Love on the Air(46)

It made the afternoon drive shift look like a cake walk, but they were getting through it.

After the first hour, the panic began to level off. Evacuees were leaving their homes; people routed out of their beds by the earthquake were going back to sleep. After one more update, this one from the California Highway Patrol, Christie was able to actually talk to Rick for the first time. "How many EAS alerts have you had?"

"First one. But then, I never had an evacuation before either."

"How'd you get here so fast?"

"Fast? It took me fifteen minutes." It had felt more like five. "I didn't know how bad it was until I got here. But after that quake, I knew the phones alone would have you buried."

"Thanks for coming," she said. He couldn't have slept more than a few hours. But his eyes were alert, and she knew he was riding the same adrenaline rush she was. "The phones, I could have handled. But all this-"

Just when she was starting to catch her breath, another tremor hummed through the studio. Aftershocks could be stronger than the original earthquake, but this time Christie refrained from diving to the floor. Instead, she held on to the sides of the counter with both hands. Rick put one hand on her shoulder, as if to steady her. For the first time it occurred to her just what a small space they were in together-about four feet wide, enclosed by the counter on three sides. Even without his hand on her shoulder, he was close enough for her to feel some of the warmth from his body.

The aftershock passed in a few seconds, barely a rumble.

"Small potatoes," Christie said, nervously taking a step back. Rick let her go, and she cringed as the phones lit up anew.

The crisis ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. The evacuation was completed; word went out that the gas main would be repaired during the day. No fatalities, no injuries reported. Roadblocks were diverting traffic away from the area. The morning commute was going to be a zoo, but that was hours away. At last, the calls tapered off again.

Christie's adrenaline rush ebbed away, as if someone had pulled a drain plug inside her. Two hours working side-by-side with Rick. They'd functioned smoothly as a team, as if that was the way it was meant to be. She couldn't have done it without him. And now it was ending.

She studied Rick as he handled a stray phone callhis tousled brown hair, the studied concentration in his eyes, just a slight weariness creeping in around their corners. It was a face she'd grown all too fond of, and if things worked out right, soon she wouldn't be seeing it any more. He'd been here for her at a moment's notice. But then, that was his job.

Rick hung up. Christie turned away and went on the air with the news that the immediate emergency was over. "We'll have information as it becomes available. Right now, back to more of your favorite music, here on KYOR." She fired off a song, signaling the return of normalcy.

She closed the microphone, and Rick took one more phone call. Like a well-oiled machine, she thought. For another minute or two.

He hung up and turned to her, grinning. "Think we should air a report on a fallen lamp?"

Their eyes met, and Rick's smile faded as they stood there, barely more than a foot apart. Suddenly, a natural disaster was nothing. Being alone in this tiny studio with Rick, at this hour-that was cataclysmic. In spite of the music, a prevailing feeling of quiet settled over the studio. The phone lines stayed dark.

Rick tried another smile, but this one seemed forced. "You've really had a baptism by fire, haven't you?" he said. His conversational tone was jarring. "Barely out of your probationary period, an EAS alert..."

The boss makes a pass at you and acts like it never happened...

Christie turned away and grabbed for the EAS binder. The alert had to be logged. As she searched for the right place to write it in, her hands started to shake. "You can go now." She took a deep breath and tried to make her voice steadier than her hands. "Get some sleep. I really appreciate-"

She felt his hands on her shoulders. It was like pushing a button; at his touch, her eyes blurred. Christie closed them tight. She was starting to shake, and it wasn't from any EAS alert. She set the book down on the counter before she could drop it.

"Hey," he said softly. "It's all right." Gently, he squeezed her shoulders. "You did a great job."

Christie stiffened at his soothing touch, and a thought hit her with violent force: she never again wanted to hear Rick tell her what kind of job she'd done. "I don't care." Her voice was choked.

"You don't mean that," he said. "You're exhausted. And you're fed up. I know." Hands still on her shoulders, Rick gently pulled her backward to lean against him.