TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1) by Kallypso Masters (the false prince TXT) 📕

off given the bad-call anniversary. Normally, he’d want to be busy, but he needed to do this and couldn’t just abandon his post midday.

Tony put the truck into park and stared at the river a few minutes. It was high, but that was normal for this time of year. The river was clear, nothing like the mud and debris that had filled the waters last year.

With a deep sigh, he picked up the bouquet of flowers from the seat beside him and opened the door. Tony’s throat closed up with emotion as he remembered exiting the ladder truck that last time he’d been in this spot. The sounds of the radio chatter reverberated in his brain before he was able to use the slow-breathing techniques Lisa had taught him and clear the clutter from his head. Eventually, he simply listened to the rush of the water, which he’d been able to make peace with over the last year. He’d always loved the water before that bad call.

But today, the river was nothing like it had been on that day a year ago. The sun shone brightly, and the birds sang as they gathered food for their babies. Images of the woman holding her toddler on the roof of the SUV flashed across his mind.

Tony breathed in to a count of ten, then out to the same count.

You need to do this.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you that day.” The words were swept away on a breeze. He cleared his throat which had begun to close up on him. “I hope you know I tried my best. I’ve regretted my failure every day since.”

He hadn’t had a nightmare in months, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet given the anniversary. “I wanted to tell you that my wife and I worked together to start a water-rescue squad in huge part because of what happened here. Just two weeks ago, we performed our first successful swift-water rescue downriver from this spot.”

Not all of the details had been the same, but the biggest difference was that they had been able to work much more efficiently than they had before with only a ladder truck. Tony, Marc, and Ryder had manned the boat and had pulled off the rescue in a matter of minutes.

“While nothing I can do will bring you back, a teenaged girl is alive today because of the actions we took after your loss. Her car got swept into the water much like yours did, but we had the proper equipment this time to make the rescue and bring her to the riverbank safely.” The girl had been whisked off by an ambulance to the hospital but hadn’t even needed to stay overnight from what he’d been told.

His community had already benefited in a huge way from the fundraiser Carmella had carried out. When she’d heard the news of the rescue from Marc, she’d gotten on the phone with Angelina and the two of them had brought a full meal into the station that evening. They celebrated the mission’s positive outcome together with the crew. Carm had never lived here, but that only made her support of the ACFD and his work mean even more to him.

Several months ago, she and Angelina had started an auxiliary of spouses, parents, and others in the community to help with non-firefighting matters at his station and in their countywide department. They’d recently brought in experts to talk about first-responder marriages, and the fire chief had made attendance mandatory for all of the married firefighters who were off duty. It hadn’t been too bad. Tony hadn’t realized how many of his brothers and sisters in the firefighting family were divorced. He and Carmella had only been married six months and there weren’t any signs of problems, but they now knew what to avoid and how to make their marriage even stronger.

Tony brought his focus back to the river but wasn’t sure what else he needed to say. His phone buzzed, and he glanced down to see a text from Matt asking if he was okay. Franco and Marc had texted him earlier. And he’d talked with Mama in the early afternoon. She’d told him she and Paul would be thinking of him today and to call or stop by if he needed to. Tony wasn’t sure why he hadn’t heard from Rafe yet, but his brother knew the exact time the rescue had gone south, so he might be holding off to text or call closer to then.

Once again, he turned his attention to the river. “I hope you’ve found peace in heaven. I hope your family and friends have been able to find peace too.” He knew from the experiences of his family and fellow firefighters that the grieving process would take much longer than a year.

The crunch of tires behind him caused Tony to turn as Rafe’s truck pulled in and parked next to his F-150. How’d he known Tony would be here? Or had he come to make his own peace with the bad call?

Tony felt self-conscious to be standing here holding a bouquet of flowers.

Rafe came up to him. “Thought I might find you here today.”

“You did?”

“I remember what I did on the one-year anniversary of my first bad call.”

Rafe had gone back to that house where the kids had died? Had anyone known he’d done that?

“How are you doing?” Rafe asked.

Tony shrugged. “Better than I expected to be. No nightmares lately.”

“Good. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen tonight or some other time this week. Anniversaries suck.”

Tony nodded. “Lisa told me that could happen.” He still saw her every few weeks, but she’d suggested they continue to extend the time between visits, unless he needed her in a crisis.

“Carmella know what to do when they come?”

They? Oh, the nightmares.

“Yeah. She’s been great. I guess she learned what to do when Marc came back from Iraq.”

Rafe’s eyebrows rose. “You hit the jackpot with that woman.”

“Don’t think I don’t know that. I’m one