Page 11 of Rival Hearts

“I should probably get out there and help, too,” Jett said.

“Good idea.” Riley rushed away towards the Emergency Room.

And maybe it was her imagination, but Riley thought she saw Jett smile at her. The action caused shivers to run up her spine and she hurried away even more quickly, not wanting to dwell on what that could mean.

4

JETT

Jett ran home to quickly get changed after a long and exhausting shift at the fire station. It seemed like she didn’t even get a moment to breathe the entire day, so when she got home she decided to take a quick, scalding shower before getting dressed into a nice blouse and pair of black slacks. A quick slick of mascara and some lip gloss and Jett was good to go.

Jett wished that she could just crawl into bed and watch TV, but she had somewhere to be.

* * *

When Jett arrived at the hospital for their annual fundraising gala, she quickly found her Aunt Becky. Becky was standing next to her wife, Dr. Lucinda Everett, and laughing at something Lucinda had said.

Jett always admired her aunt’s relationship. And especially the strength and dedication that it took for two people to have high-stress jobs and still come together and be full of love. Becky was working on more of a consultancy basis now for the fire department, but she was still widely famous as Fire Chief Becky Thompson.

Jett felt the same admiration for her cousin, Ember, and her marriage to Dr. Josephine Mars, and Ember and Josephine managed to somehow raise a child amidst Josephine being the head of the hospital.

Speaking of their child, beautiful little Natalie came running toward Jett while calling her name, her curly red hair pulled back into a scrunchie with at least ten bows placed randomly in it.

“Hey, baby girl,” Jett said when Natalie reached her, and she picked the girl up and placed her on her hip. Natalie had been getting a lot bigger lately, but as long as Jett could reasonably pick her up, she would. “How is my favorite Natalie?”

Natalie giggled. “Good,” she said, “I got a hundred on my spelling test today.”

“Wow,” Jett said, “that’s awesome. I’m so proud of you.”

“Momma said she doesn’t know where I get it from since she’s a terrible speller,” Natalie said.

“Well obviously, you get it from me,” Jett said. “I won the spelling bee every year when I was in elementary school.”

“Wow,” Natalie said and Jett noticed her moms walking over.

Josephine immaculate as ever in a classy royal blue evening dress and Ember, tall and muscular in a smart navy blue pant suit with her red hair slicked back. They looked like every inch the power couple they were.

“Hey Jett,” Josephine said at the same time Ember walked over to Jett and ruffled her hair.

“Hey, peanut,” she said, using her family’s nickname. Ember was a few years older than Jett and she always felt more like an older sister than a cousin. She was always there for Jett when she was going through a tough time, especially when they were younger and Jett needed sisterly advice.

Ember was there for Jett a lot through college and training, helping her with both her professional and personal life. She actually used to work as a firefighter until she retired a few years ago because she wanted to be there for her family more. Now she ran a small shop for muscle cars out of her garage.

Jett was happy for her. She always thought that Ember was just a firefighter because of her family and because of what was expected of her, but she’d always been obsessed with cars, and her ability to work on her passion full-time definitely suited her.

“Hey,” Jett said with a smile. She couldn’t ask for a better family, and she was happy to see Ember again. Seeing her older cousin always brought a smile to her face.

“I see you’ve stolen our kiddo,” Ember said.

“Actually, I’m Jett’s now,” Natalie said and the three adults laughed.

“I’m okay with that,” Jett said. “I’ll take you home and feed you insane amounts of sugar and Redbull.”

“Nope,” Josephine said, taking Natalie from Jett’s hip. “I think that’s enough Jett for today.”

“Hey,” Jett complained, “I was joking.”

Josephine started to walk away, but she turned around and flashed Jett a smile. “Let’s go see Gran Becky and Grandma Lucinda,” she said to Natalie, and Natalie squealed in excitement.

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