Jamie hadn’t been wrong about his life being the subject of a family game of Telephone.
“He had it coming.”
Tommy chuckled. “The only reason I’m not pissed is the sheer enjoyment I’m getting out of picturing you being hauled off the guy by a woman with a fistful of your hair.”
There was a time Scott would have leaped to his own defense, trying to protect his ego. But he just laughed with his dad. “I’m glad those security cameras in the pool room are just for show.”
“I’m not. I would have liked to see it.” His dad nodded. “She sounds like quite a woman, which is why I want to meet her.”
“Like I said, Pops, she’ll probably show up at the bar some night.”
“Okay.” Tommy shrugged, and Scott felt a rush of relief. “I’ll make it a group thing and tell your sister to have Aidan invite her.”
Scott wasn’t going to win this one. “Fine. Do what you want. You always do.”
“I think I’m going to like her.”
“You probably will, not that it matters one way or the other.”
His dad shrugged. “You never know.”
Scott wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he was damn sure his family was a pain in the ass. His brother-in-law was trying to warn him off getting involved with Jamie, while his father sure seemed to think Jamie would fit right in. But whether he thought she’d fit in the company or in the family, Scott wasn’t sure. And if he pushed the subject, he was going to look like he was protesting too much and Tommy Kincaid would latch on to that like a dog with a bone.
The cop show they both liked started, and that ended the conversation. By the time a commercial break rolled around, Jamie would be forgotten and his dad would move on to something else.
She’d be forgotten by Tommy, anyway. The episode wasn’t good enough to keep Scott’s attention and his mind wandered to earlier, in the supermarket. Obviously she’d been right about his family’s inability to keep a secret.
Was she right about the fact she’d be the only one to face repercussions if their relationship became the talk of the station, too? He didn’t like to think so, but he’d heard enough talk about women in general and female firefighters in particular over the years to know there would be dirt flung and none of it would hit him. Or if it did, it wouldn’t stick. He was one of them—sixth-generation Boston Fire.
No matter how much he wanted her, he needed to pull back and leave Jamie Rutherford alone.
* * *
JAMIE SWUNG THE AX, punching a hole to vent the roof of the two-story single-family home, cringing as she did it. It was a nice house, or had been, and she didn’t like inflicting even more damage on it. What the fire didn’t ruin, the water would, but at least nobody would get hurt and their neighbors would be spared.
The cause had come through with the call, since the homeowner watched the fire start. The origin was an overloaded power strip plugged into an overloaded circuit, and the strip had been sitting along the edge of the wall, under the long drapes.
The woman had grabbed her kids and her purse and run, which was the right thing to do. She’d called 911 from across the street and help had arrived a few minutes later. Unfortunately, it was a fast-moving fire thanks to flammable decor and an open floor plan, and all they could hope to do was knock it down before it spread. There wouldn’t be much left inside for the family to salvage.
“I don’t know what the hell they insulated the walls with, but the fire keeps popping up in random spots,” she heard over the radio. There were multiple companies on the scene now, so containment wouldn’t be an issue, but it was going to be a long day.
It took them hours to knock down the flames enough to sweep for hot spots and refires. It was hot, dirty work and there was a lot of climbing in and around charred piles of rubble. She knew, out on the street, there would be news cameras and cell phones capturing the drama. Their support volunteers with their truck stocked with beverages and high-energy snacks to keep the firefighters going. A cluster of guys around the incident command vehicle. None of that was her problem. Making sure there were no hot spots that would reignite when they turned their backs was her problem.
She did hope, however, that the Red Cross had already taken the family to the home of family or friends, or helped them find temporary shelter. They’d lost everything, and watching the firefighters poke around the remains of their home wouldn’t help them feel any better.
Her guys had done a damn fine job, though, she thought as she took her helmet off to wipe at the sweat gathered across her hairline. She and Rick worked well together, so there were no bumps in the road when it came to the two companies’ teamwork. While the majority of their calls might be medical or motor vehicle accidents, their first fire together was the true test, and she thought she’d passed it.
“We’re about done here,” Rick said from just behind her, and she turned to face him. “We’ll keep at it while the other companies clear out, since the trucks are blocked in anyway, but there’s nothing else we can do at this point.”
She nodded and looked around the mess. “We should probably check that south wall one more time and then we’ll start packing up.”
It was a quiet ride back to the house, but she wasn’t surprised. It had been a hot one, and between the sweat and the grime of crawling through a charred house, they were all pretty wiped out. When the trucks were parked and tended to and the gear stowed, they all trudged up the stairs.
“You want to shower first?” Rick asked her, but she shook her head.
“No sense in everybody sitting around getting the furniture dirty waiting on me. I’ll throw that chicken stew in the freezer into the pot and get it started. When you guys are done, you can take over and it should be hot just about the time I’m done.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
She washed her hands and arms before taking a couple of containers of the stew out of the freezer. Jamie had been told they were a gift from Chris’s wife, who would sometimes make extra of something and send it in for the station.
It took a long time for the guys to all shower, and she hoped there would be hot water left. She also felt as if every minute that went by increased the chances of the alarm sounding while she was in the shower. She’d gone on a call once, years before, with clothes yanked onto her wet body and the shampoo only half rinsed out of her hair. Her scalp had itched the entire afternoon.
When it was her turn, she hung the pink fabric wreath on the door of the shower room and went inside. She’d had it for so long she couldn’t even remember where she’d gotten it, but it had come in handy over the course of her career. After showering as quickly as possible, she put on a clean uniform and dumped the dirty stuff into her basket.
They were serving the stew when she walked into the kitchen, and she took a bowl from Gavin. “Thanks. It smells delicious.”
Since the seats around the table were full, she took her stew into the living room and sat in one of the chairs. Jeff had the other, and Aidan and Scott were on the couch. There was an old back-and-white Western on the television, which she’d already learned meant Jeff had the remote control.
“Glad you’re here, Lieutenant Rutherford,” Jeff said. “It was good today.”
Jamie let the warm rush of pride she felt show in her smile. “Thank you. It was good today, and I feel pretty lucky to work with you guys.”
“You fit in.”
“With this bunch I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not,” Scott said, and Jeff chuckled.
“Speaking of fitting in, Jamie,” Aidan said, “Lydia wanted me to pass along an invitation to her dad’s for dinner. Maybe Sunday. Tommy wants to meet you.”
She wasn’t sure what to say. Scott was focused on his chicken stew, and Jamie wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t care that she’d been invited t
o his dad’s, or if he was uncomfortable with the idea and didn’t want to say it.
It wasn’t quite a royal decree, but she knew Tommy was important to the local firefighters and she didn’t really want to decline his invitation. And while Scott technically lived in the house, he had an apartment upstairs, so it really wasn’t any of his business.
“Who will be there?” she asked, when she realized Aidan was waiting for her to say something.
“Tommy, me, Lydia, Danny and Ashley that I know of for sure. And you’ll be there, Scotty?”
Scott lifted his gaze to meet Jamie’s for a few seconds, his expression unreadable. “Yeah. I’ll be there.”
“It sounds like fun,” she said to Aidan, since Scott was giving her nothing to work with as far as his thoughts on the matter. “Sunday works for me.”
“We eat about five when we do family dinners. I’ll text you the address later, and I think you’re in easy walking distance.”
“You guys in Boston have a weird sense of walking distance, though. Driving here is such a nightmare I think you’ve all convinced yourself that ‘easy walking distance’ and ‘would be considered a marathon if you jogged it’ are the same thing.”
They all laughed, and then they watched some cowboys riding around fake cacti while they finished their stew. Chris walked in a little while later and took their bowls, since he was doing the dishes.
“You need help?” Jamie asked. She’d noticed some of the other guys going through to the bunk room or to the weight equipment, so he might be alone.
“After I wash these bowls, I’m taking a power nap. You can dry them and put them away if you want, or they can sit and drip dry. Either way.”
“It would be nice to have a dishwasher,” she said.
“Budget,” all the guys said at the same time, and she laughed.
Old Westerns weren’t her cup of tea, so she followed Chris into the kitchen and pulled a clean dish towel out of the drawer. After he’d pulled the plug in the sink, he gave her a mock salute and went to take his nap, leaving her alone with a pile of dishes and the sound of Hollywood gunfire from the other room.
She wasn’t alone very long, though. Scott came in, and judging by how close he stood and the fact he was practically staring at the door, she knew he had something to say he didn’t want anybody else overhearing.
Jamie hoped whatever it was wasn’t very important, since she had trouble concentrating when he was so close to her. She could smell the soap and shampoo that all the guys used, but there was something about smelling it on him that made her want to tousle his hair and bury her face in his neck.
“You don’t have to go to my dad’s for dinner if you don’t want to,” he said in a low voice.
“I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t want to go. Do you not want me to go?”
“What do you mean?”
She kept wiping the bowl in her hand, even though it was already dry. “You didn’t look too thrilled when Aidan offered the invitation, that’s all.”
“I just... I don’t know. I’m not sure if the old man’s up to something, that’s all. Like maybe he has the wrong idea.”
“Where would he get the wrong idea?”
“Because of the fight at the bar. Because I got so pissed that guy was disrespecting you, and then he thinks it’s funny that you broke it up by pulling my hair, so who knows what thoughts he’s got in his head.”
“You’re never going to live the hair thing down, are you?”
He grinned, which made her feel better. “Never.”
“Maybe he just wants to meet me because you have a dangerous job and I’m a big part of it and of helping you go home safely at the end of each tour, so he wants to make sure I’m up to it.”
“Maybe.”
It was the nature of a firehouse that they weren’t going to be alone very much longer, so she cut to the chase. “If you don’t want me to go, I’ll tell Aidan I just remembered something else I had to do. No hard feelings.”
“No, I do want you to go, which is part of the problem. You know I’m attracted to you, and I’m doing my best to bury that. Us being possibly set up by my father for a family dinner makes that a little messy for me, but I’ll handle it.”
She looked into his dark eyes, surprised by his candor. He wasn’t playing games, and she appreciated that. He wanted her, she’d told him why she didn’t think it was a good idea, and he was trying to respect that. “I won’t go. It’s really not a big deal.”
“I want you to go more than I don’t want you to go.” He ran a hand through his hair. “How’s that for messed up?”
“I understand.” She sighed and set the bowl on the counter to pick up another from the dish rack. “Trust me, I know what you mean.”
Grant walked in then, rubbing his stomach. “Is there any stew left? I’m still hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” Scott said, picking the dried bowl up off the counter and turning toward the cabinet as if he’d been standing so close to her because he was putting the dishes away. “And no, there isn’t any left.”
“Should I bring anything Sunday?” she asked Scott while Grant rummaged around in the fridge. She was going to go because she did know exactly what he meant. She wanted to see him more than she feared what would happen if she saw him.
It was a mess, and all they’d done was kiss one time. But she didn’t have the willpower to turn down an invitation to spend more time with him.
SIX
SCOTT SLAPPED THE PUCK, and then groaned when it bounced off the goal crossbar with a solid and unmistakable clang.
“You are seriously off your game tonight, Kincaid.”
“Screw you, Hunt.” He flipped Aidan off as he skated by.
“Got something on your mind?” his friend called back to him. “Or somebody?”
The same somebody who’d been on his mind since the night of the wedding reception smoke machine, when Jamie had walked into the engine bay. “Just keeping Gullotti on his toes.”
“On my toes?” Rick called from the net. “I could sit here on my ass and you couldn’t get that puck by me tonight.”
Trash-talking wasn’t as fun when it was almost the truth. Not quite the truth, though. He wasn’t on his game, but if Rick sat down, he could probably score on him. Thankfully they weren’t playing a game tonight. Grabbing some ice time was simply their favorite kind of workout and a bunch of them often got together to play outside of the fire department league. Tonight, only three of them had been able to make it but they were playing anyway because they had the ice, taking turns in the goal.
“How’s the dating break going?” Rick asked when Aidan pointed at the clock to signal their time was up.
“I haven’t been on a date, so I guess it’s a big success,” Scott said. He’d date Jamie in a second, of course, but since she was off-limits, the break lived on. “How are things with you?”
“Good. I’ll be happy when Jessica’s here for good and doesn’t have to go back and forth to San Diego, but it’s worth the separations. She’s worth it. And this way she’s building a great relationship with her grandparents without bailing on her relationship with her dad.”
“You set a date yet?”
“Not yet. Once Danny’s back, she and I will take Joe and Marie to California to see Davey. They’ve been estranged for so long, it won’t be an easy reconciliation, but she wants them all there when we get married.”
They sat on the bench to unlace their skates. “There’s only one of him. Wouldn’t it be easier for him to come here?”
“It would. And cheaper. But there are so many memories here and so many people who know them that it’ll be easier on his turf. More neutral, especially since we’ll all stay at a hotel. And Joe and Marie have never been to California, so at the very l
east, it’ll be a nice vacation.”
“How about you and Lydia?” Scott asked Aidan. “Set a date yet?”
“Soon. Maybe as soon as Danny gets his cast off and can be in the wedding photos without the crutches.”
“Really?” Scott paused with one skate in his hand. “Is there a reason for that?”
Aidan laughed. “If Lydia gets pregnant, you’ll be the second to know. Trust me.”
“Who’s going to be first?”
“Hopefully me.” Aidan shrugged. “But with your family, I can never be sure.”
“So why the rush?”
“I don’t think it’s a rush, exactly. She doesn’t want a big, fancy wedding. Maybe because she doesn’t have her mom...your mom. You know?”
Scott nodded, reaching down for his other skate. Losing their mom touched them all in a thousand different ways, but he’d always thought it was a little harder on his sisters. There were so many milestones and occasions a girl needed her mother for, and Tommy wasn’t the kind of dad who could fill that role.
“Anyway,” Aidan continued, “we want to be married more than we want to plan a wedding, so we’re thinking of a civil ceremony at the bar with just family.”
“Hey,” Rick said.
“All of our family. You know we wouldn’t get married without you guys.”
They walked toward the locker rooms, Scott listening to the two guys talking about getting married. He didn’t feel left out, exactly. He genuinely loved both guys and couldn’t be happier for them. But before long he’d be choosing between being an extra wheel to the married couples or hanging out with Grant and Gavin, and he was over the club scene.
“I’m going to grab a shower at home,” Rick said. “Jess sold her place so she stays at a hotel when she’s in San Diego. The Wi-Fi’s better at the office, so we usually chat before she leaves there and I’m already cutting it close.”
Fully Ignited (Boston Fire #3) Page 7