“Call me tomorrow, Ian,” Joshua ordered.
“Will do. Thanks for the ride, Rick.” Without a backward glance, he headed into his house.
Rick heard Joshua’s phone beep with an incoming text. “Hey, why don’t you drop me over at Sam’s? He promised me a beer when I got back, and then he’ll drop me home.”
“Sounds good.” Rick was glad to hear that Joshua seemed to be in a good space. He was worried about Ian.
As if Joshua reading Rick’s mind, he said, “Ian will be fine. He just needs some space to clear his head. Give him twenty-four hours and he’ll be good as new.”
“Good to know.” Rick smiled. He turned the big car around and headed to Sam Booth’s house. When they got there, he wasn’t surprised to see two trucks and two cars in the driveway. There was always activity going on at the Reynolds-Booth residence. What’s more, Rick had heard via the Fate Harbor grapevine that they had recently added a semi-permanent houseguest, and she was pretty. Normally, he would have tried to wrangle his way in, but he figured Joshua needed some private time with his friends.
Rick watched as Joshua climbed out of the vehicle, happy that he could turn up the volume on the stereo. He was really going to have to think about his career. Did he really have what it took to be a fire fighter? Especially for the large forest fires. Rick drove back home deep in thought.
* * * *
Joshua was grateful to see Sam waiting for him at the top of the porch steps with a beer in his hand. However, it was a little disconcerting to see a baby in the other arm.
Joshua thanked Rick for the ride, grabbed his duffel bag, and made his way to the top of the porch.
“Joshua Parker, I gotta tell you, I’m happy to see you alive and well. Welcome home. Have a seat.” Sam motioned to the spot beside him and handed Joshua the beer. Joshua saw that it was his favorite brand. He sat down beside Sam, looking out over the gravel driveway, the cars, the trees, and the rhododendrons.
“Is there a reason we’re sitting out here, and we’re not inside?”
“Figured you could use some quiet time before the barrage of questions and well-wishing.” Joshua considered it for a moment then nodded in agreement. Sam was the quiet one in this household. He and his best friend had married a woman a little over a year ago. Sam’s friend Chance Reynolds was never still or quiet, and their wife was the glue that kept them together. Joshua was closest to Sam. His peacefulness was a good balance to Joshua’s outgoing nature in the same way that Ian complemented Joshua. Sam and Joshua sat and sipped their beers, and finally Joshua answered Sam’s question.
“Yep, you’re right, quiet time was definitely needed.” Then he tipped his chin at the baby. “And Lissa, why’d you bring her out here to greet me?”
“You experienced loss and death. That eats at you. You need to experience birth and life. Are you done with your beer?” Joshua nodded. “Hold out your hands.”
“I haven’t ever held a baby,” Joshua admitted.
“Lissa will forgive you for that. She likes being held by everyone. Make sure you hold her head, like this.” Sam showed him and then handed over his daughter to Joshua. In an instant Joshua had this infant in his hands, this scrap of new life held against his chest, looking up into his eyes, trusting. Joshua couldn’t look away. She had a tuft of black hair and brown eyes. She was the image of her mother. She pushed out of her swaddling and then her little arms and hands were free, reaching up, and Joshua looked over at Sam in alarm.
“It’s okay, man. Who wants to be strapped down? Lissa wants to be free to wiggle around whenever possible,” Sam explained.
“How old is she?”
“She’s nine weeks old. She just started sleeping six hours a night, giving us a break.” Sam smiled down at his daughter. “You’re a good girl, giving your mom, dad, and daddy some sleep.”
“So that’s how that works? You guys are just Dad and Daddy?” Joshua asked.
“Yep. Won’t matter if one comes out looking like Chance or me. We’re both going to be their dad and daddy. I gotta tell you, this is the best thing I ever decided to do.”
“Being a father?” Joshua asked.
“The whole thing. Chance and I aren’t intimate, I know that works in some triad relationships, but not ours. But when we married Josie, all three of us entered this marriage, it wouldn’t have worked otherwise. He’s my brother, and I have this sense of peace knowing that if anything were to ever happen to me, that Josie is taken care of. Then came Lissa, and everything became even bigger. I didn’t know I was capable of holding so much love in my heart. So after the awful shit you’ve just been through, I wanted to share a little slice, and I thought by holding Lissa that might be a way to do it.”
Joshua looked down at the beautiful baby in his arms again and saw her looking up at him solemnly, and realized her soul was so new it was still close to heaven, and he did find comfort. “Thank you, Sam.”
“You ready to go inside now?”
“Sure, but you’re going to have to carry her. I’m not comfortable holding and walking at the same time.”
“Gotcha.” Sam grinned, carefully taking his daughter from his friend’s arms. They walked into the house, and Joshua was immediately beset by sound.
“I don’t need a nurse, and if you try to hire one, I’m leaving.” It was a woman’s voice that Joshua had never heard before.
“I’ll hire a goddamn nurse if I want to, and your ass is staying as long as I say you’re staying,” Chance roared. At the sound of her father’s loud voice, Lissa immediately started to whimper in Sam’s arms. Sam walked up to Chance, who was locked in an argument with a beautiful blonde woman, and placed Lissa in his arms.
“If you’re going to make her cry, you have to deal with her,” Sam said with a smirk. Then he sat down on the couch where he could easily see the two combatants. “Please,” he said, waving his arm, “continue.”
Joshua watched as Chance’s lips twitched, and the woman came over to look at the baby in Chance’s arms.
“Seriously, Chance, I don’t need a nurse. I’m just having trouble sleeping because of nightmares,” the woman explained softly.
“Where’s Josie?” Joshua leaned over and whispered to Sam.
“One of her friends came and picked her up for a lunch. I think they’re going to the spa, at least I hope they are. They’re supposed to pick up Karen, too,” Sam said, naming another woman in town who had also recently had a baby.
“Olivia, if you’re having trouble sleeping, shouldn’t you be taking the medication that the doctor prescribed? They said it was really important you get your rest, otherwise your recovery will take a lot longer.” Joshua could hear the caring in Chance’s voice now that he wasn’t yelling.
“Chance, I hate how the sleeping pills make me feel in the mornings. What’s more, they aren’t normal nightmares. I really think they’re flashbacks to the night I was attacked.”
“Oh, honey.” Chance reached out to her with his empty arm and brought her in close to his body, hugging her tight. “I know it must be hard to believe that homeless people beat you like this, but you know some of them are just sick, and someone must have just snapped.” Chance kissed her temple. Joshua watched as the willowy blonde leaned into Chance Reynolds, but he noted that she quickly stood straight, as if she would only allow herself a minimum amount of comfort.
“But that’s just it, Chance. I don’t think it was a homeless person. I keep seeing men in suits. I was right at the entrance of AHC, and I was knocked down by two men in suits. That keeps playing over and over again in my head.” Chance looked at her in sympathy.
“You sustained major head trauma. You’re confused.”
“The money was still in my jeans pocket, if it was a homeless person, it wouldn’t have been. But the key to the building wasn’t in my pocket, it was gone. In my flashback, I remember it being knocked out of my hand. I was at the front of the building just going to unlock it, when I was knocked over.” Joshua coul
d see how she really wanted Chance to believe her.
“Security cameras should have this on tape,” Joshua interrupted. Two sets of blue eyes turned to him. Joshua noticed that Olivia’s were almost turquoise.
“What do you mean?” Olivia finally asked.
“The building you were going into, is it a big building?” Joshua asked.
“A high-rise, in Boston,” she confirmed.
“There you go,” Joshua said. “They’ll have security cameras at the entrance. You should be able to find out if you were really at the entrance and if two men in suits knocked you down. Simple enough.”
Chance smiled, rocking his baby. “Then if we can’t find anything, we’ll know it’s just a nightmare, and you can take the sleeping pills the doctor prescribed. Seriously, Olivia, instead of getting better, you’ve lost weight since you’ve been here.” Joshua took a closer look at the woman, noting the mauve circles under her eyes, and she did look like she could afford to eat a few more meals. However, there was no denying she was all woman. Joshua had always been attracted to lean, high-breasted women, with legs that didn’t quit. This woman hit every one of his buttons. He liked what he saw, right down to the light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
“Chance, I haven’t lost weight,” she protested. Chance walked over to the couch and handed Lissa to Sam then strode back to Olivia. He grabbed the waistband of her jeans and pulled, showing her the extra room. “Olivia, these were damn near fitting when you arrived,” Chance bit out.
Joshua stood up. “Whoa there, Chance, you just said the lady was sick, there’s no reason to manhandle her.” Chance let go of her jeans and stood back.
“You’re right, Joshua. I’m sorry, Olivia, but you’re driving me nuts. You’ve got to let me hire a nurse. I think you’ve gotten worse since you arrived, not better.” Joshua could see the real pain in the man’s expression.
“It seems to me what would really help Olivia is if you could find out if these are nightmares or flashbacks,” Joshua stated.
“It would. These dreams have been driving me crazy. Thank you for thinking of the security cameras.” She turned her blue gaze to him, and Joshua felt a warm sensation in his chest. Even with circles under her eyes and no makeup she was gorgeous.
“You’re welcome,” he finally managed to respond. Sam stood up beside him.
“I don’t think you two were properly introduced. This is my friend Joshua Parker. He’s one of the firefighters here in Fate Harbor. He just got back from Montana today. Joshua, this is Olivia Ann Prescott, she’s my sister and Chance’s. She was raised by the Hutchins. She wasn’t there the same time Josie was, though.” Olivia stepped forward and held out her hand. Joshua took it and was unsurprised by the slight shock of energy that pulsed up his hand. What did surprise him was the slight flicker of her blonde lashes and the darkening of her blue eyes that said the shock had registered with her, too.
“Sister, huh? They must have made your life miserable growing up,” Joshua teased.
“Actually, a girl could have had worse brothers. So, you’re a firefighter? What were you doing in Montana?” Like that, Joshua remembered that Sam and Chance were foster brothers, which meant that Olivia had likely grown up in the foster care system as well, so he let her change the topic back to him.
“There was a large forest fire in Montana. They called in firefighters from neighboring states.”
“Oh my God, I heard about that on the news. Some firefighters died, didn’t they?” She placed her hand on his bicep in empathy, and he actually did find it comforting.
“Yes, two men,” Joshua said tightly. She gave him a long look then turned to Chance. “Come on, big brother, we need to call Boston for those security tapes.” They headed down the hall toward Chance’s office.
“Let’s head to the deck and grab another beer, before I have to put Lissa down for a nap,” Sam suggested.
“Sounds like a plan.” The reason Joshua had wanted to spend time with Sam was that Sam had served in Afghanistan and understood the loss of colleagues. They made a detour to the fridge on the way out the sliding glass door to the large deck that overlooked the backyard and lake. It was a soothing view. Joshua had grown up in Phoenix Arizona, where the temperatures soared in the summer. He loved the fact that here in Washington state, it was late July and only in the mid-seventies. He could see Mt. Rainer off in the distance. It was a gorgeous day to sit back on the patio chair and just breathe in the clean air.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Yeah,” Joshua admitted. He explained how the wind had suddenly changed, and nobody had expected it. He, Ian and six others were damn near trapped by the fire. A chopper came and dropped water, giving some of them a way out, but two men had been caught by falling trees. Joshua and Ian had run back, but by the time they got to them it was too late. When they then turned to leave they thought they were done for, but Ian was able to see a way out, and pulled Joshua through to safety.
“Jesus, Sam, I can’t name the number of times Ian has saved my ass.” Joshua didn’t look at his friend, just peeled the label off of his beer bottle.
“I imagine you guys are pretty even. Ian doesn’t open up as much as you do. But he has been pretty specific that he wouldn’t be here if not for you.” Joshua cut his eyes over at Sam and shrugged. “I’m glad you came over. I’m glad you’re talking about it.”
“Well, I do have the degree in psychology, remember? I know that holding onto this shit is toxic. Unlike some of you poor bastards that have to hold onto it for years, before you’re dragged kicking and screaming into counseling, I know to let go of it as it happens.” Joshua’s eyes lit up in amusement as he teased his friend, and the fact that Sam smiled back told him just how far Sam had come in dealing with his own demons.
“Hey, that was a good call on the security cameras,” Sam complimented.
“Thanks. Used to be part of my job,” Joshua reminded him.
“I’d forgotten that. How long were you with the police department?”
“Three years, then I went into arson investigation. Dad was a firefighter. He managed to talk me off the force, and onto the team of angels, as he put it.” Josh chuckled.
“Wasn’t Ian a cop, too?”
“Yep, but he was one anal son of a bitch, so he ended up doing crime scene investigation. We’ve been friends since high school. When I made the change to firefighting he wasn’t interested. But as soon as I went into arson investigation, he made the move, too. That was right up his alley.”
“What made you guys come to Fate Harbor? I mean I know Ian’s aunt left him her home, but it seems like a pretty drastic change. Most people would have just sold it for the cash and moved on.”
“It was our last case. Fourteen arson fires, turned out to be a mental patient, and he killed over forty people before we stopped him. If you’ll pardon the pun, we were burned out. Especially Ian. Eric and Dane met us working a forest fire down our way, and we stayed with them when we came up here to see Ian’s property. Eric offered us jobs, and that was three years ago.”
“Are you thinking about going back?”
“Not to Phoenix, but maybe to a more metropolitan area, where they need arson investigators. We both like Washington, so I’ve put out some feelers in Seattle,” Joshua said.
“I’d hate to see you go,” Sam said.
“We’re still just at the exploring stage. We’ll see how it all works out. When does Lissa go down for her nap? I’m about ready to go down for my nap too,” Joshua admitted.
“She needs a bottle first. Josie has some breast milk in the fridge. Give me twenty minutes, and I’ll be ready to take you home. Why don’t you just lay out here and enjoy the sun?” Sam got up to feed his daughter, and Joshua put his feet up on the reclining chair.
Sometime later a voice said, “Mind if I join you?”
Joshua opened his eyes, knowing it was Olivia. “I would love the company. How’d you get away from your guardian?”
“Sam got to feed Lissa, so Chance gets to put her down for her nap. I’m no contest over Lissa, she wins every time,” she acknowledged ruefully.
“Hmm,” Joshua hummed, looking her over. “I would think it would be a tough call.” He liked seeing the blush that suffused her face.
“As much as I enjoy the flirting, I actually came out here to thank you. We put in a call to the building security. They’re going to review the tapes for the night in question.” Joshua watched as Olivia traced the seam of the patio chair cushion.
“I’m betting they find something,” he said with confidence.
Olivia looked up quickly. “Why do you say that?” she asked.
“You just seem very put together. If you were one of my witnesses, I would tend to believe you and I would want to follow up on your story.”
“You sound like a cop. I thought you were a fireman.”
“I was a cop, in another life.”
“Well, I appreciate the compliment, but you don’t have all the facts, Joshua.” Olivia’s eyes strayed downward as she went back to tracing the seam with her finger. Joshua was surprised how much he liked hearing her say his name. Considering the last ten days of his life, and how he had come over here to decompress, he was amazed he was reacting so strongly to this woman. But maybe that was why he was. Maybe it was that he had just been so close to death and he wanted something life affirming, and what was more life affirming than sex? Then he realized what she had just said.
“I beg your pardon. What facts don’t I have, Olivia?”
“I suffered a major head injury that night. I was in a coma for three weeks afterward. We still don’t know if I’ve suffered any brain damage, and if so, we don’t know the extent of the damage. I don’t remember anything about the attack, so my having a flashback is really unlikely.” Despite the fact she looked tired, and a little underweight, this woman was all spine. This was the first time she had seemed a little lost since he had first met her, and it bothered him. He liked it better when she was hissing like a pissed-off kitten.
Protecting Olivia [Fate Harbor 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 3