Jonah's Return (Detroit Heat Book 3) (13 page)

I walked past the playground and around to the front of the building, my muscles burning from the effort. I saw the huge mass of students at the same time as the first approaching engines. One of the adults spotted me and pointed in my direction. Some screamed, and others applauded as I approached.

After a little bit of hunting, I found the little girl’s teacher. The woman had tears in her eyes as I walked over. I knelt down and set the girl down on the curb with her classmates. For a few seconds, she didn't want to let go.

The sweet little thing looked me in the eyes, "My name’s Randi.”

I smiled at her and took one of her small hands, "And my name is Jonah."

The girl’s smile grew wider. I stood up and headed for the Battalion Chief’s vehicle on scene. I knew a lot of the teachers and adults were looking at me with admiration, but my mind was on the fire. I knew the engine company that had arrived, but I didn't know the chief personally. He gave me a nod after seeing the polo, though.

I gave him a rundown of what I had seen inside just as the first engine put the parking brake on.
 
He listened and I saw respect in his eyes. "Thanks." He must've seen me carrying Randi from the building, because he added, "I think you might be hearing that a lot today."

After that, I backed away to let the guys go to work.

The chief was absolutely right. The reporters had come quickly because a fire at an elementary school is big news. Somebody had tipped them off, though, because soon my story became the focus. I tried to politely brush it off, but it was no good. The reporters made it clear that they weren't going to let me go without the story. I didn't like it, but I could understand; Fire Prevention Officer Saves Student is too good of a headline to pass up.

I took the opportunity to push fire prevention and all the usual safety points. I said over and over again I wasn't a hero, which I knew would only make it seem more that way. I went damn near blind from all of the pictures that were taken of Randi and me. At first she didn't like it, but once I picked her up and put her on my shoulders, she relaxed and smiled.

Less than a week on the job, and I was already causing hell. I couldn't decide if I wanted to go back to HQ that afternoon, or if it would be better to go straight home and avoid everybody. The second choice was damn tempting, but I knew it wouldn't go over so well. It would be less than an hour till quitting time by the time I got back, so at least I had that going. I was too exhausted from talking to reporters, fire investigators, and every single person that wanted to shake my hand; I wanted nothing more than my couch and a cold beer.

I was occupying my mind with spreadsheets when the text from Katie came in.

You might wanna turn on the news

In the fire service, the news is never good, and my heart reacted appropriately. I headed for the closest TV, which was in our conference room. The room was close to full, which didn't help my panic. The local news was on, and everybody seemed too relaxed for bad news.

"What the hell's going on?"

Somebody from accounting, I think, turned her head but didn't take her eyes off the screen. "Fire at one of the big elementaries. I guess they got it knocked down quick, but we actually had someone there, and he pulled a handicapped girl all the way down from the fourth floor."

I thought my heart stopped for good. We had somebody there, all right. I knew exactly who we had there. My mind couldn't seem to hold onto one emotion; it was jumping from one to another like staying too long would make them disappear forever. My hand was already in my pocket for my phone.

I was about to leave the room when the news team cut to the scene. The woman at the elementary school told me information I already knew, and then there he was. They showed pictures of Jonah holding a little girl in his arms. He looked rugged, heroic, and happier than I could ever remember seeing him. There was something in his eyes…

"Is he back here, yet?"

The woman lifted her shoulders, "Not sure."

I left the conference room and headed for the stairs. Checking my phone, there were no new messages. Nothing from Jonah. I wasn't expecting him to brag or show off; that wasn't his style, but if either of us had gone on a run without the other, we always texted when we got back to say we were safe. Old habits die hard.

His office door was closed, and I didn't even bother to knock. I didn't feel like there was a second to waste. My stomach was nothing but butterflies went through the door open. The office was empty, though, and the butterflies turned into a heavy stone.

I walked inside the near empty office. It had the same layout as mine, minus all of my decorations. I knew Jonah had a fair share, far more than me, but I wondered if he'd bother bringing them in. My helmet reminded me of good times and bad, and I suspected his was no different. With my arms crossed over my chest, I tried to think of the good times and calm myself down.

I didn't hear him behind me until he was directly behind me. Jonah’s voice was just above a whisper, as strong and soft as love, "It's all good. I'm back, and I’m safe."

I spun around, and as tears came from nowhere, I threw my arms around him. I sobbed and held on to him with everything I had.

"Hey, hey. It's okay." His voice was a whisper now, and I heard the door shut. He must've kicked it close, because his arms encircled me, holding me close to his warmth.

I knew it was silly to cry, but there was no stopping it. Between the close call, our fight, and seeing him on the news, I just couldn't help it. I wanted to go back in time a day. I wanted to go back and make sure things had ended so messy at my door.

"If something had happened to you…" I couldn't finish the sentence; I could only Berry my face into his shoulder.

My head kept trying to tell me that it wasn't so bad. Overall, it was a small fire, and Jonah was in very little danger. I
knew
that, or at least my logical brain did. It also knew that the chance of him being in a dangerous situation was virtually gone. His new job was to prevent fires, not walk into them. I knew all about, but the tears kept flowing.

One of his hands drifted to the small of my back. He squeezed, "If something had happened to me, they would have pulled me out. It wasn't bad, really. I was in the right place at the right time. Or maybe it was the right place at the wrong time, I don't know. Abbey, it's all right.
We’re
going to be all right."

"You really meant what you said about kids, didn't you?" I felt Jonah nodding. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you. After what you said… I don't know. I started thinking, and I think I excel at worrying myself into a spiral."

Jonah didn't reply. He just kept stroking my back and holding me to him. It was what I needed. He was right; we were going to be all right. Whether we had kids are not—hell, whether we even really
wanted
kids or not, we’d be all right.

The last hour of the day made me wonder if time had stopped. Jonah was called into office after office all the way up to the executive fire commissioner. I knew he was tired, but he was the type of man who did what he had to do. Jonah was the type of man who put other people first, even when that meant his own safety and comfort went out the window. He was the kind of man who didn't take care of himself because he was too busy taking care of others.

I had a feeling the fire department would make him into the voice of Detroit Fire. He was a local celebrity, handsome, and a hero. He would do it, even though what Jonah really wanted was to be out of the public eye. He would do it because he cared about Detroit and the people that lived here.

We both guessed that he would be at work late between paperwork and phone interviews, so we agreed that he would come over as soon as he was free. I cleared my desk and rushed home to clean the place. Jonah was going to be stressed, and I wanted to give him a nice, relaxing evening.
 
The kind of night that he had earned.
 
The kind of night that he deserved.

"… Once again, Jonah, I can't thank you enough for your service today. Even as a former firefighter, you went above and beyond. I think it goes without saying that if you want the day off tomorrow, you are more than welcome to it."

Even though he was more of a politician than a firefighter, the commissioner was a decent man. He didn't bullshit with me about what I had done. He had been upfront about the positive impact my deed would do for the fire department, and I respected him for that.

He leaned forward, and I thought it was going to shake my hand, but he offered me something far bigger, instead. "This might seem premature, and I can’t
guarantee you anything, so keep that in mind. But come Monday morning, I'd like to talk with the board about offering you the position of public information officer. You'd be to
our
go
-
to man to talk with the press and release information to the public. It would get your face out there, and right now, we could use a good face."

I didn't say anything. I didn't really know what to say. He smiled, "Like I said, there's still some hoops to jump through, but I want you to think about it over the weekend. When you think about it, though, I want you to know that this is a big opportunity. This would help you move up the ladder mighty quick, Jonah."