Spark Of Desire (2 page)

“I’ve talked to her. She isn’t doing anything wrong,” Jessica grumbled.

“I know, but if you could just tell her to back off. You know how Darla is.” Eric twisted his hands together between his knees.

“Yeah, and I know how Julie is too.” Jessica shook her head. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you.” Eric sighed, relieved at having handed off that confrontation.

Jessica watched him walk away. She had to get out of this job before the death match between Darla and Julie burned a hole in her stomach.

“Who’s Julie?”

Jessica jumped. She hadn’t forgotten about the customer with the deep dark chocolate voice, but the sound of it right behind her brushed across her cheek like a touch. “Julie? She’s the magazine clerk who won’t let sleeping dogs lie if she doesn’t like them.”

He nodded. “I think I know the type.”

“I like her. It’s just not fun to ride herd on her sometimes.”

“So why do you get to ride herd anyway?”

“I have the great fortune to be her manager. They warned me she was unmanageable when I got the job.” Jessica pulled out her other favorite book to look at while shelving this section. The professional training section had three different firefighter exam books and two emergency medical service exam books. That’s what she really wanted to do. She’d watched every hospital-based show on television since she was old enough to sit still for an hour. In college, she’d started out pre-med and become disenchanted. Besides, she didn’t want to be a doctor or a nurse or even a tech. She wanted sirens.

“You planning on taking the test?”

Jessica didn’t jump this time, even though he’d leaned over her shoulder, presumably to get a better look at the book. “Maybe. I’ve always wanted to be a paramedic, and to be a paramedic, I have to be a firefighter first.”

“Move to Cambridge and you won’t have to join fire service.”

Jessica snorted. Julie had been clipping all the articles about the Cambridge EMS fight from the papers for her. One side said it was better service to have two separate departments giving the same service, plus it was cheaper because the EMS service was contracted. The other side said the fire department ended up responding to many of the calls anyway, negating the savings, so it would be better to just send the department in the first place. So far, they’d managed to decide to wait and study the problem more. “They’re going to have to bring it into fire service eventually. The fire department is faster and better. If I get in there, I’ll have to join up in a year.”

“The fire department is more expensive.”

Jessica closed the book on her lap. “People don’t tend to care about that when they’re in the middle of a cardiac arrest.”

“They care at the polls when they’re voting new taxes.” He smiled as if he was enjoying the debate.

“They also remember which politicians wanted to cut costs on public safety.”

“So you think it’s inevitable?”

Jessica nodded. “Sure of it. It costs more on the surface, but the EMS system doesn’t work now. The fire department gets called out in one in four cases. Besides, you can’t be a paramedic with a private ambulance company anyway. The best you can do is Advanced Life Saving. Sometimes ALS isn’t enough.”

He knelt on the floor next to her. “So why haven’t you taken the test?”

“I don’t know.” Jessica opened the book and started leafing through it. “It all looks so complicated. Three sets of exams, tons of math, tools. I guess I need to find a firefighter to guide me.”

“You went overseas by yourself, and you think the fire exam is complicated?”

“Going to Ireland was no big deal. It’s easier than it looks. I didn’t have to learn another language, I just had to remember to look at the bottom of the street signs for the English name. This is in a different language.”

“How?”

Jessica looked down at the book in her hands. She’d stopped at the section of tools. “I don’t know the difference between a bench grinder and an offset box wrench.”

“You’ve got plenty of time. Arden’s age cut off is thirty-one. You can learn that stuff on a few trips through Sears. The hardest part is the physical training.”

“Thirty-one?” she blurted out, vaguely aware he’d been saying something. Jessica’s throat constricted. Thirty-one? She had one year left. If she couldn’t get it together in the past six years, what made her think she could manage in one?

He reared back. “Arden hires between twenty-one and thirty-one. You’ve got a couple of years at least.”

“I turned thirty today,” she wailed, remembering the singing and the cake and her absolute dread when she woke up this morning because it was her birthday. That hole in the pit of her stomach started to gnaw itself a little larger. “I’ve only got a year left.”

He seemed stunned for a moment, but she couldn’t tell if it was her age or her outburst, and she was too busy trying not to cry to worry about it. Suddenly the minor annoyance of re-alphabetizing Weddings every other week and dealing with Julie and Darla’s ongoing conflict seemed endless. She’d be trapped here forever. She would die a virgin with a laundry list of unfulfilled dreams because she couldn’t just jump in with both feet.

He held out his hand. “Kevin Marshall.”

Jessica shook his hand, wondering what he was getting at. Then she realized she’d confessed something only a few people knew about to a total stranger because he had a reassuring voice. “Jessica Decker.”

“I’ll help you.”

“Help me what?” Jessica drew back, stopping just before she fell off the stool. She wanted to run into the warehouse and hide in the magazine back stock until she pulled herself together. This was awful. Only a year before she became too old.

“Help you pass the test.”

She tapped the book in her lap with her finger. “This test?” He must be crazy. Naturally, the day she could least handle the crazy guy she got him. “How are you planning to do that?”

“I’m a firefighter. I took it and passed it.”

“You’re a firefighter?”

“That’s how I know the cutoff age.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

The weight of his hand distracted her by reminding her of wrestling matches, but she needed to be sure he was saying what she thought he was saying before she turned skittish and silly. “You’re really willing to mentor me?”

“Sure. I’m not busy right now. They just did exams about a week ago, so you’ve got ten or eleven weeks to study and get in shape before the next round. From the look of you, it won’t take that long.” He looked her over again.

Jessica started at him with her mouth open. Ten or eleven weeks. With his help, she could have a new job, her dream job, by the time the weather turned. “You really want to do this? Even though I’m a woman?”

“Doesn’t matter to me. We all look about the same in turnouts.”

Jessica threw her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him to the floor. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“No problem.” He reached up and took her arms from around his neck. “Happy birthday.”

“It is now.” She bit back a sob. “You’re going to need my phone number.”

“Yes, and I’ll give you mine,” he said, holding her wrists with just his fingers.

She backed away, pulling her hands away from him, feeling the bright blush on her cheeks. What had she been thinking, hugging him? Still, the overwhelming glee at his offer bubbled around in her veins, and she wouldn’t have been able to control herself if she’d tried. If she’d thought she could get away with it, she’d hug him again. Right about now, she’d have hugged Darla if she’d been handy, although hugging Kevin Marshall was a more exciting prospect. “There’s scrap paper over here.” She led him to the History desk and found paper and a pen.

“I’ll find out when the next exams start, and we’ll plan a schedule for you,” he told her. “You might want to pick up one of those exam books for the questions. And you’ll want to get to your doctor for a physical before we start training.”

Jessica nodded as she wrote down her full name, phone number and address. “I can call the doctor’s office today and set up an appointment. He can usually get me in within a day or so.” She handed Kevin the pen and another piece of paper.

“Call me when you get your appointment so we can meet right away. We’re on a pretty tight schedule.”

“What if I’m not ready by then?” Jessica finger-combed her hair. Her hands trembled, tangling in the ends.

“You’ll be ready.” He handed back the pen and paper and looked at her face. “Don’t worry, if something goes wrong, they’ll have the exams again in December. So I’ll hear from you soon?”

“Today or tomorrow.”

“Okay. We’ll get you into the department, and then we’ll work on paramedic certification.” He held out his hand again.

She shook it. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Finish training and pass the test.” He folded the paper and shoved it in his pocket. “See ya soon.”

“Yes. Very soon.” He had a purposeful, rolling gait and a nice tight rear, which, if he turned around and caught her looking at, would be embarrassing. Blinking at the paper he’d given her, she tried to focus on the thick block letters he printed his name and address with. The address wasn’t far from her house. About ten blocks.

That cute, commanding, deep-voiced guy was going to help her become a paramedic. She had to tell somebody, and Mindi would freak out. No, she needed somebody who would be happy for her.

Jessica scurried across the sales floor, dodging a stroller and a floor stack of books to get to the magazine section. “Guess what?”

Julie turned around with a pile of magazines on her arm. “Aliens just landed, and they think you’re our leader.”

Jessica groaned. Someday Julie would take something seriously. Something other than her battle with Darla. “No. I just met a guy who’s going to help me get into the fire department. He’s a fireman.”

“Really? Is he cute?”

“What do you care? You’re married.”

Julie shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I can’t window shop. So what’s this guy going to do?”

“He’s going to help me work out and study for the test. What’s a good weight-lifting magazine?”

Julie led her to another shelf and pulled out a magazine with a built woman posing on the purple cover. “This one. It’s from the same company that puts out
Muscle and Fitness
, but it’s for women. Which is why it’s called
Her’s Muscle and Fitness
and why it’s got a purple cover. Last month it was hot pink.”

“What would I ever do without you to point that out for me?” Jessica flipped open the magazine, looking for the contents page.

“You’d probably be wandering around the interior design section wondering why you couldn’t find what you were looking for. People do it all the time.” Julie tidied the rack in front of her. “So when do you start?”

“As soon as possible. Kevin said–that’s his name, Kevin–he said they’re holding exams in about three months, and I have to get into shape.” Jessica closed the magazine. “I can’t wait to get started.”

“Good. Let me know if you need anything. You better get a piece of birthday cake while you still can. It’s chocolate.”

“Mindi told me.”

Julie finished straightening the shelf. “You looked like you wanted to bite somebody before. Thirty’s no fun.”

Jessica sighed. Julie only had 3 years on her, but she made it sound like decades. “This is about the best birthday present I can imagine.”

“You never said if he was cute.”

“You know him. He’s in here all the time. Black hair going gray. Brown eyes. Pretty well built. About six foot. Good-looking for an older guy.”

“I think I know who you mean. The
Fire Apparatus Journal
guy? He’s pretty cute. Can’t knock an older man. They’ve learned things. They have experience.” Julie wiggled her eyebrows.

Jessica ignored the innuendo through force of will. “I’ve got to go call my doctor and set up an appointment for a physical. This is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me.” She started out of the magazine section, but stopped and turned back. “Wait, I was supposed to talk to you about something. I can’t remember what.”

“Probably Darla. I know the lecture. Quit bugging Darla. Leave Darla alone. Do your own job and don’t bother Darla even when she’s in your way, underfoot, and pushy for no good reason. I’ll wait a few days before I put another dead rat in her locker.”