Page 72 of Anchor Point

A little more than that, I wanted to say. I wanted to claim her. It felt wrong not to.

“From your silence,” he continued, “which is scary as fuck most of the time, except for now, when you’ve got this ‘Oh shit’ look on your face, it looks like this situation is complicated.”

“Yeah, Mac,” Nate added, punctuating my name. “How’s it feel to be around her, working for her every day? I mean, she’s hot”—I frowned at him in warning—“and we know you have history. Is it weird working for your baby mama? Think you want to make it a second-chance comeback? Inquiring minds wanna know.”

I wanted so badly to fess up. To shout to the world that Olivia and Rosie were mine. With anyone else, I’d have to deny it. And I was so tired of denying it.

I looked to the men who had worked alongside me for so many years. We’d been in life-and-death situations together. We had a bond forged in fire—literally. If I could trust anyone, it would be them.

“Things with Livvie are complicated.” All four stopped and stared at me, and I realized my mistake. Fuck.

“You don’t have a thing you need to talk about. Do you, Nate?”

“Nah. We were just covering all the bases to make sure you showed today.”

They’d made some elaborate scheme and had me sweating for their damn gossip purposes. I sighed, knowing if the shoe were on the other foot, I’d hound the shit out of them ’til they talked about whatever was eating them. Might as well take a dose of my own medicine and be out with all of it.

So I told them. I told them about Rosie getting suspended and that leading to Liv coming to the lake house. I told them about how I forced them to come to my house when I realized they might be facing a threat. I told them how confused I was about all of it, except the part about knowing I wanted them close.

Mo passed out beers from his cooler. “What are you gonna do, Mac? You know how the city is against departmental relationships.”

I scratched my head, because wasn’t that the question of the year.

“You could go to PD,” Mike offered.

“I’m no longer certified.”

“Another city department?” Thoren asked.

“Nothing is open right now, but it could be an option.”

“You’re not thinking of leaving the city entirely, are you?” Nate hit me with a horrified look.

The truth was, I didn’t know. Fighting fires was what I’d known most of my life. I didn’t have any real skill set aside from renovations. But renovation work wouldn’t pay for that balloon payment looming in the future.

“I’m not planning on going anywhere. I qualify for early retirement soon. I’ve been banking on using my leave payout, combined with what I’ve managed to save, and selling my Newman house to pay off a balloon payment on the lake house. I don’t want to leave and lose that money. I’ve mapped it out, and it’ll take all of my accruals, minus a few here and there for emergencies, but it is the only available option to keeping the lake house.”

“Can you refinance it?”

“I don’t know. I think the way it was structured meant that wasn’t an option. I’ve been checking with my bank to see.”

“What about selling?” Mo’s deep voice cut in with the words that I dreaded.

“It was the place my parents wanted to retire to. Selling it, losing it, feels like a betrayal to their memory.”

Nate reached for a second beer. “What’s the lake house got to do with the chief?”

Mo looked at him like he was struggling for patience. “Because if the higher-ups get wind of the relationship, their jobs are at stake.”

Thoren chimed in, “And that means losing his retirement payout.”

“What about that training job offer you got a couple of months ago?” Nate asked.

“I wouldn’t qualify for early retirement or my payout.” The odds just continually seemed stacked against us.

Mike added, “And with the way the mayor is gunning for the chief, he’ll try to make as big a deal as possible and fire them both. Make an example.”

“And then where would that leave Olivia and Rosie?” I finished. “I can’t take a chance on hurting them like that. Being fire chief was Olivia’s dream. I don’t wanna take a chance on losing the lake house, but I do want the opportunity to know my daughter, and maybe see where this leads with Livvie.”

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