Page 15 of Silver Fox Firefighters Next Door

“I was beginning to think you boys were never going to see her at all.” He tossed his hand down and sighed. “So, your b are gossips, huh?”

Instead of shuffling again I sat back and nodded. “Giant gossips.”

Hank blew out a deep sigh and stared out the window. For the first time since I’d met the man, he looked his age and then some. “She would be happy if I took a thousand pills a day if it meant I stayed around for a while longer.”

I grunted. “A granddaughter wanting her grandfather to live longer? What a monster.”

He narrowed his eyes at me and shook his head. “I”ve listened to all the other parents around here complain and cry about how their kids never called once they left home. They didn’t call and they didn’t visit. Not my Eve. She called twice a week, every week. She came home to see me as often as she could. As soon as I got sick, she left her entire life behind to take care of me. I didn’t ask her to. She just did. Broke up with her stick in the mud boyfriend and everything.”

I rested my elbows on the table between us. “Yeah, you’re not making me feel any worse about her wanting to take care of you.”

“She needs to start her own life. I can’t live forever. Eventually I’m going to kick the bucket and I need to know she’s going to be okay without me.”

I frowned. “So, you’re telling her you’re not going back to a doctor to teach her a lesson in being alone? You’re going to need to walk me through that thought process. It sounds like she had her own life before coming back here. She was doing okay without you then, right?”

“No! She’d been dating the same loser for years and he wasn’t ever going to marry her. He was stringing her along and she was too in love to see it. She thought he hung the moon. And you want to know what he did? Two months after she was back here, he proposed to someone else. They got married a month after that. Eve needs a good man who will take care of her and love her right.”

“Fucker.” I was surprised at the amount of vitriol I felt for a man I’d never met. “That’s terrible but I still don’t know why you have to tell her you’re refusing medical care.”

“The sooner she realizes she can’t count on me to always be here, the better. I’m an old man. Maybe I’ll have another ten years in me, but I need to know she’s going to be okay before I go.” He cleared his throat and looked away but I could see the tears in his eyes. “She has to accept losing me. She’s not used to loss, despite being dealt more than her fair share.”

I shifted in my seat, suddenly uncomfortable. I wanted Eve, but I wasn’t a take care of and love her type of guy. I didn’t think Hank would be okay with me touching his granddaughter if he knew that. “Do you mean her parents?”

“I do.” He stared off in the distance behind me and frowned.

“How did they pass?”

“They didn’t. They just didn’t want me.”

I jumped at the sound of Eve’s voice behind me. Shocked I hadn’t heard her come inside, I glanced back at Hank and saw the hint of a smirk playing on his face. “You couldn’t give me a head’s up?”

“Warn a veteran like yourself? I figured you would’ve heard her coming.”

Eve walked by, the scent of vanilla a tease to my senses. “You were too busy gossiping.”

She was right. I’d been so interested in learning more about her that I was sucked into whatever Hank was saying. I saw Eve was wearing the same thing as the day before and her hair was a mess on top of her head. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked like she’d been through one hell of a time.

“Eve.” Hank sat up straighter in his chair and nodded to me. “Entertain him while I go to the little boy’s room.”

She looked like she wanted to argue with him. She chewed on her bottom lip and finally shrugged and walked over. “Fine.”

“Still mad?”

“Yep.” Her eyes flashed. “I guess I should get over it so we can enjoy the little time we have left, huh?”

I winced. She was definitely pissed off and not letting it go. I gathered the cards and started shuffling. “Play a hand with me?”

Her eyes softened when she looked at me but it wasn’t by a lot. “Sure.”

She took Hank’s spot after he left but she sat sideways in the chair, tracking him as he made his way to the bathroom. Her hands were balled into fists on her legs and I could see a tremor go through her whole body.

“He’s okay, Eve. I checked him out when I got here and the cut on his head already looks better. His arm is sore and bruised all to hell and back but there’s no sign of any major damage.” I spoke quietly so Hank wouldn’t hear and get cranky. “How are you?”

She swallowed and looked down at her hands. “Not great. I don’t know if I want to hit or hug him.”

“He really is okay, Eve. We wouldn’t let him sit here and suffer. I promise.” I reached forward and tipped her chin up. “Did you stay with a friend last night?”

She held my gaze for a moment and then looked down again. “No. I drove towards the city and just slept in my car. Except I couldn’t really sleep because I have a healthy fear of being murdered. My passenger door doesn’t lock. I just couldn’t come back here last night.”

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