My Neighbor The Firefighter

CHAPTER 2

LANCE

As I hung up the phone with Walters, I walked into Score, my go to spot for a quick dinner. When my mind starts running through the millions of things I still need to get done before his bachelor party, I hear Roy call out

“Lance, it’ll be just a few minutes!”

Scanning the bar for an open seat I hear my name being called from the far corner.

To my surprise, I see an attractive young lady with some guy standing next to her

Not recognizing either of them, I smile slightly confused then walk in their direction.

As I walk over towards them, the guy looks me over without a word then walks away.

The young lady smiles then gesturing to the empty seat next to her, she leans over to me and whispers

“I’m sorry”

“Thank you for playing it cool and not blowing my cover” she continues turning to face me on her stool

“Happy to help!”

I respond not knowing what else to say.

“Can I buy you a drink as a thank you?” she asks

“No, thank you. I’m just waiting for my order. But if you ever need a stranger to rescue you again and I’m free, I’ll take you up on your offer”

“I’m gonna hold you to that!” she replies taking a sip of her drink

When Roy walks up and places my bag on the counter he asks

“Can I get you another…”

She responds quickly cutting him off, not giving him a chance to say her name

“No thanks Roy. I’m gonna call it a night.”

Once we’ve both laid some cash on the bar, she stands up and as she adjusts her purse, I can’t help but notice her curves. She is very pretty and casually dressed for a Friday night. Most females these days have on a ton of makeup, long lashes and clothes either two sizes too small or only a few pieces of string, leaving nothing to the imagination. But not her, she has this natural relaxed laid-back vibe, and she is fine as hell.

As we walk towards the door, I have this strange feeling like I’ve seen her before but can’t place the when or where.

There is a group of ladies walking into the bar as we walk outside so I politely hold the door. One of them recognizes me and stops briefly to speak.

When I turn around, I notice my new mystery friend is smiling with a raised eyebrow.

“Should I be jealous Lance?” she asks

I laugh, unable to hold it in, amused at how comfortable she’s become with using my name, and how sexy she makes it sound.

Holding out my hand, I say

“Lance Golden. And you are?” in an attempt to get her to tell me her name

With a bright alluring smile, she shakes my hand then says

“Nice try but, I like just being the girl you rescued at Score!”

Reaching up, she gives me a quick kiss on the cheek then whispers

“Thanks again Lance. It was nice meeting you, goodnight!”

“Golden!” someone calls out from behind me before I can respond

Turning around I spot Robins and a young lady walking up the sidewalk

“Hey” I mutter turning back around to see if she’s gone

Robins, amused and nosey as hell asks

“Who was that?”

Watching as she makes it across the street I mutter

“I have no idea”

“Well stop drooling and meet Kelly. Kelly this is my boy Lance I was telling you about”

“Nice to meet you, Kelly. Lance, I gotta go!”

Finally able to cross the street I glance around to see if I see my new mystery friend from the bar. A little disappointed when I realized that she seemed to have vanished into thin air, I head home.

As I stand waiting on the elevator to come down, I glance at my phone and see it’s almost nine o’clock. Although I’m sure I’ll regret it in the morning, I put on a movie to watch while I eat my wings.

Waking up a few hours before my shift I get dressed and head to the station. When I walk in I’m greeted by the familiar smell of rubber, cedar and oil. Boy how I’ve missed that smell. To prepare for the day, I start as I always have, with a quick workout.

‘A’ shift starts arriving and Robins and Walters soon find me in the gym finishing up my work out.

“Lance Golden back in action!” Robins states

Sitting up on the bench then standing up, I attempt to read the suspicious looks on their faces. Unable to I mutter

“Good morning!”

When they just stand there like idiots, I head into the locker room and straight to the shower. Once I’ve showered and suited up, I walk downstairs and into the kitchen

“SURPRISE!” everyone shouts as I turn the corner

Knowing this firehouse, I’d have been surprised if they didn’t make my return a huge deal.

Glancing around I see they’ve gone all out. There’s a huge breakfast spread, sausage, bacon, fish, eggs, pancakes, waffles, French toast, what look to be mini quiches, oatmeal and grits.

Anything you could imagine eating for breakfast and maybe even a few things you couldn’t, they had it all.

Glancing up over the island of food they’d even hung a welcome back sign.

Completely blown away and at a loss for words, I just stand there.

“Welcome back Golden, we missed you.” Captain Charles states walking up behind me

When I just turn around and glare at her, she whispers

“I know you hate the spotlight but I couldn’t talk them out of it, sorry.”

“Thank you all so much, I’m glad to be back.”

When I glare at Bruce, he announces

“Alright, let’s eat!”

After grabbing a slice of bacon from a tray and shoving it into his mouth, he grabs a plate and the siren blares overhead alerting us to a call.

“First call in two months, you’re like a born-again virgin.” Robins jokes as we speed towards a car crash involving a trauma injury

“You’d be better off focusing on your own virginity instead of mine!”

“I truly missed the banter between you two” Ramos states as the engine approaches the crash site.

Everyone that knows me considers me a modern-day hero, but I’ve grown to despise how much people admire me.

Yes, I am amazing, intelligent, strong, confident, handsome, the list goes on, but I’m human too. I make mistakes and have bad days just like the next person.

I’ve been a firefighter for twelve years and there is nothing I love more than serving the community and being there for others on what some would say is the worst day of their lives. I don’t know why, serving just comes natural to me.

I’m just grateful to be able to do a job I love, and on many occasions, I’ve intentionally pissed off those who constantly try to exploit my dedication to the community. Like my father who uses my career to impress city hall every chance he gets.

Two months ago, I took some time off to help my sister when my brother-in-law was shot and killed in the line of duty. Julian and Lanie have been married for six years and have a son, my nephew Chance, and a daughter, Julie, who is due to arrive in about six weeks.

They’d called Texas home for the past six years and Julian had just made detective a few days before he was killed.

Lanie was completely devastated by the news of his death and all alone so I did what any good brother would have done and jumped on the first flight. Dealing with an unexpected loss is hard enough but grieving a spouse at seven and a half months pregnant comes with its own set of challenges.

Lanie spent three days in the hospital following Julian’s death and another two her first night back in town, so she’s been very appreciative that I was willing to come and help her with the move.

My nephew, Chance, is truly resilient and he’s loved being the center of his doting grandparents’ attention since they arrived.

Julian’s family lives in Miami and my parents and I live here in Orlando, so Lanie immediately made the decision to move back home. And with very little time before the baby’s arrival, she opted to move in with our parents instead of searching for her own place right away.

I would have loved for Lanie and Chance to move in with me, but she declined my offer before I could even ask. Saying that now since she’s back she would finally be able to assist in the search for her future sister-in-law. So now not only will I have Robins breathing down my neck, but I’ll have her too.

Back at the house I grab a plate and sit down across from Robins

“Bro, did you catch up with ya girl last night?” he asks

“No and why does every female you see me talk to have to be my girl?”

“Well, she was bad, so if she ain’t your girl, she needs to be mine!”

“You were literally with another chick when I saw you”

“Yeah, that ain’t gonna work out” he states standing up from the table

“Louis did you eat breakfast?” Robins states causing everyone to turn their attention towards her

When I turned around, I notice an uneasy look in her eyes and see that she seemed to be leaving the room before Robins alerted us to her presence.

“No, I actually…” she begins then turns her attention to me

“Welcome back Golden”

“Thank you, Louis”

Robins walks up to her then whispers so only she can hear him, and I get up from the table, knowing he’s up to his old tricks again.

Bruce Robins, a fellow firefighter, one of my closest friends and the biggest pain in my ass. He is brave, charming, confident, dependable and funny as hell, or at least he thinks so. But majority of the time, he’s just arrogant, cocky, and childish but overall, he’s a pretty good guy.

I tend to be the easiest going and laid-back guy here at the fire house. And for that reason alone, Robins has made it his mission to fix me up with every female we encounter, or at least the ones he can’t sleep with, including fellow firefighters.

Rochelle Louis, better known these days as Proby, joined the ‘A’ team a week before I went on leave and seems to be shy and slightly uncomfortable around the guys.

The siren blares overhead alerting us to another call and just like that, it’s just another great day saving lives and before I know it, our shift ends, and I head home.

It’s Sunday so I take it easy and chill, relieved that my parents cancelled Sunday dinner this week.

Robins drops by later that evening, so we can finish planning the bachelor party for Walters.

“Guess who I just ran into getting on the elevator!” he states walking in going straight to my fridge

“Who?” I ask already knowing he must be talking about a female, from the sarcasm in his voice

“Ya girl from the bar the other night. The one that had you drooling.”

“I was not drooling and no you didn’t”

“Whatever, you didn’t tell me she lived in the building.” He states coming over to the couch

“She doesn’t. Or at least I don’t know that she does”

That would explain why she seemed to have just vanished and maybe that’s why I recognized her.

“You spacing.”

“Wait, was she leaving here? You lying about not knowing her ain’t you?”

“No, I’m not spacing and I don’t know her.”

“Can you just focus on the reason you came over here and stop trying to play match maker for five minutes.”

We finalize the plans for Walter’s bachelor weekend and before I know it, it’s a little before nine, so we head to Score to catch the game of the night and grab something to eat.

I’m slightly disappointed that my mystery friend wasn’t at the bar when we arrive. But Robins quickly reminds me that there are too many fish in the sea by grabbing the empty booth right in front of a group of young ladies.

While we wait, I’m scrolling through my phone, and I get a text message from Lauren. Lauren is the community center director that I held the door for, the other night.

Her text says she just wants to confirm that I’m coming by for pool patrol tomorrow morning, but based on the hour and how many times she’s made her intentions known, I know it’s a loaded question.

One thing that really turns me off about a female is overzealousness. I’m not too keen on shy ones either but being thirsty for attention doesn’t bode well.

I replied that I’ll be there then put my phone away.

“Is that your girlfriend? You can tell her y’all busted and just come clean already” Robins states once the bottle girl walks away

“What happened between you and Kelly?” I ask attempting to change the subject

“Man, nothing at all. Apparently, she ain’t the casual sex type.”

“She just wants free dinners and free foot rubs!”

“I’m still mad I took that hoe to Kres”

Bruce downs two beers, complaining about his last two dates in as many days then ditches me for one of the young ladies from the table across from us.

Rolling over to answer my ringing phone, I glance at the time and see that it’s almost three pm. After helping at the community center this morning, I came home and took a nap. Apparently, the hour I’d planned turned to two.

“Hey Lanie”

“Hey Lance, are you on shift?”

“No, I’m home, what’s up?”

“I need a huge favor. Can you please pick Chance up from daycare before five?”

“Of course, just text me the address and I’ll leave in a few.”

“Thank you so much, you’re a life saver”

“No worries, Lanie. I’ll let you know once I pick him up. See you later”

“Ok, bye Lance” she mutters then ends the call

I arrive at the daycare a little before four and get Chance checked out.

“Uncle Lance, I love my new school. I have so many new friends.” he says excitedly as I strap him into his booster seat

Once we’d grabbed something to eat, spent an hour at the park and been to three stores to find the perfect fire truck, I finally pulled into the parking garage.

Glancing back, I see why all the questions suddenly stopped. Chance had tired himself out and was fast asleep.