a hard-working kid, Caleb,” the chief said. “I would hate to lose you.”
Caleb frowned once he left LT’s office. Had they heard he was seeing Brigit and that she was planning to move? Did the whole town think he’d go with her?
The whole town except her.