The Single Dad - A Standalone Romance (A Single Dad Firefighter Romance)

by Claire Adams

  “Are they always that quick?” Cal asked, watching with awe.

  “Yep, that’s the power of having thousands of local volunteers in every community,” I nodded. “They always have someone ready to go. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it.”

  As we loaded up the engine for the trip home, Tony came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder.

  “You okay, B?” he asked quietly. “You don’t seem like you’re in the game today.”

  “I’m okay,” I replied. “Just got a lot on my mind.”

  “Well, you’d better get some of it off your mind before Chief calls you to the carpet,” he said, adding, “Or someone gets hurt.”

  I stood by the side of the truck holding my helmet as Tony hauled himself back up into the cab, knowing I had to get Emily out of my head.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Emily

  The sun shone through the windows in my classroom on an unseasonably warm Friday afternoon in February as I handed back the graded tests to my sophomore History class. I praised them for their hard work and attempts at addressing the finer points of early 20th century immigration, and reminded the ones who hadn’t done as well that they still had several more chances to make up for less than stellar grades.

  “Nice work, Nina,” I said with a big smile, as I set her test down on her desk. She gave me a nervous look that quickly turned into a wide smile as she saw that the grade on the top of the page was an A.

  “Thank you, Ms. Fowler,” she said, smiling up at me.

  “Don’t thank me; you did the hard work!” I said, returning her smile. I handed out the rest of the papers and then went over the answers before the bell rang.

  Nina hung back as her friends headed to their next classes. Nervously, she approached my desk and said, “Ms. Fowler, I need to talk to you.”

  “Okay, what’s up?” I replied, looking up from the computer where I was pulling up a PowerPoint lecture for the next class.

  “Not now,” she said, looking toward the door and then back at me. “After school?”

  “Are you all right, Nina?” I asked, suddenly worried.

  “Yeah, fine,” she nodded. “I just need to talk to you in private.”

  “Okay, I’ll wait here for you after the last bell,” I agreed. She nodded, then turned and ran out the classroom door.

  I spent the last two periods of the school day worried that something was wrong with Nina. I had a sinking feeling that she was going to tell me she was pregnant and ask for help telling her parents. I sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case, but I steeled myself just in case it was. I didn’t want to be judgmental, but I wasn’t at liberty to offer her any advice on how to deal with the situation outside of advising her to tell her parents.

  I was packing up my things and had all but given up on Nina showing up when she entered the classroom. She looked subdued and less than happy. As much as I wanted to launch into a series of questions, I forced myself to hold back and wait for her to speak first.

  “Ms. Fowler, I feel like I have a problem,” she began nervously. “I want to be able to talk to my dad about it, but I don’t know how to start the conversation.”

  “Your dad’s a pretty straightforward person,” I said, hesitating a little. “It’s probably best just to approach him in a direct manner and say what’s on your mind. He loves you more than anything, and I’m sure he’d be happy to talk to you about any problem you have.”

  “But see, that’s just it,” she said. “It’s not technically my problem.”

  “Oh, is that so?” I said, feeling my stomach begin to churn. Teenagers had a way of asking questions “for a friend” that made me wish I could free them from the shame and guilt they felt asking for themselves.

  “Yeah, it’s actually kind of his problem,” she continued, looking up at me before shifting her eyes back down to the floor and shuffling nervously. I waited, knowing that if I interrupted, she might get spooked and stop talking. When she looked back up at me, she said, “Look, my dad misses you. He’s old and stubborn, and he won’t talk about it with me, but I can tell that for the past month he’s been really lonely without you.”

  “Oh, I…well, it’s complicated,” I began, and then stopped. I had no idea what to say. I’d missed him terribly, but I had no idea how to approach the issue of my family with him. It felt too huge and overwhelming to have to explain the situation, and then to have to endure the humiliation of admitting that my family was the polar opposite of his, well, that felt like more than I could stand.

  “I know you might not want to hear this, maybe you moved on and have a new boyfriend,” she said quickly. “But I saw my parents together before the divorce, and my dad was never as happy with my mom as he was when I saw him with you. He was calmer. More patient. And since you’ve been gone, he’s just kind of shut down and gone back to being a grumpy old man. I know he misses you.”

  “I see,” I nodded, as I listened to her talk about the differences she’d seen over the past month.

  “I thought maybe if you could talk to him…” she trailed off before shrugging and saying, “Maybe you could talk some sense into him, you know? I mean, maybe he’d apologize for being a jerk, and you’d take him back.”

  I bit my tongue to keep from laughing at the idea that it was Blake’s fault we’d split up. If only Nina knew the truth, then she’d probably hate me, too.

  “Look, I know you’re sad about your dad and me, but I think he knows what’s best for him,” I explained. “I don’t think it’s right to blame him for everything, either. We are both adults.”

  “They why don’t you both act like it?” Nina blurted. “You guys are always telling us teenagers to be honest and talk things out. Why can’t you follow your own advice?”

  “Oh, Nina,” I said, chuckling as I rubbed my eyes. “Were it only that easy.”

  “It is,” she said, staring at me. “It is that easy. You just have to say what’s going on and then talk about how to fix it.”

  “Well, as much as I like the idea…” I began, as a knock on the classroom door interrupted the conversation. I looked up and called, “Come in!”

  The door opened and through it walked Blake. I looked at him and then back at Nina, who now had a satisfied grin on her face. I shot her a look before I smiled and said, “Hello, Mr. Gaston. It’s nice to see you again.”

  “Hello, Ms. Fowler; it’s good to see you, too,” he replied, giving Nina the same confused look that I had given her moments before. “Nina told me you wanted to see me about her grades.”

  “She did?” I said, looking back at Nina, who was slowly making her way to the door. “Wait a minute, young lady.”

  “Nope, I wanted you two to talk. Bye!” she chirped, before quickly yanking open the door and running out into the hall.

  Silence filled the room as Blake and I stared at the open door and empty hallway, listening to the sounds of footsteps growing fainter. I looked back at him and inhaled sharply. He was even more handsome than I remembered. His hair was a little longer and, as a result, the salt-and-pepper gray was a little more pronounced, but the five o’clock shadow made him look a little more tired than I remembered him being.

  I stood staring at him from across the room and couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Blake

  I wasn’t sure if Emily was mad at me or not, but by the look on her face, I could tell she was surprised that I was here. I stood awkwardly at the door waiting for a sign from her, and when I didn’t get one, I cleared my throat and walked across the room.

  “So, Nina tells me she’s failing History,” I said, feeling both angry and ashamed that my daughter was doing so poorly in Emily’s class.

  “What are you talking about?” Emily asked, looking more surprised than she had when I walked into the room. “She just got her exam back, and she got an A on it.”

  “You mean she’s not failing?” I asked.

  “
She’s passing with flying colors,” Emily replied tersely. “I’m not sure why you’re here.”

  “I’m here because Nina…” I said, trailing off, as I realized that my daughter had set me up. I chuckled softly as I shook my head. “She’s a piece of work, that one.”

  “What do you mean?” Emily asked, giving me an irritated look.

  “I mean that she wanted you and me to get back together, so she engineered this whole thing,” I said. “For someone as smart as you are, you sure do miss the obvious.”

  “Oh, right,” she said, turning her gaze toward the window on the opposite side of the classroom. “Missing the obvious.”

  “Emily, why did you get so mad at me?” I blurted. As soon as the words had left my mouth, I wished I could haul them back and swallow them.

  “I…don’t know how to explain my family,” she said, shaking her head slowly. She avoided my gaze as she continued, “My parents aren’t bad people, but some of the things they do…”

  “It’s okay; you don’t have to explain. I get it; they’re your parents,” I said. “I just didn’t understand why you got mad at me.”

  “I was mad at the situation,” she sighed. “I was mad that you and my father were fighting. Mad that I felt like I had no say in the matter. Mad that you have perfectly wonderful parents who treat you like a person, not a possession.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, unsure of what else I could say, and not willing to risk pushing her further away. “I’m just sorry, Emily.”

  “No, it’s not you,” she said, shaking her head as she covered her face with her hands. She cried, “I’m just tired of fighting them all the time. Nothing is ever good enough.”

  “Emily…” I said, as I moved around the desk and pulled her into my arms. I could feel her shaking in my arms as I held her tightly and gently rocked back and forth. “It’s okay. Shhh. It’s okay.”

  I could hear the second hand of the clock over the door ticking as I held Emily and waited for the sobs to subside. In a few minutes, she lifted her head and stared up at me with tear-stained cheeks.

  “I’ve tried to distance myself from them,” she said, forcing back a sob. “I don’t want their money or their things. I just want some peace in my life, you know?”

  Unsure of what to say, I simply nodded and waited for her to finish.

  “My family has a lot of money, and they use that money to get the things they want regardless of the cost,” she said. “There’s always a price to be paid with them, though. And you’re never free and clear. Never.”

  “You’re right, I don’t understand what you’ve been through,” I said, as I held her and slowly ran my hand up and down her back trying to soothe her. “But I assure you that I definitely don’t have a normal family. They are as weird as a family can get.”

  “But they’re so nice!” she wailed, as she pressed her face against my chest and cried. “My family is not nice at all.”

  “Emily, listen to me,” I said, speaking softly as I rested my chin on the top of her head. “It’s not your fault you have a family that drives you crazy. It’s not your fault that your father insulted me. It’s not your responsibility to find a way to excuse your family’s behavior and live with it. The only responsibility you have is to be true to yourself.”

  “Thanks, Shakespeare,” she mumbled into my chest.

  “I’m serious,” I said, pulling back and tipping her chin up so that she was looking at me. “You are only responsible for you. End of story.”

  Emily nodded as her eyes filled with tears again. I leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead before pulling her back into my arms. I knew I’d missed her, but until this moment, I hadn’t realized just how much I’d missed her. I heard the classroom door open behind me, and when I turned to see who it was, I saw Nina smiling and giving me two thumbs up. I shook my head, and she quietly closed the door leaving Emily and me alone again.

  “I’m a mess,” Emily said, pulling back and wiping her eyes. “I need to clean up and get out of this school.”

  “How about I take you out for a nice dinner and then you can go home and get a good night’s sleep,” I suggested, hoping that she would say yes to dinner, and trying to come up with an alternate plan in case she said no.

  “I don’t know,” she said, pulling away before starting to pack up her books and papers. “I should get home. I’ve got a lot of grading to do.”

  “It’s just dinner, Emily,” I said, frantically trying to think of a reason she couldn’t refuse. When I found it, I smiled, “I know that Nina would appreciate it if you were there to help celebrate her improved History grade.”

  “Oh my God, you’re going to use your daughter to blackmail me into having dinner with you?” Emily laughed.

  “Yep. I’m going to use every weapon in my arsenal to get you to have dinner with me,” I said with a grin.

  “Fine, I’ll have dinner with you two,” Emily smiled, as she finished packing up her things and grabbed her coat.

  I took Emily and Nina to the diner on Lexington for dinner, and for several hours we sat and laughed about everything and nothing. It was good to see Emily slowly returning to the way she had been before the confrontation with her parents, but there was something in her eyes that told me that whatever had happened at her house wasn’t quite over yet.

  On the drive home, Nina sang loudly with the radio from the back seat and then nudged me once I’d parked in the driveway in front of Emily’s house.

  “Dad, walk her up to the front door!” Nina urged. “It’s totally rude not to do that!”

  “Where are you getting your information from, young lady?” I said, shooting her a warning look.

  “It’s okay, I’m fine,” Emily laughed, as she got out of the truck and headed up toward the front door.

  “Dad!” Nina whispered. “Go! Now! You need to give her a goodnight kiss!”

  “Don’t lecture me, daughter,” I said sternly before getting out of the truck and following Emily up to the door.

  “Seriously, I’m fine, Blake,” Emily said, turning to look at me. Before she could say anything else, I cupped her chin with my hand, bent down and softly kissed her lips. When I pulled back, Emily let out a small sigh and said, “Oh.”

  “Do you want to have dinner with me and my nice family tomorrow night?” I asked. “I would like it, and I know they would, too.”

  Emily nodded before turning the key in the lock and letting herself into the house. I watched with a big grin on my face as she turned to close the door.

  “I’ll pick you up at 5!” I shouted, just before she closed the door. When I returned to the truck, Nina flashed me a big grin and two thumbs up.

  “Way to go, Dad!” she cheered, as she climbed over the backseat and took her place in the passenger seat. “Let’s rock and roll!”

  Chapter Thirty

  Emily

  The next afternoon, I spent a long time getting ready for my date with Blake and his family. I pulled everything out of KO’s closet trying to find something decent to wear. I passed on the T-shirts with obscene sayings on them in favor of a fluffy pink angora sweater that KO had shoved in the back of her closet. I paired the sweater with the new jeans I’d bought after the fire and a pair of black leather boots. The effect was a juxtaposition of innocence and danger.

  I’d just finished brushing out my hair when I heard a knock on the front door, followed by the sound of it opening.

  “Emily? Are you here?” Nina called as she entered the house.

  “In the back bathroom finishing up!” I called back as I dabbed a little more lipstick on my lips and smacked them together to set it. I took a last look at myself in the mirror and smiled, “Perfect.”

  “Oh, you look good!” Nina exclaimed as I emerged from the bedroom. “You look really good, Emily!”

  “Why thank you,” I smiled. I headed to the kitchen calling, “Howard! Dinner!”

  “Where is the little rascal?” Nina asked, as she looked around
the living room for the ball of orange fluff that was my cat. I guessed she’d found him when I heard her holler, “Ouch! Bad kitty!”

  “Howard, what are you doing to Nina?” I yelled, as I dumped his food into his bowl and then reached for his water bowl.

  “He smacked me!” Nina said, as she came into the kitchen holding one hand with the other. “I was petting him, and he just reached out and smacked me with his claws.”

  “He’s kind of a jerk that way,” I said, pulling her hand away from the injured one and taking a look at the scratches. Howard had left his mark, but it didn’t look too serious. I cleaned the wounds with warm water and soap and then put a bandage over them. “That should be okay; I don’t think there will be lasting damage.”

  “What a jerk,” Nina muttered, as she perched on the stool and watched Howard eat his dinner. “Boys.”

  “They’re not all jerks,” I laughed, as I checked my purse to make sure I had everything I needed. “Your dad’s a good one.”

  “Yeah, but I can’t date my dad,” she grumbled. I sensed that something else was going on, but I didn’t know if I should pry.

  “I take it you know one of these jerk boys?” I said in as off-handed a manner as I could muster.

  “Yeah,” she muttered. There was a long pause before she spoke again. “Emily, why do boys say they like you in private and then act like they hate you around their friends?”

  “Ahhh, the age old question,” I said, nodding. “I think your dad would be much better able to answer that question, don’t you?”

  “No. He’d just want to go after the guy and beat him up,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t want my dad anywhere near my love life.”

  “He lets you near his,” I said, trying to encourage her to talk to Blake without sounding overly adult.

  “Yeah, but that’s totally different,” she said. “I’m the kid. I have no say in what he does. Plus, I like you.”