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

by Victoria Denault

  Logan shrugs. I try not to laugh. “Usually, but people who abuse alcohol sometimes have a harder time healing.”

  “Shit.” Robbie mutters.

  I slap Logan’s shoulder. “See you back at the firehouse.”

  “Hey… Maverick!” Robbie calls out in a slurred voice. I turn around and see him pointing at me with the arm Mason isn’t bandaging. “Were you here earlier tonight? In the woods, sucking face with some chick?”

  How the hell is he so drunk he murdered his own eyebrow but somehow still has the ability to recognize me while I was making out with Terra? Shit. I shake my head and shrug. “I’ve been working, Robbie.”

  “Yeah but I swear…” his eyes scan the firefighters who are all starting to climb back into their trucks. “I mean I saw the crest on the uniform and the guy was tall, and you’re the tallest … the girl was not tall at all. Like teeny weeny itsy bitsy and I—”

  “Robbie, did you fall when the deep fryer exploded? Maybe hit your head?” I interrupt. Logan has gone back to help Mason get the stretcher Robbie is lying on into the ambulance.

  “I dunno,” Robbie mutters and tries to scrunch his brow while he ponders the thought but it makes him wince. “Oww! Don’t make me think, Maverick. It hurts.”

  I smirk. “Okay Robbie, don’t think about anything then. Or talk. Just chill while they get you to the hospital.”

  Mason stays in the back with Robbie as Logan hops out, shuts the doors and walks around to the driver’s seat. “See you later at the station.”

  I nod and walk back to the fire truck. I try not to freak out that Robbie saw Terra and me. He doesn’t know for sure and he didn’t recognize her so if I’m lucky, he’ll forget it completely or everyone will chalk it up to him being drunk and getting confused.

  We roll into the truck bay at the station and I jump out and start peeling off my protective gear. Logan and his partner went to an ambulance-only call so they aren’t here yet. The captain walks up to me, smiling. “You know what you did back there, talking to that guy’s family about the addiction program, that’s why you’re definitely the best candidate to replace me.”

  I smile, grateful he’s in my corner. “I applied. They start the interview process next week, so that might be an issue. The donation process is really rolling forward now. I could be in the hospital.”

  He nods and looks conflicted. “I’ll do everything I can to champion you and push them to make exceptions and give you more time if you need it. But Green also wants this, bad, and he is older and been local this whole time. Plus with you being so young, they might just move ahead without waiting for you because they know you’ll have another shot at the position later on in your career.”

  I hate that because it’s not necessarily true. If Ronan Green or any of the other lieutenants applying from other stations get the spot, it won’t become available again for a long time. I’ll have to switch houses to grab a captain’s spot anytime soon and I don’t want to leave Ocean Pines again.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “It would help if you let me tell them why you’re off work,” he suggests for the third time this week.

  I shake my head like I have all the other times. “Not right now. I’ll tell them if I need to.”

  “Okay,” he nods.

  I don’t want to use this as some kind of way to get respect because my work ethic and performance should do that. After we’re all done most of the guys go into the lounge to watch TV or gather in the kitchen to play cards at the table. I head out into the driveway to call Aspen. It’s more private to be outside than it would be calling her anywhere in the station itself.

  She answers on the first ring. “Barlowe Investigations.”

  “You know it’s me, Aspy. You don’t have to answer like that.” I say.

  “Sorry, Jake. Force of habit.” She says with a giggle, but both her voice and laugh are muffled and low. “Can I call you later? This is not a good time.”

  “I’m at work,” I explain. “Until seven tomorrow night.”

  “So am I,” Aspen whispers. “In Ogunquit until late tomorrow night.”

  “What are you doing?” I ask as I pace the huge driveway.

  “Surveillance on a dude who claims his back is so messed up from a fender bender he can’t possibly work,” Aspen explains. “I’m in my van outside his brother’s house. I got a tip the two of them do CrossFit in the garage late at night when they think everyone is asleep. On warmer nights they even open the garage door. Tonight is seventy-one, Jake. My camera is poised and ready.”

  I worry about her line of work now. As if she’s sensing that, she says. “Everything is fine. I’m good. Baby is good. I’ve been eating balanced meals, even when I’m hiding in the van all day and taking vitamins. Doc says I can continue to work until at least the last trimester if I’m smart about it.”

  “You went to the doctor?”

  She laughs again. “Yes, Jake. I went to the doctor. Even got my first sonogram. That thing with the jelly on your belly and the wand that shows you the blob that will turn into a kid.”

  “Alone?”

  “Well yeah, I forgot to plan a viewing party,” she retorts with level ten sarcasm. “FYI I haven’t told Abbott yet and he’s the only one who would be at appointments with me.”

  “If it’s my kid I’d like to be there. I mean, if you need someone to be there,” I tell her. “And I want to be at the birth.”

  “No one - I repeat no one - is going to be in the room with me, looking at my hoo hoo being torn apart, Jake. Sorry,” she replies bluntly and I wince at the description. “I mean if it’s yours and you want to be at the hospital, fine. In the waiting room with Abbott if he isn’t in the playoffs. This kid is due right around then.”

  “So … can we find out if it’s mine so I can pencil you into my day planner?” I ask lightly, but I’m dead fucking serious. I don’t just want to know now, I need to know.

  “I’m not ready,” Aspen replies flatly. “Soon. I’m almost there. I mean, before I start showing I guess I should know who the dad is because lord knows everyone in the damn town will want to know.”

  “Here’s the thing Aspen…” I pause and figure out how to word this delicately but bluntly. “I need to know. There’s some stuff going on in my life that would be impacted by this. So … can we go next week? Please? It’s a simple blood test.”

  “I have to go! There’s a light on in the garage,” she says suddenly.

  “Can we meet when you’re back?” I beg. “Talk in person.”

  “Yeah, fine. Text me later.” She hangs up.

  That did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. I head back into the house and I’m wandering around the kitchen, trying to figure out what I want to eat, when my phone buzzes. It’s a text from Terra. I’m at the fire station. Can you meet me in the parking lot?

  What the hell? I head straight down the hall, down the stairs and out the front doors. I’m worried something may be wrong but she’s standing there grinning, so I sigh in relief. She holds up a Hawkins Lobster Shack bag and a milkshake container from Patti’s Parlor. “You never came back for your free food, so I thought I would bring it to you.”

  “Oh my God you are a saint,” I say and walk over, taking the bag and the shake from her tiny hands. She stares up at me grinning happily at my reaction. “You’re also fucking gorgeous, you know that?”

  The skin under the freckles that decorate her cheeks turns pink. “I’ve waited my whole damn life for you to say something like that to me.”

  “I’ve waited my whole damn life to find the guts to say it,” I tell her and she steps closer puts a hand on my chest, over my heart.

  “I sent a lantern up at the beach tonight. Want to know what I wished for?”

  I put a hand on her shoulder and let it slide slowly toward her delicate, long neck. “World peace?”

  “That you kiss me again,” she whispers.

  “That’s not something you have to wish for.” I slip m
y hand behind her neck and tip her head back, dip my head down and give her a kiss that gets interrupted by the flash of headlights cutting across our bodies. I pull away and step back, way back. My head snaps around and I watch Logan’s ambulance drive right past us into the bay. “Shit. That was your brother.”

  “You think he saw?”

  “I think so.”

  “Okay well… I’m going to let you go and handle that,” Terra walks backwards towards her truck. Grinning, not even the slightest bit remorseful. “Just please remind him that you need to be in great physical shape in order to have an organ harvested so he shouldn’t try to kill you or anything.”

  “Solid advice, Tink,” I reply and can’t help but laugh even though this is not a laughing matter. I wait until she drives away and then walk back into the station. Logan is leaning against the front desk, staring right at me as I walk in. I suck back a big mouthful of the chocolate peanut butter shake because if he does intend to kill me, I want that as my last meal.

  I decide to play dumb. “Terra brought me the food I never got to eat. I’m starving so I’m just gonna go to the kitchen and—”

  “Can we talk for a minute?”

  “Sure,” I say hoping I sound casual and not as frantic as I feel. Logan walks over to the stairs that lead up to the bunk rooms. He sits on the third step and I sit beside him, sucking back even more of the shake as I wait for him to say something.

  He looks solemn but that’s Logan’s face ninety percent of the time, so I don’t take it as a sign. He tells me about his last call, an overly drunk girl they had to bring to the hospital to get her stomach pumped. And then he says. “So Robbie was leaving the hospital when I dropped the girl off. He was out by the emergency bay waiting for Uber Jay to pick him up because his dad refused.”

  I nod. “I really hope they convince him to try treatment. He’s gonna lose more than his eyebrow next time.”

  “Yeah. I hope so too,” Logan agrees absently and turns to face me now, his pale eyes boring down on me. “He was chatting away with me as I loaded the stretcher back into my rig, and the thing is, he swears he saw you kissing someone in Gold Park. And I told him it was impossible because you weren’t with anyone but Terra. And you wouldn’t be making out with my sister … would you?”

  “Robbie is also the guy who almost got arrested for drunkenly pretending to be a lifeguard at the beach last summer and yelling shark every ten minutes.”

  “Yeah, he’s a bit nuts, but you kind of didn’t answer the question,” Logan replies pointedly and his laser focus on me is making me antsy. “Were you kissing my sister in the woods, or was your first kiss ten seconds ago in the parking lot?”

  I swallow. The milkshake is curdling in my belly thanks to adrenaline and nerves. “Actually our first kiss was in the pouring rain outside the lobster shack. The night I told her I could be her donor.”

  Judging by the way his jaw drops, he didn’t see that answer coming. “So what the fuck are you two doing?”

  “I don’t know, if I’m being honest, but I know that I like her. And I’ve liked her for a long time,” I confess.

  Logan takes a minute to process that information. I watch his jaw as it clenches and unclenches. “Any news on Aspen?”

  Fuck.

  “I’m meeting her as soon as I can. Going to make her understand why I need to find out the truth sooner rather than later,” I tell him.

  “Okay…” Logan has so much more he wants to say so I wait, but he just stares. So I stare back and will my face to not give anything away. “So I guess maybe you should figure that out. I mean, I would figure that out before getting involved with someone new.”

  He doesn’t say anything else, just stands up and walks away.

  12

  Terra

  “Hey! Perfect timing!” Nova Hawkins calls out in a cheery voice from behind the counter. “The milkshake machine limped through the lunch rush but now it’s flatlining. Help?”

  I smile and walk over, surveying the dining area to my right. It’s calm, which is to be expected at half an hour before close on a weekday with school back in session and vacationers gone back to their regularly scheduled lives. There are only two tables occupied and one booth. Mr. Hobbs, a regular who consumes more lobster chowder weekly than all our other customers combined, is sitting at the counter. I smile at him and he grins back in-between mouthfuls of chowder.

  I slip in behind the counter and join Nova, who hands me the screwdriver in her hand. I am a wiz at mechanical issues around here. I’m not even sure why, but I am. Nova’s full mouth with its trademark glossy lips grins. “Gracias, hermana.”

  Nova kisses my cheek and walks away to the other side of the counter. Nova is the same age as me, twenty-five, and started as a server here when she was seventeen. She was a shy, quiet person I barely knew anything about despite working more than a few shifts with her. She kept to herself and never hung out with the staff for the first four years she worked here, so it was a big surprise to everyone when my brother Declan showed up to Thanksgiving dinner four years ago holding her hand and announced that they had eloped. But seriously, as shocking as it was, it’s gotta be the best decision he’s ever made. Nova is a perfect addition to the family.

  “How was the dinner rush?” I ask as I tinker with the machine, unscrewing the stainless steel side panel.

  “Not bad,” Nova replies with a shrug. “Steady stream but we weren’t slammed. There was this one guy…”

  She keeps talking about the customers and how the day has gone so far and I keep tinkering with the milkshake machine but, my brain is picturing that moment when Jake tugged me into the woods. It’s been twenty-five hours since Jake Maverick freaking kissed me. This is how I measure time now, by how long it’s been since my lifelong fantasy became my reality.

  “Earth to Terra?” Nova says and snaps her fingers in front of me.

  I blink. “What’s up?”

  “You tell me,” Nova replies, her smile soft and curious. “You’re not hearing a word I say.”

  “Miss Nova, dear, I think I need to get the check now,” Mr. Hobbs calls out in his wobbly voice. “If I don’t stop eating now, I’ll have to undo the button on my trousers.”

  Nova smiles at the kind old man. “Coming right up, Mr. Hobbs.”

  I glance over my shoulder at Mr. Hobbs as Nova brings him the check and he hands her a ten dollar bill. I notice the small bundle of daisies wrapped in brown paper on the counter beside him. “Off to see your wife now?”

  Mr. Hobbs raises his pale blue eyes to me, and they crinkle like tissue paper in the corners when he smiles. “You know my schedule as well as I do. Hoping to watch the sunset with her.”

  Mr. Hobbs and his wife used to come in here every Wednesday because the special is unlimited lobster chowder with fresh baked garlic rolls and they both adored it. Two years ago Mrs. Hobbs was moved into a care facility because of her rapidly progressing bone cancer. He then came in for take-out so he could bring it to her. That went on for almost three months until she passed. And now, he comes in alone once a week, flowers in hand to take to her grave after he’s finished his meal.

  “Be careful on your walk, Mr. Hobbs,” Nova says as she brings him his change.

  The cemetery is two blocks from here and it’s all uphill. He gives her a grateful smile and leaves his change on the polished countertop with a wink.

  “He is the sweetest man on the planet. And I miss seeing him help Mrs. Hobbs on with her coat and hold her hand while they walked in. And how he used to sit on the same side of the booth as her,” Nova gushes and sighs with a hand on her heart once Mr. Hobbs is out the door. She is a romantic. Like a Hallmark-movie-marathoning, Valentine’s-Day-celebrating, mistletoe-kissing, romance-novel-reading, hardcore romantic. And she married Declan, who I don’t even think can spell romance. So odd.

  The swinging door that leads to the kitchen and separates the counter from the bar moves and Declan emerges from it. He’s wearing a crisp,
navy suit with a light blue shirt and a checkered tie. He sticks out in his surroundings like a sore thumb. He glances at me. “Do I need to order a new one?”

  “Nope,” I assure him and hold my breath while I flip a switch. The machine swirls to life and I grin, victorious once again. “There’s a little screw in the turning mechanism on the arm that’s end-of-life. I’ll text Dad and he can grab one at the hardware store.”

  “Awesome,” Declan doesn’t grin so much as grimace and then he rubs his smooth, wide forehead again. “Now back to trying to teach Finn how to do the schedule. Do we know if Mom dropped him on his head as a kid? Or like if Logan accidentally absorbed his brain in the womb?”

  “Be nice!” Nova commands.

  “Do you want my help?” I ask because Declan and Finn fight like cats and dogs at the best of times.

  “Didn’t Dad just drop you off after dialysis?” Declan asks and when I nod he replies, “Just chill. I can handle it.”

  I give him a grateful smile and go back to working on the milkshake machine. I think about the way Jake looked at me in the fire station parking lot. Like I was perfect. No one has ever looked at me like that. Ever. I’ve always been the kid/girl/woman that was imperfect and I certainly never felt perfect. Lupus never lets you feel perfect. My senior year of high school I had hair loss so bad I took Rogaine and wore a wig to prom. Meds fixed that and it grew back. Sure it’s thin, but there are no bald spots anymore. I’ve had random rashes pop up on my face or hands since I was a pre-teen. They were hard to hide at times. The aches and internal pains no one could see kept me from feeling normal let alone perfect. So did the steroids I occasionally get prescribed that turn my face into a puffy pumpkin. And now the battered arms from the dialysis. Jake’s known me through all of that and he still looked at me like I was perfect last night.

  A hand whips by my eyes. I blink and turn to find Nova right there again, laughing at me. “You left the building again mentally? What the hell has you so flighty?”