Page 44 of Fighting For You

I walked back to the sideline. Nora was on her feet, grinning as I approached her. She threw her arms around me before I could say anything.

"You did it!"

I lifted her off the ground. Her arms locked around my neck and her bare skin was warm against mine. Her breathing came fast against my ear. Her mouth was close to my ear and her hair smelled like sunscreen and jasmine. I held her longer than I should have. I knew that. I held her anyway.

When I set her down, her hands slid from my neck to my chest and stayed there. She looked up at me. Neither of us moved.

Then Travis yelled something from the field and the moment broke. We were just two people standing on a sideline in June.

"Greatest day of my life!"

Travis said it to me. He said it to Greene. He said it to Carl. He said it to Thompson's wife, who smiled and handed him a plate.

The station was set up when we got back. Folding tables along the bay floor, coolers lined up against the engine, and a grill smoking in the parking lot behind the building. Someone had put speakers on the tailgate of a truck and the music carried across the concrete.

The crew and LVMPD filtered in together. An hour ago they'd been on opposite sides of the field. Now Doug Price was handing Greene a beer at the grill. Jeremy Murray and Carl were arguing about a call at second. Andy was at the table next to Wyatt, his arm around her waist, while the fire and police wives settled in together at the other end.

Travis intercepted Andy from across the table.

"I just want you to know," he said, "that that was the greatest day of my life."

Andy looked at him. "Enjoy it. I let you win."

"You let us win?"

"Travis, you have never beaten LVMPD at anything. Not softball, not football, not bowling, not the chili cook-off." She counted on her fingers. "I figured you needed one. For your self-esteem."

"She's lying." Travis turned to the room. "She is lying. Greene, tell her she's lying."

Greene didn't look up from the grill. "I'm not getting involved."

"Carl?"

Carl held up both hands. "I'm with Greene."

"Cowards. All of you." Travis pointed at Andy. "We beat you fair and square, and this is what we get from Las Vegas Metro?"

Andy took another drink from Wyatt's cup without breaking eye contact. "If it helps you sleep."

Nora was beside me, watching all of it. She was laughing. The sound of it carried through the bay. I let myself listen.

"Do you want to see the rest of the station?"

She looked up at me. "Yeah. I'd love that."

I walked her through the bay first. The engine and the ladder, side by side. She ran her hand along the side of the engine as we passed.

I took her down the hall. The bunk room door was open. Barb was in the chair by Wyatt's cot with her reading glasses on and a paperback in her lap. Birdie was asleep on the cot beside her with her shoes still on. Julie and Katie were cross-legged on the floor playing cards. Barb looked up when she heard us and put a finger to her lips.

In the common room, Brandon's three boys were spread across the couch, arguing over the remote. The kitchen was on the other side of the same space. A long table sat in the middle with six chairs around it, a counter along the back wall, and a stove that had seen more use than anything else in the building.

"This is where the shift eats," I said. "Three meals a day, every rotation. Breakfast before changeover, lunch between calls, dinner if the night cooperates. It's the one room everyone ends up in."

Nora walked to the stove and ran her fingers along the edge of it. "Who cooks?"

"Greene. Every shift. The rest of us pitch in for groceries, but nobody argues with Greene running the kitchen. He's the only one the whole crew trusts not to ruin a meal."

"What does he make?"