Page 5 of Rescued Dreams (Last Chance Fire and Rescue #8)

FIVE

A melia walked into the firehouse just after five in the evening, almost an hour before her shift was due to start. She cleared the entrance, and down the hall to her left, Ridge emerged from the chief’s office.

Great.

Just what she needed when she’d come early specifically to talk to Macon.

He lifted his chin. “Hey.”

Keeping it professional. The way she needed it to be—the way she wanted. “Hey.” Amelia had to clear her throat. “You’re in early.” She didn’t want it to sound like she was fishing for information, but it was what it was.

“Yeah, Chief James wanted to talk to me. He said there might be a spot for lieutenant open in the department soon, and he wanted to give me a heads-up just in case.” He shifted, a little nervous almost. “Not sure who’s getting fired or what.”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough if he felt like he had to give you a heads-up.” She’d been deflecting attention and questions since moving here.

His cell phone chimed in his pocket. He smiled at the screen and replied to a text.

Her heart squeezed in her chest. “New girlfriend?”

Great. She was blurting out everything today. Amelia winced while he wasn’t looking at her.

Ridge lifted his gaze from his phone. “No, it’s my sisters. Kane and Maria showed up in town, and Kane’s staying at my house. They’re making something for their dinner, and they needed to know where I keep the apple cider vinegar.” He shook his head, smiling.

That was more than either of them had ever said about their personal lives. “Oh, that’s nice.” So, no girlfriend?

When she’d broken it off with him—not that it ever really got going—she’d had the feeling he was holding off introducing her to his family. Probably waiting until she passed muster, some kind of test to make sure she was good enough for his people.

They’d never made it that far.

He’d made his little sisters seem like a big deal in his life, and she wanted to meet them. But that was exactly why she shouldn’t. They had to keep things surface level, casual. Professional now. Getting to know each other outside of work brought a boatload of things she didn’t want to address.

Like where she lived.

And who she was.

Plus everything else.

“I need to talk to the chief about something, so I should do that before everyone else gets in.” Amelia took a step back and moved around him.

“Is everything okay, Amelia?”

“Sure.” She glanced back, trying to smile—hoping he believed it. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

She’d only spent forty-eight hours trying to rest. Giving up and going for a run instead. Nearly getting run over by a crazy driver over by the greenbelt path. Eating potatoes with every meal because it made her feel better. And trying to fix the leak in one of the bathrooms in the big house.

Amelia knocked on the chief’s door and, when he answered, stepped inside.

Chief James looked over from his computer monitor. “Good. You have the paperwork?”

“No, I don’t, Chief.” Amelia stood in front of his desk with her hands clasped behind her back. The worst part of all of this was that this chief was the first one she’d ever respected, and now she was letting him down.

He laced his fingers together on the desktop. “And if I call Benson FD and ask for a copy?”

She caught the look in his eye. He knows. She was certain he’d already called and found out—which meant he’d know if she lied. “They won’t have it, but I’m sure they’ll tell you an interesting story.”

“They did.” Macon nodded.

“I took the lieutenant’s test in Benson and I passed. I would never lie about that.” She respected the job far too much, despite the leaders she had worked under, and her father, who had tried to raise her as a child. Or any guy she’d made the mistake of falling for.

Another great reason not to get too deep with Ridge.

She would find out the truth about him, something she never wanted to know.

It would ruin everything to learn he wasn’t who she wanted him to be.

The man she believed he was. If he turned out not to be a good guy, she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle it.

But if she fell for him, then there was no way he was decent. Her life didn’t work that way.

The chief shrugged just a little. “I need to have the paperwork to prove it, and while they have firefighters who say they heard you took it, no one can find a record that you ever passed the lieutenant’s exam.

Thankfully you qualified as a firefighter in the first place in Last Chance County, because I at least have that. ”

She’d worked here for six whole months before moving to Benson because she couldn’t take it anymore.

She’d moved back for the same reason. Because she’d hoped things were different here with the former chief dead.

Macon continued. “There were some other things mentioned as well.”

“I don’t want to hear them. Not again.” She fought to maintain her composure, clenching her fingers behind her. “I came here for a clean slate, and I’ve more than proven myself as a firefighter and a lieutenant.”

“I know that, Amelia. But this is a legality issue. The department can’t have a lieutenant with no official paperwork leading a team.”

“So you’re giving my truck to Ridge? Is that it?”

“Until you can either produce the paperwork or requalify as a lieutenant, you have to step down.”

“Am I being suspended?” She nearly choked on the word.

“I don’t think that’s going to be necessary, and we can keep all of this in-house. Just until we get things straight.”

Which would be never, considering her paperwork probably hadn’t ever been created. And if it had, then her ex had destroyed it. And that meant she was going to have to retake the test.

This was humiliating.

“Go get squared away for shift. I’ll tell the crew at our briefing to keep this to themselves.” He paused for a second. “This isn’t the end of the world, Amelia.”

“Right. Of course not. Thanks, Chief.” She headed for the door.

Thankfully he didn’t order her to stick around. He let her go so she could grab the couple of things she kept in the truck lieutenant’s office and take her backpack to the women’s bunk room. She sat on the edge of the bed and sent a text to Meg.

The reply she got said,

Meg

Not getting fired is a good thing, right?

Amelia wasn’t too sure she could agree with that just yet. But at least he hadn’t taken away the one thing she had. The thing that defined her.

Della and Zoe came in, Zoe in the lead. Mid-sentence, she cut off whatever she was saying and stopped in the doorway. “Uh…Lieutenant?”

They passed her, going to their bunks. The four beds in here were plenty for the two of them and Kianna, the EMT. Now they’d have Amelia in here cramping their style.

She bit her lip. “We’re switching things around for a few shifts.” Or who knew how long. “The chief will explain at the briefing.”

Ten minutes later, she took her usual spot at the end of the middle row of tables and chairs.

The chief stood over at the whiteboard. Ridge sat by Bryce on the far side.

Izan took a seat by Eddie. Zack closed his book and put it on the tabletop.

Della and Zoe came in with coffee, and Trace and Kianna—their EMTs—stood at the back.

Her head swam through his whole introduction. Right up until he said, “For the foreseeable future, Ridge Foster will be the lieutenant on Truck 14. Zoe Lewis, you’re on rescue squad.”

Everyone looked at each other, and for a second, no one was looking at Amelia.

This is a disaster. She wasn’t unaccustomed to being the center of attention for bad reasons, but it hadn’t happened since she’d moved back to town.

She needed to email the testing center and find out when she could be requalified.

Hopefully as soon as possible, or she’d be giving up her role to Ridge of all people. Sure, he’d be nice about it. But it was still humiliating.

Chairs scraped across the floor, and she realized they’d been dismissed. Amelia tuned out the loud chatter and ignored the questions tossed her direction as she went to the kitchen. They all came in after her.

She should have gone to the bunk room.

“Coffee done yet?” Eddie strode past her.

Zack got pasta and jars of spaghetti sauce out of the cupboards. Ridge went to the coffeepot and grabbed half a dozen mugs out of the cupboard above it. He reached over to his right and flipped on the electric kettle. “Coffee, everyone?”

He moved one mug over to the kettle, dug in the little box, and put a teabag in the mug.

A peace treaty.

He knew how she felt—or he thought he did. And he knew she didn’t want to talk about it, but she would want a strong cup of tea. She hadn’t drunk coffee since…

That wasn’t something she wanted to think about right now, when this was all his fault. Her ex didn’t need to take up any space in her mind.

When the kettle boiled, she poured hot water over the tea bag.

The speaker up in the corner of the ceiling chimed. “Truck 14. Ambulance 21. Residential fire, persons trapped.”

Everyone except rescue squad dropped what they were doing and headed to the engine bay. She dragged on her turnout pants, slid her feet into her boots, and shrugged on her jacket. Grabbed her helmet.

Amelia reached for the front passenger-side door.

Ridge grabbed the handle and opened it.

She realized what she’d done. “Habit. Sorry.”

He was the one who looked sorry.

Amelia got in the back, beside Izan. Della fired up the engine, and Ridge pulled up the address on their dashboard computer.

Izan tapped her arm.

When she looked over, he mouthed, Are you okay?

She gave him a look like, What do you think?

“This too shall pass?”

“Let’s just fight fire, yeah?” But she wasn’t the lieutenant anymore. Somehow, she would deal with that fact.

Amelia rolled her shoulders. This would be fine. She just had to remember she wasn’t in charge. The change in duty would give her a little perspective. Remind her what it was like to be the underling. Not to mention give Ridge the chance for some command experience before he…

He was looking for a lieutenant position somewhere else.

Now he had hers, here. Everyone probably thought it was better this way, that he was the lieutenant on Truck. After all, no one here wanted to lose Ridge. Things could change, and people sometimes left, but this was Ridge.

Della pulled the truck into a residential area, behind the middle school on Wiltern Drive. Amelia’s stomach clenched. She used to live in this area.

In fact, she used to live on this street.

“What’s the address for the fire?” She leaned forward and patted Ridge’s shoulder.

“Number fourteen, Wiltern.”

Amelia sucked in a breath.

“What is it?” Izan leaned forward, looking out the front window.

Sure enough, number fourteen was on fire. A woman out front waved her arms, and Della pulled over to the curb.

“What is it, Patterson?” Ridge asked.

“I used to live in that house.” She pushed the door open and jumped out, going to the frantic woman. “Is this your house?”

Ridge appeared by her side, shooting her a look.

Amelia took a step back.

“It just exploded.” The woman gasped. “My daughter is in her bedroom. You have to save her!”