Page 97 of Heating Up (Nugget)
She beamed at him, her insides contracting like they always did when he was around. “Outside in the sun.”
He carried the desk himself and came back for the other one. Finishing the chore, he took time to look around, walking to the back and assessing the damage. In the light of day, it looked even worse than it had the previous night. “Jeez. You’ll have to rebuild most of this.”
“It shouldn’t be too time intensive,” Carol said. “The plumbing is still there. It needed updating anyway.”
Dana marveled at what a good attitude her partner had. Frankly, the construction would be a colossal inconvenience. Workers constantly underfoot, noise, and dirt. Then they’d have to pick out appliances, fixtures, and a new conference table and chairs. The one true silver lining was that no one got hurt. Real estate agents, slaves to the convenience of their clients, worked odd hours. It was a miracle that neither one of them had been in the office at the time of the fire. It made her wonder if the person who set it had been scoping out the place to make sure the building was empty. At least there was that.
“You have any leads on who might’ve done this?” Carol asked.
“We’ve got a few things working,” Aidan responded, keeping it vague. But Dana had gotten the sense last night that Aidan and the police were on to something.
Of course she was dying to know, yet she wanted to give Aidan space to do his job. She found the intricacies of his investigations fascinating and was so impressed with what he did. No doubt firefighters were heroes, but to her, he was doubly so. Then again, she was probably a wee bit biased.
Out the window, Dana saw a couple of trucks pull up. “Looks like the construction crew is here for the roof.” A van drove up behind them. “The cleaning team is bringing up the rear.”
Perfect timing, Dana thought; the cleaners could work around the roofers.
“You ladies interested in lunch? Seems like now might be a good time to take a break. Let these folks do their jobs.”
“I’ve got to dash home to check on the kids,” Carol said. “You two go.”
“I’ll be back in an hour,” Dana said.
“Perfect.” Carol let the cleaners in the front door while the roofers started carrying ladders and equipment to the building. “I’ll just get the workers started and see you back here later.”
Dana walked with Aidan to his truck. “Where are we going?”
“The Bun Boy reopened today.”
“Really? That seems fast.”
“Their damage amounted to a storage shed,” Aidan said. “It’s nothing like yours.”
“Each one is getting worse.” She got inside the passenger seat and belted herself in. “Why do you think that is?”
Aidan got in as well, turned on the ignition, and started the AC. “He’s either getting braver or he didn’t get enough attention with the first two. There’s no telling. The Bun Boy?”
“I could definitely go for a burger.” She reached over and kissed him. “Do you still have to do your twenty-four-hour shift?”
She could feel him tense. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?” he asked, his voice edged with annoyance.
“I just thought you’ve been working like crazy. I’m not a firefighter; how would I know how it works? Why are you being so defensive?”
He appeared to relax. “Sue used to give me a hard time about my hours. I guess I’m still sensitive about it.” He’d alluded before to the fact that it had been a problem between them.
“I get it,” she said. “I work all the time myself because I’m at the mercy of the client’s schedule. I was just curious as to how it works.”
“I wouldn’t be on call as much if the fires weren’t right here in Nugget. It would be ridiculous for the fire marshal to send someone else.”
She nodded. “That makes sense.”
“I’ll be off in time for the wedding, though.”
“You really don’t think it’ll be weird for me to go with you?” Admittedly, she was curious about Lucky’s cowboy camp, having never been there. And the idea of being Aidan’s date thrilled her.
“Nope,” he said and squeezed her knee.
Cars crowded the Bun Boy parking lot. Apparently, it only took a few days of closure to get folks jonesing for their fried food fixes.
