“And if they’re wrong?” he asks.
“We put a small smiley face.”
“I can handle that,” he says firmly, then gets to work.
I smile as I watch him check every paper diligently, making sure the carrots are orange and the water is blue.
It’s not common for kindergarteners to have graded tests, I know that, but they think it’s fun. Makes them feel like big kids. So, every now and then, I’ll give them a worksheet and tell them it’ll be graded. They get a kick out of it. What I don’t want to do is make them feel discouraged, which is why everyone gets a smiley face, no matter what. Because they tried their best. I will, however, keep an eye on who needs help and work with them extra to get it right next time.
“Okay, Noey, time to get to class before you’re late.”
“But I have two left,” he says, brow furrowed as he looks down at the papers intensely.
“Can you do them quickly?”
“Yep!”
He goes over them fast, then caps the marker and hands it back.
“Do you want me to walk you over?”
“No, I can do it myself, Uncle Miles. I’m a big kid.”
I chuckle. “Okay, tell Mr. Carpenter I said hi.”
“Kay!” He grabs his coat and bag, then walks out of my room with his head held high, turning in the completely wrong direction.
I shake my head and get up. By the time I make it to the door, he’s racing by in the opposite direction, holding tight to his backpack straps so it doesn’t bounce. I laugh, and wait there for all my little students to hurry in.
Chapter 4
JJ
It’s not often I pick up extra shifts because I’m tired as hell just from doing mine, but AJ needed a last-minute favor, and for him, I’ll do it. He’s a good friend, always there when I need him, which I try not to do often. Thankfully, he also doesn’t make it a habit of asking often, which is all the more reason to help the guy out. I’ve known him since I moved to Chicago, and it’s one of those relationships that doesn’t need constant attention, which I appreciate. When we met, I was surprised right off the bat that he was another firefighter, and even more surprised when he showed up at 99.
He’d called me bright and early this morning to ask if I could cover his shift today. I agreed, and then he asked why I’d texted so late. He knows me too well to think it was just to return hiscall. But by that time, I was over it and didn’t want to talk about it. We got off the phone after promising to get a beer together—which we may or may not do. Par for the course for us.
I can’t tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing showing up at the firehouse bright and early this morning, though… to see Miles driving by with his rambunctious nephew waving wildly in the back seat. It was cute as hell. Honestly, it happens more often than one would think, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary. What was, though, was seeing the guy I hooked up with last night in the front seat driving. That threw me a little, even if there was a reason for him to be here.
Had I not noticed the kid in the back, I’d be worried. And had he not told me about his nephew’s obsession with fire trucks, I’d also be worried. There are a lot of firehouses in this city, and what are the odds he finds mine by chance? Weird sort of coincidence, if you ask me, because this isn’t near his house.
“Hey, you good?” Dylan calls out from the doorway.
“Yeah, good.” I finally make my way inside, after standing in the driveway for too long, staring after Miles’ car that’s long gone.
“You working today?” he asks with a frown. He’s been here a few years. Older guy that should probably be retired by now but loves the job too much and has nothing to go home to.
“Filling in for AJ.”
“Oh yeah, I think I remember him saying something about that.”
“How was the night?”
“Quiet.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, heading up to the locker room to put my stuff away and change.
Quiet nights make for busy days. It’s going to be rough as hell today; I can feel it in my bones. The one good thing about today is I’m not the LT on shift since I’m picking up for AJ and there’salready an LT here—Gage. He’s kind of a dick, but it’s one shift. Should be fine.
