The Fireman I Loved to Hate by Jenna Gunn
Chapter 2
“I can’t believe it.”
“What?” Ben asks. “You don’t think they’re meant for each other?”
Michael pipes up from the kitchen, “Dude, she’s married.” He grabs his corn dogs from the microwave and joins us in the lounge.
Ben scoffs, “Are we watching the same show? Her marriage is not working out, and it’s a matter of time before someone shows up who appreciates her.”
“The other guy isn’t right for her either, man.” I toss my tennis ball in the air and catch it. My hand/eye coordination is getting better, but the exercise was recommended by my doctor to help since the concussion. I took a nasty fall at the last fire and my helmet saved my life, but they don’t prevent concussions. “Besides, he’s got a crush on that other girl, the next-door neighbor.”
Ben shakes his head and Michael laughs. Me and the rest of the crew have been hung up on some teen drama reruns. It started as a joke, something to make fun of between calls, but we’ve all sort of gotten into it. In fact, things got so heated yesterday, the captain came out of his office and turned the TV off for an hour. He cursed at us and said, “Bunch of firemen sitting around, watching this garbage. You’re men! Act like it!”
Then Tara cleared her throat and pointed to herself.
He huffed and said, “Sorry, Tara.” Then he went back into his office. Cap still didn’t know how to talk to a mixed gender crew; he was a high school football coach before he became a firefighter. But he tried, which she appreciated.
Today, though, we caught him watching the show from the hallway. When Tara pointed it out, he stomped to his office and mumbled, “Stupid teenagers. Need to run some laps.”
“I’m with Ben on this one, guys. The kid has a crush on his teacher and that never works,” Tara says. “And no one should be married at eighteen. That’s nuts.”
“Thank you!” Ben says enthusiastically just before the radio beeps to life.
“Fire station, this is dispatch,” Terri always says. It’s protocol, but no one else is going to ring us on the radio, so I roll my eyes.
Bridges snatches the radio and says, “Go ahead, dispatch.”
“We’ve got a cat in a tree on Marina Road,” Terri gives us the pertinent information and I freeze. I know what’s coming.
The entire crew turns and looks at me. All with the same expression.
“A cat, huh?” Bridges smirks slyly at me.
I glare at all of them. It’s my curse.
Terri asks, “Would Alex happen to be around?”
The crew breaks out into giggles. Except for me. Bridges says, “That’s affirmative, Terri.”
“Someone take a picture for the board!”
“Screw you, Terri!” I shout, hoping Bridges is holding the button down so she hears me.
Bridges laughs, “I’ll see what I can do, Terri. Over.”
I tell him, “You know I hate cats, man.”
Ben says, “But they love you!”
I scowl at him, earning more laughter in the process. We’re a small fire department in a small town, which means a lot of our calls are for small matters. Rockville isn’t known for three-alarm blazes. It’s more known for little old ladies who took a fall or cats up trees. And since we have only one ambulance, and a handful of police officers, we get brought into calls for everything. And if it’s a cat, I’m the one they make rescue it.
I have always hated cats. When I was younger, my sister’s cat loved to sleep on my head, and she’d scratch me every morning when she got up. No matter what I did, Houdini would find her way into my room and onto my head. If I tried to pet her during the day, she’d scratch my hand. Cats are complicated.
So, I’ve always been a dog guy. Dogs are easy. If they like you, they wag their tail. If they don’t like you, they leave you alone or growl to let you know. You throw a ball, and they go get it. Simple.
Not like cats.
You call it, and it ignores you. They don’t fetch. If they wag their tail, it’s because they’re about to pounce. Everything is on their terms.
I don’t get them, I don’t like them. But they like me. Whenever I rescue one, they nuzzle against me and purr hard, like I’m their favorite person in the world. And I tense up every time, because I’m waiting for them to scratch me, just like Houdini used to.
“Can’t anyone else do their job around here?” I ask the room.
“Oh, come on, Alex,” Tara teases. She cups her hand around her ear and mocks, “What’s that? The kitty is asking for Alex to come rescue her?”
Ben joins her and cups his ear, “I hear it too! Meow-lex!”
They meow my name back and forth and soon, the others join them in the cat conversation. A whole room of grown adults mocking me in cat voices. Just what I always wanted.
Annoyed, I walk to the radio and answer, “Badge 6308 responding.”
“Thank you, Alex,” Terri purrs.
-
Marina road is a pretty street. I always wondered about buying a house there. It’s pine tree-lined and near the water, since it leads to the marina. The trees are the biggest draw for me, though. Never been much of a boat guy.
The street would be a snug fit for the firetruck, so I had hopped into one of the regular pickups for this call. They haul tall ladders and other smaller equipment. No need to drive out here with all the gear for a cat in a tree.
I slow down to look for the house numbers, but then I see a worried woman in her front yard flag me down. I pull over to her and she’s at the truck in a flash. She’s trying to talk through the window, but I still have it up. Clearly not thinking straight. She’s pretty, though, so I’m less annoyed than I might have been otherwise. I put the truck in park and get out, and she’s mid-sentence, pointing at the tree in her front yard, “…and I don’t have a ladder or-”
“You’re Raina Groves?” I hate cutting people off, but I’m used to it in my line of work. Firefighters need just the facts, not the commentary.
“Yes.”
“And that’s where your cat is?” I point to the pine in her front yard.
She nods nervously. “Yes.”
“Alright then,” I grab the ladder from the truck and haul it to the pine.
She follows closely behind. “He’s not supposed to be outside, he’s an inside cat, I don’t know what he was thinking!”
I set up the ladder and tell her, “You never know with cats.”
“I opened the window, and I didn’t think about the fact there’s no screens on this house before I bought it. I should have realized it, but I needed to move, and I didn’t-”
“I’ll listen to your story on my way up to rescue your cat, okay?” I’ve heard them all. I didn’t realize a curling iron could burn my house down. I should have set a timer for that pot, so I didn’t let it boil all the water away and burn. I wish I had closed that window, so the rain didn’t make a puddle on the stairs. People have accidents all the time. That’s why they call us.
The cause is not my concern. I’m not a fire marshal. I like rescuing people, or in this case, cats. I get in, I take care of the problem, and I leave. Which is exactly my plan with this weird looking cat. He does not look like an inside cat at all, not while he’s missing a leg. He looks scrappy. And howling on a branch like he’s lost his damn mind, he looks like he’s about to freak out on me.
Why do they do this? Is it instinct for them to climb into a tree they can’t climb down? That’s a dumbass instinct. I reach for the cat and he hisses at me. Super.
I mumble, “Look, buddy, I’m just trying to help you, okay?”
He’s shaking, and when I grab him, he tenses up. But he doesn’t scratch or bite at me, so I’ll take it. He ducks under my hand, so I grab his scruff and bring him to me. Sure enough, he’s purring a second later.
“Is he okay?” Raina shouts below me.
I assure her, “He’s fine,” as I climb down the ladder.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Raina says with a shaking voice.
She doesn’t move away from the base of the ladder as I come down, so I tell her, “I’ll need you to stay clear of the landing.”
“So sorry,” she bounces away, but only briefly. As soon as my boots hit dirt, she’s on top of me, prying her furry beast from my arms. Her big green eyes are watery as she says, “Oh, my little man!” She tightly snuggles him, which he seems to like. Then, she turns to me and breathlessly says, “Thank you so much!”
“No worries.”
“No, really,” she pets him and says, “I don’t know what I’d do if he ever got hurt. He seems to like you. He never likes men.”
“Just lucky, I guess.”
Raina doesn’t hear me. She’s too focused on her fuzzy bundle of joy being back in her arms. She’s rail thin, and I have the urge to feed her a sandwich. Her curly blonde ringlets are pinned and managed into a messy ponytail. No makeup, no bra, no shoes. Her giant green eyes look like emerald contacts, but I have a sneaking suspicion that’s her real eye color. She doesn’t look like she’d make the effort to fake anything. She’s a natural beauty, if a bit too thin for my tastes.
Not that it matters. Neither my opinion of her body, nor my fleeting attraction to her matter at all. I could never be with a cat person. Still, she is awfully beautiful...
She breathlessly asks, “How can I ever repay you?”
I want to say something dirty, like we are in a porno. I almost laugh at the thought, but that would have been weird. I shrug and tell her, “Just doing my job.”
She stands on her tiptoes, then pulls me to her by my jacket, and kisses me on the lips.
I’m in shock. I’ve had one other woman react like that, but I had pulled her from a burning car. It’s just a fast one, but still. My whole body reacts to her as my blood rushes through my veins. I’m not sure what to say or do in the moment, except let her kiss me. When she releases me, I stand up and clear my throat. “Well, um, you’re welcome.”
She blushes fiercely, like she’s surprised that she did it. “He means everything to me,” she explains.
I slowly nod. “I can tell.”
“I, um, I-”
“I’ll let you get back to your day.” I get back into my truck and drive away from the prettiest girl I’ve seen in months. Who is a very good kisser. I remind myself, “Cat person. Let it go.”
-