Page 20 of Wrecked By You

She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

“You should.”

She blinked and then stepped closer to me, shaking her head. “I want to be a good dispatcher. I just … I don’t know why I’m admitting this to you, but I’m scared. I’m scared I can’t be good enough for this town, and I’m scared Kyle will find me.”

“Let’s get down to the station. I will figure this out.”

She shook her head and closed her eyes. I could tell she was scared. “Damon, I need a new life. Refuge Falls feels like the only place I could come back to and feel safe. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I’m not uncomfortable. In fact, I think I’ll set up a patrol to drive by here twice a day.”

“Damon, I don’t want everyone in this town to know. After everything that happened with my father beating me up and going to jail, I’ve always played the victim. I’m not the victim anymore, and I don’t want people thinking I am. I hate it.”

I hesitated. This was a lot to take in, and I wanted to protect her.

She cleared her throat and started moving back into the house. “Though I have to admit I wouldn’t mind an old friend taking a day to help me paint.”

My heart lightened a bit as I followed her. I had no idea what I was stepping into, and part of me didn’t care. Because it was her. I would step into anything for this woman. “All right let’s have a game plan. Show me what’s next.”

She laughed and cupped her hand around her ear. “I think Pat Benatar’s music is next, so you’d better get ready.”

I was so shocked that I laughed out loud. She knew I hated Pat Benatar.

Thirteen

Isla

Monday morning, I showed up at five-forty a.m. and was alert and ready to go. It truly felt good to be starting a job that I could be good at and make a difference with.

Mrs. Friendly was ready for me. I pulled a chair up next to her, but she sat in that chair and pointed to the dispatcher’s seat for me to sit in.

I hesitated. “Don’t I need to observe you or something?”

She shrugged. “Nope. I figure the best training I can give you is just to teach you on the job.”

I sat, feeling nervous.

A guy walked in, and Mrs. Friendly introduced him as Fred Burns. He was an older-looking gentleman with kind eyes and grey hair that was combed around the sides of his head. He put his hand out. “Nice to meet you. Though I’ve already heard about you. Small towns.”

I shook his hand and frowned at him. “Is that how you make friends with people?”

Fred grinned and headed to the other side of the room, where he sat at his computer. “Maybe we will be friends.”

Mrs. Friendly waved a hand through the air in dismissal. “Fred is all tease. He’s mostly a decent person. He takes care of all the payroll around here and fills in for me if I go on break, so he’ll fill in for you.”

Fred cocked an eyebrow and pulled open a bag of chips. “I will if you don’t tell my wife how many little bags of chips I eat. And that’s the only interesting thing about me.”

I gave him a little smile. He seemed harmless, even if he didn’t have great social skills.

Mrs. Friendly turned back to the computer. “Okay, let’s give you a run-through of all of the systems you are in charge of.” She began pointing to separate buttons on the screen. “When the initial 911 call comes in, it will be routed to you first. If there are several, you will see them pull up on the screen, but they will be rerouted to other lines and Fred and the other assistants out in the main lobby might pick them up. They are all trained. But you are the main person, and we rarely have so many calls that you need more backup than Fred.”

I tried to take in all the information on the screen.

Mrs. Friendly continued. “While you are talking to the person calling, you will be sending out notifications to the police or ambulance or fire station or all three, depending on what they need.” She pointed out the buttons to push each entity to contact.

Mrs. Friendly, I found, was not only friendly, but she was very knowledgeable. She took the time to introduce me to all the people working in the station. Everyone seemed very amicable and professional.

We got back to the desk around ten a.m., and a call came through.