Page 12 of Striking Out In The Mountains

Damn it.

It’s not the first time this summer that there’s been a suspicious fire.

It’s the second barn fire in two weeks.

I sigh as it sinks in.

We may have an arsonist in town.

CHAPTER FIVE

Cara

“Ha!” Henry says, bent over laughing in our squad car. “I gotta watch that again.”

I lean back in my seat and stare out at the dark quiet street as Henry rewinds the video on his phone. The overweight cat on the screen leaps off the table again, trying to get to the top of the refrigerator, but he misses completely and takes all the pictures and magnets down with him.

Henry chuckles as he watches it a few more times. I’m just staring out the window, wondering what Mr. Hot Fire Chief is up to at this moment. I can’t believe I have a date with him. I can’t believe he’s into me.

Where is he going to take me? What am I going to wear?

It’s been so long since I’ve been on a date. I don’t even remember the protocols. Do I meet him there? Does he pick me up? Who pays? Do we split the check? The more I think about it, the more I’m starting to freak out.

And this slow-ass night isn’t helping. I have nothing to do but watch cat videos on Henry’s phone and let my mind race.

I stretch out my legs as I look around the dark town. It’s two in the morning, and I haven’t seen anyone in hours. I swear this whole town has a ten PM bedtime.

It’s so different from Chicago. The nights out there would fly by. Sometimes I wouldn’t even have time to go to the bathroom. I’d blink and my shift was over.

We’d be racing around town, constantly dealing with one emergency after another. A car crash, a robbery, a fight, a mugging—sometimes all within the same hour. It was non-stop.

I never had to fire my gun in the seven years I was on the force over there, but I did get physicalmanytimes. No criminal I’ve ever met wants to be put into handcuffs and they make you work for it.

“Check this one out,” Henry says, chuckling as he shows me a close-up video of a cat smacking its owner’s head.

I sigh as I glance at the clock. Four hours to go. This is brutal. I wanted something a little quieter than Chicago, but not this dead. I did enjoy the occasional adrenaline rush from time to time.

“Can we put the phone away?” I ask with a sigh.

This man has an insatiable appetite for cat videos. It’s a little much.

“Sure,” he says, turning his phone off. “Want to play word association?”

“Not really,” I say as I look out the window. All I’m thinking about is Graham. Henry can say any word he wants and I’ll associate it back to the hot fire chief.

Drink. Graham’s rippling six pack.

Donkey. Graham’s muscular ass.

Banana. Graham’s big thick cock.

“How’s the pool installation going?” I ask, trying to steer the conversation away from anything sexual.

It doesn’t work. Now I’m thinking of a shirtless Graham stepping out of a pool in slow motion, water droplets sliding down his muscular chest.

“These guys are so incompetent,” Henry says, shaking his head. “They did a shit job of leveling the soil and now…”

He goes on, but I tune him out. My mind goes right back to Graham and our date. What can I wear?

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