Page 8 of Memories with Fire

“Well that went well,” I mutter to myself when she disappears through a door.

Dang it. This is what I mean by the hard road.

It’s not how I expected this to go at all, though I’m quickly learning any expectation I had about coming here should be thrown out the window. Liam was right. Hailey wasn’t only shocked to see me, she wasn’t happy about it. I’m just not entirely sure why. If anyone should be angry, it should be me after what she did. I’ve let that go. I had to let it go. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be standing here in Santa Rosé.

I’m the one who got my heart broken. So why the hell is she so angry with me?

Turning around, I begin to head back down the hallway with a lot more questions than I had before our conversation. There’s no way I can go sit in the kitchen or rec area if Hailey is in there. Not until she’s calmed down. But as I glance down the hall, I’m met with two pairs of eyes that are, indeed, watching me like a hawk.

Dang it.

CHAPTER 3

LUKE

Fresh outof the shower in the middle of my second shift at this firehouse, I’m questioning my sanity. For moving to Santa Rosé, for being a firefighter, and heck, maybe even life in general.

The latter two I always question after a med call, one of my least favorites, especially when I end up covered in… something. At our last call, assisting Quinn and she-who-I’m-forbidden-to-think-about, I ended up covered in things I don’t care to contemplate now that they’re washed off.

Disgusting.

Rubbing a hand over my short hair, thankful it’s quickly growing in, I walk into the kitchen where everyone besides Nate and the Captain are sitting around the table. Cutlery clinks against plates, and the laughter that filled the room prior to my entry dies down. It doesn’t shock me, but my hands clench in annoyance. This was the reception I got last shift, and it hasn’t changed with this one.

There’s a loud sniff from the group before Quinn says, “Well, you certainly smell better. Delicious even. Like cedar and citrus.”

“Quinn,” Hailey hisses from her place beside her.

My eyes dart to her, but don’t linger. Despite taking the hard road most days, I’ve heeded her warning from last shift as best I can. Then again, it hasn’t been easy to do that. Not with all the calls we’ve gone on with her and Quinn. Or the fact that we share space in the fire station, with bunks, and the kitchen, and rec areas. I’ve done my best to stay out of her way, but when we do end up in the same space, my eyes naturally tend to gravitate towards her, and it’s a concentrated effort not to drink her in.

That’s how it always was.

“Thank fuck. Sitting in the truck with him afterwards almost made me lose my lunch,” Liam quips, sitting back in his chair, pushing his empty plate away from himself. “It’s just too bad the shower couldn’t help your face, Pookie.”

Brody, the giant, sitting at the head of the table snickers. “You mean pukey.”

Laughter erupts around the table and the two men fist bump, but Hailey groans. “I’m trying to eat. Can we please not reminisce?”

I head towards the kitchen island, past the table, where there’s a pan of lasagna waiting for me. Not even Hailey speaking in my presence can keep me from this meal. “I don’t care what was all over me, I’m frickin’ starvin’.”

It’s not just any lasagna, either. It’s homemade, from scratch, and I’d pulled it out of the oven just in time for us to get called out on scene. They threw me to the wolves this morning, putting me in charge of cooking dinner for everyone this shift. I think it was to try and screw with me, to see what I was made of in the kitchen, but to their chagrin, I handled it like a boss. One thing I love, besides women and adrenaline, is cooking.

“It’s fucking weird you don’t swear,” Liam mutters, and I hear him shift in his seat, like he’s turning to watch something. Then he adds, louder, “We saved you some.”

Half a second later, I realize he moved to watch me.

The pan of lasagna I’ve been looking forward to all day has a two by two inch square left in it. The rest is gone.

If I did swear, which I don’t, thanks to my father’s guidance growing up, I’d be cussing these jerks up one side and down the other. They ate it all. Well, not all of it. They left me a bite. Two, if I cut it in half.

“You can make that anytime, dude,” Liam says, pulling my eyes up from the pan to look at him. Wearing a shameless grin, he pats his stomach. “It was so good, Brody and I had seconds.”

Another test. How will I react when they leave nothing for me? I’d love to wipe that smug look off his face, but I’m better than that. They’re treating me like some kind of rookie who does the bare minimum to skate by, but I’d be willing to bet this has more to do with Hailey than me being the new guy. This is about loyalty to their family. I can respect that.

“Glad you enjoyed it,” I say after a moment’s pause, giving him a nod. Then I scoop the two-bite lasagna onto a clean plate, and head to the table, feeling every set of eyes on me as I move. Watching and waiting to see if I’ll do something.

When I pull out the chair beside Liam, I half expect him to put his feet up on it. He thinks about it, if the narrowed eyes darting down to the chair and then back to me are any indication, but he leaves it alone. Thank goodness for small miracles. I just want to eat in peace, even if it isn’t a lot. I’ll find something else to snack on later.

The tension around the table is palpable. The cheeriness that sounded abundant before I walked through the door has disappeared, and no one says a thing. Brody, Liam, and the other guy, Shawn, who is sitting next to Quinn, across from me, are all finished their meals, leaving only Hailey pushing some of her lasagna around. As though she can’t bring herself to take another bite.

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