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“I barely remember it, but I do have blurry memories of that moose, Mister.”

She nods. “That’s right, Mister Moose. Well, what you may not have realized at the time was I had left your dad and asked for a divorce.”

I gasp. “What?”

“Yeah,” she scoffs. “I truly don’t remember the reason, but back then, I felt I had a good one.”

“Why don’t I remember that?”

“Oh, you were young, and your dad and I have always shielded you from our disagreements, but believe me, there have been many. We’re not perfect. We love each other and work hard every day at our marriage. That’s what it is really. It’s a commitment, and like most things that matter, it takes sacrifice, dedication, and work. A fairy-tale relationship isn’t just going to fall into your lap.”

“I honestly can’t believe that. I’ve always looked at your relationship as something I’ll never have.”

She presses her lips into a sad smile. “That’s just ridiculous and not remotely true.”

“How did you fix it? Back then?” I wonder.

“Well…” She sighs. “We decided our family and our life were worth fighting for. I remembered what it was about your father that I fell in love with in the first place, and I held on to that while we worked through the rest.”

She motions toward the books before me. “Have you thought about seeing a therapist? It helps to have another person help you work through things who isn’t involved and can offer another perspective.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, no.”

She grins. “I wouldn’t dismiss it without trying it. Your father and I have been seeing a couple’s counselor for what is, it, now…eighteen years.”

My mouth falls open. Do I not know my parents at all? “Really?”

She narrows her eyes into a confused squint and leans back, taking me in. “Yes. You know we have a standing appointment with Dr. Bryce every other Monday night.”

“I thought Dr. Bryce was an old college friend or something. I didn’t know she was a therapist. You always go out to eat on Monday nights, so I figured you were catching up with your friend.”

“Your father and I go out to dinner after our appointment.”

“Why? Are you still having issues?”

“No, not at all. We’re great, but I think part of the reason we’ve been wonderful all these years is because we’re constantly working on our relationship, and Dr. Bryce helps us with that.”

I look past my mom, staring, once again, at the Spanish moss. Well, this morning has been one of revelations, and I’ve barely left this spot.

She scoots off the sofa and starts walking back toward the house, stopping when she reaches me. “I’ll get you some names that come highly recommended, and you do with ’em what you wish. I will say that you, Alexa Anne Laine, are worthy of a beautiful life. You’ve acknowledged the need to better yourself. Now you must put in the work.”

CHAPTER11

BOSS

“Snow, you go with Montgomery and redirect traffic on the north side of the bridge. Cinder, you’re with Pauly on the south side.” I give the probies instruction.

Pauly D. has a habit of bossing the new guys around and Deacon made a comment about how they’re not his personal Cinderallas which led to the nicknames Snow White and Cinderella. Most of the guys in the house have a nickname of sorts, but calling out the princess names was getting cumbersome, so they’ve since been dubbed Cinder and Snow.

It’s bad enough that Abram’s nickname, Fly Guy, is two words. Pauly, who tends to be the giver of most of the names, really needs to think about how they’ll roll off one’s tongue when calling out orders during a fire.

“Fly Guy, get strapped in,” I order Abrams.

“On it,” he says, already stepping into the harness.

There’s a reason Bennett Abrams earned his nickname. The kid is our own stuntman. If parkour was an Olympic sport, he’d be the reigning gold medalist. During his first year on the force, he jumped from a burning building with a child in one arm, catching himself on the aerial ladder a good ten feet away with the other. The guy is superhuman.

The main objective is to talk to the man standing on the edge of the bridge with a cast iron fifty-pound weight strapped to his chest out of jumping into the deep water below. If he jumps, Fly Guy will dive off the bridge to catch him. He’s done it before.

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