Chapter 2
Same day on the other side of town
“Are you going to be good for Grandpa and Mee-maw?” I asked my six-year-old daughter, Turquoise.
“Yes, sir.” Her barrettes clanked as she nodded.
I think she just liked to shake her head so she could hear the barrettes move.
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I hugged her and kissed her cheek.
When I released her, she ran off to play with one of her toys.
My father’s shoulders shook as he laughed. “That child ain’t worried about you, Son.”
“Oh, I know. All she’s worried about is that new toy she got. And I’m sure she wants me to leave so she can have all that sugar y’all be giving her.” I looked at my dad and stepmom with squinted eyes.
I didn’t give my baby candy that often, and definitely not after certain hours, because it took a long time for the sugar to wear off. The child would be bouncing off the walls for hours.
“My baby can have whatever she wants when she’s here, as long as she’s a good girl,” my stepmom added as she got up from her spot on the couch.
More than likely, she was going to the kitchen to get some food for me.
I just shook my head and laughed. “Y’all have to deal with that, not me.”
“And we do just fine,” my dad jested.
My father, Jasper, raised me by himself from the time I was ten, after my mother died from a glioblastoma, until I was sixteen.
When I was sixteen, he met my stepmom, Sharon, and they got married a year later.
She had been an important person in my and Turquoise’s lives.
Turquoise’s mom, Bria, died during childbirth, so Sharon was the only mother figure in my baby’s life.
Our family was small since I was an only child, and Sharon hadn’t had any kids when she and my father met, and she was okay with just me. People looked at her funny because she never wanted kids, but she didn’t care. At the time, I was getting into shit, so she said dealing with me was enough.
“Here you go.” Sharon reentered the living room and handed me a lunch bag. “I know some of them people down at that firehouse don’t know how to cook, and we don’t need you starving to death. Can’t be saving lives if you’re hungry.”
I placed a kiss on her cheek, and she smiled. “Thank you. I’m sure I’ll love whatever is in here.” I checked the time on my watch. “I’m going to get out of here. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.”
We all said our goodbyes, and I left. I pressed my key fob to unlock the doors of my Durango and put the lunch bag on the passenger seat.
It was in the low sixties, but the sun was bright in the sky. I prayed that today would be a good day. When I got inside, I cranked up the car, and Nipsey flowed through the speakers. I cracked my window and bobbed my head as I drove to the firehouse.
Firehouse 23 had been my second home for the last six years, and while I loved my job, I hated some of the things that came with it.
Running into burning buildings was a gamble that I took every day that I worked.
There was always the possibility of not making it home, but I made sure to do as much as I could to get back to my baby.
I couldn’t have her out here without both parents.
Turquoise was in the first grade, and she had been doing really well.
The older she got, the more she reminded me of her mother.
She looked like her, but she had my dark chocolate eyes.
She got her smart mouth from her mother, and her brain smarts were a combination of both of us.
After Bria died, I didn’t bother with dating again, because my focus was on raising Turquoise.
I had a chick I fucked with occasionally, but she was married.
I wasn’t proud of my actions, but I continued to fuck with her because she didn’t require anything from me but dick.
When we were both free, we would meet at a hotel, then go our separate ways.
I learned to control my urges, so I didn’t fuck with her often.
I wasn’t trying to bring just anybody around my daughter, especially while she was so impressionable.
When I wasn’t at work, I was with my family, or just my daughter, because I didn’t fuck with people.
Some of my coworkers would ask me to meet them at the bar, and I did, but it wasn’t often.
I just didn’t want to be around people like that.
Growing up as an only child made me an introvert who was okay with being alone.
In high school, I had friends, but once we graduated, I kinda went back into my shell.
I was naturally a protective person, and that was what encouraged me to become a firefighter. The job was rewarding when we saved someone, but sad when we lost lives.
I pulled up to the firehouse and parked. I grabbed my bag and made sure I had everything else I needed for the day.
Pressing the button to lock the door, I put my keys in my bookbag and entered the firehouse.
The firehouse was buzzing with people, with it being a shift change.
“You ready for tonight?” my coworker Darren asked.
“Ready as I can be.” I put my bag in my locker, then grabbed the lunch bag to put it in the refrigerator.
Once that was done, I went into the main room to hang out while we waited for the alarm to go off.
The first few hours of the day were quiet, but that rarely lasted. At some point, we got a call about an accident, but we were able to handle it fairly quickly.
Since it was nighttime, I rested on one of the beds in the sleeping quarters. As soon as I closed my eyes, the alarm rang. Immediately, I jumped up and sprang into action.
Darren and the other two guys who were on my squad were already near the truck. I quickly dressed in my gear, then we headed out.
The truck’s siren pierced the air as we rode through the quiet streets. There weren’t too many people out, but I noticed a few cars that had to pull over when we came by.
When we arrived at the location, Darren pulled the truck over, and we all jumped off and got to work.
It was a single-family home on fire. It was a good thing someone called as quickly as they did, or things could have gone way worse. The fire seemed to be confined to one spot, so as long as we moved fast, things would be okay.
Another truck pulled up behind us, and they got busy trying to put out the fire.
“Dom and Blake, you guys go around the back. D, we’ll go through the front.”
Some of the neighbors were outside, of course, recording shit. The police had arrived and controlled the small crowd. Sometimes people liked to get too close like they couldn’t get injured. Fires spread quickly, and they could occasionally blow someone’s windows out.
D and I entered the house through the front.
“Fire department, call out!” I made my way through the house to search for anyone.
I heard the guys yell out that it was clear as they made their way through all the rooms on the first floor.
I went upstairs and noticed a closed door. “Fire department, call out!” I shouted when I opened the door.
Nobody responded. The guys checked the other room and said they were clear.
I spotted a car in the driveway when we arrived, so I was almost certain someone was in the house.
I was very observant, so I always looked for vehicles in the driveway.
It wasn’t a guarantee of someone being home, but I made sure we double-checked just in case.
The room was full of smoke, so it was hard to see, but I looked down when my foot hit something.
It was a woman who had passed out. I bent down to lift her over my shoulder and headed toward the stairs.
With my free hand, I called out on the radio. “Darren, make sure ambo is standing by. I’m coming out with an unresponsive female.”
“Ten-four.”
As soon as I spotted the ambulance, I quickly made my way over.
As I placed her on the gurney, something in my chest tightened.
Although her eyes were closed, I couldn’t miss just how beautiful she was.
The longer I committed her features to memory, the tightness in my chest eased away.
It was the oddest fucking thing. I could hear Carl Thomas singing it was love at first sight.
I had to shake it off because it wasn’t the right time to be lusting over someone who’d just experienced something so tragic.
“Is she gonna be okay?” I asked one of the medics.
“Her pulse is weak, but I’m sure she will,” she said. She put the oxygen mask on her, then she and her partner loaded her onto the back of the ambulance.
I watched for a few seconds after they closed the door, then snapped out of it.
We finished up at the scene, then headed back to the firehouse. The rest of the night went on without a hitch, but I couldn’t get her pretty ass out of my head. I made a mental note to check on her the next day at the hospital.