Page 5 of Last Chance Christmas

Too bad they’d noticed his crush on Olivia just enough to give him a hard time whenever that certain police officer came around. Junior Ramble, who happened to be her partner, was one of Izan’s best friends. They frequently commiserated about their pathetic attempts to get the women they liked to even notice them.

He pulled out his phone to text Junior about going to the shooting range in a couple of days, but the dispatch intercom sounded through the firehouse. First an alarm, then the call, “Truck 14, Ambulance 21, vehicle collision. Multiple victims.”

Della set her drink on the coffee table and left it. Zoe turned down the corner of the page she’d been reading. They followed Izan out the door.

The alarm overhead sounded again. “Rescue 5, person trapped.”

Everyone converged in the engine bay. Amelia met Izan on their side of the truck. “Guess Rescue has their own job.”

Izan shrugged on his turnout coat. “Good thing we don’t need them.”

Amelia grinned and climbed in. Della had the engine on already. Zoe settled into the back beside Izan, and they pulled out.

“Where’s this vehicle collision?” Izan leaned back and braced his boot against the back of the seat in front.

Amelia tapped keys on the dash laptop, one of those indestructible things you could drop off a building. “Mile marker six on the highway.”

“Shouldn’t take us too long to get there,” Della said.

Izan wanted to move up to the driver spot one day, but it hadn’t happened yet. He also wanted to be a lieutenant at some point. However, that would probably involve moving crews. Not something he would be okay with. This group of firefighters and the EMTs they worked with had become a family over the last few years.

Considering his history, he needed family who were good people. Not the kind who’d brought him into their savage world of drugs and guns and murder, but who made sure a child was raised by kind parents like the Collins family, who’d adopted him. In the same way, this crew of firefighters had invited him to be part of their family.

Knowing his life would always be intertwined with the Crawfords made him feel like this firehouse where Bryce worked—where Andi and Logan had both worked at one time—was where he belonged.

Della stopped so hard he nearly slid off the seat. Izan snapped his attention back on the scene in front of him just as Della loudly exclaimed a series of nonsensical words.

“Exactly,” Zoe said.

“I’ve never seen…” Amelia shoved her door open. “Let’s go.”

Izan jumped out onto the asphalt. Two cars had collided up ahead, and between the fire truck and that was a minivan that had plowed into them and was now lying on its side.

A cop car had pulled over behind the wreck, but he didn’t see the officers.

One of the cars was on fire, the flames licking out from under the hood. He spotted the sheen of something spilled across the road. Most likely gasoline or another fluid from the car, which meant there was a risk that it would catch and send the whole thing up in flames.

They ran to the closest car, and he pulled the door open. No one in the back. One passenger on the driver’s side that Della reached in to help.

Trace and Kianna, their EMTs, pushed over a gurney.

Izan turned to Amelia. “We need?—”

“Help, and more ambulances.”

He nodded.

“Get these people out, Collins.”

He ran to the next car, searching inside. The kid in the back was crying, probably four years old. About the same age as his cousin’s kid. “Hey,” Izan crooned. “You’re having a rough day.” He did a cursory assessment.

Mom in the front seat turned to him, gasping aloud at the pain. “Is he okay?”

“Car seat did its job, didn’t it, buddy?”

The kid hiccupped and quieted down.

“Mom’s gonna be fine, and you’re A-okay. All right, kiddo?” He turned to her. “Can you move?”