Feisty Firefighters Bundle

‘Please, do,’ Colin added. ‘By way of thanks. We’re very grateful for your help. I was scared stiff. I had no idea of what to do other than call for an ambulance.’

‘We’re happy to help. We shouldn’t accept cake.’

‘Wow-cake! You shouldn’t have!’

Jason, Stick, Cliff and Bruce eyed the offering that Laura carried into the commonroom.

‘Hey-you’ve already eaten some.’

They had left a segment with Irene by way of a compromise. The rest of the banana cake was clearly going to be appreciated immediately by everyone on Green Watch at Inglewood station. Or it would have been, if not for the arrival of an unexpected visitor.

‘Maxine!’ Jason put down the plate he was holding and stepped out of the cake queue. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Came to see you, of course.’ The willowy redhead sounded less than happy. ‘I want to know why you’re avoiding me, Jason Halliday.’

‘I’m not.’ Jason’s smile was one of his most winning and Laura’s heart fell. He’d smooth over the troubled waters and she could just see herself babysitting Megan while he went out to make things up with Maxine.

‘Here.’ Stick could see the banana cake disappearing with alarming rapidity. ‘You take Peanut.’ He shoved the bundle he held into Jason’s arms. ‘She’s your kid after all.’

Laura could swear that Stick flashed her the ghost of a wink. He must have known what effect his action and words would have. Laura gained a rather savage sense of satisfaction from the expression on Maxine’s face, but Stick didn’t seem to have finished stirring troubled waters. He grinned as Megan produced noisy evidence of the biological functions occurring in her small body.

‘Hey, Jase. She’s inherited your talent for burping and farting at the same time.’

The rest of Green Watch found Stick’s observation hilarious.

‘There goes the court case,’ Bruce commiserated. ‘That’s even more of a genetic link than the colour of her eyes, mate.’

Jason looked as though he was desperately hoping the ground would open beneath his feet. Megan was looking a lot happier than she had a moment ago and was beaming approval at her father.

‘Um…Jason?’

‘Yeah?’ Jason’s smile looked glued on now but he was still bravely standing his ground.

‘Do you want to tell me what’s going on?’

The rest of Green Watch now seemed totally absorbed in their supper. ‘Great cake,’ Bruce announced. ‘Isn’t it, Stick?’

‘The best.’ Stick nodded. He glanced sideways at Jason and then caught Cliff’s eye and winked.

‘Jason?’

Stick wasn’t being quite as successful as the others in hiding his interest in the building confrontation but Laura projected what she hoped was a calm indifference.

‘I think I’ll have some cake, too,’ Laura murmured. ‘It does look nice.’

‘You need it,’ Stick told her a little too loudly. ‘You’re fading away, Laura. Being a mum is taking it out of you.’

‘I wish.’ Laura grinned. She could appreciate the efforts of these guys as they closed a protective rank around her and tried to let her know that they considered her to be just as good as the gorgeous redhead now taking centre stage in the commonroom. But Stick did have a point. Her clothes were definitely feeling a lot looser than they had a week or two ago. Her pleasure in someone else noticing was heightened by the glare she could feel coming from Maxine.

‘So, you’ve been “busy”, have you, Jason?’ Maxine used long, French-manicured nails to make the quotation marks in the air. ‘I’d say you were pretty busy nine months ago or so as well.’ She narrowed her eyes at Laura. ‘With her?’

‘No, of course not,’ Jason assured her. Then he blinked. What was so ‘of course’ about it, anyway?

Lightning-fast thoughts flashed through his brain. Yes, Laura wore glasses but now that he had noticed the colour of her eyes they seemed more like frames that accentuated rather than hid them. Yes, she was short and Jason had always avoided short women because they made him feel like a father figure, but Laura was anything but childish. She could be bossy but she was never bad-tempered without a jolly good reason and, what’s more, she was bloody good at her job. Yes, she was nothing like as skinny as Maxine, but he’d actually been serious when he’d told Laura he might try some curves next time. And on top of everything else, he simply liked Laura. Right now, it seemed that she had more going for her than Maxine did.

‘Laura’s a friend,’ he explained. ‘A very good friend. And she’s living with me right now to help look after Megan.’

‘Megan?’

‘My daughter.’ There was an unmistakable note of pride in Jason’s voice and his colleagues exchanged meaningful glances over their slices of cake. ‘Here, would you like to hold her?’

‘Not in this lifetime,’ Maxine said sweetly. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you had a baby, Jason?’

‘But I didn’t have a baby,’ Jason said. ‘Not until last week.’

‘I’ve spoken to you since last week.’ Maxine looked confused but then licked her lips and shook her tumble of tresses into place. ‘You still could have told me.’

‘I thought I would have got rid of it by now.’

‘Oh.’ Maxine looked a little happier. ‘You’re not keeping it, then?’

‘No. Its mother’s coming back. Her mother,’ Jason amended. He didn’t like the way talking to Maxine was sucking him back in time. Had he really thought her such an amazing conquest? She hadn’t even looked at Megan, let alone said how cute she was. How self-centred could someone get? ‘At least, we think she is.’

‘You don’t know?’

‘No.’ Jason was suddenly rather pleased to be holding Megan in his arms. ‘It’s possible she’s never coming back,’ he found himself saying. ‘So I might end up being pretty busy for the next ten years or so. Are you sure you don’t want to hold her, Maxine? Look, she’s smiling.’

Maxine’s look said it all. Everybody studiously stuffed themselves with cake for the next few minutes as Jason’s relationship went through some speedy death throes. Laura found her throat too constricted to swallow, however. Jason had just been made very firmly single again, and Jason never stayed single for long. Just how far from home would he go looking for a replacement for the beautiful Maxine? Maybe he wouldn’t bother looking at all for a while. He might even be upset by the break-up. She watched anxiously from the corner of her eye as he turned back from the doorway where his final words and probably an apology to Maxine had gone unheeded.

‘Hey, have you lot eaten all that cake?’ Jason shook his head sadly. ‘Oink, oink!’

‘You can have mine,’ Laura offered. Relief that Jason wasn’t noticeably devastated at the break-up of yet another relationship made her smile widely. ‘I’ve only eaten half.’

‘Thanks, Laura.’ Jason sat down beside her and swapped the baby for the cake plate. ‘I knew I could count on you.’

Laura smiled at Megan. Jason focussed on the half-slice of banana cake and neither of them was aware of the new wave of meaningful glances exchanged in the room.

Or the rather satisfied-looking smiles.

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘DID you have anything specific in mind?’

Laura stared at her reflection in the huge mirror facing her. Her peripheral vision took in the figure of the young hairdresser who was also eyeing the thick, mousy, one-length hair she had just combed out.

‘Just a trim, I guess.’ Laura’s nose wrinkled as she continued to stare at herself. ‘It’s been at least a year since it had a good cut and the ends must be horribly split.’

‘How do you normally wear it?’ The length of her hair was now wound around the hairdresser’s hand and was