“Yes!” Candace yelled, coming through the door to throw Dalton his clean shirt. “I think that’s a rad idea.”
“I’m down,” Dalton said with a shrug. “I’ve always wanted to see inside that place.”
A few of my other teammates opted to join, so the group of us piled into Dalton’s SUV and headed towards Eagle River Fire Department to see Macey. I had almost told her we were coming, but I hadn’t because I wanted to surprise her. As we drove, however, I worried that she might be angry I didn’t give her any notice. Was I pushing this relationship too fast? Would she be annoyed?
“Okay, everyone, please be on your best behavior,” I begged as Dalton pulled the SUV up in front of the fire station. We all got out of the vehicle and headed to the front door, the visitor’s center, so they called it. I had just raised my hand to knock on the glass panel door when it opened suddenly from the other side, and a woman I didn’t recognize smiled at us.
“Hi,” she said. “You don’t have to knock. Come on in.” Unsure of what else to do, we followed the woman through the front doors until we were securely inside. The lady offered her hand to me. “I’m Addy Connors.”
“Jayce Gregory,” I said, and Addy shook everyone else’s hand, too. “Addy...you’re Macey’s partner?”
“I am,” Addy said kindly. “Let me go find her and let her know you’re—”
“Jayce?” Macey came through an open door then, into the visitor’s area, and her eyes went wide when she saw me. They flickered from me and over to Dalton, then Kurt, then the rest of the group. Candace stepped up to hug her, and Macey grinned, a small gesture that relieved me. “What are you all doing here?”
“You work here, don’t you?” said Dalton. “We wanted to see the badass in her natural territory. Is that alright?”
“In my natural territory?” Macey giggled, but I could tell she was flattered that we were there. She stepped up to me for a quick kiss, looking bashful. “It’s good to see you guys. Do you want to come in?”
“Are we allowed to?” I asked, and Macey snickered again. “Yes, the public is always welcome at a fire station. Hasn’t TV taught you anything? I see you’ve met Addy.”
“We have. It was nice to meet you, Addy.”
“Same, guys,” Addy flashed a charming smile and then looked at Macey. “I’m going to work with the new recruit for a while, get her familiar with the ambulance.”
“Sounds good,” said Macey. “We’ll be around.”
As Addy disappeared into the ambulance bay where I heard the voices of a few other people echoing against the walls, Macey turned again towards us.
“Are you guys hungry?” she asked.
“We were going to go grab some grub,” said Beau, the catcher on our team. “But we wanted to stop by and see if you could come with us, or if you wanted us to drop you off food.
“That’s really sweet,” said Macey softly, and I could tell she really meant it. “Do you guys have a minute?”
“Of course.”
Grinning, Macey took my hand in hers and pulled me in the direction of another door, and the rest of the group followed. She pushed open the door and led us through.
“B!” she called. “We’ve got company.”
A moment later a man came around a hallway corner, followed by a different young woman than the first, also dressed in a Firefighter and EMS t-shirt.
“Hansen and Paisley, this is Jayce,” Macey said, pulling me up to her side. Then she stepped back to signal behind me. “And that’s Kurt, Dalton, Candace, Beau, and Kellan.”
“It’s really nice to meet you, sir,” I said to Hansen, holding out my hand for him to shake. “I’ve heard a lot of good things from Macey about you.”
“Ditto,” said Hansen, shaking my hand gruffly. I couldn’t tell exactly what he was thinking, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. If there was anyone in Macey’s life to impress, Erik Hansen was it. I felt on-edge suddenly, like maybe this hadn’t been a good idea after all.
“Welcome, everyone,” said Paisley with a genuine, do-good smile, and that’s what set me at ease at once. Paisley had a kindness about her that so many people would do well to know.
“We just wanted to come and check this place out,” said Kurt. “Hopefully that’s alright.”
“Of course it’s alright,” Paisley said, an excited grin fluttering to her lips. “Do you guys want the grand tour?” she asked the team. “I have some time right now; I could show you the place.”
“Fuck yes,” said Dalton.
“I’m in,” added Candace.
