All Fired Up (Green Valley Heroes #7)

Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

MADELINE

M om’s in the living room watching TV when I unlock the front door, but shuts it off when she notices me, which is eerily similar to our last confrontation.

“Hi,” she calls out. “Didn’t know you were coming home tonight.”

I can’t tell if her tone is passive-aggressive, or if I’m imagining it. I need to stop being on the defensive.

I take a seat on the opposite end of the couch from her. “I thought we should talk now that we’ve had a chance to think about things some.”

“Have you been avoiding me?” she asks, picking at some lint on the couch cushion.

“I’ve just been at Hunter’s.” Really? I’m already going to start out with evading the truth? “We’ve been studying and training nonstop. The exams are tomorrow.”

“That’s right. You have nothing to worry about, though.” She reaches over and pats my hand. “You’re your father’s daughter. Firefighting’s in your blood.”

I’m fairly sure that’s not how it works, but I keep my mouth shut.

“And how are things with you and Hunter?” she asks.

I’d texted her to tell her we’re dating the day after we’d made things official. She’d never forgive me for keeping something like that from her, even if we’re not on the best of terms right now.

“We’re great. Almost...too great it seems like sometimes. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

She smiles softly, a tinge of sadness to it. “When you find the right person, everything falls into place.”

Crap. I didn’t mean to remind her of Dad.

“I’m happy for you,” she says, tapping the back of my hand. “Really. I’ve always wanted you to find your great love.”

I bite my lip, suddenly nervous. “You think that’s what he is?”

Her smile this time is more genuine. “Every time he’s around, you can’t take your eyes off of him. Why do you think I asked him to do all those things around the house?”

“Um, so we wouldn’t have to pay someone to do it?”

“No, so you’d have a reason to spend more time together.”

She can’t be serious. Hunter and I had spent nearly every day together for weeks at that point.

Well, whatever. If she’s happy to have played matchmaker, then I’ll let her think she did.

“So, about the house . . .”

She nods. “I’ve thought a lot about what you said. And while I think you could have put it a little nicer...” She gives me a pointed look. “You also had some valid points.”

She fiddles with the bottom button on her shirt for a moment, seeming to collect her thoughts. “I’ve thought of us as a team for so long, braving the world together after your father’s death. And I was so lonely when you were away at college. I lived for your school breaks when you would come home.”

“You’re guilt-tripping me again,” I chide softly.

“Right. I’m sorry, that wasn’t my intention.” She returns her hand to her lap. “All of that to say, I’ve loved having you here again the last few years, but I understand you can’t stay forever. And it wasn’t right of me either to depend on you like that after I got myself in all that financial mess.”

“I didn’t mind helping out at first,” I tell her. “But it’s time you took things over again. And I’m sorry how harsh I was the other week.”

“Thank you. Well, I talked to your Aunt Lucy about it. She’s open to me moving in with her.”

My brows raise in surprise. That was quick.

“Not anytime soon, mind you,” she adds. “I’ll have to go through this whole house top to bottom first and figure out what to do with everything.”

Oh, God. That alone will take months. She refused to get rid of anything of Dad’s when he passed, and brought it all to Green Valley with us.

“There are a few things to fix up with the house, too, before trying to sell it. Maybe your new man can help with that.”

“Yeah, he will.” I already know he won’t say no.

“And you’ll still be here until I’m ready to sell?” There’s a nervous note in her voice, like she’s waiting for me to say no. “We can split the mortgage and utilities fifty-fifty. And I...I’d give you a portion of the sale, too.”

I scoot closer, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. “I’ll be here. And we can figure out the details later. I’m just glad you listened to me.”

“Of course, honey.”

She hugs me back, and a wave of nostalgia washes over me. She’s right that it’s been me and her for so long. But I’m also ready for something new. Something more.

And for the first time, I think I’ve found it.

Sweat trickles down the back of my neck and I ache desperately to wipe it away, but I can’t. I’m covered head to toe in turnout gear, a sticky, sweaty mess in the Tennessee summer heat.

I can’t focus on that now, though. It’s almost time for Hunter’s and my turn for the forcible entry.

If I’d known yesterday what today’s live fire exercise would be like, I would have savored the exams a little more. The written part had been in sweet, sweet air conditioning, and even the CPAT hadn’t been the overblown beast I’d turned it into in my head. With as many times as Hunter and I had practiced the events, I’d finished with a solid fifteen seconds to spare. Hunter thought he did an okay job on the written part, too, but we won’t get the results for a while.

In the meantime, we’ll keep training, but won’t be allowed to go out on actual calls until we officially pass. And today’s a pretty good wake-up call as to the potential realities of what things will be like during a real situation. Everything we’ve done so far has been a one-off practice, but it’s all put together today.

Hunter and I are paired up for the day, as expected, and our job during the first session was to lay hose as the other members of the team entered the large shipping container–like structure brought in to the fire station parking lot to simulate a burning building. Once they’d broken open the door, it had been our job to extinguish the flames. The heat had been more intense than I thought it’d be, even with all this gear on, and I suspect it would have been worse if Hunter hadn’t been in front to shield me.

Now, it’s our turn to forcibly enter.

I grip the axe in my hands tightly, afraid of dropping it, and listen for Chief McClure’s command. Everything is slightly muffled with all this headgear, but his booming voice is hard to miss as he instructs Hunter and me to start.

We rush forward, and I feel like a kid playing dress up with how big this gear is on me, but I forge ahead, waiting as Hunter wedges the Halligan bar into the doorframe. I hit the end of it with the flat head side of my axe to force it in further, praying I don’t miss and hit Hunter by mistake. That would be all I need.

Hunter pulls at the bar, leveraging it like he’s supposed to, but it still takes another try until it cracks open. We both connect our low-pressure regulators to our facepieces until air from the tanks on our backs flows through, turn on the flashlights clipped to our gear, then head inside.

The heat is as bad as last time, maybe worse now since the sun is higher in the sky, and the smoke is a black, choking cloud that’s impossible to see through, even with the flashlights. If we hadn’t watched Silas and Harry do this earlier, I’d have no idea where the next door is.

Hunter and I switch tools as instructed, and I wedge the Halligan bar into the locked interior door. Theoretically, this one is supposed to be easier, but it still seems plenty difficult to me. Hunter strikes the end with the axe, the metal bar vibrating in my hands, and though it jams it in further, I can’t get the leverage I need to force the door open, even putting all my weight into it.

After the fourth try, Hunter shouts, “Do you want me to do it?”

“No, I’m supposed to.”

Behind us, one of the controlled flames roars to life, and Rodney and Waylon spray at it from the doorway. Shit. We were supposed to have broken this door down already.

Hunter moves in closer, blocking the worst of the flame’s heat from my back. “We’re out of time,” he says. “Let me help you.”

He puts his hands over mine, tugging on the bar with a force I could never dream of. I probably look like a ragdoll with the way it shakes me, but it does the trick, the door breaking at the lock. Hunter kicks it open and we make our way in further, Rodney and Waylon right behind to get the flames ahead. I swear, the fire hadn’t seemed so close when we’d been extinguishing it earlier, the heat coming in waves.

It’s so freaking hot in here. No air, only smoke. Sweat pours off me now, but it has nowhere to go, trapped in my clothes under the turnout gear. It stings my eyes, but I can’t wipe at my face, the face shield in the way. And I can’t remove that or I won’t have breathable air.

“Madeline.”

I blink and Hunter’s there in my face. When did he get there? Was I out of it for a moment?

“You okay?” he asks, but I can’t tell if he’s worried. There’s no nuance to anyone’s voices right now, only shouting to be heard over the fire and these damn masks and helmets.

“Yeah!” I shout back, and he points ahead and to the right, where we have to use pike poles to breach the ceiling for ventilation.

How is he moving so quickly? Isn’t he exhausted, too? It gives me a newfound respect for the physical job he does daily. He must be used to sweating like this, but I’m definitely not.

Squinting closely at the room ahead, there are slivers of light coming from above. Those are the two spots in the top of the structure we have to work on.

I pick up my pike pole, and even though it’s only ten pounds, it feels a hell of a lot heavier at the moment. Hunter immediately gets to work, pulling and pushing at the metal surface to create an exit for the growing heat in the room. I start on mine, but it takes forever just to allow one little shaft of light to poke its way through. Meanwhile, Hunter’s made a hole the size of a bowling ball.

Behind us, someone shouts something, and I turn around, my eyes widening as a flame licks its way into the area. Rodney and Waylon are struggling to contain the growing fire and Chief McClure and Grizz barge in, taking over the hose for them.

There’s a tug on my arm, and Hunter guides me forcefully over to the furthest corner, away from the flame.

“I need to finish the ceiling!” I yell at him, but he doesn’t let go of me.

“I’ll do it!” he shouts, then turns to do it himself.

I want to yell at him that it’s my responsibility, but the chief and captain are right there. If the point of this is to assess our teamwork skills, I can’t argue with Hunter in front of them.

Meanwhile, I’m relegated to a corner while he does all the work.

My eyes sting again, but this time it’s not sweat. It’s frustration and hurt and a good dose of self-pity.

Hunter finishes the task as fast as any pro firefighter, and the flame is quickly contained. I march past him, our part of the exercise finished now, and disconnect my regulator as I exit the structure. I rip off my gloves then my face shield, fire hood, and helmet, being careful not to damage anything while also wanting it off as fast as humanly possible.

Someone touches my arm and I whip around, finding Hunter there, a questioning look on his face as he removes his shield.

“Not here,” I mutter, mindful of Harry and Silas at the equipment table that’s been set up. I place my headgear on the table, then unbuckle the straps that hold the air tank of my breathing apparatus to my back. I slip that off, too, then stalk off toward the fire station. I just need some time to?—

“What’s wrong?”

Hunter’s there again, and I know he’s being kind by checking up on me, but all I can think of is the way he completely took over during the exercise. How I couldn’t seem to finish anything myself.

“What the hell was that?”