The Firefighter's Vow
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Amie Denman
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CHAPTER ONE
THE WIDE WHITE beach of Cape Pursuit, Virginia, stretched as far as Laura Wheeler could see as she shaded her eyes with one hand. The first day of June had already lured summer visitors with hot sun and a just right ocean breeze promised a fresh new start to the season. Hundreds of people dotted the beach under umbrellas or on colorful beach towels, alternately dipping into the salt water and drying off in the heat.
Most people came to Cape Pursuit looking for fun and relaxation, but Laura had come for something else.
She took an assessing glance at the tall freshly-painted lifeguard chairs within her view and, satisfied that everything was under control, turned and walked across the soft sand to the Pursuit of Fun beach shack, which served as both the command center of the public beach and also a snack bar and surfboard rental.
“It’s hot,” the girl behind the service window said. “And we’ve already rented out half the surfboards.”
“Those are both excellent problems to have,” Laura said, smiling.
The girl, Rebecca, laughed. “Plus, I have this terrible view of the beach and ocean and I have to spend all summer here and get paid for it.”
Laura nodded sympathetically, her smile becoming lighter. “When you’re a famous singer someday, you can pour all this suffering into a song.”
Rebecca held a pen as if it were a microphone and belted out a line about killing time at a beach shack in the sun. They both laughed.
“While you’re waiting for your record contract and your throngs of adoring fans to come along, I’ll set up a few fans of the electric cooling kind,” Laura said. She entered the beach hut through a side door and found two big box fans. She plugged them in, then pointed one of them toward Rebecca and the other out the door to draw heat out of the small building. Growing up in a house with no air-conditioning and spending a summer working for a food vendor that traveled to all the county fairs in her home state of Indiana, Laura knew a few tricks for staying cool in the summer heat.
“Do you think I can make it as a singer?” Rebecca asked.
Laura leaned both elbows on the counter next to the teenager. “I think you can do absolutely anything you want to do,” she said. “You just have to believe in yourself and never give up.”
“That’s what my choir teacher said,” Rebecca commented. “But it sounds like something printed on one of those motivational wall calendars with pictures of sunrises and stuff.”
“I like sunrises and stuff,” Laura said as she moved to her small desk and pulled the lifeguard scheduling book toward her. “And teachers are always right when it comes to believing in people.”
Laura had spent the past three years trying to believe she was making a difference as a teacher, and she needed all the sunrises and motivational calendars she could get.
“Jason called off again,” Rebecca said, her scowl suggesting she didn’t like it.
“Did he say why?” Laura asked.
Rebecca snorted. “Something about somebody in his family being sick. Again.”
Laura shrugged. “Maybe somebody really is.”
“I asked for details last time we worked together, but he didn’t have much of a story,” Rebecca said. “I wish I was a lifeguard. I’d take his shift. I could use the extra cash.”
Laura scrolled through her list of lifeguards who might come in on short notice. Jason had disappointed her twice in the past week without much explanation.
“You should hire somebody else to replace him before summer gets really busy,” Rebecca said. “I was here last year and there was zero tolerance for workers who didn’t show up.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Laura said. “But I hate to give up on someone too soon.” She glanced up at Rebecca and smiled. “You never know who might turn out to be a hidden treasure with an incredible future.”
Rebecca shook her head and laughed. “This hidden treasure shows up to work.”
“Why don’t you become a lifeguard?” Laura asked. “I think you’d be great.”
Rebecca sighed. “I just turned fifteen, and even though I told my mom that was the minimum age, she thinks I should wait another year. I tried to get my Aunt Diane to convince her, but she didn’t want to upset my mom.” Rebecca smiled. “Aunt Diane retired last year, and now she’s decided to become a volunteer firefighter here in town. Can you believe that? She starts training next week.”
Laura swallowed back the emotion that always bubbled up when she heard, saw or thought about firefighters. Would the memory of her younger brother, Adam, getting on a plane to go west and fight wildfires always hurt so much?
“Do you think my aunt can be a firefighter?” Rebecca searched Laura’s face, but Laura quickly put on her schoolteacher smile.
“Of course I do. Anyone can be anything.” Laura hoped Rebecca never ran up against a wall she couldn’t climb and never lost her enthusiasm.
A family with two young boys approached the window and asked about renting surfboards. While Rebecca helped them, Laura picked up the phone and called two lifeguards who she knew were anxious for hours and willing to work extra shifts. She left a message for the first one, but got through to the second one and secured a replacement for the missing Jason.
As she worked through her personnel problem, she half listened to Rebecca chatting with the young family. They were from Ohio, and the boys were six and eight. None of them had ever been on a surfboard or even gone in the ocean, and Rebecca was giving them a mini-lesson with lots of hand gestures and description.
Laura hung up and approached the counter. “Why don’t you go out to the beach and help them get started,” she told Rebecca. “I’ll run the counter for a few minutes.”
“That would be great,” the mother of the two young boys said, a hopeful smile on her face. “If you don’t mind.”
“I’m happy to,” Rebecca said. “I love surfing.”
Rebecca let the boys choose from a stack of surfboards and then they bounded across the beach together. Laura leaned on the counter and watched. She breathed deeply of the ocean air, closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the waves and people having fun. A group of young teenagers were laughing and throwing a football back and forth just on the edge of the beach, their feet splashing in the water. A beach volleyball net was set up not far away, and Laura heard the players calling out who had the ball.
A long blast of a whistle forced her eyes open and Laura immediately began scanning the beach area, looking for a sign from the lifeguard who had signaled danger. Although her job was running the business of the rental shack and overseeing summer personnel, Laura knew the basics of lifeguarding. Her experience as a high school teacher and ability to manage teenagers had recommended her for the summer job, and Laura was happy to spend her days on a beach instead of inside a classroom.
But not everything about working on a beach was fun and games. She squinted and saw a lifeguard, Kimberly, waving at someone who was very far out in the water. Were there two people out there? Laura picked up her radio and keyed the microphone. She saw a radio in Kimberly’s hand.
“They’re pretty far out,” Laura said. “Are they okay?”
“Not sure,” Kimberly said. “I don’t think they hear me, and it looks like they’re struggling.”
Kimberly was the lead lifeguard on the beach that day and had five summers under her belt working the Cape Pursuit public beach. She’d shared with Laura her excitement about having only one year of college left as she worked toward her degree in marine biology.
Laura felt her pulse in her throat, and she was glad Kimberly had enough experience to sound calm even in the face of a potential rescue.
“Do what you think you should,” Laura said. “I’ll send you some help.”
Laura keyed her radio again, catching the attention of all the lifeguards. “Activate the rescue sequence for a person too far out in the water.” When activated, the protocol called for other lifeguards to close their sections of beach, get swimmers out of the water and converge on the area in need of help. Rebecca raced back toward the beach shack as soon as she realized what was going on and stopped, breathlessly, in front of the window.
“Where do you want me?” she asked.
“Stay here and listen to the base radio. I’m going out there to see if I can help, and I’ll let you know if you need to call 911.”
Laura had been a dedicated runner for over a decade since she had joined her high school cross-country team as a sophomore. She’d been an assistant coach for the team at the high school where she had worked the past three years, and she knew a lot about controlling her breathing and pace.
None of that mattered as she raced across the beach, radio in hand, unsure what she could do but knowing she had to do something. At the very least, she had to make sure that none of the young people under her supervision got themselves killed.
The ocean roared in her ears—or was it her pulsing blood? Close up, the waves seemed much larger than they had from her post in the rental shack.
When Laura reached the edge of the surf, Kimberly was already way out in the water and another lifeguard, Jordan, was making her way out. Laura paused and evaluated the entire scene, trying to make certain the plan, as she knew it, was being followed. No swimmers were in the water, and several lifeguards patrolled long stretches of sand, making certain no one was going in. Satisfied that the entire emergency scene was under control, she returned her attention to Kimberly, who had reached the struggling swimmers.
Kimberly gave Laura the hand signal for help. Laura radioed Rebecca and told her to call 911, then laid the radio on top of her shoes, took a deep breath and plunged in.
A good swimmer but a better runner, Laura stayed on her feet as long as she could. When the waves were over her waist, she threw herself on top of the water and swam freestyle. Every ten strokes or so, she paused and looked forward, making sure she was heading for the small group that included two struggling swimmers and two lifeguards.
The undertow swirled around her legs, but she battled it. Her loose-fitting polo shirt sagged with water and slopped against her side, and her knee-length shorts grew heavy. She calmed her breathing and stayed in tight control of herself by counting each stroke.
Finally Laura reached Kimberly as she towed a swimmer in. Was the swimmer breathing? Laura searched Kimberly’s face for an answer and was reassured with a weak smile.
“They’re okay,” the lifeguard said. “Just exhausted. Jordan and I got life jackets on them and we’re bringing them in.”
“I’ll help,” Laura said. She quickly evaluated both the rescued people—two teenaged boys—and took the arm of the one who needed more help. She saw it in his panicked expression and the way he tried to fight Jordan while also clinging to her.
With one hand on the rescued teen and the other one sweeping broadly as she dug deep with her leg strength to keep moving, Laura helped the two trained lifeguards fight the waves and close the distance to the shore.
Despite the water in her face and her focus on helping the group move, Laura noticed people on the beach. An ambulance. Firefighters in navy blue pants and shirts. As she grew closer, she watched them take off their radios and shoes just as she had done and wade into the water.
Luckily for the firefighters, the five swimmers were in water they could stand up in, and they were walking clumsily the last dozen yards to the firm sand. For the first time since she had entered the water, Laura felt utter exhaustion flood her body. She felt like sinking down on the sand and taking a long nap in the sunshine.
“What do we have?” a voice asked as Laura forced her legs to carry her onto the beach while she supported the teen, whose arms were over her shoulders and Jordan’s. She knew that voice.
Laura looked up and saw Tony Ruggles from the Cape Pursuit Fire Department. He was dressed in a navy blue uniform shirt and pants, and his broad shoulders and blond hair looked exactly as she remembered. They hadn’t seen each other since the previous summer, but she knew Tony would never forget the impression she had made on him that day.
She was doing a lot better today, despite being drenched, covered in salt and sand, and wearing waterlogged clothes not designed for swimming. Her heart raced as she took in the scene on the beach and handed over the young swimmer to Tony and his partner.
She had taken charge of the first emergency of the summer, acted with strength and courage, and helped save someone. Her body no longer needed the adrenaline surging through her now, and Laura felt like a bubbling pot on a stove, threatening to blow its lid off with pent-up energy.
“Are you okay?” Tony asked. He put both hands on her upper arms and steadied her, looking closely at her face.
Gooseflesh raced over her arms and legs, a physical manifestation of the shock of cold ocean water and excitement. Tony rubbed his hands up and down her arms, and her equilibrium returned. “Laura?” he asked.
Judging from his expression, Laura was afraid he was about to scoop her up and tuck her into the back of the ambulance.
“Never better,” she said, meaning it sincerely. She looked past Tony and saw the boys and their rescuers sitting on the sand and smiling together as the other lifeguards and firefighters handed them sports drinks and watched over them.
TONY CAUGHT HIS BREATH. Despite his nearly dozen years of firefighting, his blood still pumped with excitement whenever a call came in. Fires, heart attacks, car accidents, beach rescues. All of them activated his love of coming to the rescue, no matter what. Helping other people live was his reason for living.
Catching his breath was pretty darn hard when he realized the woman on the beach was Laura Wheeler. He had no idea why she was in Cape Pursuit, or at the scene of a beach rescue, but he remembered three things about her from the summer before.
He remembered her eyes filled with pain and vulnerability—a look he’d seen so many times in the fire-and-rescue service. He recalled her hair, soft as silk in his fingers as he’d held it while she vomited up her mistakes from the Cape Pursuit Bar and Grill. And he couldn’t forget her dismissal of him... Her dismissal and rejection as if his help had burned her.
Looking at her now, he saw something else. She had the same long dark hair, now streaming with water, but her shoulders were square. Her eyes were the radiant blue he remembered, but the expression in them was...different.
“Everyone seems okay, Chief,” his partner, Travis, said, taking Tony’s attention away from Laura and reminding him that he was the officer in charge, superseding lifeguards and anyone else when he showed up on a scene. “Lifeguards did a good job.”
Tony grunted. Laura was walking over to her lifeguards, who were standing together in a group, animatedly discussing the event. She touched the shoulders of two of them and talked with them in a low, calm voice while Tony and his partner knelt and talked with the rescued swimmers.
He wondered when Laura had arrived in town. If she had moved to Cape Pursuit, he was surprised his cousin Kevin hadn’t mentioned it. Kevin’s upcoming wedding to Laura’s sister, Nicole, meant Tony had expected he’d see Laura in July. But why was she already in town?
“Sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” Travis asked. “Just in case?”
“We’re fine,” one of the teens said.
“Where are your parents?”
“At the hotel,” the other one said, pointing to one of the many beachfront hotels with balconies overlooking the Atlantic.
“We’ll need to talk to them,” Tony said. “Which hotel?”
The teen gave him the information and Tony made the call. Within minutes, a middle-aged man and woman were running across the sand, even though both teens were on their feet and waving sheepishly at their approaching parents.
Tony had seen a similar scene more times than he could remember. The relatives showing up at the hospital just after a car accident, concerned adult children skidding into their parents’ living rooms as the paramedics were loading up someone with chest pain. He’d seen happy endings like this one, but also gut-wrenching sad ones that both tested and reinforced his resolve to continue being a first responder.
“We’re okay,” both boys said at the same time. Their parents hugged them, not seeming to care about getting wet or sandy, and Tony gave them space for a minute before he approached. The teens needed a lesson about getting too far out and going beyond the limits of their swimming abilities, and Tony knew they were probably hearing that message now. He would talk with the parents in a moment and give them their options for further medical care if they felt it was needed.
“Experience is a hard but good teacher,” Laura said seriously, her eyes meeting Tony’s as she came up to him. A touch of the vulnerability he’d seen the previous summer reappeared for a moment, but then she looked away.
“That’s the truth,” he said. “I’ll write up a full report after I talk to their parents.”
“Can I get a copy of that?”
“Uh...sure.” Now that the initial shock of seeing her had worn off somewhat, Tony could have a polite conversation. They weren’t strangers. “How have you been, Laura?”
Her lips parted for a moment as if she was considering her answer. It was strange, meeting this way after not seeing each other for so long. Tony had wondered about her over the past year.
“I’ve been fine. How about you?”
“Fine,” he said. “I’m just surprised to see you.”
“I’m here for the summer,” she said. “Working at the Pursuit of Fun beach shack and supervising all the teen workers.”
A summer job. Spending time with her sister before she got married. The pieces began to fall into place and Tony felt his shoulders relax.
“Teaching high school is good practice for that, I’d bet,” he said.
Laura tilted her head and raised both eyebrows a hair. “You remember I’m a teacher.”
“I remember,” he said. He didn’t elaborate on what else he remembered from the previous summer, as he thought Laura was just as likely to want to forget it. “Are you a lifeguard?”
She shook her head.
“You’re not a lifeguard, but you ran into the ocean and tried to save people anyway,” he said. Exactly the kind of bystander he and his partners on the fire department didn’t love. The kind that often needed to be rescued, too.
“We actually did save them,” she said. Her cheeks colored and she crossed her arms.
“You shouldn’t put yourself in danger.”
“You do it all the time,” she said.
“That’s different. I’m a trained first responder with a lot of experience.”
“You weren’t here,” Laura said. “And I was. Besides, I’m more capable than you think.”
Tony clenched his jaw, not wanting to argue with Laura, knowing he wouldn’t win. She was right about being there and being successful, but it could have quickly gone in another direction. Good intentions only went so far and often ended up getting people killed.
“I’ll make sure you get a copy of that report,” he said.
He grabbed his boots and stomped his feet into them without bothering to tie the laces. He didn’t want to think about what could have happened to Laura and how that would have devastated her family, who had already suffered enough.
