“So how’s the fire department?”
“Busy as a hound during flea season. On top of spring break, I’m going for a promotion. Assistant fire chief. The current guy’s retiring.”
“Will you be able to stay away from the manual stuff as assistant chief?” Jorge asked. “Keep your hands clean?”
Joe shook his head and grinned. His stepfather would never understand. He’d stopped trying to explain it after the first dozen or so attempts. “That’s the downside. Not being able to fight fires myself.”
All three men stared at him as if he’d admitted to romancing livestock.
“You all should shed your suits and ties and try it sometime,” he said, gauging the progress of the team in front of them as they finished up the hole.
“I’ll leave the hero-ing up to you,” Ryan said. “Charred isn’t really my color.”
“I don’t know,” Troy said. “Your heart’s pretty black, bro.”
“Joe,” his stepfather interjected. “You got anything planned in early April?”
“The usual,” Joe said. “What’s up?”
“The guys and I thought we’d see if you wanted to go with us to spring training.”
“Astros?”
“Of course,” Troy said, as if Joe was the densest man on earth.
Joe had been a Rangers fan since he was old enough to beat a plastic bat on the living room floor. Never an Astros fan. He hadn’t been invited to the annual pilgrimage with the Vargas men before. Which meant one thing. “My mother put you up to asking?”
“We wouldn’t listen to her if she did,” Troy said.
The senior Vargas glared at his older son.
“Okay, maybe we would, but this wasn’t her idea.” Troy backpedaled.
“Why don’t you guys watch some real baseball?” Joe asked.
“We invited you on our trip, man,” Ryan said. “No need to go injuring our team.”
Joe asked several questions about the trip and racked his brain for any plans he might have made. Several guys at the station would be off that week—a regular occurrence after the intensity of spring break on the island. It’d be a hassle to get away then. However, though the Astros didn’t do it for him, taking a trip with Jorge and his sons would go a long way in calming his mother’s worries, convincing her they’d do just fine as a family even without her. That was a gift to her he couldn’t deny just because these guys were a bunch of stuffed shirts who liked the wrong team.
“Let me check my calendar and see what I can do.”
CHAPTER SIX
F AITH’S EYES WERE GLAZING over as she stared at the study manual for the hazardous materials test. She hadn’t procrastinated. Not entirely, anyway. She’d studied last weekend for quite a while. But now it was the eleventh hour and she was close to panicking.
She got up from the station’s kitchen table and stretched her arms over her head in an attempt to get her blood flowing. She went to the counter behind her and poured herself another cup of coffee, emptying the pot. The clock on the microwave oven said 3:14 a.m. She was the only one stirring in the place, and the silence was starting to ring in her ears.
“What are you doing up?”
Joe’s voice in the doorway behind her made her drop her mug, which shattered on the tile floor. Thankfully, the coffee that splashed on her was only lukewarm.
“You need to wear a bell around your neck,” she said, bending to pick up the large chunks of broken pottery and trying to ignore the racing of her heart. It wasn’t caused just by having the life startled out of her. Unfortunately. It had everything to do with the man who’d surprised her. She hadn’t felt this kind of nervous excitement since her crush on Dylan Morrison her first year at community college.
She glanced at Joe in time to see him smile. It must be late, because she couldn’t resist admiring how good-looking he was. Her tired mind was filled with the uninvited fantasy of him walking up to her and kissing her till her brain melted and her hands shook.
Oh, her
“Busy as a hound during flea season. On top of spring break, I’m going for a promotion. Assistant fire chief. The current guy’s retiring.”
“Will you be able to stay away from the manual stuff as assistant chief?” Jorge asked. “Keep your hands clean?”
Joe shook his head and grinned. His stepfather would never understand. He’d stopped trying to explain it after the first dozen or so attempts. “That’s the downside. Not being able to fight fires myself.”
All three men stared at him as if he’d admitted to romancing livestock.
“You all should shed your suits and ties and try it sometime,” he said, gauging the progress of the team in front of them as they finished up the hole.
“I’ll leave the hero-ing up to you,” Ryan said. “Charred isn’t really my color.”
“I don’t know,” Troy said. “Your heart’s pretty black, bro.”
“Joe,” his stepfather interjected. “You got anything planned in early April?”
“The usual,” Joe said. “What’s up?”
“The guys and I thought we’d see if you wanted to go with us to spring training.”
“Astros?”
“Of course,” Troy said, as if Joe was the densest man on earth.
Joe had been a Rangers fan since he was old enough to beat a plastic bat on the living room floor. Never an Astros fan. He hadn’t been invited to the annual pilgrimage with the Vargas men before. Which meant one thing. “My mother put you up to asking?”
“We wouldn’t listen to her if she did,” Troy said.
The senior Vargas glared at his older son.
“Okay, maybe we would, but this wasn’t her idea.” Troy backpedaled.
“Why don’t you guys watch some real baseball?” Joe asked.
“We invited you on our trip, man,” Ryan said. “No need to go injuring our team.”
Joe asked several questions about the trip and racked his brain for any plans he might have made. Several guys at the station would be off that week—a regular occurrence after the intensity of spring break on the island. It’d be a hassle to get away then. However, though the Astros didn’t do it for him, taking a trip with Jorge and his sons would go a long way in calming his mother’s worries, convincing her they’d do just fine as a family even without her. That was a gift to her he couldn’t deny just because these guys were a bunch of stuffed shirts who liked the wrong team.
“Let me check my calendar and see what I can do.”
CHAPTER SIX
F AITH’S EYES WERE GLAZING over as she stared at the study manual for the hazardous materials test. She hadn’t procrastinated. Not entirely, anyway. She’d studied last weekend for quite a while. But now it was the eleventh hour and she was close to panicking.
She got up from the station’s kitchen table and stretched her arms over her head in an attempt to get her blood flowing. She went to the counter behind her and poured herself another cup of coffee, emptying the pot. The clock on the microwave oven said 3:14 a.m. She was the only one stirring in the place, and the silence was starting to ring in her ears.
“What are you doing up?”
Joe’s voice in the doorway behind her made her drop her mug, which shattered on the tile floor. Thankfully, the coffee that splashed on her was only lukewarm.
“You need to wear a bell around your neck,” she said, bending to pick up the large chunks of broken pottery and trying to ignore the racing of her heart. It wasn’t caused just by having the life startled out of her. Unfortunately. It had everything to do with the man who’d surprised her. She hadn’t felt this kind of nervous excitement since her crush on Dylan Morrison her first year at community college.
She glanced at Joe in time to see him smile. It must be late, because she couldn’t resist admiring how good-looking he was. Her tired mind was filled with the uninvited fantasy of him walking up to her and kissing her till her brain melted and her hands shook.
Oh, her
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