“Did you guys ever hunt?”
Parker shook her head. “No. Shooting Bambi is one thing, shooting a rattlesnake is another. I guess if I got hungry enough I could. My dad did with his brother when they were younger.”
Erin sighed. “I don’t think I could ever shoot anything.”
“Just knowing how isn’t a bad thing. Knowledge being power and all that. For me, having something more than a baseball bat in the house after my parents died was a comfort. The world is a craptastic place sometimes. You can’t turn on the news without seeing that.”
Erin rubbed the side of her jaw where she hid a scar with makeup every day of her life. She knew how crazy people in the world could get. “Do you think it makes you paranoid?”
“Do I think what makes me paranoid?”
“Having a gun in the house?” Loaded and ready for anyone who might kick down the door with a gun of their own while you’re sleeping to drag you back to the abuse and suffering?
Erin shook the image from her head.
“I lock the doors in case someone tries to break in. I have a fire extinguisher in case something catches fire. I have insurance in case the sky falls . . . Do those things mean I’m paranoid?”
“Those are a little different.”
“Are they? Precautions and insurance. So far no one has ever broken into my house. The fire extinguisher wouldn’t have helped in a forest fire, and the insurance has been my saving grace. Having a firearm to protect my family is only a safeguard.” Parker paused. “And protect you, too, if I’m not mistaken. Which is why we came out here today.” Parker’s observation hit a little close to the mark.
The person she was safeguarding herself against had a face and a name that she was trying desperately to bury in her past. “And this is where I change the subject.”
Parker laughed. “I didn’t expect anything less.”
Thirty minutes later they drove onto the gated property and past a crew of plumbers digging a long path across the land. The water main to the house had been washed downstream in one of the many flash floods they’d endured during the winter following the fire. Now that spring weather was finally at an end and the hot sun that defined Southern California was out, Parker had hired the crew to fix the pipes permanently. A long fire hose connecting water from the city to the house had kept them from having to live somewhere else while they waited for the weather to cooperate.
For Erin, the inconvenience was minimal. They’d only had a cluster of days that they’d been without any running water at all. Considering the extent of damage to the property, she counted her blessings.
Colin, Parker’s boyfriend, waved at them as they drove past the workers and up to the main house.
Parker beamed.
“When is he going to pop the question?” Erin asked.
“Cabo is in two weeks. I’m guessing I might come back with a little bling on my finger.”
That was Erin’s thought, too. Parker and Colin had been planning their Cabo trip since Christmas. Blue water, sandy beaches . . . It sounded perfect.
Parker put the car in park and opened the door. “I’ll put my stuff away and come up to help you clean the guns,” Erin told her.
“No worries. I was going to do that tonight. I want to spend some time with the crew and make sure they aren’t messing up the new plumbing.”
Erin shook her head. Parker was more hands-on than any homeowner she’d ever known.
Colin walked up the steep drive and greeted Parker with a kiss. “How did it go?”
“I hit two clays with the shotgun.” Erin pumped her fist in the air.
“Better than I could do,” Colin said.
Parker leaned into his side. “What Erin isn’t telling you is how she made the metal targets her bitch with the Glock.”
Erin smiled with the praise. “I’m not sure about the bitch part, but I did hold my own.”
“She’s shy,” Parker said.
“I’m not the expert, you are. Have you seen her in action?” Erin asked Colin.
“Not with a gun,” he teased.
Color filled Parker’s cheeks.
Erin shook her head. “And on that note, I’m going to run to the store and post office. Do you need anything?”
“We’re good.” Parker opened the trunk of the car and removed her gun case.
After being told she didn’t need to help unload the car, Erin walked across the drive to the path leading to the guesthouse. Even though the property was fenced and gated, not locking the door wasn’t an option. And within the week, the security system was going in. Yet one more safeguard Erin was adding to her arsenal for preservation.
The small one-bedroom home was perfect for her. The living room and kitchen were one big space that had come furnished. Ideal since she left her previous life with two suitcases of clothing and the SD card of pictures from a cell phone.
Everything else had been left behind.
Everything and everyone.
In her bathroom, she washed the dust from her face and gunpowder from her hands. The thought of her hands not passing TSA had her grinning.
She glanced in the mirror and took a long look at herself. “One day at a time,” she said to the air. She pulled the tie out of her thick hair and brushed it back into place before twisting it on top of her head. The red was fading fast, and her natural blonde was trying to show.
She hardly recognized herself.
But that was the point, wasn’t it?
New look, new name, new home . . . new everything. She’d legally changed her name, social security number . . . Nothing was as it used to be.
She heard her phone ringing from the kitchen where she’d left her purse. The sound caught her by surprise. Very few people had her number, and as of yet, the telemarketers hadn’t discovered her.
Caller ID said restricted number, so instead of answering it, she let it go to voice mail. After a minute, she pressed the playback button.
A familiar female voice brought gooseflesh to her arms. “It’s me. I have an update.”
All at once, every nerve stood on end and her sympathetic nervous system moved into hyperdrive.
Erin moved to her small dinette table, pulled out a chair, and sat down before the dizziness took over and she ended up on the floor.
Renee picked up on the first ring.
“Hello, Renee.”
“It’s so good to hear your voice. How are you? Did you try that coconut water yet?” Renee, her advocate, attorney, and savior, asked their coded question.
“I’m fine, and yes. The coconut water was delicious.”
There was no coconut water. Or beet juice, or whatever organic food Renee came up with next. Didn’t matter. The answer was always yes if Erin was safe and not being overheard. So far, she hadn’t needed to respond with a no. God willing, she never would.
“You sound good.”
“I’m a little better every day.”
“Are you eating?”
Erin considered her diet, decided to keep things positive. “I’m a good five pounds overweight.”
Renee huffed. “Lying sack of shit.”
They both laughed.
“I’m good. Truly.” She wanted to tell her that the sunshine was doing wonders for her, but that wasn’t allowed. Renee didn’t know where Erin was or even the name she was using. “Tell me the news.”
Renee sighed. “None of it’s what you want to hear.”
Erin swallowed. “Are my sister and her family okay?”
“They’re fine. I wouldn’t have started with chitchat if they weren’t.”
Erin squeezed her eyes shut, felt the familiar pain in her chest with the memories of everyone she left behind. “Spit it out.”
“You’re not divorced yet,” she told her. “And Asshat is seeking another hearing to contest the protection order.”
Erin placed her head in her hand. “This is never going to end.”
CHAPTER TWO
Matt shoved
two heads of romaine lettuce into a bag while Jessie fondled the tomatoes. “Dude, just toss them in a bag and let’s go.”
“You want them to have flavor, don’t you?” Jessie was about getting it right, and Matt was all about getting it done.
“I want to get this bought before we get a call,” Matt said.
His crew split up when they hit the grocery store. Dressed in their blue uniforms, the four of them turned heads wherever they went. Late morning at a grocery store, and they became the target of a lot of smiling stay-at-home moms and flirting women . . . Sometimes these women were single, oftentimes they weren’t.
Nothing attracted the ladies more than a man in uniform shopping for groceries. Since his crew worked twenty-four-hour shifts, it was up to them to cook their own meals, which always meant a trip to the grocery store. There were provisions at the station for breakfast and lunch, community food that they all pitched in and bought, but dinners were up to the individual crews.
Tonight it was going to be baby back ribs, baked potatoes, salad, and whatever else they could dream up and put on the grill.
Matt moved over to the potatoes and grabbed a bag instead of picking out individual ones. He looked over at Jessie, the rookie on the crew, and tapped his watch.
Jessie picked up his pace and set the produce in the cart.
Around the corner, Captain Arwin—his first name was Anton, but none of them called him by his first name—and Tom, the engineer on their crew, had their hands full of slabs of ribs.
They would make too much and hope they had time to actually eat it while it was hot.
The captain tossed the meat in the cart. Tom added a big bottle of barbeque sauce. “We still have rub at the station, right?” he asked.
“Yeah. I checked before we left,” Matt told him. They grabbed a loaf of prepared garlic bread they could bake in the oven at the last minute and added milk and cookies before heading to the register.
Matt caught a smile from a twenty-something-year-old brunette pushing a cart in the next line over.
On autopilot, he smiled back before looking away.
“Can’t take you anywhere, Romeo,” Tom teased. Matt was the only single guy on their crew. Even Jessie, who was only twenty-three, was married with a baby on the way.
“I think Juliet was blonde.”
Tom laughed and helped stack food on the belt.
“How you boys doing today?” The lady behind the register had to be in her sixties, but even she managed a smile that said what her mouth didn’t.
The captain smiled with the clerk and kept the conversation going while they stacked groceries.
The minute Matt had told his family he wanted to be a firefighter, they’d given him hell. Well, humorous hell, but hell nonetheless. “What’s the deal, Matt? Dating half the women in the valley isn’t good enough, you have to add a uniform and make sure you have a chance with all the others?” Grace, the baby of the family, lit into him.
“Badge Bunnies will come out of the woodwork,” his father had told him. As retired law enforcement, Emmitt knew the consequences more than most.
Then there was Colin, the oldest brother. “You have to make up for the fact that I’m the good-looking son.”
His brother was taller, but Matt made up for it by spending time at the gym. In truth, they both didn’t do poorly in the looks department. Their parents passed on some decent genes that gave them an edge in life.
They walked away from the register with a sigh of relief. They’d managed to get what they needed without a call, and the station was only five miles away. Outside the store, their truck took up the red zone space, their own personal spot wherever they needed to go. Tom walked around to the driver’s side while Matt and Jessie shoved the bags inside the rig.
“Excuse me?”
Matt turned, saw the smiling brunette from the store walking toward him. “Yes?”
“You dropped this back there.” She reached out, all smiles, and handed him a small business-size card.
“I don’t think I—”
The card was pushed into his hand.
“I saw it fall out of your back pocket when you were reaching for your wallet.”
Matt hadn’t paid for the groceries. He glanced at the card, saw a name and a phone number on it with a big smiley face.
Jessie said something under his breath with a chuckle and jumped up into the truck.
“Right, ah . . . thanks.”
She actually flipped her hair over her shoulder. He hadn’t seen that move since high school. “You guys be careful out there.”
“We will. Thank you.” Matt waved the card in the air before tucking it into his pocket. A card he intended to toss in the trash the second he arrived at the station.
The woman turned around and walked away with a look over her shoulder.
“Coming, Romeo?” the captain asked.
Matt shook his head and climbed on board.
The second he shut the door, their radios went off.
At least they got out of the store with food before the call came in. Now they could only hope it wouldn’t spoil before they could get it to the station.
They all put their headsets on so they could talk over the sirens. The Captain jotted down information, and Tom hit the lights and sirens before pulling out of the parking lot.
In order to be a voyeur, didn’t the party being watched have to be naked?
Erin stood in the parking lot, eyes glued to the fire engine, or more importantly, the men climbing in. She secretly loved seeing Matt in uniform.
Watching the man smiling at another woman, however, was another thing.
Not that Erin invited his smiles.
No. That was the opposite of what she’d done since she met the man.
But he obviously didn’t reserve his attention for just her.
Erin shook her head. No . . . voyeurs ogled the naked. What she was doing was stalking. Well, not technically, since she hadn’t sought Matt out.
But she knew the station he worked at and Parker had told her he was working today, so when she saw the truck she waited outside in the parking lot for him to leave. Even that wasn’t stalking. It was avoiding.
Nothing illegal about avoiding.
Matt watched the woman he’d been talking to walk away and then climbed into the truck.
Erin sighed.
He hadn’t seen her. Good.
She stepped out of her car and jumped when the siren on the engine filled the air.
Once again she peered over at the massive red fire truck . . . engine, or whatever they called it, and felt her heart skip a beat.
Matt was running toward something.
What, she didn’t know.
She really hoped it wasn’t a fire.
And nothing dangerous.
Please, Lord, nothing dangerous.
She followed the truck with her gaze as it left her view, the noise following the lights.
For Parker and Colin’s sake, she told herself. She hoped Matt was safe for them.
Ignoring the flutter in her chest, Erin lifted her chin and walked into the store.
An hour later, back in her tiny house, she searched the internet for any breaking news in the valley and didn’t find anything. After twenty minutes of looking, she tossed her phone on the couch like it had grown too hot to hold.
“You’re not interested,” she chided herself.
She stood, went over to her refrigerator, and pulled out a bottle of sparkling water.
When she returned to the couch, her phone looked at her.
Okay, it didn’t look, but it was there and telling her to pick it up.
She twisted the cap off the water, chugged it a little too fast, and found herself with the hiccups.
After the third time her diaphragm spasmed, she gave in and picked up her phone. She opened it and searched for emergency responses for LA County firefighters.
Ten minutes later, she found an app called PulsePoint and downloaded
it.
“Payday!”
Within a few minutes, she was able to pinpoint Matt’s station and discovered that he hadn’t been called to a fire.
The call was labeled medical. The location was far up a local canyon.
She scrolled through the app and realized that most of the calls with the county, and especially in their valley, were medical.
That was a relief.
Not that she was interested.
She shook her head and moved into the kitchen. One look into the fridge and she decided she wasn’t hungry. Instead of a late lunch, she grabbed an open water bottle and headed outside with her laptop. Even though it was Saturday she decided to get a few hours of work in.
As a freelance editor in the digital publishing world, she always had work.
And she was able to read at the same time.
Winning.
CHAPTER THREE
Even though Matt’s crew didn’t have to roll on every medical call, the bells and whistles inside the station woke him up throughout the night. There was an accident on the interstate that forced them out of bed and on the road at one thirty in the morning. By six thirty, he’d managed five hours of broken sleep, and by broken it was an hour here, two hours there, and a scattering of catnaps. Still, they signed off to the next shift, and Matt left the station in time for morning rush hour.
Within half an hour he was home, dropping his clothes on the bathroom floor, and stepping into the shower. Twenty minutes after that, he’d poured himself a bowl of cereal, finished his third cup of coffee for the morning, and dialed his brother.
Colin’s groggy voice picked up on the fifth ring. “You do realize it’s Sunday, right?”
“Some of us work for a living,” Matt told him. “You said early. And it’s almost eight.”
“It’s seven forty-five.”
“Yeah, early. I want to hit Home Depot before all the weekend warriors get there.”
“Call me back in an hour,” Colin told him. And without another word, his brother hung up.
“Holy shit.” Matt looked at the phone. “You did not just do that,” he said to himself.
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