The Fall We Fell: A Small Town Friends-to-Lovers Romance (Ocean Pines Series Book 1)

by Victoria Denault

  Logan wraps the blanket over Aspen’s shoulders as I head back toward the building. Green falls in step with me and I hear Aspen’s voice, high and panicky again. “He’s going in there again? But I can still see flames!”

  I turn to look at her, walking backwards toward the building. “It’s my job, Aspen. Don’t go anywhere until I’m done. Or else.”

  “You two a thing again?” Ronan asks with a cocked eyebrow I can see through his shield.

  “Nope. Just friends.”

  “Exes are never friends,” Ronan says and shoots me a patronizing look like I’m clueless. “And dating the same person twice is something only idiots do.”

  “You and Courtney broke up and got back together like five times in the three years you were dating before I left town, didn’t you?” I counter, not because I want to make a case for dating Aspen but because I want him to see he’s a hypocritical asshat. “Are you still with her?”

  “Shut up and follow my lead, okay?”

  I manage a terse nod, then I flip that switch in my brain again, blocking out Aspen and how much Ronan Green still annoys me and get back to work.

  Twenty-five minutes later, the fire is out. The apartment it started in is a burned out shell and the ones above and below like Aspen’s have serious smoke and water damage. No one is going to be allowed back in until the morning. Sadly for Aspen and a couple of others, it will be more than just one night as their apartments will need a shit ton of renovations.

  I start to pull off my gear as I leave the building and as soon as my helmet and face shield are off she visibly sighs in relief. I walk over to where she’s sitting on the curb behind the ambulance and stop directly in front of her. “Two questions. Say yes or no and nothing else,” I command. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.”

  I turn to Logan. “Did you check her out?”

  “Yeah. Vitals are fine and she has no wounds or injuries,” Logan tells me.

  I turn back to Aspen who is scowling because I reconfirmed with Logan and didn’t just take her word for it. “Everything. Feels fine,” she hisses.

  “Okay. Good. Now Please tell me Major is somewhere safe,” I say.

  Aspen nods. Her blonde ringlets are drying and frizzing a little, giving her a golden halo under the street lamp. “He’s in my car across the street. He was, of course, the first thing I saved.”

  “And then you went back into a burning building?” I say like it’s a question but it’s not. I lower my voice and glance around to make sure no one is paying attention to us. “After what you told me last night? You still went charging back into a burning building over work files?”

  She looks instantly stricken. “I forgot.”

  “You forgot that you’re…” I see Logan watching us so I don’t finish that sentence.

  “It’s still new to me and I just panicked and didn’t think."

  “Major is here?” Logan interrupts. He’s smiling, which is a rarity nowadays.

  Aspen points to her car again.

  “Door unlocked?”

  When Aspen nods, Logan takes off in a jog across the street. Aspen glares at me. “My work is all I have. You know that.”

  “You apparently have more than just work now,” I remind her, my eyes dipping down to stare at her midriff. Her stomach is as flat as ever—at least it appears that way through her loose, damp shirt.

  Her arms drop to cover her middle. Our eyes meet. “Sorry for the trying to ghost you. I still like to avoid emotional conflict.”

  “So… what are the chances, really, that this is … mine?” I whisper after I’ve squatted down in front of her. The look that passes over her pretty features immediately makes me feel like an asshole. She looks the way she used to look when her parents would critique her appearance or chastise her for not being Godly enough. It’s humiliation. She gets to her feet. I rise to join her.

  “I can’t talk about this right now. I can’t have someone overhear us,” Aspen hisses and then whispers quickly. “The chances are truly fifty. I mean maybe even less because you were one time and the other guy was … more than one time. And I also want you to know he and I and you and I were five days apart. Not much in the baby making game or for the god-fearing good girl my mother expects me to be, but it isn’t like it was two guys in one night.”

  “Aspen I don’t care about that stuff,” I reply. “I’m not here to slut shame you on any level. I’m just … I’m fucking confused. Worried. Stressed.”

  “Join the club.”

  I really look at her. The fear on her face makes her look young, like she did when we actually dated, which was ten whole years ago now. I hadn’t slept with her in eight years, and never would have thought to do it again if she wasn’t working undercover in the one bar I happen to wander into while I was in an emotional tailspin. So many little particles had to come together to make that meteor, and somehow they did. And now it’s going to impact my entire life.

  Aspen runs a private detective firm and had been hired by the bar owner to pretend to be an employee. He was trying to clean the place up and find out which employee was dealing Molly to customers on the side. She was working the bar and I played along and didn’t blow her cover, and stayed until close because I had nothing else to do. When I was the only one left in the place, we talked candidly. She was just getting out of a relationship that had soured fast and I … well all I said to her was I’d been recently shot down. It felt true enough after seeing Terra with Tom. By three in the morning we were in my motel room. Neither of us were fucking each other, we were trying to fuck these other people out of our systems.

  “If it’s mine I will be involved,” I find myself promising and I know, even before she frowns, that I sound despondent and resigned. Like I’m walking a plank.

  “I’m begging you not to talk about this right now. Not with so many people around, Jake,” Aspen replies and glances over her shoulder toward her car. Logan has let Major out and is holding him by the collar while they cross the street.

  I nod and change the subject back to her apartment. “You can’t go back in there for at least twenty-four hours. Maybe forty-eight. And after that you may be able to salvage some stuff, but you still won’t live there. You’ll definitely need massive renovations.”

  Aspen lets out a tortured growl that gets the attention of her oversized German Shepherd that is now on this side of the street. Major, cocks his head to the side and then sprints to Aspen’s side. He looks up at me and for a millisecond I think he might growl, but then he sniffs and his tail starts wagging wild as he jumps up on me. I bend down and let him shower me with kisses as Logan joins us and scratches him behind the ears.

  “Wow. He is a smart dog if he remembers you after three years away,” Logan remarks in awe.

  I used to volunteer to dog sit him when she went on vacation or couldn’t bring him on one of her assignments so me and this gentle giant had been tight.

  As I stand, Major spins around and gives his full attention to Logan, who grins like he used to years ago before the wheels came off his life.

  “You should really get a dog, Logan,” Aspen says. “River would love it and you’re a different person when you’re around them. You look positively human again.”

  Leave it to my ex to speak her mind so fully she pisses everyone off. Logan looks up and his dark eyebrows pinch as a frown pulls his mouth down. “What do I normally look like?”

  “Like a hipster who spilt all his oat milk on the floor,” Aspen says, flatly. “Like a millennial who can’t find avocado toast. A grandfather who starts every conversation with ‘back in my day’. Or your dad when there’s a storm and he can’t collect the lobster traps.”

  Logan raises a hand in between him and Aspen. “Thanks for all that elaboration, Aspy. And for making me wish Jake had let you run back into that building.”

  “Shut up,” she says with a confident smile.

  “You gonna stay at Abbott’s now? You still have a set of keys, I assu
me?” I ask Aspen and she shakes her head.

  “He was actually staying at the Five Seasons most of the summer. Went back to Boston this morning for training camp. His house is being renovated. Again,” She rolls her eyes. “He doesn’t have electricity or running water right now. I’ll figure it out.”

  I know exactly what she’s going to do and it’s stupid. “You are not camping out alone in your van, Aspen.”

  “I won’t be alone. I’ll have Major,” she replies stubbornly. “And it’s just until the insurance gets sorted or they let us back in.”

  I sigh. I can’t believe I’m doing this, but she’s pregnant and even if she wasn’t I wouldn’t let her sleep in that van she uses for surveillance work. Aspen isn’t a monster. I look her in the eye. “Clover Road. The big building right on the water.”

  “You have a place already?” Aspen blinks.

  “Yes. Rented it before I even left King’s Rock. Ocean Pines isn’t exactly a hot market, so it was easy to do,” I tell her. “But it’s kind of empty because my stuff is still en route with the moving company. I’ve got an air mattress and you’re welcome to it since I’ll be at the station anyway.”

  She doesn’t say anything for a second. “Really?”

  “Yeah. Spare key is under the door mat.” I shrug. “Unit fourteen. Top floor, left corner.”

  Logan raises a curious eyebrow. I pretend not to notice.

  “Thank you,” Aspen says, her defiant armor finally lowering long enough to give me a grateful smile.

  She whistles and Major trots off with her toward her car. Logan keeps glancing over to me as he packs up his rig and I work on packing the fire truck back up. “It’s just a friendly gesture,” I say before he can make the comments he wants to make. “Nothing more. We aren’t a thing anymore.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Do not uh-huh me, Logan. I’m serious,” I reply, my tone unwavering. I never loved Aspen the way I should have.

  “Do you think Riv really would want a dog?” Logan asks me suddenly. “Is he too young?”

  “Honestly?” I say as I finish rolling the hose back into the truck. “You’re never too young for a dog. And you could use the company. It’s been a while since your family had a pet and your Ma is so great with animals. Terra loves dogs too. Finn will probably be okay with it.”

  “I don’t need his permission, Jake. I’m not his freaking tenant and I’m not going to live above the restaurant with him forever,” Logan says defensively, his jaw tight. He gets so bent out of shape about his living situation. Probably because he doesn’t have his own place yet but I do. He has been bouncing around from his parents’ place to Finn’s since he got out of rehab three years ago.

  “I know you don’t need permission, Logan.” I pause. “I just admire how well you adapted to being a dad unexpectedly.”

  “I assume you mean after the rehab,” Logan replies and gives me a dry, humorless smile. “Because for the first year of River’s life I was going out for diapers and coming back swimming in whiskey fourteen hours later. Not exactly perfect parent behavior.”

  “Yeah but that wasn’t because of River. You had a disease. You got it under control,” I remind him.

  “I did and knowing I had River to raise helped me do that, but it doesn’t always work for other people,” Logan explains as he walks toward the driver’s door of his ambulance. “Alcoholism is a life-long battle that a lot of people lose. I have to think of it every day. I have to make the choice not to drink every day, and some days are harder than others. Really hard. Some people don’t get sober or can’t be good parents no matter what. It’s not a reflection on the kid, though. I know you know this.”

  His blue eyes lock with mine and I think of Kelsey Grady, Ocean Pines’ drug-addicted stripper, also known to me as Mom. “You should get a dog.”

  “Yeah. I am definitely going to look into it.”

  “See you back at the station,” I say and climb into the truck as Logan nods gruffly and gets into his ambulance.

  Luckily, back at the firehouse I’m able to get out of my gear and into the shower and then lock myself up in one of the private bunks. Perks of being a lieutenant, I don’t have to use the cavernous bunk room. I get a private room. The bed is the same single bed, and the room is a shoebox, but it’s got none of the bunk room rules like no cellphones and no talking. I drop the towel and crawl under the sheets, plug my phone in, and put it on the nightstand. I command myself to sleep, but of course that doesn’t work, so I start Googling information about paternity tests.

  6

  Jake

  I head home from work at a little after seven in the morning. Our shifts are twenty-four hours on, forty-eight hours off, which is pretty standard in the industry. It means I have the next two days off, which is good because the moving company is arriving late this afternoon with my stuff and now I have Aspen and Major to deal with too.

  The fire station is located on Smithwheel Road which is the road that divides Old Orchard Beach from Ocean Pines. There’s a pine grove behind us, with the turnpike right behind that and the football field at the back of the high school in front of us. To the left of the station is a small strip mall with a laundromat, a fresh vegetable market, and a Chinese restaurant. To the right, a Dunkin’, beyond which is the police station. I swear between the high schoolers and the fire department and the police, whoever owns that Dunkin’ franchise is a millionaire. I swing through the drive-thru now and order two coffees. Aspen used to love their caramel iced coffee and I used to love their coconut macchiatos. Used to because I haven’t had one in three years. King’s Rock was rural and so small it made Ocean Pines look like a metropolis. There was no chain store in King’s Rock. If you drove across the border into New Brunswick you’d get those creature comforts, but there it was Tim Horton’s not Dunkin’.

  I place my order. The girl at the pick-up window looks vaguely familiar. “That’ll be five-forty.” She looks up and blinks. “Jake Maverick?”

  “Yeah.” Shit. I hate when I can’t remember a name. “How are you?”

  “Good!” she chirps and her smile grows. “Terra mentioned you were coming back to town when I grabbed some lobster rolls last week. And of course it was on the town blog and everything, thanks to me. I gave the scoop to my mom, who still runs it. We get a thousand hits a month. Heavy traffic for a tiny town.”

  Right. Cassidy Green. Her mother is Nellie Green, renowned town gossip who used the guise of ‘journalist’ to excuse her noisiness. But Nellie didn’t have any formal training. Her son Eddie, who is Declan’s age, had set her up a web site when we were in junior high. Cassidy is Terra’s age. And then there’s Ronan, who I work with, the oldest Green and my least favorite. “I told her it was time to hand over the reins. I mean, I actually got a degree in journalism from South Portland Community College and I freelance. I even had an article on the new water plant published in the Mainer. A real publication.”

  She whispers those last three words like her mom is somehow eavesdropping and she doesn’t want to get caught. I bite back a chuckle. “Anyway, one day she’ll retire or die or something and I’ll clean that site up and make it a much better news source for the town. Did you work with Ronan last night? He swung by about ten minutes ago for a coffee for him and his fiancé, Courtney. Have you met Courtney? She’s… not my favorite person, but my mom loves her.”

  “Yeah he was dating Courtney before I left. Didn’t know they were engaged though.” I hand her the cash for my order but she suddenly waves my hand away.

  “Yep. Never ending engagement,” Cassidy rolls her eyes. “Been two years and no wedding. Just planning. So much damn planning. She’s changed the bridesmaids dresses twice. And both times they were ugly so I’m hoping for a third.”

  I just nod because I never know what else to do when someone rambles on about shit I give zero fucks about. I hand her a ten dollar bill.

  “This one is on me. I’m the shift manager here. Until my freelancing takes off
,” she explains and adjusts the Dunkin’s visor pressing her long dark hair to her head. “Consider it a welcome home present. And an apology gift on Ronan’s behalf. I know he can be a dick, and he was a little irked when you got the job as the other lieutenant. He’s worried you’ll screw up his chances at getting the Captain’s position when D’Amato moves on.”

  I blink. “D’Amato is leaving?”

  Cassidy’s eyes grew wide and she covers her mouth with her hand and then spits out a muffled answer. “I’m mean… maybe? According to Ronan. I don’t know for sure.”

  “Huh. I didn’t hear that,” I mutter, wondering why the captain hadn’t mentioned it. Or Logan. Anyone, really.

  She uncovers her mouth and hands over the order. Her brown eyes glancing from one drink to the other. “Extra thirsty today or do you have someone hiding in your trunk?”

  “Ha,” I say and try to force a chuckle. “Bringing coffee to a friend.”

  Her eyes spark with curiosity. “Don’t tell me you’ve been back in town fifteen minutes and are already off the market. That would break the hearts of so many single Ocean Pines girls.”

  Is she hitting on me or just mining me for info she can pass to her gossipy mom? I’m not sure either way so I lie. “Meeting Finn for surfing.”

  “Oh. Right. You musta missed that over in the mountains,” she says. “I thought maybe it was Terra since she swings through here for a caramel iced coffee three or four times a week. Come to think of it, it’s usually later in my shift though. Afternoon. And she’s never driving, someone is always with her. Usually her mom but sometimes Nova or Finn or Logan.”

  “You’re observant.”

  “Journalist’s brain,” Cassidy shrugs. “Hey, do you know what happened to her arm?”

  “There’s something wrong with Terra’s arm?” What the hell is she talking about?

  “Well most times when she swings through it’s got bandages on it,” Cassidy informs me. “Thought maybe she was donating blood or plasma or something but then I remembered she’s got that disease… what’s it called? Leppis?”