Page 13 of Set Me On Fire

“Fuck you,” Dave growled.

“They say that too.”

As everyone started to put shit on Dave, Charlie steered her away from the guys, putting his arm around her shoulders like he had a right to. Everyone noted Charlie’s ease with women, but this was the first time I’d felt the weight of that personally.

“Ladies.” Some of the wives and girlfriends were standing with their partners on the other side of the room, and theylooked up when he breezed over. “This is Millie, the lovely lady we met at the fire earlier in the week. Millie, this is Sally.” She smiled politely at Millie. “Belinda and Officer Hops.”

“Judy,” the woman herself corrected, her belly making it hard for her to get to her feet, so I stepped in and offered her a hand. “And babies.” She patted her stomach.

“Oh wow.” Millie stepped forward, hands rising, but before I could warn her, she dropped them again. “Congratulations. Are you due soon?”

“Because I look like a beached whale, you mean?” Millie tried to contradict her, but Judy shook her head. “It’s fine. Every time I go to the beach, I have well-meaning people try to roll me back into the sea. I’ve got a couple of months to go.”

“Months…” Millie flushed, seeming to realise too late that this was a bit of a tactless comment.

“Twins.” Judy announced that like some veterans do the military campaigns they came back from.

“Oh god.” Millie stifled a giggle and then shot Judy a look of sympathy. “I have twin brothers, so you have my sympathies.”

“See, she gets it.” Judy started to rub her back and that summoned her partner, Blue, like one might a genie. He was there, a massive, silent, tattooed presence, helping her sit back down, then handing her the drink bottle by her chair.

“Still think Charles and Charlesina would be the best name for the twins,” Charlie grumbled.

“Over my dead body,” Bluey growled, before turning to Judy. “Love, did you want some of those coconut ball things?”

“Oh, yes please,” she groaned, settling back into her chair.

“Millie…” Sally looked at me, then my girl, making clear she’d put two and two together. It felt like everyone in the station knew how I felt about the woman in front of me. Everyone but her. “That’s a pretty name. So are you a friend of Charlie’s?”

Friend was a euphemism that covered anything from being his sister, his girlfriend, or baby mama until further clarification.

“More like someone he took pity on,” Millie replied. “His crew put the fire out at my workplace.”

“Was that—?” Belinda asked.

“The Stafford Arms.” Everyone turned to see Knox standing there, and that was the reason why he’d been promoted to lead firefighter. He could command a room just like he could a team. “Millie.”

What was that? Millie seemed to suck in a breath and then hold it as he took in all the details of the dress with the same thoroughness of a fire, but it seemed like he was the one burning, not her. He nodded and then took the half-finished glass of wine from her limp fingers, pressing a fresh one between them.

“Knox was forced to pick me up and carry me away from the fire.” Millie was being completely self-deprecating. “I got it in my head that I needed to remove the gas bottles from the pub before they blew up.”

“Oh, you didn’t.”

Judy slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

“I did. Stuffed up a perfectly good pair of heels in the process, but it could’ve been worse.” Millie looked Knox up and down. “Much worse. I expected Knox to tear strips off me when he got us away from the fire.”

“I would never do that.” Everyone turned to stare at Knox. “What? I wouldn’t have.”

“Well, did you know that Noah rescued a couple of children from a house fire?” Sally was trying to turn the tide my way and I wanted to shake my head, tell her not to bother, but she forged on. “They were clinging onto his shoulders like spider monkeys the way my husband tells it.”

“He and his team won their division in the Australasian Firefighting Championships,” Belinda added, catching Sally’s drift.

“And he rescued those dogs trapped on that property.” Judy accepted a plate of food from her partner, then balanced it on her stomach. “It was a puppy mill and the ‘owners’ deserted it when the fire hit.”

“You saved a bunch of puppies?”

It felt like I caught every movement as Millie turned towards me, one eyebrow rising in question.

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