Light Up The Night: A Bad Boy Firefighter Novel Read online

  I sighed. “Yeah. Two years sounds right.”

  “That’s insane!”

  I wiped sweat off my upper lip. “Sex isn’t a priority of mine.”

  Tara’s eyes widened incredulously. “Clearly. Because you never have it. Don’t you miss it?”

  I shrugged. I missed sex with Evan, with a man I trusted and loved. Since him, there hadn’t been another man I’d blinked twice at.

  Well. Besides one dark-haired, brown-eyed, firefighting hunk. But he was off limits. Very off limits. I had a daughter, and I’d dealt with enough loss already. I’d put that behind me. I was moving forward.

  Hayden would only knock me down and reduce me to the shattered mess I was three years ago. I couldn’t go through that again.

  Never again.

  9

  Hayden

  There was a sectioned off space, ten parking spaces wide, for us to park Berty outside the front doors of the school on Friday morning. Derek pulled her up close to the curb and killed the ignition with a forlorn look in my direction.

  “You’re sure we can’t just spray them down with the hose and call it a day?” Derek asked.

  Trace popped his head out from the back seat and looked back and forth between us. “You don’t like kids, Derek?”

  “I hate kids,” he grumbled.

  Laughing, the three of us got out of the truck. The others had stayed behind at the station, and Rinehart had chosen Trace to accompany Derek and me.

  I looked up at the school and waved. Kids already had their faces pressed to the windows, staring out in awe at the giant red truck parked in front of their school. Derek must have noticed too, because he let out an obnoxious groan and said, “I’ve never hoped someone would burn their house down before. Today is a first.”

  Trace clapped him on the back. “Don’t be a poor sport. They’re just kids.”

  “Yeah. Kids. Satanic little—”

  “Chill, man,” I said, shaking my head at him. Then I whispered, “They can smell fear.”

  Trace snickered. “You know, I will agree that this is a waste of time. Statistically, none of these kids will be firefighters. Hell, less than half of them will even graduate high school. Spending four hours showing them a shiny red truck will only—”

  “Dude,” I said. “Nobody cares.”

  Trace shrugged. “I’m just saying. This is an outdated way of doing things.”

  “You’re an outdated way of doing things,” Derek mumbled.

  The three of us walked up to the front door and let ourselves in. We took an immediate right to go into the office, where I introduced us to the middle-aged woman rocking a seventies perm behind the desk. She smiled up at us, her purple lipstick stretching.

  “Gentlemen, yes, we’ve been expecting you. Please wear these.” She slid visitor passes over the desk to us. Each one had a laminated tag that hung off a string that said “Visitor”.

  I put mine over my head. “Where are we supposed to go?”

  “The first, second, and third graders are all in the gymnasium. Ms. Moony is waiting for you outside the doors, and she will introduce you. Then you’re free to host the morning however you like. I see you found where to park your truck.”

  I nodded and hoped she didn’t hear Trace and Derek chuckling behind my back. Of course we saw it. “Yes. Thank you.”

  “Excellent. Go on in then. And have a wonderful time.”

  We left the office, and Derek nudged me in the ribs. “Why is it that people who work in places like this are always so strange?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Trace blinked at me. “Seriously? The lipstick. The hair. The sing-song voice. None of that was odd to you?”

  “Sure, but—”

  “But Hayden likes to look past all that,” Derek answered for me.

  I rolled my shoulders and exhaled. This might be a long morning.

  We reached the end of a long hallway, where a woman in a floor-length blue sun dress was standing with her hands clasped in front of her. Her short brown hair fell in curls around her face, and her glasses made her look much older than I suspected she was.

  “Ms. Moony?” I asked.

  The woman extended her hand, and I shook it. “Nice to meet you. The kids are all inside and waiting for you. Is there anything you need from me or the school before you do your presentation?”

  “Presentation?” Derek asked.

  Ms. Moony’s gray eyes slid to him, and she nodded. “Well. Yes.”

  “Ignore him,” I said. “He’s not very good at these kinds of things. We’re prepared.”

  “Excellent.” Ms. Moony smiled.

  “And no, we don’t need anything.”

  “All right, will you be starting with the truck tour then?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “No. It gets the kids too hyped up. We like to save that for last. Then you can deal with them when they’re bouncing off the walls.”

  Ms. Moony chuckled. “A wise man.”

  We entered the gym. Ms. Moony led the way down an aisle between kids sitting on the floor. They all looked up at us and watched us walk through their midst to the front of the gym, where four chairs were set up. Ms. Moony took one and the boys and I took the other three. They were tiny chairs that creaked under our weight.

  Derek sat down beside me and leaned over. “I think Ms. Moony was flirting with you.”

  “Jealous?”

  “Hell no.”

  “Don’t curse. There are kids.” I nodded out at the onlooking faces.

  There had to be about a hundred kids in the gymnasium looking up at us with wide, fascinated eyes. The front row consisted of the smallest and presumably youngest kids. They were all sitting cross legged and looked from us to Ms. Moony as she introduced us.

  “Children, these are Searing’s finest. These three men work at the fire station and fight local fires. They are here to talk to you about what it’s like being a firefighter. Would you three please introduce yourselves?”

  I stood up and cleared my throat. Knowing that neither Trace nor Derek were all that keen on talking to kids, I took the lead. “My name is Hayden, and this here is Derek. He and I are both Search and Rescue. This is Trace. We’ve all worked together for the last four years and are excited to talk to you guys today.”

  The kids looked up at me like I was Batman.

  I remembered looking at firemen and police officers the same way when I was their age.

  After the introductions were done, we spent the better half of the afternoon talking about our experiences fighting fires. It had to be dumbed down a bit of course because the kids were so young. Once Derek and Trace got started talking, they seemed to start enjoying it a little bit more.

  Toward the end of the presentation, Ms. Moony asked if any of the children had any questions for us.

  There were, naturally, several questions.

  “What’s the biggest fire you’ve ever fought?”

  “How many fires have you fought?”

  “Is it scary?”

  “How much does your gear weigh?”

  “Does fire hurt?”

  “Why do people throw cigarettes out the window when they know it causes a fire?”

  “What do fires smell like?”

  “How long does it take to put out a fire?”

  “Why are you all dressed the same?”

  The questions were endless. Every answer brought on a torrent of new questions. Ms. Moony let us go on answering for a little while because the kids were entertained. Then, when they had exhausted all of their questions, I slapped my hands on my knees and stood up.

  “Who wants to go look at the fire truck?”

  I was answered by a unanimous cry of “Yes!” from all the kids. They sprang to their feet, and Ms. Moony had them settle down. She organized them into two lines before we left the gym, and Derek, Trace, and I led the way down the hall.

  Ms. Moony walked alongside me.

  I glanced down at her. �
�It’s impressive that you can corral so many children all at once.”

  “Experience.” She smiled. “It was not this easy when I started.”

  “Like with all things, I suppose.”

  She nodded. “Yes. I suspect fighting fires is much harder than getting children to listen to you.”

  I pursed my lips. “I don’t know about that. Fires can’t talk back.”

  Ms. Moony giggled as we pushed our way out the front doors and went down the path to the truck. Ms. Moony turned and faced all the kids. “Children. Pay attention please. You know the rules of being outside the school. There are cones set up around the truck. Nobody goes outside the cones. You will wait in line, and the nice firemen will bring only a few of you up into the truck at a time. Everyone will have their chance to see the truck. If you misbehave, you will be sent inside to sit in the office with Mrs. Wright until all your classmates are done having fun without you. All right?”

  “All right,” all the kids said at once.

  Ms. Moony nodded assertively and turned to me.

  “That was stone cold,” I said. I was impressed with her.

  She smiled. “The floor is yours, gentlemen. Just let me know if any kids give you a hard time, and I’ll take care of it.”

  We began the process of letting children come up into the truck and having a look around. We honked the horn, turned on the sirens, and then passed them out through the opposite side to Derek, who showed them around the outside of the truck and brought them back around to Ms. Moony.

  When we were at the tail end of kids, a long-haired brunette girl was passed up to me by Trace. She sat in the opposite seat and beamed up at me.

  “Hey,” I said. “Your mom works at The Glade, right?”

  The little girl nodded.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Kylee.” She smiled. “And you’re Hayden.”

  “That’s right,” I said. “Are you having fun today?”

  She nodded, and loose strands of hair fell around her face. “Yes. Me and Nelson were excited all week! The sirens are my favorite part.”

  “Oh yeah? You want to turn them on yourself?”

  “Can I?” she asked, light blue eyes alight with wonder and excitement.

  “Of course. Come here. Let me show you.”

  I showed Kylee how to flip the sirens on. She giggled with glee as the sound whirred around us, flipped them off, and then back on. When she grew bored of that, I showed her around the rest of the cab and answered all of her questions.

  “Well, it was nice hanging out with you, Kylee. I think I’d better pass you down now so the rest of the kids can have a turn.”

  “Okay! Thank you, Mr. Hayden.”

  Mr. Hayden? I tried not to laugh at her, but it was adorable. Kylee joined Derek on the ground, and I looked in the mirror as I watched him walk her around the truck.

  Then she tripped over her own feet and fell face first on the pavement.

  “Take over, Trace,” I called out the other window.

  Derek was down on his knees beside the little girl when I hopped out and landed heavily on the pavement. I jogged over to her and pulled her up to her feet. I dusted her off and looked her over.

  Both her knees were skinned and so were her palms. Her chin had hit the pavement too, and she had a bright pink scrape there. Her eyes were glistening with tears.

  “It’s your lucky day, Kylee. Now you get to see how we administer first aid treatment. Come on, let me show you.”

  Kylee blinked away her tears and sniffled as I offered her my hand. She took it, and I led her to the back of the truck. I put her up on the bumper, and she did her best not to cry.

  Ms. Moony came over in a panic. “Oh. Sweetheart. Are you okay? I called your mom, all right? She said she’s on her way. Here, come with me to the office, and they’ll get you cleaned up.”

  Kylee started crying and shook her head.

  “Actually,” I said, looking at Ms. Moony. “I was thinking I could show Kylee how the firemen handle a situation like this. Kylee, would you like to learn what I would do?”

  She blinked her tears away. They fell down her cheeks, and I wiped them away with my thumbs. Then she nodded, her bottom lip trembling.

  “Awesome, see that white box tucked under that bench there?” I asked as I nodded behind her.

  She twisted around. “Yes.”

  “Can you reach it?”

  “Hayden,” Ms. Moony said slowly. “I really don’t think she should be doing this herself.”

  “Ah, come on,” I said, waving her away and smiling as pleasantly as I could. “She’s a tough girl. Aren’t you, Kylee?”

  Kylee dragged the box over and nodded. “Yes.”

  “Awesome.”

  Ms. Moony stood beside me, her arms crossed, and watched over my shoulder as I popped open the metal box. It wasn’t a real first aid kit. It was the sort of kit suited for things like this. Little bumps and scrapes and all the things to make a little girl like Kylee feel special. We only kept one of these in Berty, which was why we’d driven her to the school instead of Gerty.

  I took out a cotton ball and poured a bit of antiseptic on it. Then I crouched down in front of Kylee. “How do your knees feel?”

  “They burn,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “Do you know what this is for?” I asked, holding up the cotton ball.

  She nodded. “Cleaning it.”

  “Holy smokes, you’re smart. Yes it is. We’ll just quickly dab it on so it kills any bacteria. And then we’ll slap a band aid on you, and you’ll be good to go. Kind of cool, right? You’ll have war wounds from the day the firemen came to school.”

  Kylee’s mouth twitched in a sideways smile. I realized she had dimples just like her mother.

  “Okay, Kylee, can you count me down from three? Then we’ll dab dab dab.”

  Kylee nodded and took a deep breath. Like a total champ, she counted me down. I quickly swiped the antiseptic on, and she winced. She didn’t complain, though. She was a real trooper. I peeled the back off the bandages and put them on her scrapes.

  “You did good, Kylee. You’re tougher than most adults we help.”

  Kylee beamed up at me.

  Then a woman’s voice was calling her name, and Mel came racing around the corner of the truck. She slowed herself by grabbing my elbow and turned back to Kylee, who was still sitting on the back of the truck.

  “Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asked, cupping Kylee’s cheeks in her hands. She ran her thumb over the band aid I’d just put on Kylee’s chin.

  Kylee nodded and smiled at me over her mother’s shoulder. “Mr. Hayden showed me what to do.”

  10

  Mel

  Hayden had one arm up above his head and was bracing himself against the back corner of the truck. He was smiling at Kylee, who was telling me all about how he’d used antiseptic, which she pronounced as antisepwic on her knees, chin, and palms.

  “Thank you,” I told him. “I really appreciate it.”

  Hayden shrugged. “No problem. I didn’t do anything, really. It was all Kylee. She’s tough. Didn’t even complain when the antisepwic went on.”

  Kylee started giggling. I couldn’t help but smile at hearing him pronounce the word so childishly. I ran my fingers through my hair and shook it out down my back to air out my neck. I’d been in a panic to get to the school and was sweating from the nerves. “Well still. Thank you.”

  I lifted Kylee up off the back of the fire truck and put her on the ground. She tapped her knees gingerly and looked back and forth between Hayden and me.

  “Next time you come into the restaurant, dinner is on the house, okay?” I said.

  Hayden let his arm fall to his side and stood up straight, impressing me once more with his height. “Is that a date?”

  I shook my head sternly. “Don’t push your luck.”

  “All right, all right.” He chuckled.

  “Kylee, go grab your backpack, and we’ll head h
ome.”

  “Okay!” Kylee said, and she took off running up to the school. A lot of other kids were milling around, and other parents had shown up to pick them up and take them home. Ms. Moony waved at me, and I waved back before turning to Hayden. “You’re good with kids.”

  “Is that a question or a statement?” he asked, tipping his head to one side.

  “A statement.”

  “Ah. Thank you?”

  I smiled. “You’re welcome. Kylee’s been talking about this all week. She was excited to see the truck up close and personal.”

  “She honked the horn and played with the sirens. And the lights. Naturally.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Of course she did. I know what we’ll be talking about for the next couple of weeks.”

  Hayden laughed. “It could be worse.”

  “Oh. I’m aware.”

  He tipped his chin to me. “Well, my boys are flagging me down. We have to get out of here before the other parents get pissed that we’re taking up prime parking spaces. Have a good night and say goodbye to Kylee for me.”

  “I will.”

  He gave me an awkward half salute, half wave, and I stepped up onto the sidewalk as he walked around and got in the front of the truck. They gave the horn one last good honk before pulling away, and the kids around me on the sidewalk cheered. I watched them drive away, a smile tugging at my lips.

  Kylee appeared behind me and yanked on the corner of my shirt. “I’m ready, Mommy.”

  “Okay. Wonderful. I’m parked just over there. Come on.” I took her hand, and we wove through the children and their parents toward my SUV.

  I strapped Kylee in as she yawned and looked at the bandages on her palms.

  “Are you tired, kiddo?”

  Kylee surprised me by nodding. “A little bit.”

  I patted her head. “We can have a nice quiet rest of our day. I was thinking of making quesadillas for dinner. What do you think?”