Page 22 of August Heat
“Doesn’t ever get any easier,” Quimby said on the drive back to the station, “but we did a good job today, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
Krys snorted. “Yeah, thanks for the help. Couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Is that sarcasm I detect? Because youactuallycould not have done that without me. It’s how physics work.”
“No sarcasm, man.” Krys gazed at the passing trees beyond the window.Let’s keep praying that none of them catch fire soon.There was a close call during a brief electrical storm a few days ago. Sparks had flown when a transformer blew out and some old, dried grass smoldered where it grew. Luckily, the residents who called it in were the same ones who rushed to put it out with buckets before the firefighters arrived.Those are the people who deserve the medals.Not that Krys had any medals to give anywhere. She was content with her paycheck, benefits, and occasional dinner put on by the city.
“Hey,” Chief Johnson said from the front seat. Young kept the fire engine on steady course back to town. “After we clean ourselves up, I’m ordering us some pizza. My treat.”
“Oh, well, if it’syourtreat,” Krys said, “then sign me up. I love it when you empty your pockets, Chief.”
“You guys keep giving me reasons to spend money on you, and that might happen.”
Krys wasn’t hungry now, but she knew that as soon as they were back in the safety of the firehouse and cleaned up with showers and fresh clothes, her stomach would gnaw a hole through her skin. The call had come around eleven, a whole half hour before Krys was allowed to take her lunch break. Whatever she had in the fridge to inhale was long forgotten. Pizza soundedawesomenow that it was well past one and her head hurt.
The best part about being the only woman on the whole squad was that she got to use one of the communal showers all to herself.Shehad no problem with showing off the goods to those she worked with, though. That was all on Quimby, Young, and Chief Johnson, of course. Too shy for their own goods. Young and Johnson were married, anyway. The chief’s wife in particular was a bit weird about Krys being there.The only reason she doesn’t see me as a threat is because I’m gay as hell.Krys thought about that as she changed into a fresh pair of pants and a PVFD T-shirt she kept in her locker.
The pizza was already ordered by the time she stepped out in her clean change of clothes and wet hair. Quimby dragged her into the lounge, where she watched a recorded replay of the live news footage of their grand rescue. Both Quimby and Madison were on bright display in their gear. Young quipped that this was going to see an uptick in dates for Krys.
“Ladieslovethose Jaws of Life!” he said as he threw himself into his favorite chair. “Every time your hot ass ends up on the news, I swear to God, you’ve got three dates lined up for a whole week. If I were single, I’d ask you to tell me your magic, but I know where I live. I know what your magic is.”
“She’s left-handed?” Quimby asked.
“Har, har.” Krys was about to say something else, but the ringing buzzer at the front of the station had her leaping out of her couch. “That must be the pizza! TV star’s honors, boys!”
She expected to see that Skylar girl delivering the pizza, since she was usually the one who stopped by at that time of day. Instead, an unexpected – but not entirely out of the norm – face popped through the opened garage door by the main engine.
“Since when are you delivering pizzas on the side?” Krys asked the muscular woman carrying a box of delicious carbs and cheese. “EMTs not paying you a living wage anymore?”
That got her a chuckle and a raise of a pair of sunglasses. Ariana Mura may not have the most chiseled jaw in town, but she knew how to strut. She handed Krys the pizza box and said, “Saw Skylar getting out of her car outside and decided to spare her some work. Just because you guys are being lazy doesn’t mean she has to pick up the slack.”
“You know her well enough to take pizza from her, huh?”
“You kidding? She’s my girlfriend’s best friend. We’re practically sisters now.”
“Well, I ain’t tipping you.” Krys popped open the pizza box and inhaled. “Now that’s the stuff. You know this is our prize for doing our jobs today?”
“Yeah, about that, the whole reason I came by was to tell you that the new girl we’ve got running with us has got the serious hots for you.”
Krys let out a low whistle. She placed the pizza box on the bench nearby and said, “Do I know this lovely young EMT-looker?”
“New girl in town. Name’s Sam, of course.”
“Because we don’t have enough Sams in this butchy town.”
“I’m looking at yet another Chris, aren’t I?”
“With aK,thanks.” They didn’t mention that most Chrises were actually named Christine or Christina. Krys? Did she really have to say it?Krystal. That’s my name. There. You happy?She took solace in the fact that women like Ariana were named… that. Made Krystal sound like a perfectly gender-neutral name when someone else shared a name with one of the biggest feminine popstars in the world.Nobody’s looking at this Ariana and mistaking her for overly feminine, though.“Now, tell me why you’re here playing matchmaker for your new coworkers instead of making her have the balls to come over here and tell me herself? She knows I hang at the bar after work, right? I ain’t shy.”Not my fault Lorri often looks like she’s about to punch somebody. That’s her resting asshole face.
Ariana chuckled. “I was gonna tell her to do that, then I remembered I saw you at the movie the other night with a lovely young lady I hadn’t seen around before. So, you know, before I sign her up to get her heart broken by you, thought I’d ask whatthatwas about.”
“Huh? You mean the redhead?”
“Of course I mean the redhead! Mik and I were taking bets that you dragged her here from Portland to show her off, but then you fell asleep.”
“How close to us were you?”
“Close enough to see you with someone we hadn’t seen before.”
