“I’m from Houston. The weather’s a lot better here, especially in the summer.” She smiles a little. “I can actually get into my car most days and not burn my butt on the seats.”
“That’s pretty far.” She doesn’t have much of an accent that I can hear.
“Yeah, I know.” She looks away from me for a second, seemingly drifting somewhere else before she comes back to focus. “Guy trouble had me running. Well, not only guy stuff, but that’s what pushed me over the edge. I chopped off all my hair, applied to this job since it was the farthest good job I could find, and moved a couple of days after I got my offer. I like it a lot. It’s forced me to get out of my comfort zone, you know? It’s hard meeting new people and not having family around, but I think it’s been good for me.”
I nod, studying her. I feel less broken up over my move away from this town. Aside from the major haircut and career field, her story is eerily similar to mine. She actually adjusted well, or so it seems.
“That’s cool,” is all I manage to say. I don’t think I can be as open about my reasons for being here as she is without unleashing a flood of problems onto a near stranger. Maybe that’s why Grant’s friends liked him more than me — I blasted my feelings all over them, assuming friends did that sort of thing.
I top off my wine, then hers.
“The only downside is the dating scene’s a bit of a hot mess,” she continues, her voice low like the others around us will be offended.
I laugh before I can stop myself. “Yeah.”
“You’ve been burned too?” Her dark brown eyes light up, excited by our shared issue.
“I mean… kind of. It’s a long story. But I’m not surprised by it being a mess,” I reply.
“Yeah. I want to get back out there to just get over my stupid ex, but it’s hard when all the guys are so damn dull.” She rolls her left shoulder back to stretch it. She did the same thing during class, so it must be an old injury. “There are some guys at the gym who seem pretty cool, though. Maybe I’ll try there next.”
My heart races immediately, thinking of Noah. I’m not known for playing it cool when it comes to him, but I think I keep my face steady.
“Which guys?” I ask, swirling my wine.
“This guy Jordan. He’s doing the same health challenge I’m doing — which you should totally join, by the way — and he’s nice. I don’t know if he’s seeing anyone else, though. There are some other guys who go to the gym who are super hot but way too unapproachable.”
I relax a little. “What’s the health challenge?”
“It’s a thing Noah’s putting on. The person who makes the most gains on certain lifts or workout times gets a five-hundred-dollar prize,” she explains. “Sometimes, we do group workouts. How do you know Noah?”
Maybe it’s just her cute, pixie-ish face, but I can tell she’s been painfully curious about this for a while. Her dark brown eyes are wide, probably like one of her own students when they’re excited to learn something.
“Oh, he’s my older brother’s best friend,” I tell her, finishing off my wine. “We practically grew up together.”
“Ah.” She doesn’t press further, thank god. “He’s a nice guy.”
I don’t know what to say to that, because I never would think to call Noah a nice guy. Thankfully the waiter comes with our food, and I don’t have to ask her how she came to that conclusion.
The food is delicious and hits the spot almost immediately.
“Weird question — and you can totally not answer if you want — but do you know his girlfriend?” she asks. “Her name’s Jade.”
My food does a somersault in my gut, and I don’t want to think about why it did. Of course, he would have a girlfriend. And I shouldn’t care if he does or doesn’t since he’s a terrible choice for me. Giving in to my attraction to him, if he would even want me again, would be like using a wasp nest to play a game of tennis.
“I didn’t know he had one.”
“I mean, I think it’s more of a friends with benefits situation. Actually, I’m totally sure, because they don’t seem to have any friendly chemistry at all. But she’s completely nuts, so I was curious if you knew the background there. He’s so nice, and she’s so… well, she’s hot, so I guess that makes it all make sense.”
I snort. “That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.”
“Yeah, it’s crazy what guys do when they see a pretty face and an admittedly perfect butt.”
My snort turns into a laugh, and she giggles too. Maybe I’m projecting, but there seems to be a familiar bitterness behind her statement and laugh. If she’s been burned like I have and still has the energy to go back out there and date, then maybe I can learn a thing or two from her. Or at least we can be friends. She, of all people, might understand all of my neuroses.
Chapter Eight
Noah
The summer heat on top of the heat of the fire has my whole t-shirt wet under my fire suit. For the second time in two weeks, I’ve been called in to fight another fire at night. It’s been slightly drier than usual, but it’s not like we’re in California. There shouldn’t be this many spontaneous fires appearing.
I can’t think about the weirdness of it right now since we need to take care of the problem first. I aim my fire hose at the second story window of the house, my heart pounding in my ears. Another firefighter joins in to help.
“I think there’s a family pet left in there. A dog or a cat,” Henry shouts above the noise. “I’m going in.”
“Wait—” I shout back, but it’s too late. He’s running up the driveway and through the open front door.
I understand the desire to save people, but the way he’s darting into the buildings sends fear shooting through my veins. The fire’s going out with our help, but that doesn’t mean everything’s in the clear. He shouldn’t just run in without authorization from the chief, even if there is another life inside.
I swallow and focus on my job again. Even the best firefighters have lost their lives in situations like these, even when they had the go-ahead. I don’t really like Henry — okay, I flat out dislike him — but I don't want him to get hurt.
A few minutes later, Henry emerges with a bundle in his arms and runs toward the family who’s evacuated. Even in the cloud of ash and smoke, I can see their faces light up. Henry uncovers the bundle to reveal a very annoyed looking cat. A paramedic rushes in and takes the cat, doing the basic check to make sure its life isn’t in danger. Relief washes through me. The rewarding part of the job is helping people affected by fires hang on to even a little bit of their life, and clearly saving the cat did that. My irritation at Henry’s flouting of procedure fades a little bit.
Soon, the fire’s out. I go in with my boss to examine the damage. The family got off lucky. Everyone had their bedroom doors closed, so the fire only damaged the hallways, kitchen, and living room. Still, the areas that are damaged are really bad. I wander into the kitchen and take a look at the counters near the stovetop. They’re severely damaged, but not as much as they would have been if the fire had started in that area.
I keep walking around inside, checking all the areas, and following the breadcrumbs until I reach outside. I find my boss there already, looking at a dark scorch mark that has to be the source of the fire. My heart rate goes right back up to where it was in the fire. Another fire in a family home.
“Looks intentional,” I mutter, finishing up my notes on what I saw inside.
“Mmhm.” He studies the mark. “You have notes?”
I hand them over, and he examines them. Are they good notes? I look away and see Henry with a group of people around him, talking. I narrow my eyes at him. I know he's bragging about saving that cat.
“Nice work. I’ll start the investigation, and we can work on it Monday,” he says.
“You don't want help?”
The fact that the fire is intentional sets off alarm bells in my head. We now know the last fire I’d fought was intentiona
lly set. One-off intentionally set fires don't typically bug me since most of them are set by the owners for insurance money. Usually, no one’s home for those. But those are rare. Two family home arsons is worth investigating or at least keeping an eye on.
The human brain likes to seek out patterns, even when they aren’t there. Is that what I’m doing now? It all seems too close together to get a pure coincidence.
But it’s weird that it played out in the same way, with people having to go in to make saves. It might just be a hunch, but it’s a strong one.
“No, seems like it's under control. Head back to the station.”
I’m a little bummed since I wanted to help out more, but at least I’ve done something. My satisfaction in finding the probable point of origin of the fire is overshadowed with worry. I glance at the family on my way back into the second truck I came in on. They seem as okay as anyone whose home was just destroyed can be.
Either way, I’m unsettled. There are enough fires and places that require inspection for my job to exist, but there are rarely ever this many fires that give me a weird gut feeling in such a short amount of time. I’ll investigate more at the office.
I ride back to the station in the back, listening to the guys quietly talking about the fire. I rest my head on the interior wall and close my eyes, trying to decompress. It’s late, but at least it’s Saturday. I have another full day off tomorrow, which I’m thankful for. I need the sleep.
Once we get back, I start to undress right away. My sweat hasn’t had the chance to cool underneath my heavy gear, so peeling it off feels like heaven. Everyone else seems relieved too, and the post-fire tension in the air seems to dissipate.
“I’m surprised you got that cat,” Russell mentions to Henry as he puts away his helmet. “I can hardly catch our cat when we gotta take it to the vet. They go from lazy blobs to greased up fighting machines who can disappear behind anything in an instant. Nice work.”
“I’m a cat whisperer,” Henry smirks, as he hangs up his jacket. His t-shirt is wet with sweat, just like mine is, and he tugs it off. “That’s the fourth cat I’ve saved from a fire since I started here.”
“What, are you keeping a tally of your cat saves?” I ask, the words coming out sharper than I’d intended. I’m cranky, sure, but it’s just like last time. No one likes a bragger. “It’s great that you saved it, though.”
“Cats are hard to save.” He tosses his t-shirt aside, giving me a look that screams of challenge. I thought my days of being short-tempered and ready to escalate things were over, but Henry is pushing me.
Damn, I really do need sleep. I turn into a moody, posturing teenager if I’m tired at work.
“Yeah, I know.” I finish peeling off my gear and throw on a clean-ish t-shirt, just to get me home. My shower’s a hell of a lot cleaner and more private than the one here. “Just messing with you.”
“Mmhm.” Henry senses my bullshit, so at least he’s somewhat perceptive. But apparently not perceptive enough to sense that he’s inappropriately smug about his accomplishments. “I bet.”
We glare at each other.
Fuck this guy.
“Do you have a problem with that? Because if you do, then tell me,” I say.
I’m slightly taller than average, but Henry’s taller and lankier. He gets a little too close to me, just close enough to set off my asshole alarms. He’s trying to use his height as an advantage, but there’s no way I’m stepping down.
Russell steps closer to us, clearing his throat.
“Everything okay?” Russell asks.
He’s got decades on us and has probably seen young, hot-headed dudes fight all the time. More to the point: he’s been sick of this shit since before we were born. He looks at me with a particular brand of disappointment that I hate to see, but he looks at Henry with pure suspicion. In a fight between me and Henry, most of the guys would be on my side. They know me and have for years. Henry’s too new to win.
“Everything’s fine,” Henry says, giving me a death glare and turning his back on us.
I glare at the back of his head, then give Russell a shrug before stepping out.
I say goodbye and go back home after doing a few logistical things for the investigation in the office. As always, Mabel’s waiting for me when I get home, and she follows me to the bathroom. I turn on the shower and hop in, adjusting the water until it’s just cool enough to lower my body temperature, but not so cold that it keeps me awake. My brain will probably keep me awake, anyway.
It doesn’t take me long to fall back asleep once I start reading, and I sleep hard, not even dreaming.
I wake up in complete confusion, alone in bed. With my blackout curtains, I have no idea what time it is. It must be late if Mabel ditched me to go outside through her dog door, but not so late that she’d pester me for food.
I roll over and check my phone. It’s already two in the afternoon? Shit.
I get out of bed and make myself coffee, my body aching, and bones creaking with each step. I need to loosen up some, so I swing my arms around to get the blood flowing. Mabel’s sitting on the kitchen floor next to her food bowl, and looks up to me as if to say, ‘Finally, you lazy asshole’. I dump some food into her bowl and pour myself a cup of coffee, slowly waking up.
I look around the house. I renovated it when I moved in since the house is old, so I can see across the living space without any walls getting in the way. It’s clean since I have a cleaning service come in twice a week. I have my groceries delivered, so my fridge is full. I don’t have any errands to run or any work to do.
“Guess we have to relax, don’t we?” I ask Mabel, whose face is still stuffed in her food bowl.
Once she’s done, I grab a protein bar for myself, since I can’t be bothered to cook and sit on the couch in front of the TV. I scroll through Netflix and settle on some show I’ve seen a hundred times before. It’s enough for me to zone out, but unfortunately, zoning out only makes my mind wander to last night.
Maybe the two families are connected in some way…
…or maybe I’m just seeing things that aren’t there.
I close my eyes and rest my head against the couch. There’s nothing I can do about it until work tomorrow, so I try to put it out of my head.
“You want to go for a walk?” I ask Mabel after a couple of episodes. She opens one eye from where she’s napping on the opposite side of the couch and closes it, unmoved. “Or do you want to go to the dog park?”
At the words ‘dog park,’ she perks up. Dog park it is.
The dog park is a short drive from the house, and the second we get inside the fenced-in run, Mabel runs off to join a pack of dogs chasing each other around. I sit down on a bench by myself and watch her, sighing. I love dogs, and always have, but never got the chance to have one growing up. Mabel is the best dog out there, but the other dogs are fun to watch too. I try to relax and watch them do their thing, running around and barking. Some of the smaller dogs try to wrestle with the bigger ones, while Mabel plays with a dog her own size.
There’s only so long I can watch, though, before I get a little bored. Maybe I should text Jade and swing by her place for a quick hookup. Sex always makes me feel a little better, and since it’s Sunday, I can use work tomorrow as an excuse to not hang around. I can easily imagine her pouting and asking me to stay, though, which makes me hesitate. I’ve made it clear that I don’t want anything serious, but I know she likes me a little more than that. But hey, I’ve been straight with her. I don’t think I’m leading her on.
That thought just makes me think of the whole situation with Nadine. But I push it aside.
I pull out my phone to see if Jade’s around but see a text from my business partner, Ray. He’s at the gym now and asks if I want to swing by to look at some financial stuff. That sounds like a better plan than an awkward afternoon of avoiding non-sexual conversation about workout gear with Jade.
Once Mabel’s gotten all her energy out, I give her so
me water and bring her back to the car. Ray loves her, and so do the other gym goers. I’ve trained her to stay out of the way, so she sticks to the areas where people can pet her without me reprimanding her.
The moment we arrive, the kid at the front desk, Aaron, showers Mabel with affection. I tell him to bring her back to Ray’s office when he’s done playing with her, then head back to the office. The gym used to be an old warehouse before Ray and I bought it to open the gym. Since we wanted as much space for the group fitness rooms and free weights as possible, the office is tiny.
It doesn’t help that Ray is gigantic, which makes the room look even smaller. I find him sitting at his desk, his jacked shoulders straining against his t-shirt, one huge, socked foot up on the desk.
“What’s up?” he asks when I enter, grinning. His voice is the deepest I’ve heard in person, and it carries into the hall. That’s how I first met him in college — I heard his booming laugh down the hallway of our dorm and wandered out to see what the big deal was. He’s the kind of guy who’ll turn anything into a party. Luckily, he’s also incredibly responsible and on top of his shit, because otherwise, we would have gotten into a lot of trouble back then.
“Nothin’ much. I’m assuming you’ve got good news since you’ve got that goofy grin on your face.” I sit down across from him.
“Yep.” He glances out the door. “Where’s my dog?”
I roll my eyes. “You mean my dog?”
“I’m her favorite uncle.” He smirks and jiggles his computer mouse.
“She’s getting petted by everyone she comes across.” I lean forward and rest my forearms on the desk.
“Living the dream.” He clicks a few more times. “Here are the financials for this month.”
I take a look at the numbers, nodding. The gym’s been open for less than a year, and we’re already doing well. Really well.
“Wow.” I take the mouse from him and keep scrolling through the spreadsheets. “This is nuts.”
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