Rescuing Alec

Chapter 8

Alec

I got to the fire station early for my first day, the captain asked me and Jack, the other new guy, to come into his office. He told us that we were assigned to truck 51, the extrication unit. The last year I was in San Diego I had taken extra training using the Jaws of Life and several saws that were used to free victims trapped in cars as the result of an accident. Not only was I trained in firefighting, I was able to help with car accidents, it meant extra pay, but that was also the reason I was able to get the job in Kansas City so quickly.

The captain finished with us and called the morning meeting to introduce us and give everyone their assignments for the day. Once the meeting was over, Jones took Jack and I around and introduced us to all the other firefighters.

Jones said, “oh, let’s go meet the EMT’s, they get more calls than we do so they may not be here all day.”

When I walked around the corner and saw Nate, I nearly passed out, Jones made the introductions, before either of us could say anything, they were paged and drove away. Damn, it was him that I saw the other night at the club, I had no idea he was an EMT. What the hell was I going to say to him when he got back? How were we going to work together? I heard him on the radio and knew he was on the way back to the station, before they arrived, we got a call about a car accident, and we were headed out of the station.

I saw the station 1 guys help the driver out the wreckage as we pulled onto the scene, as soon as they had him out of the car, Nate disappeared into the car. What was he doing? I hurried up to assess the car, I heard Nate talking to the girl trapped inside. He was so compassionate and calming, just like that first night we spent together.

We got to work and freed the girl, and Thad and Nate rushed her to the hospital as we headed back to the station. I told Nate how impressed I was at how he helped that girl, I tried to get him to talk to me, but he was not having it, I walked away frustrated. He spent the rest of our shift avoiding me.

I made it to the end of the shift, Amy and Roman came to pick me up, other than my run in with Nate, I was glad to be back to work. The rest of the guys were all great to work with, I just hoped that Nate and I could work things out so that we could at least work together.

Amy dropped Roman and I off at home, I made us some supper and we played Legos until I gave him his bath and put him to bed. I was thinking about Nate and how mad he seemed to be at me. My phone beeped, it was a text from Paul.

“How was your first day at your new job?”

I replied, “it was good, thanks, I am sure I am going to like it.”

He said, “I am glad it went well.”

We texted back and forth for a while, and he asked if I wanted to get together. We set up a date for coffee the next day. As I sat there thinking after we finished chatting, I decided I should tell him about Nate. I wanted to be honest and tell him I didn’t know how far we could go until I knew that things were settled with Nate.

I was just about to fall off to sleep, my phone went off again, another text. I assumed it was Paul, I looked at the screen, it was a number I didn’t recognize. I opened the message.

“It’s Nate, now you have my number.”

I stared at my screen, what the hell does that mean? Does he want me to call him? Is he ready to talk to me? Was I ready to talk to him? I fell asleep on the couch, I didn’t answer his text.

I woke up the next morning and got Roman ready for preschool. After I fed him, we headed for Amy’s to pick up Ethan. Since Amy watched Roman while I was at work, I take the boys to preschool on my days off.

As I loaded the boys into my truck Amy said, “stop by after you drop them off, I will make you breakfast.”

I waved, “you have deal, see you in a bit.”

As I walked in the door, Amy was setting my plate on the table, we sat down to eat.

She said, “so tell me about your first day at work.”

I raised my eyebrow, “you are not going to believe me.”

She looked at me, “believe what?”

I took a sip of my coffee, “Nate is an EMT working at my station.”

Her mouth dropped open, “you mean Cancun Nate?”

I nodded.

She smiled, “wow, that’s great, so what did he say when you talked to him?”

I said, “he said he didn’t think we had anything to talk about.”

She said, “what?”

I looked at her, “he is still pissed that I stood him up, when I left to come home early.”

Now she looked pissed, “what? Well, he sounds like an ass, didn’t you tell him why you left early?”

I shook my head, “I didn’t get a chance, he got a call and had to leave, he avoided me the rest of our shift.”

She was getting madder, and I found myself defending him, telling Amy about how great he was with that trapped girl. She started to go off again when I shut her off, “he sent me a text last night.”

She paused, “and what did it say?”

I showed her the message. She asked, “so what are you going to do?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know yet, I didn’t answer last night.”

She said, “well, I think you should just ignore him, like he did to you.”

I shook my head, “I would really like to try to explain why I left the way I did, maybe he will understand.”

Amy looked at me, “boy, this guy has really got you messed up.”

I chuckled, “yeah, I guess you could say that.”

I finished eating and told Amy that I would pick up the boys after preschool. I had some errands to run and some work to do around the house. I had set up my coffee date with Paul for 2:30, I got ready and headed to meet him.

We found a table and sat down to talk. He said, “it’s nice to see you again, I wasn’t sure I would.”

I said, “yeah, I am sorry about the other night. Look there is something I need to tell you.”

He looked concerned, “ok, what is it?”

I took a sip of my coffee, “well, a couple months ago, I went to Cancun with some friends, and I met a guy. We spent the night together and I really fell for him.”

Paul continued staring at me, “so, why did you agree to go out with me then?”

I looked down, “that’s a fair question. The morning after we were together my sister called and told me that my mom was sick, I left Cancun without telling him. We didn’t exchange numbers or much information, I didn’t know how to get in touch with him, I didn’t even know where he lived.”

Paul asked, “so are you looking for him?”

I swallowed hard, “I have actually found him, to my surprise he works at same fire station that I do.”

Paul looked stunned, “you didn’t know he worked there?”

I shook my head, “no, I didn’t even know where he lived, I was shocked to see him the other night at the club. then when I saw him at work Monday morning, I was even more surprised.”

He thought a minute, “so what are you going to do now?”

I sighed, “I’m not sure, I want to talk to him, but he is mad at me for the way I left, I haven’t had a chance to explain why I left.”

He asked, “so what does that mean for us.”

I took a deep breath, “I really want to be honest with you, I need to see if I can work things out with Nate before we go any further. I don’t blame you if you are mad and never want to see me again.”

Paul shook his head, “I’m not mad at you, I won’t pretend that I am not disappointed, but I appreciate that are being honest with me. I understand that you need to see this through, to be honest, you won’t be any fun to be with unless you get some closure.”

I smiled at Paul, “thank you for understanding, you really are a great guy, I hope you find someone just as nice as you are.”

He smiled back, “I hope this guy is worth it.”

He finished his coffee and wished me well. I knew Nate would be worth it if he would just listen to me and let me explain what really happened. I left the coffee shop and went to pick up Roman and Ethan. After I dropped Ethan off at my sister’s, Roman and I went home, we ate supper, and he told me about his day at school. I loved listening to his stories. He was always so excited about school and all his friends, I was so relieved he was adjusting so well. As usual, some Lego time, a bath and I read him his favorite bedtime story, he was out like a light.

I finished cleaning up the kitchen and was relaxing a bit, I remembered the text from Nate. I picked up my phone and typed and erased my message at least ten times, trying to get it right.

I finally chose, “Thank you, can we please talk?”

A few minutes later he sent back, “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

It wasn’t exactly the best response, but it was certainly better than no answer, or a flat no.

I fell asleep thinking of the best thing to say to Nate.