Annie Claydon - Firefighter's Christmas Baby

Mae’s questioning gaze focussed somewhere to his left, and he turned. Callie’s smile was almost certainly for Mae’s benefit, but still it made Ben’s heart thump.

‘I’ll come to the hospital with you, Mae. We’ll find ourselves a handsome doctor in a Santa hat, eh?’

‘Thank you dear. You’re very kind.’ Mae managed a smile. ‘I’ll pick a nice doctor for you.’

Callie chuckled. ‘Make sure you do. I don’t want just any old one.’

He couldn’t do anything to help with the journey to the hospital but he could make things a bit better for Mae’s return. ‘I know someone who’ll board up the window for you. I’ll write their number down...’

Mrs Jacobs rummaged in a drawer and produced a pen and paper. Ben scribbled the number on it and handed it to Callie. ‘Tell them I gave you their details. They’ll liaise with the insurance company and help get things moving.’

Mae shot him a worried look. ‘How much will it cost?’

‘It won’t cost you anything. All part of the service, Mae.’ It wasn’t officially part of the service. The number was for a local charity. It had been Ben’s idea to contact them and set up a task force to help vulnerable people clean up after a fire, and he and a number of the station staff volunteered with them.

‘And when you get back from the hospital, you’ll stay here over Christmas.’ Mrs Jacobs sat down on the sofa next to Mae. ‘No arguments, now. Stan and the boys will go over to your place and help sort things out there.’

‘But...it’s Christmas.’ Despite her neighbour’s firm tone, Mae argued anyway.

‘Exactly. It’ll do them good to go and do something, instead of sitting around watching TV and eating. I’m sure Stan’s put on a couple of pounds already so he can do with the exercise.’

‘You’re very kind.’ A tear dribbled down Mae’s cheek. ‘All of you.’

‘It’s Christmas. We’ll all pull together, eh?’ Mrs Jacobs put her arm around Mae and the old lady smiled, nodding quietly.

Ben beckoned to Callie and she frowned. He glared back, beckoning again more forcefully, and she rolled her eyes and followed him into the hallway.

‘What? I’m busy.’

The tight-lipped implication that she was just trying to do her job and that he was getting in the way wasn’t lost on Ben.

‘I just wanted to know... How is Mae? Really?’

Callie’s angry glare softened slightly and she puffed out a breath. ‘I’ve checked her over the best I can, and she doesn’t seem to be having any difficulty with her breathing. But she has a headache and she seemed very confused earlier, and you can hear she’s a bit hoarse. She needs to be seen by a doctor. I’m going to stay with her.’

The thought that Callie might not come back to the fire station once she had finished here filled Ben with unexpected dismay. He had no one but himself to blame if she made that decision.

‘I shouldn’t have said that you were in the way earlier. It won’t happen again.’

‘I can take care of myself in these situations. I do it all the time.’

‘Got it. I apologise.’ Ben saw her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Was that what she thought of him? He was perfectly capable of saying sorry when the situation warranted it.

But prolonging the conversation now while she was still angry with him probably wasn’t a good idea. He’d said his piece and he should go.

‘I’ll see you later?’ Ben tried not to make a question out of it, but his own doubts leaked through into his words. Callie gave a nod and he turned, making for the front door. He guessed he’d just have to wait and see about that.

* * *

The wait at the hospital hadn’t been too protracted, and after X-rays and lung capacity tests had been carried out, Mae was discharged. They arrived back at Mrs Jacobs’s house to find that the charity task force that Ben had put her in touch with had already boarded up Mae’s window.

She had no qualms about leaving Mae here. Two cups of tea and a plate of mince pies appeared, and a yelled exhortation brought Mrs Jacobs’s son tumbling down the stairs, a board game in his hand. He and Mae began to sort through the pieces together, and Mae finally smiled.

Mae’s Christmas would be just fine. Callie’s was a little more uncertain. The success of her project at the fire station depended on clearing the air with Ben, and there was no time to sit quietly and wait for him to let her in. She had to do something.

She took a taxi back to the fire station. He wasn’t with the others in the ready room and Callie found him alone in the small office with the door wide open. She tapped on the doorframe and he looked up.

Blue eyes. The most photogenic eyes she’d ever seen, flickering with warmth and the hint of steel. The kind of eyes that the camera loved and... That was all. The camera loved them but Callie was just an impartial observer.

‘Everything okay?’

‘Yes. Mae was discharged from the hospital and she’ll be staying with Mrs Jacobs over Christmas. The charity task force has been great.’

‘Good.’ His gaze was fixed on her face. ‘I’ve been thinking about what you might be wanting to say to me.’

Perhaps he was trying out a management technique. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Callie sat down.

‘Okay, I’ll play. What might I be wanting to say to you?’

‘That I’m not giving you credit for the experience that you have. You need access to be able to work and I’m being unreasonable in withholding it.’

Actually, that pretty much summed it up. Callie dismissed the rather queasy feeling that accompanied the idea that he’d been reading her thoughts.

‘And... I guess that you’d say in return that you and the others rely on teamwork. That kind of trust isn’t made over a matter of days and you’re not sure of me yet.’

The look on Ben’s face told her that she was right. More than that, he found it just as disconcerting as she did to hear someone else voice his thoughts.

‘I’ll...um... I’ll be honest. I wasn’t much in favour of you being here when the station commander first told me about it.’

‘Really? You hid that well.’ Callie risked a joke. Somehow she knew that he wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

He narrowed his eyes. Maybe he was taking it the wrong way. Then suddenly Ben smiled. ‘So we see eye to eye, then.’

Rather too much so. If he really could see what was going on in her head... Callie gulped down the sudden feeling of panic. Of course he couldn’t.

The awkward silence was broken by the alarm bell. Ben rose from his seat, making hurriedly for the door, and Callie followed him.

She took her turn climbing up into the fire engine and found Ben sitting opposite her. As the sirens went on and they started to move out of the fire station, he leaned forward, bracing his foot against the lurching of the vehicle and checking her helmet.

Callie frowned. He’d been the one to say it and he hadn’t even listened to himself. He was still double-checking everything she did.

‘If I get the chance, I’ll take you in as close as I think we can safely go.’ The light in his blue eyes kindled suddenly.

‘Thanks for that, boss.’

Ben’s eyebrows shot up as he realised that Callie was using the word ‘boss’ to make a point. Then he grinned. Maybe this was going to work after all.

* * *

The word ‘boss’ on Callie’s lips could hardly be anything other than a challenge. But they’d both risen to it. Ben had motioned her to stand next to him as he directed the firefighters in extinguishing a small blaze at the back of a shop. Callie had become like a shadow, never giving him a moment’s concern for her safety, and adroitly stepping out of the way of both equipment and firefighters.