Vonnie Davis - For the Love of a Fireman

His gaze hadn’t moved from her face since she’d started talking. The man treated her as if she were the only person in the diner. His dimpled smile—she could only describe as dangerous and damned sexy—made her toes curl, even the painful broken one. As if he could read her reaction, his fingers caressed her unbound toes. “I don’t see that as being a problem.”

She couldn’t help herself; she smiled for the first time in months. “Thank you.”

Barclay stared at her for several minutes before Quinn’s elbow bumped his—twice. As if to erase some kind of mental vision, Barclay shook his blond head a few times, cleared his throat and looked at her again. “Sorry, did you say something?”

“I said thank you, Barclay. You don’t know what your kindness means to us, to me. Your offer to let us stay in the little cottage we have so many great memories of and allowing us to spread Mom’s ashes there.” She smiled again and he looked as if he’d stopped breathing for a minute. “If Dad can spend some time at the cabin he and Mom loved, maybe it’ll help calm him down. His dementia not only makes him forgetful, but he agitates easily too.”

Cassie rubbed Molly’s arm with sympathy. “You poor dear. One of my customers has a husband with dementia. He puts things where he can’t recall. She found the TV remote in the ice maker of their freezer. He put his razor in the linen closet behind the towels. Then he tears the house apart hunting for the items he’s misplaced.

“When she comes in my shop, I give her extra pampering because I know she has to be exhausted from caring for her husband. I massage her arms and fingers, her neck and shoulders. Little things, you know. It’s rough to see your loved one deteriorate mentally and emotionally.”

“Tell me about it. Some days, dad is coherent. Other days, he’s all befuddled. He was fine on the flight down. I was so pleased with how well he did.” Molly rubbed her forehead and sighed. “Then there was a bit of a mix-up with our car reservations. He got flustered and impatient. Started pacing and mumbling. Then he swore we left Mom on the plane and went into a panic that she’d been flown to Iraq or Afghanistan.” She shook her head and sighed. “Two places you don’t want to be yelling in an airport. Calming him down took a lot of effort. When I told him she was dead, his eyes went wild and he started crying and screaming.” She twisted her napkin in her hands. “Security came running and told me I’d have to get him out of there. Like that wasn’t what I’d been trying to do all along.”

Quinn pounded on the bottom of a ketchup bottle. “Give a man a badge and his common sense shrivels.”

Molly nodded in agreement. “We always got a sedan and this trip we ended up with a compact. Dad started whining as soon as he saw it. Claimed his long legs would never fit in it.” She shot a glance at Cassie. “He’s only five-eight and to hear him talk, you’d think five feet of him are legs.

“Anyway, somehow, between the emotional fiasco at the car rental desk and our arrival at the condo, his wallet, my briefcase and carry-on had disappeared. My fault, I guess. When I asked Dad where everything was, he narrowed his eyes and jutted his chin, claiming he had it all and to stop treating him like a child. I was just too frazzled to push the issue and check behind him.”

Barclay’s pressure as he massaged her toes and calf increased. She nearly purred, even if it was just an act of pity on his part. What else could it be?

“I called the police, the Tampa International Airport and the car rental agency but, so far, no one’s seen a thing. So now I’m working at two jobs, trying to keep us financially flush. Dad’s medicine is pretty expensive. He’s lost it twice since we’ve been here. I found the bottle inside his pillow case the first time, but could never locate it the second time he misplaced it. So I had to call his doctor back in Breckenridge to send a prescription to the Walgreens here where I work.”

Tears pooled and she blinked to clear them. The stress of living in a continual scavenger hunt with her dad was getting to her. Then to have Wade show up and knock her around. “It’s…ah…been a little rough.” Two traitorous tears overflowed.

Cassie’s arms instantly went around her. “Oh, honey. I know some of what you’re going through. I lost both of my parents in a fire. You just cry when you need to. Get it out.” She kept patting Molly’s back. “Besides, you’ve got friends here now. There’s no one sweeter than Ice Man. I’ve known him since I was a teenager. ʼCourse he was known to everyone as Barclay back then. He and my brother Jace were good buddies. Let him help you. My own personal hero and I are here for you too.” She pulled out of the embrace and slipped a business card from her tiny purse. “Here’s my cell number.” She jotted a number on the back and handed it to Molly. “Just wait until you meet the whole gang. Firemen, their wives and girlfriends. You’re not alone anymore.” Cassie cast her gaze on Barclay. “Is she, Ice Man?”

“No. I’ll keep an eye on her and her dad. Which bedroom did he and your mom use? I’ll see most of the same furniture goes back in there so he feels a sense of familiarity. I’ve ordered new mattresses and living room furniture for each unit, though.”

“Oh, Barclay, that’s so kind of you. Or would you rather I call you Ice Man?” He was such a caring individual, what had prompted such a nickname?

“Barclay’s fine.”

“They had the room that overlooked the beach. It was always painted blue and there were oars crisscrossed over the headboard, fish net wrapped around the oar handles with star fish and pretty shells tucked in the net. When I was a kid, I thought that arrangement was the neatest thing. I had the bedroom toward the driveway in front.” He nodded, no doubt making a mental note. “Cassie and Quinn, it’s been great meeting you, but I have to get home to Dad. He’ll be wondering what’s happened to me.” Her gaze swept to Barclay. “Thanks for chasing off Wade and tending to my sprained ankle and bruised face. Good luck bathing your dogs tonight.”

She went to slide her heel off his thigh and his hold on her tightened. “I’ll drive you to your condo. You’re in no condition to walk anywhere. Besides your foot’s probably swollen so bad you won’t be able to get your sandal back on. Stay where you’re at. I’ll come for you as soon as I carry my first aid kit out to the truck.” Quinn stood and Barclay slid out, grabbing his case and lugging it outside.

Well, really, she could walk. She didn’t need to listen to him. “Would you let me out, please, Cassie?”

“And have Ice Man give me the stink eye? No way. A smart woman knows when to listen to her man.”

Her man? Cassie must be delusional. “Barclay is most definitely not my man. He’s not even my type.”

“Type? If he was any more your type, he’d have you sitting on his lap. I sense a definite attraction. You’ve never been around a group of men like the ones at Fire Station Thirty-two.” Cassie snorted. “If you try to go off on your own, he’ll just catch up with you, toss you over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and—if you’re lucky—smack your behind.” The woman actually winked at her.

He smacks my behind and I’ll pop him in the eye. Although the more she thought about it, the more appealing the idea seemed—having a man take control. She could use a break from all the problems and pressures.

Barclay sauntered back into the diner and Cassie obediently slid out of the seat. He reached in, slipped his hands under Molly and lifted her as if she weighed no more than the role of Ace bandage he’d wrapped around her foot earlier.