Page 11 of Anchor Point

I rolled my eyes. This was classic Rosie. No telling how long she’d been planning to make this pitch. Might as well let her finish before I shot her down. She tended to have off-the-wall ideas that she didn’t think all the way through.

“If you get me a bike.” She tossed the words out like she hadn’t been leading up to them over the last hour of our conversation.

“That’s actually not a bad idea.” At a red light, I gave her the side-eye. “When did you come up with this plan?”

“Today, on the bus,” she offered with the nonchalance of a teenager.

“And what made you, she-who-is-allergic-to-exercise, decide that riding a bike appealed to you?” I flipped on a blinker and turned into our complex. There was enough lighting that it felt safe. We had a two-story townhouse, and though there was no garage, there was plenty of space to store a bike for her.

“Shae rides hers every day. They have a great place to lock them up, and it’s out of the weather so they don’t get ruined. It’s less than a mile to the high school, and I can take neighborhood routes so I don’t get on the main road. And it’ll have me home, like, an hour sooner. And it’s faster than walking.”

She really made a good argument, and I didn’t blame her. I hated riding the bus when I was a kid. Plus, if we got two bikes, it would be something we could do together.

“Bonus, if you get a bike too, there’s a cool bike path on the other side of town, and it’d be something we can do together.”

My kid was a damn mind reader.

But she made some valid points, and I was willing to consider it. “Okay, you little psychic, we’ll check into it this weekend.”

She bolted out of the car, plastic bags rattling. “I can’t wait to tell Shae.”

I locked up the car, swallowing my emotions. My little girl was growing up, spreading her wings. Pretty soon, she would fly from the nest. And I wasn’t ready for that part of my life to change.

And on the heels of that thought, an overwhelming sense of guilt clouded in. How much disservice was I doing by keeping the truth from them? I really owed it to Mac, and to Rosie, to introduce them.

I had tried to find him. But with not even knowing his full name, nor where he was from, even social media was a bust. And Tim had been such a good father in the beginning, I’d been selfish and taken the easy option out. Tim had known about Rosie and had chosen us anyway, so there was no need to dig deeper—to make things harder. Even if I felt crushing guilt that Mac may have wanted to know his daughter. What if he’d been alone in the world all this time, and I’d cheated him out of her love?

Now it seemed my choice to stop looking for him was rearing its ugly head. I just prayed the consequences wouldn’t destroy us all.

Chapter Four

Mac

Two days passed between shifts. Forty-eight hours that would’ve been glorious if I hadn’t spent the whole time thinking about a certain new fire chief.

Where had she been all these years? And how fucking ironic that she was now my boss, much less in the same line of work as me. And how the fuck was I supposed to react? And who was the kid from the TikTok video?

I pulled up to the station, fully aware that she’d be making her visit today.

“Morning, Capt,” Big Mo called, too fucking cheerful for my mood. I grunted a hello, stalking down the hall to my bunk.

I tossed my bag into my locker, yanking my sheets and blankets out. She’d probably show up in that damn tight-ass uniform and send all these yo-yos into heat. Again.

I snapped the sheets tight. Why did she have to show up here? Why now? And why couldn’t she wear normal, loose-fitting, tent-shaped uniform pants? I flapped the blanket over the sheets and tucked the end before smoothing the corners.

“What?” I barked to the presence in my doorway.

“You okay there, Capt?” Nate stood with a shoulder propped on the doorframe. “Everything go okay at the lake?”

“Everything’s fine.”

His eyebrows shot to his forehead. “Really? It’s just that, I’ve never seen anyone make a bed up with that kind of vengeance.”

I needed to get my shit together. These guys depended on me to keep my cool. It was all they’d ever known, and they deserved better from me.

“The guys said the new chief is making her rounds,” he continued, oblivious that I absolutely did not want to talk about the chief. I didn’t even want to think about her. I’d spent the last two days thinking about her, to the point that I was ready to confront her, then maybe kiss her, and then maybe yell at her some more.

“Anyway, Torres said she’s really smart. He’s impressed. They cleaned the bay for us last night and gave us the heads-up that we might be getting a visit. We don’t know when she’ll show. So we need to be ready.” Nate paused, then asked, “You sure you’re okay, Capt? You got some heartburn or something? Your face is all red.”

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