Maya pulled her into a hug as they walked out of the locker room. ‘We’ll get you sorted.’
And for once Bess, having shared her problems with her mum and her very good friend, felt a glimmer of hope that perhaps everything was going to be okay.
15
Gio hadn’t been back to the fire station since his accident, but today he relented and popped his head in.
Along with using the crutches, he’d put his knee in the brace. He didn’t want to risk getting it knocked when he was here, trying to do too much, because he knew in this environment, he would feel even more need to prove himself. And being careful and thoughtful had to be a good sign – he didn’t want anything to stunt his progress, especially not denial of his injury or a too-much-too-soon approach.
His time at the fire station turned out to be less torturous than he’d expected. In fact, it ended up giving him a boost rather than putting him on more of a downer. He checked in with his crewmates, hung around as they made jokes, bantered back and forth, giving him faith that he’d be back there some day. But what really lifted his spirits was a visit from Stacey, the young woman he’d saved in the office fires, when she came in with a card and what looked suspiciously like a cake tin tucked under one arm.
‘We knew you wouldn’t want a fuss,’ Norm whispered to Gio as Stacey spotted them and headed over.
So they’d known she was coming.
‘And you got me here anyway,’ Gio said to Norm.
‘Smile, be polite.’
‘I kind of like these visits,’ he confessed. When people stopped by to say thank you, it meant the absolute world.
Gio opened the card, which thanked him for saving her, and he looked inside the cake tin when she passed it to him. ‘This looks amazing.’ It was a chocolate yule log with a sprig of edible holly on top – or at least it looked edible; maybe he’d let one of the other lads try it out to be sure.
‘We don’t eat Christmas cake in our family; we always have a yule log,’ Stacey told him, but her smile fell away. ‘How is your leg?’
‘My knee is all repaired; I just need to learn how to use it properly again.’ He felt terrible then because her eyes misted. ‘Hey… don’t make me bend down to talk to you.’ She was looking at the floor to avoid his gaze. ‘That’ll set me back weeks on this leg.’ When she looked up, he smiled. ‘That’s better. I’m doing fine. And I’m glad it wasn’t you caught in the blast.’
‘Me too, is that wrong?’
‘Of course not.’ He laughed.
The alarm he was so familiar with alerted the crew to a shout and Gio felt a tug, a pang that he wasn’t a part of it. He and Stacey watched on as the crew pulled on kit, leapt into the engine, sirens blaring, and they took off.
All Gio could think of was to offer the girl a piece of cake which was helpfully already pre-sliced.
‘This is good,’ he declared. ‘Did you make it?’
‘No, I hate cooking. My dad made it.’
‘Well, please pass on my thanks.’ He had another mouthful before he asked, ‘So, did you enjoy your internship?’ And then he could’ve smacked himself. ‘Sorry, probably not given the building was on fire and you were almost left inside. But did you at least enjoy the time as a personal assistant or whatever you were doing?’
But rather than be upset, she started to grin. ‘Are you kidding? That was the best day. And it told me I need to toughen up.’
‘Toughen up for office duties?’
‘I have zip interest in being in an office for the rest of my life. I want to fight fires.’
Now that he hadn’t expected.
He waited for her to finish her piece of cake. ‘Come on, I’ll give you a tour, tell you all about what it’s really like.’
And when Gio left for home, he was still smiling.
Today was a good day.
But by the afternoon, Gio and Marianne were house-hunting, or rather room-hunting, and his good mood was starting to falter.
The first viewing was no good and neither was the second. And he was sick of climbing on and off the bus, the hassle of his crutches, the slowness of his movements compared to what they’d once been.
