Page 50 of The Fireman and the Flirt

Cal rolled his eyes. “Speak for yourself. We wanna see the fire hose!”

I piped up in my deepest voice aimed squarely at my brother. “Sir, if we have to, we will remove you from fire safety training.”

Cal sighed and crossed his arms. I wasn’t too old to give him a noogie if I had to.

Eventually, after our demonstration, there was time left and Xavier hooked up the fire hose. We couldn’t tease such a thing and then not do it. The kids screamed with excitement. It would probably be the only thing kids remembered from today, but so be it. Precious memories and all that.

Russ sidled up to me while all the students got in line. “Do you see the woman by the fire truck in the white jacket and purple NYU winter hat?”

I turned and carefully followed his eyeline to the woman in question who smiled at me while helping one of the students climb into the truck. She was cute with blond hair that peeked from under her hat.

“She’s on the PTA with me. Alicia. She’s widowed. She’s the absolute sweetest.”

There was a natural sweetness in her eyes, like she could’ve been a kindergarten teacher.

“She’s an editor. Smart, but really down to earth.”

I knew where this was going, and it made my stomach twist into a knot.

“I think you two would hit it off.”

“Because we both have dead spouses?” I shot back.

“No. You’re both good people.”

I thought I’d have to look out for Cal trying to set me up with someone, but then here came Russ. Alicia seemed like a wonderful woman, and I should start getting back out there. It all made sense on paper.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

“That sounds like a no.”

“I said I’ll think about it.” My voice sounded clipped, the knot twisting harder.

“There’s a lot going on for you, but I thought it would be a nice thing.”

I paused for a beat and remembered that Russ was trying to help, that he somewhat understood what I had been through. He was far less pushy than Cal would’ve been.

“I know there’s a rule about you guys not being allowed to fraternize with PTA moms, which is incredibly sexist. But your fire chief is too scary for me to challenge him on that.” Russ pulled a business card from his pocket. “Here’s her card. It has her cell phone on it.”

“Thanks.” I shoved it in my pocket without giving it another look. Why was I so bent out of shape about a fix up? I’d wanted my family to stop treating me like some precious, sad widower.

“Could the force of the water take out a car window?” I heard Cal asking Xavier.

“Oh can we break some car windows?” One of the students asked, an idea which spread like wildfire through the group.

That afternoon,as I was eating lunch at the firehouse and watching an old30 for 30doc on ESPN, Cary texted with bad news.

Cary: The house sold this morning.

Derek: The one we looked at? The one where we…

Cary: Admired the hardwood laminate? Yes. That one.

Derek: We didn’t even get a chance to put in an offer.

Cary: That’s why you can’t wait. If there’s a house you like, you have to jump.

Cary: But don’t worry. There are plenty of fish in the sea.

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