Authors: Christa Maurice
“What does your dad do?”
“Dad is an accountant. He was really mad. He told me I was wasting my education.” Kevin shrugged. “But that was all a long time ago. They got over it. What about your dad? How do you think he’ll react?”
“I think my dad would be happy if I were a circus clown if that’s what I wanted to do.” She pushed aside her tray and picked up her empty milk carton. “He was prepared to fund medical school.”
“Medical school?”
“I started college as pre-med, but I switched. No sirens.”
“Oh. I can understand that.” He nodded, smiling.
Jessica set aside her milk carton and leaned on her hand. Sonya was right. She could listen to his voice all day long.
* * * *
She walked through the doors a little late getting back from lunch and heard her name paged before she got through the inside foyer doors. Grabbing the phone at the register, she answered the page, which started her on an afternoon of running. For the next half hour she bounced around the store on one errand after another.
“Good lunch?” Mindi asked when she met up with Jessica in the cash office getting change for the registers.
“Great lunch.” Jessica sorted through bundles of ones and fives, putting bigger bills away in the safe. “I think he’s starting to like me.”
“The fireman?” Mindi let the door close behind her. She hopped onto the stool in the corner of the cramped office.
Jessica nodded and kicked the safe closed. “We sat over lunch and had a great conversation. Then we went to the hardware store and he showed me some of the tools I need to learn. He opened doors. He listened to me. He’s so wonderful.”
“Lunch is a start.” Mindi nodded.
Jessica stood, leaning her hip against the desk. “It was great, Mindi. I have never known a guy like this.”
“You think he’s the one?” Mindi’s eyes brightened and she leaned forward.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been right before. I don’t want to jinx myself.” Jessica scooped up the money on the desk. “It’s funny, I’ve seen him around the store a hundred times and never looked at him twice, but now… Everything’s different.” Jessica hugged herself, remembering the way he looked at her over lunch. Attentive and kind. Almost hanging on her every word. Never had she felt that comfortable on a date, with the guy or with herself. It had been strange and normal at the same time. Like some part of her that had been out of joint had slipped back into place. For that hour it had been okay for her to be five-ten and broad-shouldered.
“That was a pretty smart idea, telling him you wanted to train for the fire department.”
“What?” Jessica’s mind ground as it tried to change gears.
“You got him to spend lots of time with you. That was smart. You had me really freaked out.” Mindi rolled her eyes. “I thought you were serious. I honestly believed you wanted to join the fire department.”
Jessica’s hands dropped to her sides. “I am serious. I do want to join the fire department.”
“You just said you were trying to catch this fireman.”
“I never said that. I said I thought he was starting to like me.” Jessica’s mouth went dry. Why did Mindi think this was a trick? Would Kevin think it was a trick? “This isn’t a joke or a gimmick to get a date. I want to join the fire department. I always have. Don’t you remember when we were in college I worked security?”
“Yeah, but that was just walking around campus with a flashlight.” Mindi bobbed her head side to side. “How cool, I have a big flashlight. You got to meet all the cute security guys.”
“I didn’t do it to meet security guys. You ended up dating all the security guys,” Jessica shouted.
“That’s because you didn’t seem to mind. You kept bringing them home and introducing them to me,” Mindi shouted back.
“They were my friends. That’s why they came to the dorm.”
“They were also cute. You’re just mad because you didn’t have as many dates in college as I did.”
Jessica felt herself starting to shake. The office was too small and too cramped for her to be this angry. “That is totally unrelated. You always do that. It’s time to play Bait Jessica Until She Goes Ballistic.”
“You’re the crazy woman whose greatest goal in life is to run into a burning building.”
Pounding rattled the door. “Hey! Hey! Open the door,” Eric shouted.
Jessica could hear him fumbling to fit his key into the lock and she jerked the door open. Eric fell into the room, catching himself on the safe. Behind him, a crowd of coworkers stared.
“Will you two keep it down?” Eric whined. He stood up and realized he was trapped between them, nearly brushing into Jessica. “We could hear you on the floor.”
“The discussion is over.” Jessica pushed past him and walked out of the office. The crowd parted for her. She carried the change to the register without speaking to anyone. The morning had been nice. A good run, an easy opening, nice conversation with Julie. Fantastic lunch hour.
Now she could only feel the steady boil of her own temper.
It had always bothered her that every time she brought home one of the security guys, Mindi hit on him. More often than not she ended up dating them while Jessica went to the campus movies by herself. Jessica had made very certain to never invite over a guy she had any interest in. She’d felt like a third wheel in her own room when one of the guys stopped over to study or socialize and cute little Mindi started flirting. Once she turned on the charm, Jessica might as well have been furniture.
Mindi did it every time. Even after Jessica asked her not to. What kind of a moron was she to keep hanging around with her? She had to have some redeeming qualities, Jessica just couldn’t place them right now.
Mindi had never listened to a word she’d said. Every time she’d asked her friend to do something that she didn’t want to, Mindi would forget. Every dream or hope she’d confided in Mindi that didn’t fit Mindi’s world view had been forgotten, too. At this point, Kevin knew her better than Mindi did. Jessica left the register and started toward the coffee bar to see if they needed anything, just to be doing something. If she stopped too long she’d start screaming. Or crying.
“Jessica?”
A hand fell on her shoulder. She jerked around and found herself face to face with Kevin. “What are you doing here?” Taking a step backward she stumbled into the greeting card fixture. Why did he have to turn up now? She didn’t want him to see her like this.
He frowned. “Are you okay?”
Jessica clenched her teeth. Her fury dissolved into a rush of tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks, mortifying her. The day had now bypassed bad and barreled straight for hellish.
“What’s wrong?” He looked so concerned her heart ached.
“Why are you here?” she countered.
“I wanted to look for a gift for my niece.” He shrugged.
“How old is your niece?” Jessica groped for the familiar role of bookseller to hide in. She should have told Eric she needed a break and gone outside, but she hadn’t and now she was trapped. Either it was a good thing Kevin had stopped her instead of a customer because he knew her, or terrible because she had been trying so hard to be strong in front of him. At this moment, she couldn’t tell which. Bursting into tears would be definite weakness.
“Ten. You never told me what was wrong,” he persisted, stepping closer.
“Ten. Let’s head back to the kid’s section and see what appeals to you.” She turned away from him, and he grabbed her arm.
“Jessica.”
Jessica focused on a frail, white-haired old woman standing at the end of the register. Something about her didn’t look right. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing through her open mouth. While Jessica watched, the old woman grabbed the counter. Jessica pulled away from Kevin. She reached the woman in seven strides and reached for her arm. “Ma’am? Ma’am, are you all right?”
The old woman shook her head.
Jessica could hear her labored breathing and see her blue-tinged lips. Jessica looked up to survey the scene. Tony was scheduled at register, but he was headed toward her and someone else had walked up behind her. “Tony, call 911.”
Chapter 5
Tony spun toward the nearest phone. Jessica looked over her shoulder. Julie stood behind her with a stack of magazines in her arms. “Julie, get me a chair from the coffee bar.”
Julie stood there like a deer in headlights.
“Julie. Get me a chair now,” Jessica ordered.
Julie jumped and whirled around, sprinting toward the coffee bar with the magazines still clutched in her arms.
“Can you tell me your name?” Jessica asked. She glanced toward the far end of the register. Tony had the phone to his ear and was speaking calmly.
The old woman shook her head. She still struggled to draw shallow breaths through her mouth.
“That’s all right. My name is Jessica. I’m one of the managers here. We have help on the way. Everything’s going to be just fine.” Jessica kept her voice level and calm. Eric hadn’t turned up yet, which was a good thing. She was panicked enough without his handwringing. Jessica adjusted her hold on the old woman, who had begun to slump against her. Where was Julie with that chair? “Are you here with anyone?”
The old woman shook her head again.
The chair appeared next to her.
“Here we are. This should help.” Jessica eased the old woman into the chair. She didn’t seem to weigh more than a bundle of newspapers. Jessica glanced up and realized Kevin had brought the chair. Julie stood helplessly to one side, still carrying magazines in her arms like a security blanket. “I don’t think we need a crowd here, Julie,” Jessica said. “Why don’t you get back to work?”
Julie blinked. Jessica almost expected her to say something snide, but then she turned and walked away.
Jessica knelt beside the chair. “Is this better?”
The woman nodded. She still had her mouth open, gulping shallow breaths, but her lips were returning to a more normal color. Her eyes didn’t seem as wild as they had a few minutes ago. She clutched her hands around her black patent leather purse.
“Okay. We’ll just wait here until the professionals arrive.” Jessica patted the old woman’s hands. Her skin felt like tissue paper. The old woman smiled faintly at Jessica.
“What’s going on?” Eric arrived with the peak of tension Jessica had anticipated. The old woman looked up at him, startled.
“It’s under control.” Jessica noticed Mindi standing behind Eric. “She’s having a little trouble breathing. We’ve called 911.”
“Is there anything else we can do? I mean, can we make you more comfortable, ma’am? Is there anything you need?” Eric jabbered.
“Why don’t you go outside and look for the ambulance?” Jessica suggested.
“Okay.” Eric sprinted for the door.
“Mindi, can you make sure everybody’s where they belong? We don’t need an audience.”
“Audience?” Mindi turned around and saw the three booksellers Jessica had noticed, wandering over to see what the excitement was all about. She set off to redirect them.
A paramedic truck pulled up out front and the siren cut off. Jessica let herself be hustled to one side and ended up standing next to Kevin, watching the paramedics work. They only seemed to be there for a few minutes, collecting what information they could before they loaded her onto a gurney and into the rig.
Eric stood staring after the rescue truck as it sped down the plaza to the exit, siren wailing. Jessica thought he might be shivering. He wasn’t good in a crisis. Kevin, however, had reacted better than her staff. Jamming her hands in her back pockets, she wondered what Kevin thought of how she’d handled the situation. Had she done a good job in his eyes, or did he think he had a lot of work ahead of him?
After a moment, Eric turned around to Jessica and Kevin standing side by side behind him. He coughed. “Um, Jessica, can you write up the incident report?”
Jessica looked at his face. Eric was pale and sweaty. She considered telling him to go lie down before he had a heart attack. The nearest paramedics were busy right now and wouldn’t be able to respond. “Sure,” she said instead. “I’ll have it to you by the end of the day.”
“Thank you. You did a good job.” Eric hurried into the building.