“Really?”
“Yeah. His hair is… was big when I met him. He started shaving it off after—” Noah stopped his sentence and laughed. “Actually, I don’t know if he has any anymore. It’s been twenty years since he grew it out.”
“Damn.”
“His wife didn’t care. She called him her favorite ‘cue-ball.’” Noah had a tiny smile, visiting a mental place about Williams that Erin could hardly believe existed.
“Our uniforms need a wash. I have more clothes here, but you—”
“Icarry a spare uniform in the Chief Car in case I—”
“Get dirty?” Erin wasn’t sure how it was possible to want Noah more, but here she was. She winked and started to drop her towel.
He sighed. “Erin, I—”
A beeping noise came from the pile of clothes. It had to be Noah’s phone because hers was still in her jacket by the pies.
His face changed, and he rummaged around, finding his phone. When he stood back up, Erin saw he was wearing his Chief-face. Noah was gone, and he was Chief Baker now.
“I need to take this.” He glanced down at the towel. “Hudgens, could you?”
“I will get your new uniform ASAP.” Erin trotted down the hallway. Should anyone have made it back to the firehouse, she could pretend she’d been in the locker room.
She went to the trunk and found a double wrapped, water sealed duffel. A quick check confirmed it was his uniform. Then she stopped by the driver’s side and took out the messenger bag he usually carried around.
Chief Baker was sitting behind the desk in the towel, but he was all business on the phone. She set the bags on the desk and waited until he hung up.
“Chief, I am going to wash the uniforms upstairs, unload, and reset the Chief Car. I’ll have coffee and food down shortly. Do you need anything else, sir?”
“Take a radio with you, should I need your assistance. Thank you, Hudgens.” He opened his messenger bag, skipping the uniform, and began writing rapidly.
“Affirmative, sir.” Erin hesitated for a second. “And sir?”
“Yes?” He glanced up for a second.
“Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” A ghost of Noah crossed his features briefly before disappearing.
She nodded, scooped up the clothes, and went to complete her tasks. With their playful interlude over, they were both back on the job.
Chapter 29
Vanessa was grateful Luna had remembered the four guys on D-shift worked for ODOT on occasion. It had been Vanessa’s job to sweettalk the plows into their possession. She and Luna had come in the night before, and Aiden and Kevin had a plow on their truck. The rest of D-shift had driven home after the plows.
In retrospect, even Luna had underestimated the snow. She’d failed to warn Erin before she left to get the pies. On the other hand, it had worked out because she was available to help Chief Baker now. Hopefully, they’d put their mutual animosity aside today.
Through Erin, Chief Baker had ordered an evacuation of the Briar Hill nursing home. The place had lost its power and with the rapidly dropping temperatures, the residents were in danger of freezing to death. It took another twenty tense minutes to reach their destination after dropping of their patient at MetroGen. She had communication throughout with Dispatch, but every time she tried the designated command channel frequency, she only heard static. She switched back onto the TAC-1 frequency and could hear a confusing jumble of chatter.
Things did not look good when they arrived with her two snowplows. The nursing home was a large, one-story building. The fire had started near what must have been the cafeteria. There were three engines mopping up the gutted remains over there. Two more engines, including 15, were parked to the side with two ladder trucks. A crowd was pressed together at the glass front entrance.
Vanessa ordered her plows to begin clearing the way to the entrance. She noted very few cars were in the parking lot, implying a skeleton crew staff. They were the first Medic to arrive which was bad. Equally bad, there was not a single Chief Car anywhere to be seen.
Then again, no one else had a plow. Where was Engine 15’s plow?
Vanessa jumped out and ran into the front entrance. Triage would be there.
Carver was directing traffic inside the front doors. “Lieutenant!”
