Lonestar State of Mind

Chapter 5 Someone's out there, sending out flares

Dean had a couple of days after the tornado, and he spent most of that time helping the people in the suburb of Austin that he lived in to clean up.

Little old ladies kept bringing him lemonade and saying, “God bless,” but really, Dean was just happy to keep busy. He helped people repair their houses or get their car running again after the storm.

On his last afternoon off, he offered to rebuild a play-gym in a single moms backyard. He was at the store and saw her buying supplies, “I’ve no idea how I’m going to fix it,” she said to the cashier.

So Dean had waded in and smiled, “Excuse me, ma’am, but I’m a firefighter, and I’m pretty handy. If you need a hand getting it back together, I’ve got the rest of the afternoon off?”

She had smiled and said that would be great, and now, three hours later, Dean was camped out in her backyard. It was a hot day, so he shrugged off his jacket and worked in his jeans and a tank top.

The woman, who he had learned was called Kimberley, had a three-year-old son called Mason. He was running circles around Dean, always asking him questions about his tools, and Dean just laughed and answered them all. Kimberley was watching from the porch, cautious about the strange man she had let into her backyard, no doubt.

“Alright,” Dean said, drawing himself up to full height, “Mason, wanna put the last screw in?”

“Yeah!”

Dean lifted the little boy and helped him hold the drill, then they pressed the button and finished screwing the swing set onto the slide tower.

“Alright, great job, buddy,” Dean said, putting Mason back on the ground and wiping his brow with his forearm.

Kimberley walked over and handed Dean a glass of ice-cold lemonade with a smile.

“Oh, you’re an angel,” Dean said. The words had rolled off his lips before he had time to think about them, and he felt an instant pang in his chest when he did.

Kimberley shook her head, “No, I just brought you lemonade. You made Mason’s afternoon, thank you.”

Dean shrugged it off with his usual charming smile, “Don’t mention it. I’m learning that being an Austinite means helping other people without expecting anything in return.”

“Not from around here then?” Kimberley asked as she sat down on a nearby bench.

Dean leant against the newly repaired play-gym, “No, I’m from Kansas, but I’ve travelled all over the states for work.”

Kimberley nodded. She looked over at Mason, “We moved here from Virginia because Nick was based here, at Camp Mabry.”