Hard to Resist - By Kara Lennox Page 0,63
Too late he realized he should have just dived through the hole. A four-by-four beam was heading straight for him.
That was the last conscious thought he had.
* * *
THE MOOD OF THE Fire Station 59 picnic had grown somber. The smaller kids, not realizing what was going on, still ran and shrieked, but the adults had gone quiet.
Every firefighter and paramedic on the C shift had cleared out to help fight the fire, and even some of the off-duty guys had taken off, leaving their families to wait.
By now, everybody knew it was a pretty big fire. They could see the smoke in the distance. And all Kat could think about was that Ethan was there.
What if he was hurt? What if something happened to him, and she never had the chance to tell him she loved him?
Tina Campeon sidled up to her. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Tina.”
“Kat Holiday.” Kat did her best to smile. It wasn’t Tina’s fault that she was gaga over Ethan. She probably had no way of knowing Kat had a history with her new boyfriend.
“I’m Eric Campeon’s sister,” Tina said. “What’s your connection?”
“I’m a firefighter’s roommate,” Kat said.
“You’re not married to one of them, then?”
“No.”
“I don’t know how the wives do it. I mean, I guess if you’re at home, you don’t know when the alarms go off. You don’t see them run for the trucks and ride off to risk their lives. This is kind of freaky.”
“I agree, it is.” If she and Ethan got back together, she would worry about him every time he walked out of the house to work. But even if they didn’t work things out…she still would worry. She hoped she got the chance to learn to live with it.
“At least we don’t have as many serious fires as in the past. Eric said they use safer building materials now.” Tina drummed her fingernails on the table. “But it doesn’t make this waiting any easier.”
Kat found herself liking the woman. At least they had something in common—they both had a thing for Ethan.
No one went home. Some of the smaller kids flopped down on quilts and napped in the heat, but everyone else hung around.
An hour passed, and then two, which was way too long. Some of the off-duty firefighters had gone in to listen to the radio, and whispers soon filtered back to Kat.
Someone was injured. A firefighter was down. No one seemed to know who it was, however.
A profound sense of misery descended on Kat, and somehow she knew—she just knew—that it was Ethan. And she vowed that if he came through this, when she saw him the first words out of her mouth were going to be, “I love you.”
When the engine returned, its crew grimy, stinky and exhausted from fighting the fire, Kat stayed well away from it. She didn’t want to know. But after a few minutes, Priscilla came and sat next to her, ominously silent. Her face was smudged black and she smelled of smoke.
“Pris,” Kat said, “tell me.”
“Ethan was hurt,” Priscilla finally said, the words coming out as if they’d been dragged. “We don’t know how bad. Something fell on him. They took him to the hospital. Tony’s with him. That’s all I know about his condition.”
Kat closed her eyes and let the fear wash over her, rather than fighting it. Ethan was injured. But he wasn’t dead—the news could have been worse. “Was it arson?” she asked. From hanging out with firefighters, Kat knew that the serial arsonist was never far from their minds. Everyone was wondering if or when he’d hit again.
“They think it was a squatter’s cook stove.”
“Was anyone else injured?” Kat asked.
“Just the squatter, an old man. No one knew he was there. Ethan heard him. He and Murph went inside after him and Ethan carried him out. He was almost out himself when the ceiling above him came down. He probably shouldn’t have gone in.”
“I doubt anything in the world would have stopped him,” Kat said. “Not his training, not fear. He can’t stand to see anyone in pain.”
“I know.” She paused, reflecting on something. “The engine hit a squirrel once. After we got done with the call, Ethan wanted to go back and see if the squirrel was okay.”
“Was it?”
“No, it was dead. Ethan hardly talked to anyone the rest of the day.”
Kat couldn’t help smiling through the tears. Ethan did notice the dead squirrels. He always felt a little bad for them.
“Pris, I’ve