Page 6 of Embers of Love

That was probably true.

What the hell, nothing to lose, thought Ember to herself.

“Okay, I’ll give it a shot.”

Leilani looked surprised by her response.“You made up your mind very quickly.”

“Irealized I was just being scared. I’ll try it out, at least.”

“Excellent!”Haley clapped in delight.“Let’s do it right now.”

Ember was seized by trepidation once more.

“What if nobody finds me attractive? What if I don’t get any matches?”

Everyone froze and stared at her in surprise. Haley was the first to break in laughter.

“What the hell are you talking about?! You’re hot, you know you are, Ember.”

“She’s not joking,”Leilani agreed with a gentle smile.“You look great, Ember. You’ll get plenty of suitors. Anyway, all the girls love a firefighter.”

“Anyway, you guys know I’m like Leilani. I like hot older women. Hot older women don’t use dating apps.”

“EMBER!” Haley cried. “No more excuses. I bet there are plenty of hot older women on there!”

“Alright, alright… I’ll download it.” Ember gave into the inevitable.

True enough, soon after they established her profile, Ember had gotten multiple responses before her shift ended. She looked over some of the profiles, but noneof them reallyinterested her. Manyof themlived outside Phoenix Ridge, and shedidn’twant a long-distance relationship.

Eventually, she started scrolling, checking out other profiles herself. Shewasn’tcontent to merely sit around and wait for the right partner to find her. She wanted to go out and search by herself. Most of the people she saw had the same problem, or a lot of them looked like they wanted something shecouldn’tquiteprovide for them. Then, she stumbled upon one profile that held her attention.

“Suzanne 45,”Ember said the name out loud, lovingthe wayit rolled off her tongue.The image was of a mysterious woman in a business suit with a glass of wine. Because of the angle and the way her hair fell, you couldn’t see her face. Hot mysterious older woman—check.

Live a little, Ember thought to herself. You could do with getting laid.

Suzanne’s profile read “Just looking to have fun.” Ember found that to be exactly what she was looking for as well. At least for now.

2

JOSEPHINE

Dr Josephine Mars felt incredibly guilty. She’d sworn the Hippocratic Oath, graduated top of her class all those years ago, received all those awards for excellence as a doctor and a surgeon, only to get to this point in her life where saving lives didn’t feel as fulfilling as it used to anymore.

It might have had something to do with the fact that most of her patients these days were from the upper class in the exclusive private hospital she worked in. Too many of them too wealthy to even appreciate their own lives. What was the point of bringing someone back from the brink of death only for them to overdose the following week? Sure, they were alive, but most of them were dead inside.

“It’s not something you should feel guilty about. You’ve spent decades of your life serving the people. It’s about time you did something for yourself.”

Becky Thompson, as usual, always had very reasonable, very logical responses to all of her problems. It was one of the reasons the two of them had remained friends for so long, in spite of the distance. Well, not too long. They met at an emergency response summit in New York about five years ago and instantly connected. They decided to stay in touch after that.

They were on a late-night call, one of many they usually had. With how busy both their schedules were, it was the only time they had to actually talk and unwind. Becky Thompson, well actually, Chief Becky Thompson, was the head of the fire department at Phoenix Ridge. She knew what it was to serve, having spent most of her life as a firefighter. Those words, coming from her, carried a lot of weight.

“I’ve had enough of the wealthy patients we have here. And the men in positions of power. It has been a constant battle against them my whole life.”

“Have you ever considered moving out of New York? You might like it at Phoenix Ridge,” Becky suggested out of nowhere.

“What?!” Josephine laughed. Her friend must have been joking. The idea of moving out of the city she was born and raised in was completely outlandish.

“Consider it. Phoenix Ridge is up and coming. Women hold many of the positions of power. I think you might like it a lot.”

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