Page 66 of Clean Out of Luck

Twenty minutes later, all the firefighters are outside of the building, and Wade and a couple of others are standing there talking with Steve. Jack walks back inside with Steve, and Wade turns back to address the small crowd of residents. “Hey, folks! Nothing to worry about, just a routine test on the fire alarm. We wanted to see how you all responded to a real fire alarm, and I’m happy to report that you all did great.”

His eyes land on me, and he waggles his eyebrows. “Except you.”

“Hey! That’s not my fault!” I complain as he smirks at me. “Seems like a faulty system!”

“Or maybe The Serendipity was working some of its famous magic so you could get carried outside by that adorable hunk,” Gloria teases quietly next to me.

I shake my head. It’s the second time this week I’ve been having the thought that maybe this place is extra special. But that would just be pushing things too far. Of course, that’s not what it is. There just probably isn’t a fire alarm in the basement—a simple oversight.

When Wade finishes his little announcement, he walks over to where Gloria and I are standing. “Can I go inside now?” I ask without preamble.

“When Linus comes back out, the building will be officially cleared. We don’t want to send you all back inside only to find out there really was something smoking,” Wade explains to the small group of us.

One lady has a towel on her head. Another man is wearing his slippers. But we’re missing the majority of The Serendipity residents since the alarm went off during business hours. They’ll probably come home and not even realize anything happened.

Lucky them. I just got carted outside by a fireman…who belongs in a calendar.

The firefighter who stopped Wade inside comes out onto the top step. “Hey, we inspected everything, and you’re all good to go. Just a routine check to keep you all safe. You’ve got a great building manager here.” He gestures to Steve.

Except Steve isn’t getting any grateful looks. No oneseems happy about this “safety check,” and Steve looks the unhappiest of all.

The rest of the firemen who were in the building file out and head toward the trucks. They look disgruntled as well—almost as if they wish the building had been ablaze.

I shake my head as I watch them go. Something brushes my arm, and I turn around to face Wade again.

“We need to talk,” he says quietly.

“I don’t think we do,” I manage to squeak out.

“Very funny. We are talking.” He even looks at me sternly. I feel like I just got in trouble with the principal.

“I think I need more time,” I manage to say. Because I need to come up with an iron-clad reason for why we shouldn’t be together. Like,hey, you’ve taken me completely by surprise, and I didn’t know I could fall in love with you.

Because I could. And that’s the scary part.

“I want you to have the time you need,” he assures me. “But ignoring this isn’t going to make it go away.”

“It might!” I say hopefully.

Someone from the firetruck calls his name, and he shakes his head. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll be calling you.”

And I’ll be screening those calls. “Bye, Wade!” I say just a little too cheerfully.

I stand on the sidewalk and watch the fire trucks pull into the street and drive away. It isn’t until a cold breeze hits me that I realize I’m still standing barefoot on the sidewalk in a bikini, clutching a fantasy romance book to my chest.

Two days later and I’m at the office. I sit at my desk, trying to focus on formatting the document in front of me.

“I have to leave for an appointment,” Claire says abruptly.

Her voice makes me jump and I look up from thecomputer screen. Claire’s already grabbed her purse and is standing by the door.

“Okay.” I turn back to the screen.

“Aren’t you going to ask where I’m going?” she asks in a brusque tone.

“I’ve never really cared to hear about the inside of a lair,” I reply as I close out of the document.

“Very funny,” Claire says. “I sent the document over to Higgin’s shared law office. But there’s a printed copy on my desk.”

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