“I’m in no hurry,” she said and didn’t elaborate further.
He wondered if Laura had anyone special back home. She was physically beautiful, although in a different way from her sister, and Tony doubted that she had escaped the notice of the opposite sex. What impact would an attractive young woman have on his department? He immediately felt a streak of shame at the thought. He hadn’t considered the physical appearance of any of the other volunteers. But Laura was different. She was practically family now that her sister was marrying his cousin. He should look after her if he could.
“Ready?” Kevin asked as he strode toward them. Tony turned away from Laura and began to follow his cousin, but Laura put a light hand on his arm. It was a friendly gesture, but her soft touch reminded him that he should keep his distance.
“What’s the training you’re going to?” she asked.
“Incident command training. We’re taking an advanced course for officers in the fire service. It’s good if you want to move up the ranks, and it’s also good for continual improvement.”
“Haven’t you moved up as far as you can get already?” Laura asked.
“Being the chief is a huge responsibility, and there’s always something to learn.”
Tony had no intention of being one of those leaders who rests on his accomplishments. Becoming the chief at the age of only thirty meant he had a lifetime of leadership ahead of him. He wouldn’t let down his department or tarnish his father’s legacy.
Laura smiled. “Then I guess I’ll be in good hands when the training starts next week.”
“I hope so,” Tony said. Something about having Laura in his class and potentially under his command brought home all the heavy responsibility of being a leader in a very dangerous job.
EVEN THOUGH SHE knew it was stupid, Laura changed her outfit three times before heading to the fire station for the first night of training. She’d obsessed over every detail in the online application and fussed with her exact word choice in the short essay about why she wanted to be a firefighter. She hadn’t wanted to appear too eager or they’d think she was a risky candidate with a thirst for danger. But she hadn’t wanted to seem too matter-of-fact either, because they might think she was lukewarm about public service.
Laura had asked her summer worker Rebecca for her Aunt Diane’s phone number, and the two of them had exchanged messages and even met for coffee. It would be a comfort walking into the class already knowing someone, and they had discussed their answers on their applications. Her sister, Nicole, had drawn the line at helping Laura get on the department. She wasn’t going to stop her, but she certainly wasn’t going to proofread her work and advise her on what to wear.
Which was why Laura rejected the first pair of jeans with a college T-shirt. And the next pair of chinos with a button-down blouse. She finally settled on jeans with a navy blue elbow-length T-shirt. Not too casual, definitely not dressy or frilly. What if they had to climb a ladder or pull hoses off a truck in an icebreaker sort of event?
She paired practical sneakers with her outfit and grabbed a shoulder bag in case there were books. She hoped for bookwork. If there was something she could read up on, she’d be in her element. A quiz or essay? Golden.
Despite her enthusiasm, her confidence would be a whole lot stronger if she knew what to expect. She drove her car—a blue hatchback with all-wheel drive that suited the winter conditions in Indiana—instead of riding her bike because it would be dark when she returned to her sister’s place. Nicole was spending a lot of time with Kevin in anticipation of their wedding in six weeks, and Laura was in the lucky position of having a fully furnished house all to herself most of the time.
She parked on a side street near the station and noticed another car doing the same thing. She wished she had arranged to ride with Diane, but she knew she had to step outside her comfort zone, anyway. Two men got out of the car and walked in the same direction she was. After crossing one street and staying together, Laura smiled at the men.
“Are you going to the fire station?” she asked.
They nodded.
“Me, too,” she said. She took a breath and made herself say it out loud, testing the words that represented such a bold move for her. “I’m signing up to be a volunteer firefighter.”
There was a slight hesitation, and then the younger man stuck out his hand. “Richard,” he said. “I’m starting the volunteer class tonight, too. And this is my brother, Oliver.”
“Ollie,” the other man said.
“I’m Laura.” As she shook hands with both men and they started walking together toward the station, Laura relaxed. They were both in their twenties like her, and maybe they were also nervous about what they were about to do.
“Have you ever done anything like this before?” Ollie asked.
“Not exactly,” Laura said. “I did some coaching so I know CPR and basic first aid. I’m not a great cook, so I did have to put out a kitchen fire once.”
“Really?” Richard asked.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Laura said, laughing. “It was mostly a boil-over that I knocked down by putting the lid on. I have a habit of reading while I’m cooking, and it doesn’t always turn out well.”
As they approached the open doors of the station, Laura saw others already gathering. How many people were here for the class? She nodded politely at them, wondering if they were trainees or perhaps just visiting friends or relatives at the station.
“Hey, Laura,” Diane said. Her short brown hair with a few grays sprinkled in curled over her ears and the rims of her glasses, and she wore a pink T-shirt, jeans and an unzipped Cape Pursuit sweatshirt. “I may be the oldest person in the class,” she said, lowering her voice and looking around at the people standing nervously in the station. “But I’m hoping wisdom will make up for it.”
Laura was about to assure her that wisdom trumped a lot of things, youth included, but a door opened along a side wall and Tony stepped out. “In here,” he said. “Welcome to the first night of firefighter training.”
He held open the door and nodded at each of the new recruits. “Sign-in sheet on the table and name tags,” Tony said. “You only have to wear name tags the first night, and then I’m sure we’ll all get to know each other without them.”
Laura was the last one through the door. She glanced at the line ahead of her. There were a total of eight people in the class. Not too many names to remember, but also a small group, making it impossible to blend in.
“Sit anywhere,” Tony said. He moved to a table set up at the front of the room. Laura guessed the department used the room for regular meetings and training, because there were three rows of eight chairs each. As the last person to move toward the seats, she found her options were limited. In typical fashion, the six men in the class had spread out in rows two and three, leaving seats in between them. Laura couldn’t take any of the buffer seats without looking incredibly awkward.
Diane had taken a seat at the end of the first row farthest from Tony, but Laura parked herself squarely in the front row in front of him.
The seats creaked and Laura crossed and uncrossed her legs, trying to settle into the wooden folding chair. She heard whispered conversations behind her and she caught Diane’s eye and smiled at her. Tony shuffled papers next to a set of spiral-bound books on the table in front of her. She knew they weren’t waiting for any more class members because hers had been the last name unchecked on the