Page 52 of When We Dare

His eyes twinkled. “Same. Our parents probably would’ve brought us together anyway, but I’m glad we got to connect before their, uh…” He circled his hand in the air.

“Their second chance,” I filled in before adding, “I’m happy for them. Obviously, you know our dad better, but life hasn’t been easy on my mom. It seems like they might be in a place to be good for each other now.”

“I think you might be right about that.” Parker stepped back as I fished my keys out of my purse. Just as I was about to open my car door, he added, “I know you probably broke Hudson’s heart, so be nice to him.”

I opened my mouth to dispute his point, but that meant telling more of the story. “Of course, I’ll be nice to him.”

When I was in bed with the cats later, I thought about my mom and dad. I turned the word “dad” over in my mind, inspecting the idea. Hewasmy dad. For years, I had jokingly referred to him as my sperm donor. While I was glad to connect with him, I knew it would take time to form a relationship. More than anything, I was really happy for my mom. I hoped things worked out for them.

Of course, the second I contemplated the idea of a relationship, Hudson came strolling into my thoughts. A sigh slipped out in the darkness. As if he sensed my distress, Butter came closer and rubbed his cheek on my shoulder. I scratched between his ears, smiling when the volume on his purring increased.

I wondered what to do about Hudson. My hormones had once again proven their epically bad track record. Even though I’d fallen for all the wrong guys when I was younger, I’dneverlet my heart get in too deep. Even though I hadn’t planned to tell him I loved him the other night, my heart knew the truth.

With a disgruntled sigh, I adjusted my pillow and Butter moved away, curling against my hip beside Biscuit.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

HUDSON

After too many days of doing my damnedest to never cross paths with Stella at the house, I had to accept that Butter had clearly made his choice. Whether it was because of his love for Stella or Biscuit, he spent every night with them.

I couldn’t believe it, but a cat had actually hurt my feelings. It was a relief when our crew got called out to a fire. While winter was a quiet time for fires in Alaska, our crew got called to a fishing harbor where several boats had caught fire. An even bigger fire resulted when some propane tanks near the docks exploded. Considering we had to fly across the skies of Alaska to get there, by the time we arrived, the makeshift crew of local firefighters was barely preventing the entire town from going up in flames.

I didn’t have time to dwell on Stella. After a brutal first day of work, we had the fire under control. We planned to stay a few more days to establish a perimeter to protect the town and ensure none of the smoldering areas of the dock and the boats could spread the fire again.

This wasn’t our usual gig. We weren’t in the middle of the wilderness, but we knew how to fight and contain out of controlfires. In the smaller rural villages, there was limited equipment for a big fire.

That night, we got to actually relax in the single restaurant in the tiny town. The food was simple and delicious. I leaned back in my chair, glancing around at my friends.

“This is a change of pace,” I observed before taking a long drag from my water bottle.

“Gotta say, it’s nice. Something other than a freeze-dried meal, or a granola bar,” Nate offered dryly. Nate was flying out tomorrow. Another pilot would be picking us up in another two days.

Griffin glanced toward Nate. “Dude, you don’t usually camp out for weeks like we do. This is better than nice.”

Graham chuckled at his side.

“Maybe so,” Nate said slowly. “But are you saying you miss having a freeze-dried dinner?”

Parker laughed. “They’re not all bad. There’s an art to it.”

“An art?” Leo prompted.

“Sure,” Parker replied. “They can be plain, or if you have a camp stove and can safely use it, you can jazz them up a little bit.”

Leo’s brows hitched up. “When we’re out in the field this summer, I’ll be looking forward to getting a jazzed-up meal from you.”

“Nice that they’re letting us bunk up at the school too,” Nate added.

“Seriously,” I replied with a nod. “Plenty of space there, not to mention hot showers.” I lifted my hand to slap Graham a high five.

Conversation carried on as we relaxed. Now that we weren’t in the middle of beating back that massive blaze, Stella sashayed into my thoughts. She fucking owned my spare thoughts. It was my own damned fault.

“You okay?” Leo asked from my side a little while later.

“Yeah, fine, why?”

“You’re not saying much and you look like you’re stressing out about something.”

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