Page 112 of Set Me On Fire

“Fuck, babe?—”

“Babe…!”

OK, enough, I thought, slapping my hands over my eyes and thanking the gods for waterproof mascara. One breath, then another, I focussed on them, trying to get my shit together. I was still taking those weird hiccupy kinds of breaths when I finally pulled them away. Charlie was staring, looking completely befuddled, and with good reason. He offered me a goddamn croissant and I devolved into hysterics. When I could finally trust myself to talk like a normal person, I spoke up.

“Thank you for…” I shrugged and shook my head. “Everything, really. I appreciate it. That whole trust thing we need to talk about, but right now I need to get my head together.” I looked around and then slid my hand towards his, brushing my fingers against it, and he gripped it tight. “I need this job. My mum did the stay at home thing and it worked for her, so no shade on anyone who does that. It’s really, really hard, but that’s not me. I think I’d go spare from the constant cleaning at the very least.”

“Hire a cleaner.” He tried to make a joke of it, but we both heard the shake in his voice. “Got it.”

“So I need to get into the office?—”

“Before you do that.” His hand clamped down, and the smile faded as he stared into my eyes. His other arm came to rest above my head on my car roof. To anyone passing by, it’d look like Charlie was putting the moves on some girl, her face hidden from the public, but it wouldn’t take much for them tolook past him. My whole body stiffened. “I wanted to see if you’d go out with me tomorrow.” I sucked in a breath to answer, but he forged on, his spiel coming out in a rush. “I know the guys did all this romantic shit, but I thought you might like to do something fun. I think we could both do with a laugh. I made a tentative booking at this tree climbing place.”

“You want to climb trees?’

“Not actually climbing up the trunks. It’s like an adventure playground thing, and adults totally do it too.” The corner of my lips quirked up despite myself, which seemed to embolden him. His smile was back and twice as bright. “I mean, I thought about buying out a whole baby shop, but apparently Knox did that already.”

“Oh my god, you guys are such gossips!”

“I’m just hungry for details.” His eyes became heavily lidded. “I won’t have to hassle them for deets if you come and do cool shit with me instead.”

I didn’t even know what I was saying yes to, but after the week I’d had, some dumb fun was exactly what the doctor ordered.

“OK.”

“Really?” How could someone as pretty as him look so boyish? “You won’t regret it. We’ll have a blast, I promise. I’ll pick you up around ten? We can stop for breakfast… Mm… tea maybe, and then head in.”

“Charlie.” Brent’s crisp tones cut through the vibes we had going, forcing the two of us apart. His eyebrows shot up when he saw who his firefighter was talking to. “Do we need to have another chat about fraternising with fellow staff members?”

“Nope.”

Charlie pulled away, then whispered ‘Saturday’ to me, making the sign of a phone before turning away and heading towards the station.

“And how’re you this morning, Millie? Everything OK?”

I was suddenly aware of how messy I looked. Reddened eyes, beard rash on my chin, I was like a poster girl for a HR sexual harassment video.

“I’m fine,” I said with a smile. “Especially as it’s Fri-yay.”

“Always good to get to the end of the week,” he agreed, “but you’d come and see me if you weren’t?”

“Of course.”

“Well, we have drinks down at the local pub every Friday, and it’d be great to see you there. It’s a family affair, not a rough place.”

“Better than the pub I was working at then,” I said, following him into the building. “I’ll be there.”

Who you knew at a job seemed more important than what you knew half the time. I’d stick my head in for an hour or two, have a couple of Cokes ‘because I had to drive home,’ and then make my excuses.

How’d the shopping date go?I looked down as my phone buzzed, feeling like a naughty school girl texting boys in class. Noah had sent that through.

Good, was all I could say in reply.

Maybe we could all slink away early. The last couple of nights had made something clear. My appetite for food may have deserted me, but other appetites rose up in their place. What would it be like to drag the three of them into my bedroom perfectly sober? Could we recapture the magic of what we had? I was determined to find out.

“You’re here!” Judy said when I walked in. “Awesome. I’ve got to duck out for another scan, but you know what to do, right?”

“Right,” I replied, because whether I did or not, I’d fake until I made it. I slipped behind the desk and sat down, intent on paperwork, not dick.

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