Flash Point - Savannah Kade Page 0,14

weren’t bears in this part of the state—at least none were expected—big cats were a worry as were a handful of very venomous snakes. Jo kept her eyes peeled—her biggest worry was getting surprised by dangerous wildlife in the dark, she wasn’t ready for Sebastian to ask her a question.

“So, what's your story, Huston?” Apparently, out of the blue, Sebastian decided he was going to strike up a conversation.

She didn't answer, just looked at him.

But he pushed, just a little. “Seriously, did you go into firefighting just to piss your mom off?”

She almost retorted that she had a “Mother” not a “Mom,” but she’d been too well trained to quip back without thinking. Or maybe not. “Well, aren't you a Chatty Cathy all of a sudden?”

Ugh, Jo thought, even as the words came out. The Chatty Cathy comment had been like hearing her own mother’s voice come out of her mouth. It left a bad taste and gave her an epiphany right there in the National Forest in the middle of the night. Just because her mother thought it was horrifying to be a Chatty Cathy, it didn't necessarily mean that it was. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ve been called worse.” At least he seemed to shrug it off.

Jo followed her epiphany with a second thought. Did it matter if she talked to Kane? He seemed a decent guy. He was devoted to his girlfriend Maggie. Though Jo wanted to say that meant he certainly wasn't going to come on to her, it wasn't as if she hadn't seen it happen before. The job and the stress lent themselves to cheating and seemed to attract cheaters. Still, Kane didn't seem the type.

In fact, when she thought about it, A-shift seemed relatively solid, at least what she'd seen so far. She worried about her fellow female firefighters working with Conrad Phillips on C. But she hadn’t gotten to know them well enough yet and she was too new to do anything about it. Certainly they could defend themselves.

Maybe the Redemption FD wasn't as bad as the guys back in Boston. Maybe Kane wasn’t just another asshole. So for the first time, she decided to give it a try. But it took a minute to work up to it.

Jo swept her flashlight left to right, in careful lines, still keeping her eyes trained on the ground in front of her. She checked up each tree trunk and into the branches, in case a child had decided to climb, though she wasn't sure how a four-year-old might get up that high.

Then she took a breath. “I went into firefighting because it suited me. The fact that it pissed my mother off was just a bonus. However, by the time I figured it all out, I had also learned that, for me, simply breathing pissed my mother off.”

“Ouch,” Sebastian replied but it was more sympathetic than anything. “She didn't seem to appreciate much of anything about the firehouse.”

Jo almost laughed. “Of course not. She didn’t come to appreciate it. You didn’t even hear the comments about how the sleeping quarters reminded her of an orphanage.”

His light stopped moving as he blurted out “Are you serious?”

At least there was a laugh in his voice.

“Dead serious.”

He thought for a moment. “She did fly all the way out from Boston to see where you work.”

“Oh, no,” Jo corrected him. “She flew all the way out from Boston to let me know I'm making a grave mistake. It was bad enough when I was a firefighter in Boston or even Dallas. But now I'm a firefighter who's moved to the boonies!”

She shone her light downward for just a moment, turning to make sure that Sebastian caught her expression. She whispered in harsh sarcasm, “Omaha doesn't even have any five-star hotels!”

Sebastian mock-gasped and put his hand to his heart, splayed open much the way her mother had when she first arrived, only Sebastian didn't have the perfect manicure to go with it and his shocked expression.

But quickly, his gloved hand fell away and as their flashlights began sweeping across the ground again, Jo felt she’d made the right decision answering his question. It was better to make a friend than hold everyone at bay. Right?

It was a few moments before he lobbed the next item her way. “If you grew up with debutante balls and finishing classes, then how did you even know about firefighting?”

This time, she almost grinned at the memory. “You know how you're not allowed to have hot plates