not bad; I love that market," Danny said. "They have the best coffee beans and Italian sausages."
"That sounds like a disgusting combination, Newsome." I laughed as we sped down the street.
"Nah, man, it's the best breakfast ever! Fresh ground coffee beans, eggs, and those sausages," he said, smacking his lips. "My mom makes them for Sunday morning breakfast sometimes. Man, I'd cut off my right arm for those sausages."
"Be careful what you wish for, Newsome!" Mike called from the front seat as he hit the siren and turned on to Canal.
The building was definitely on fire, but it looked like a contained burn at the moment. We hopped out of the truck and started pulling hoses out as Mike hollered at the rest of the guys to grab gear and get ready to go in.
"You got this, Connor?" he yelled as he pulled on his helmet and strapped it below his chin. I nodded, and he gave me the thumbs up. Despite the frigid temperatures, Danny and I knocked the ice off the hydrant and quickly hooked up the hose before hauling it to the entry of the building. Mike and Victor were quickly pulling out the employees who had barricaded themselves in the back room with a fire extinguisher rather than having exited into the freezing cold Chicago winter day. Mike waved me inside, and I yelled at Danny to let her rip.
I shook my head, knowing that the most dangerous place in a building that was on fire was to be locked in a back room. Personal experience had taught me that the hard way, and the devastating loss had been my reminder every since.
One huge crank of the hydrant and the water shot out of the nozzle, dousing the flames as we moved forward. The rest of the guys focused on making sure that the flames hadn't spread into the walls or air ducts, and by the time we were done, the ground floor of the Southern Market, while saved from major structural damage, was a chaotic mess.
"All right, guys, the fire's out!" Mike yelled as he gestured toward the front door. "Shut down the hose!"
Danny ran outside and cranked the hydrant into the off position as I tugged the length of hose back out the door, feeling grateful that this hadn't been worse. Once Chief Riley had given the okay for vendors to return to the building to assess the damage, a wave of people went flooding through the doors. Danny and I finished packing up the hose and storing equipment before we swung ourselves back up into the truck and waited for Mike to rev the engine and take us home.
"You know, sometimes I think we're just the luckiest sons of bitches on the planet," Danny said, shaking his head. "We live the life of Riley, you know?"
"Shut the hell up, Newsome," Mike yelled. "You're gonna jinx us if you talk about how damn lucky we are!"
Back at the fire house, I took Tesla out for a short walk and threw a ball for her a few times in the small, snow covered yard we had next to the station as I thought about everything I’d lost in the past decade. Tesla looked up at me and whined as I held the ball in my hand lost in deep thought. I threw it one more time, then I headed back inside to help check the gear, shower, and then start cooking.
Newsome and I were scheduled for the lunch shift and were making spaghetti and meatballs for the crew, and after all the work we'd done, I was hungry enough to eat a whole pan of meatballs all by myself.
As I walked into the kitchen and rolled up my sleeves, my cell phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw a message from my best friend, Leo Marini, that said, "BIG CSC contract in the works. Call me or stop by after shift."
"Shit," I muttered as I stuffed the phone back in my pocket and turned my attention to making dinner.
"Something wrong, Cam?" Danny asked as he dumped package after package of ground beef into a bowl before adding eggs, breadcrumbs, fresh parsley, and onions to the mix.
"Nah, all good," I said as I cranked the oven on and pulled out the baking sheets we'd use to cook the meatballs. "Leo just needs some help. That's all."
"Man, that dude needs to get a life," Danny said, shaking his head. "Doesn't he have a job yet?"
"Yeah, he's working for some security company downtown," I said as I reached into the meat mixture and began shaping the meat into balls before putting them on the baking sheets. I shrugged. "He's got a lot of shit to work through."
"I'll say," Danny said. "That guy's got more baggage than an American Airlines check-in counter!"
"You think that one up yourself?" I scoffed.
"Yeah, what do you think?" he asked. "I think I got a shot at open mic this month. I've been working on my material."
"Well, don't quit your day job, Danny." I chuckled as I focused on the task at hand and quietly wondered what Leo was up to now. I just hoped it wasn't something that was going to put me in the spotlight.
That was the last thing I needed right now.
Chapter Four
Alex
Two days later, Liz and I were scheduled to report at seven in the morning for our first full day of our internship. I'd taken great care to make sure I'd bought the right scrubs and shoes, and I'd spent a long time the night before experimenting with hairstyles that were functional, but still moderately attractive. I'd settled on pulling my long blonde hair back into a low bun at the back of my head after reading about how patients who were in pain might grab a ponytail and pull. I'd also decided to leave all jewelry at home after I'd read a horrible story about a nurse who'd had her earrings pulled out by a patient on drugs.
I was pretty sure we weren't going to be getting near any out of control patients on our first day, but I wanted to start out on the right foot, and after the scolding from Mrs. Rikka the day before, so I wasn't taking any chances.
"Liz, what are you wearing?" I laughed as we hung up our coats and put our things in our assigned lockers down in the nurse's locker room.