Page 1 of Rhodes
Chapter 1
RHODES
It’s a tradition in our fire house that the newest guy always gets the worst of the grunt work. And ever since Tanner joined the Knight’s Ridge Fire Department last Thanksgiving, he took over that low man on the totem pole position from me. Never is that fact more apparent than when we all sit around the kitchen table in the fire house for our weekly agenda meeting.
“Okay, last up,” Merrick calls out. “One of the teachers at the elementary school called asking that one of us to head over and talk to her class about fire safety.”
We all turn our heads to Tanner. His shoulders sag in defeat, knowing that he doesn’t have a say in the matter.
“When is it?” he asks.
“Today. After the meeting.” Merrick looks down at his clipboard. “It says here to report to front office to check in and they will give you a badge. The teacher’s name is Miss Turner.”
I sit up, my interest suddenly peaked in this assignment. “Wait? Hazel Turner?”
Merrick looks down at his clipboard again but shakes his head. “It doesn’t say.”
“I’ll go,” I tell him and then swivel in my chair to Tanner. “I got this.”
Tanner’s brow furrows in confusion. I never offer to help him with the grunt work. I worked it for three years before he came along and I’m not eager to do it again anytime soon, but this assignment is different.
Hazel Turner.
It’s a name I haven’t thought about in a long time. I worked hard to put it out of my mind, but today, years of curiosity bubbles up to the surface all at once.
We were best friends. Growing up next door to one another, we did everything together. That is until the end of the summer before high school began. The memory of that night is still burned on my brain. The expression on her face when I told her I didn’t want to be friends anymore still tears me up inside. It slices through the scar on my heart, reopening the old wound.
“Rhodes?” I look back at Merrick. “You okay?”
I nod, trying to shake off the pain that I spent years trying to push down deep inside me to forget.
Maybe this isn’t a good idea. What if I walk into her classroom and she starts yelling at me to get out? Or worse, she doesn’t remember me at all?
I can’t concentrate on the rest of the meeting. My mind is racing, thinking about the one person in my life that mattered most to me and how I let someone else tear us apart.
“You better hurry or you’re going to be late.”
I look up and see that everyone else has already left and Tanner is standing with his hands in his pockets on the other side of the table.
I glance over the clock mounted on the wall and see that I only have fifteen minutes to get my gear and head over to the school. I push back from the table and run down the steps. I’m grateful I don’t have the time to talk myself out of this. It’s been almost fifteen years since we last spoke. We are adults now. Maybe it’s not going to be as awkward as I think it will be.
Famous last words.
HAZEL
“Where the heck is this guy?” I grumble to myself.
I’d called the fire house last week about having one of the volunteer firefighters in town come to my room and talk fire safety. Two students in my class were in the apartment building in town that caught on fire. Thankfully no one was seriously injured, but since then my students have been very concerned about what to do in case of a fire. I figured it would be good for them to hear from one of the firefighters that worked to put out the fire, that is if he ever shows up. I look down at my watch. He’s ten minutes late.
“Miss Turner?”
I glace up to one of the kids that was at the fire that night. He’s the reason I decided to have someone come speak to them. The stories he was telling the other children about what he saw was freaking out the other students.
“Yes, Logan?”
“I thought you said the firefighters were going to come today.”
I sigh. “I bet whoever they sent is just running late. Let’s give him a few more minutes.”
