Fire Born (Firehouse 343) (10 page)
Read Fire Born (Firehouse 343) Online
Authors: Christina Moore
***
Kara fe
ll asleep in the back of Martie’s Kia
Sorento
soon after they started out
, being emotionally drained from an emotional goodbye with her mother. Martie
also learned
that the poor girl hadn’t slept well when, after about half an hour of hearing her snoring lightly, Chris told her about the nightmare she’d had.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, wondering how many times over the next few days she’d be saying those words.
“I know you are,” Chris said quietly from the passenger seat. After a moment of silence he looked at her. “I want to say thanks, again, for last night.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Chris.”
“But I want to,” he insisted. “I mean, you don’t know me at all. I’m a material witness in your investigation—don’t think I’m not aware of that—and yet you came to spend time with me because I couldn’t sleep. You let me talk your ear off, and you let me…”
His voice trailed off and Martie felt her cheeks flush crimson as she recalled the intimacy of the night before. He really had made her feel incredible for the first time in a long time, even if their lovemaking had been somewhat hurried. She’d drifted off to sleep in her own bed thinking of how easily his touch had heated her blood
,
h
ad made her want him.
“And you’re right, of course,” Chris went on. “Clearly you and I are attracted to one another, and there’s
some serious
chemistry between us or we’d never have slept together. But if we’re going to have a chance at something real—if we even want it, and I
definitely do—then we
gotta
put the brakes on and do it right.”
She glanced over with a smile. “Thank you for understanding. Despite the horrible reason for which we met, I’m glad we did. I’d also like to give whatever there may be between us a chance.
To be honest with you
, I might’ve been willing to leap without looking if I hadn’t been through the wringer a couple of times already. I just… It’s not
just about protecting me—it’s about protecting you, too. ”
He laughed briefly. “Trust
me,
I know what you mean about being through the wringer. One of the best things about you is that you’ve worked the job, so you’re less likely to dump me because of it, as I’ve had to deal with before.
And I
’m
gonna
be honest, I really want
to be with you again like we were last night—I mean, damn, girl! You’re gorgeous and you’ve got a body that’s six-alarm sexy, so I don’t know what the fuck those morons you dated were thinking. But I can be patient and wait until you’re ready to take that step again.”
The fact that he was willing to wait for her—and his appreciation of her body—had pleasant little flutters trembling in her belly. And it made her want him even more. Chris had better quit being so damn understanding, she mused, or she was going to end up reneging on her own request.
“Speaking of last night,” Chris went on, and the hesitation in his tone had her brows furrowing over her nose.
“What about it?”
He drew a breath and she looked at him. “I know I’m clean, and I get the feeling you are too or you wouldn’t have been willing to do anything at all with me. So I’m not worried about giving or receiving an STD. But we didn’t use a condom, Martie, and I hate to do this, but I have to ask you… Are you on any kind of birth control?”
She swallowed heavily—so he’d had much the same thoughts she’d had last night.
“I am clean, Chris, I can assure you of that,” she said slowly. “But when I said you’d made me feel like a woman for the first time in years, I meant it. You’re the first man I’ve had sex with in close to four.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, dropping his head back onto the headrest with his eyes closed for a moment. “Guess that explains why you were so tight—not that I’m complaining, because it felt good.
You
felt good. But not having any protection whatsoever means that we could have a little you or me in about nine months.”
“Chris, honey,” Martie began, reaching over to take his left hand in her right. “You’re putting your cart before your horse. Try to wipe the thought from your mind, okay? Don’t work yourself into a knot worrying about something before you even have something to worry about.”
“Your logic is sound
,
my Vulcan friend,” Chris quipped
, “but what if you’
re
pregnant?”
Martie sighed. “Then we discuss the concept of shared parenting. Look, I just ended a period a few days ago. Please don’t worry—one day at a time, remember?”
Not once in all the years since he’d moved here had Chris dreaded coming home to
Gracechurch.
As soon as he’d seen that “Welcome to Gracechurch” sign on the outskirts of the city, his mind had flooded with memories of Calvin, all painful reminders that his friend and mentor was gone.
He’d felt tears sting his eyes and started to fight them, but then he remembered he’d already cried in front of Martie once. She’d already seen him at his weakest, so it didn’t matter if he let them go.
Giving up on his façade of strength, the tears welled and spilled over, and when he sniffled Martie reached for his hand again. And then a pair of thin, shaky arms came around him from behind and he felt drops of wetness hit his shoulder as Kara rested her chin there.
“
It’s
okay kiddo,” he assured her weakly as he reached up and took one of her hands in his free one. “We’ll get through this.”
“Take me to Daddy’s house,” Kara said, and Chris turned to look at her.
“Are you sure you want to do that Kara?” he asked. “It’s
gonna
be really hard for you—”
“I want to go where my dad is still alive,” she said, her voice determined. “He’ll always be alive in that house, the house where he and Mama raised me.”
Calvin’s
house was, indeed, the house where he had raised her with Irene until she was 12, and where Irene had lived alone with Kara another four years until a job opportunity with the marketing firm she worked for took her to Bozeman. Not wanting to uproot Kara two years before high school graduation, Irene had signed the house—which she had received as part of the divorce settlement—over to Calvin so that their daughter could remain in the home she’d lived in all her life.
It occurred to Chris then that the house, a 3-bedroom ranch style on two acres with a small fishing pond, probably belonged to Kara now. Calvin had no doubt left it to her in his will.
He pushed that thought away, not wanting to think about Calvin’s will or how his property would be distributed piecemeal to family members.
Instead he nodded and gave Martie the directions. When they arrived, she stayed in the car while he walked Kara up to the front door, where she fished in the pocket of her trousers for her keys. Her hand trembled when she went to insert it into the deadbolt and Chris took it from her, unlocking the door and pushing it open, then handed the keys back to her. Kara looked into the quiet stillness of her father’s house,
then
suddenly threw her arms around him, fresh sobs breaking out from her chest.
Chris held her tight and let her cry. Several minutes passed before Kara was able to settle herself and step away. “I’m sorry.”
“Kiddo, you got nothing to be sorry for,” he replied. “I miss your dad too. I’m still having trouble accepting that he’s gone.”
“Me too,” she said. “And I know I wanted to come here where I said he’d always be alive. I just didn’t think it would be so hard to actually walk through the door, knowing
he never will again.”
“
Gonna
be the same for me at the fire station,” Chris told her, nodding his understanding. Then he looked through the open door
again and back at Kara. “You want me to come in and stay with you a while?”
He could see in her eyes that she wanted to say yes, but Kara sniffled, squared her shoulders, and shook her head no. “I’m a big girl now, Uncle Chris. I can…
I can do this. And I don’t mean to be insulting or anything ‘
cause
I know you were his friend and you loved him too, but I
kinda
want to be alone with my dad’s stuff. I want to be alone with him one last time before I have to grow up and admit that Daddy won’t be coming home.”
Nodding again, he gathered her to him once more and embraced her tightly, then
kissed her brow and
let her go. Kara took a deep breath, then a hesitant step over the threshold. When she had stepped all the way inside, she turned, offering Chris a tear streaked, sad smile.
“Just remember that your grandparents will be here in a couple of hours, and your aunt in a day or so,” he told her quietly.
“I know. I’ll see you later,” Kara said, her voice soft and meek again.
Chris nodded and she pushed the door closed. He waited until he heard the click of the deadbolt being turned before turning around and walking back out to Martie.
“Is she going to be okay here by herself?”
she asked softly as he pulled the pa
ssenger door shut.
He sighed. “Kara’s stronger than she looks,” he said. “It’s
gonna
be hard for her, but I think she needs to do this her way for now. Her grandparents will be here in a few hours.”
“And you—are you okay?” she asked
, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Before he could formulate an answer, Chris’s cell phone rang. Cursing, he reached into his pocket for it,
and seeing Bob Dresden’s name on the screen, he
hit
the Answer key
and put the phone to his ear.
“Marshal Dresden. What can I do for you?”
“Are you back in Gracechurch yet, Lieutenant?” Dresden asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes.
I’ve just dropped
Karalyn
Maynard at her father’s house,” he replied.
“How is Kara doing?”
“Broken up, sir, which is to be expected,” Chris said. “But Calvin’s house is where she wanted to be, because it’s where he raised her.”
“Guess I can understand that. God
,
I hope her mother can get her shit taken care of quick. I hate the thought of that little girl being alone.
” Dresden paused,
then
cleared his throat before asking, “Are you going to work your shift tonight?”
Pain seized his chest, but Chris quickly tamped it down. “I see no reason not to, sir. Cal would want me and the other boys to keep on.”
“Yes he would,” the marshal told him.
“
Listen, Chris, the reason I asked
if you were going to work today i
s because I need
you to come into my office
before start of shift. There’s something I need to talk to you about,” Dresden said then.
Chris felt himself frown. B-
Shift started at noon, o
verlapping A-Shift’s last
hour—
and the clock on Martie’s dash said it was goin
g on 11 a.m. “Uh, sure, Marshal.
I g
uess I can do that
, but I’d really like to change clothes first if that’s alright,” he said.
“Of course, Lieutenant,” Dresden conceded.
They said their goodbyes and hung up then, and for a moment all Chris could do was stare at the phone in his hand and frown.
“Chris? Is everything alright?”
“Uh, yeah.
I think,” he replied to Martie’s query.
“The city fire marshal wants to see me in his office at
Old
City Hall
before I start my shift
. I
can’t… I can’t imagine what for
though.”
“I don’t imagine it’s anything bad,” Martie said as she started the car again. “After all, having lost a fireman, how much worse could it get?”
Martie assured him she had no problem playing chauffer for a while—he needed her to take him home
to change and then to Bob Dresden’s office
, as his Explorer
was still at the fire station. Chris had dressed hurriedly in his spare uniform, pulling on the navy trousers, short sleeved button-down shirt, a belt and his shoes in record time. He tried not to think of Martie sitting out in his living room as he changed, or how much he wanted to see her naked and trembling beneath him in his king-sized bed.
There would come a time that fantasy would come true, he assured himself. But for now, it was back to reality.
When
they arrived at Old City Hall,
Gracechurch’s
original municipal building,
Chris looked up at th
e
aged stone edifice
that was a combination courthouse and office building. The mayor and the city council were housed in a newer
, more modern construct
in New Town
referred to as New City Hall
,
which also contained the city’s two criminal courtrooms and the criminal court judges’ offices. T
he Gracechurch Division of Police
was
housed
next door in their own modern offices. But the hundred-year-old building he was walking up to with Martie at his side was still in use for family and civil court hearings
, and it was where the Division of Fire offices were housed.