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KIM BALDWIN. how she’d make it through a day at work
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how she’d make it through a day at work. She wished she’d made deF nite plans with Erin on when they would get together again. Thatreminds me. I should stop at the F rehouse on the way to work and pickup a copy of her training schedule.
The detour to the station only took a few minutes. A copy of Erin’s schedule was waiting for her in her mail slot. The chief had some kind of training or drills scheduled for Erin nearly every day for the next three weeks, taking maximum advantage of her summer off from school.
Gable saw her own name among those assigned to a trio of evening F rst aid classes this week, beginning in a couple of days. She was also among two large groups that would participate in Erin’s search-and-rescue training drills later in the month.
Tim Scott, she saw, was in the same groups, and he also had several one-on-one sessions with Erin. That was no surprise. Tim was one of the most senior F reF ghters on the squad, and he’d been instrumental in some of Gable’s training. But though she expected this, she felt a twinge inside her gut when she saw his name linked with Erin’s on the page that way.
She couldn’t begrudge them getting together. Tim was a great guy and would probably be good for Erin. She just wasn’t ready to see Erin with someone.
“Hey, Gable, you’re playing tonight, right?” Carl’s voice surprised her.
She looked up to F nd him watching her.
“You all right? You look like a stunned mullet.”
She forced herself to smile. Carl was sometimes just a bit too in tune with her, kind of like her brothers were. “You sure do have a way with words, Carl. I’m F ne. And yes, I’m planning on it. It’s at Jerry’s house tonight, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look so good.”
“Gee, thanks. You sure can turn a girl’s head with those compliments,” Gable deadpanned.
“Gable…”
“I’m F ne. I just didn’t sleep very well last night. Look, I gotta run or I’ll be late for work. See ya.”
She escaped further questions and headed to Meriwether, her drive F lled with reminiscences of why she’d not slept yet again. Last night’s dream was only a slight variation of the previous evening’s.
• 72 •
FORCE OF NATURE
Erin was wearing a teddy this time, but the end result was the same.
Gable awoke aroused and unsatisF ed, and unable to get back to sleep for a long while.
v
Tired or not, Gable fully expected to come out ahead, as she normally did, in the weekly F reF ghter poker game. Her brother Kelly had taught her all the ins and outs of poker and blackjack and half a dozen other games. He’d taught her how to read other players’ facial tics and body language when they looked at their cards, and how to keep her own expression from telegraphing what she had in her hand.
So in short order, she had gotten to know all the regular players well enough to beat them regularly. Carl bit his lip when he got a good hand and drummed two nervous F ngers on the table when his cards were exceptionally bad. Don Baum’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly when the deal went his way, and Jerry DeYoung played with his chips when he got a sure winner and was anxious to bet.
Oscar Knapp, a thin, reedy farmer, always had a toothpick between his lips when he played, and that ol’ toothpick would start to dance at the corner of his mouth whenever he got a pair or better. The more the toothpick moved, the better the hand. All the other players had picked up on his tic, it was so obvious, and they bet or folded accordingly.
Oscar always came up short and never F gured out why.
The other F reF ghters who played joined in just now and again, and it was harder to read them. Gable had played with Tim Scott only twice, but that had been enough to discover he was about as good as she was. The last time they’d played, he’d cleaned the table.
She liked a challenge, especially when it came in the form of a payback, so she was initially pleased to see Tim’s truck parked among those outside the cabin that was their venue for that night. But her mood def ated when she realized the pickup pulling in behind her belonged to Erin. Much as she wanted to see her again, Erin would be a big distraction during a poker game, and Gable wasn’t particularly anxious to share her friend with the guys.
“Hey, Gable! I tried to call you today to ask if you were playing,”
Erin greeted her as they got out of their vehicles and headed up the walk together.
• 73 •
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