Page 25 of Shelter for Morgan

"That's Thora. Her sweet little girl is Gia, and that adorable baby is Pax. She's married to Rush. Oliver Quintero."

Morgan took a seat near Kylie. "Is there a chart I can study? I'm going to be so lost with all of the people I'm meeting. My brain is already taxed with my students."

Thora laughed and the baby in her arms smiled around his bottle. "I know, it's a lot, but believe me. You'll come to a few events with the firefighters and before long you'll be swimming along just fine. It's a bit of crazy but it's a good crazy. The people here are the best of the best."

Thora's little girl looked up and grinned at her. "Book!" She pointed at the book in her lap.

"That's a lovely book, Gia."

Morgan looked up and saw Thora smiling at her. "She's gorgeous."

"Thank you," Thora adjusted the baby in her arms. "I'm truly blessed." She turned to look at Kylie before turning her attention to Morgan again. "We're glad you drove by. We were going to ask when we were going to welcome you to San Antonio."

"Me?" Morgan found the idea tickled her. "Does this qualify as a welcome?"

"No." Kylie shook her head. "It's definitely not enough. We've been trying to get Rhett to come to more events and now I think we'll have more of a chance now that you're here."

"Now that I'm here?" She looked between the two women and saw their expectant looks. "I don't know if something got twisted around, but I'm just rooming with Palmer, I mean, Rhett, until I can find a place of my own."

"Sure." Kylie bit into her bottom lip, her eyes almost glittering with something like glee.

Thora tapped her fingertip on her baby's nose. "Of course."

"I feel like I'm missing the joke here."

"No joke," Kylie tried to reassure her. "It's just a feeling that Thora and I have. After she talked to Rush and I talked to Peace, we called each other, and we both had the same feeling about the two of you."

"You both had a feeling about me."

The two women nodded at the same time.

"More specifically, you and Rhett." Kylie leaned back on the couch, smiling ear-to-ear. "We think that the two of you are going to be a great match."

Morgan got up and moved a couple of steps away from the couch. "Do they have a carbon monoxide alarm here in the fire house?"

The two women looked at each other and Morgan continued on. "I'm worried that there might be a gas leak or something in here that's making you both a little... confused. I'm just the little sister of one of Palmer's friends from Center City.

"Palmer didn't even remember me from before. He told me he thought that Jacob had been asking for his younger brother to sofa surf for a bit. A guy." Thinking the words had been more than a little painful. Saying it out loud in front of strangers... his friends, she felt that cut deep.

"Oh, that's... that's horrible!"

Thora nodded at Kylie. "But that's a thing that some guys do. They don't necessarily look around them. Rhett's focused when they're on calls. He's super at what he does."

"He was a firefighter in Center City when I first met him," Morgan couldn't help the rising tide of energy that rushed forward when she thought about him. "My brother works for the Police Department," she held up her hands, "please don't throw things."

The ladies laughed, but it was Thora who spoke as she gently removed the bottle from her baby’s mouth and hands. "No need to throw anything. It sounds like you’re mostly joking, but I should let you know that the majority of folks working in the First Responder community here in San Antonio are amazing."

"Okay, I wasn't all that sure. When I talk to Palmer about work, I get mostly two- or three-word answers."

She wanted to tell them that it was the quiet between those words that made a real impact on her, where she could look her fill at his face without feeling like she had to speak and not completely embarrass herself blurting out words like 'You're Amazing.' or 'I'd love to kiss you.'

"I have a feeling that you see a completely different guy at home than we see here."

Morgan smiled at Kylie. "I guess?"

Thora gave Kylie a playfully reproachful look. "Careful, she's going to know that we're too curious to play it cool."

Morgan blushed at that. "There's nothing really to tell. I barely knew him before coming to San Antonio. And he certainly didn't know me."

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