Page 27 of Five Alarm Love
Mav halfway turned to face her, his mouth set in a serious line.“Whoa, do I need to step into an honorary big brother role and sort someone out?I’ll track down that guy if need be.”
In spite of herself, she laughed.“No, nothing like that.”
“But?”
She didn’t say anything.
He asked, “Is there anything else going on?Someone else?”
She froze.“N-no.”
“You sure?”
Lou clamped her mouth shut.See, this was the problem with a small town.Everyone got into everyone else’s business.Couldn’t a gal get some privacy around here?
He put his hands up.“Never mind.Forget I said anything.”He drummed his fingers on the wheel.“You should know that any guy would be lucky to hang out with you.You’re high quality, Lou.”
Would they still want to hang out after learning about her limited choices for a future?Would someone in particular want her?“That’s not the issue,” she murmured.
“Then what is it?”
“It’s complicated.”
He put the ambulance in gear.“It always is.”
Chapter Ten
Tuesday evening, Tulihelped his grandma to her seat at the Yukon Valley Community Center.They were early, as usual.Grandma Ruth was anxious about the possibility of being late to anything.
As folks wandered into the meeting room, Tuli spied familiar faces of village elders, Yukon Valley town leadership, and people whose land abutted the Ray Mountains.
As involved property owners, the Becks were here, despite their homestead burning.Word was their daughter was coming home from the hospital soon and was doing well.He couldn’t quite make eye contact with Natalie and Wayne Beck when they beelined it over to Tuli and thanked him for his part in the rescue.Little did they know how close Tuli—and his bum leg—had been from absolute failure.Wayne Sr.would be released from the hospital, likely late this week or next, and would be spending a week or so in a rehab facility before heading home.Even with all of that going on in their family, the fact that the Becks were attending this meeting underscored the importance of the subject.
Tonight was all about controlling access to the minerals and managing resources in a way that made sense for this community.
It was also about getting a warm jacket from the car for his grandma.He nodded at her request, patted her shoulder, then wove upstream past the incoming meeting participants.
After hurrying across the parking lot to his truck, he opened up the door with a squeal of rusty hinges, snagged the garment from the console, and headed back toward the building.
Near the edge of the parking lot, two men separated from what looked like an intense discussion that ended in a quick handshake.One man faded into the twilight shadows and the other walked toward the building.
“Hey, Chief.Looks like you got the night off your many jobs.”Hunter’s booming voice reached him.
To any bystander, Hunter would come across as friendly.Tuli caught the undertones.The emphasis on the wrong words.His smile that was a little too wide, daring Tuli to comment and look the fool.
To react was to be the bad guy.Tuli never was the bad guy, ever.He had a whole brand built around being the good guy.Given his parents’ history, and especially his dad’s abusiveness, Tuli strove to be the exact opposite in every way.
“What are you doing here?”Tuli asked.
“Whoa there.”Hunter exaggerated his hands-up action.“Where’s this aggression coming from?”
“Huh?”Truthfully, some days Tuli really wanted to be the bad guy.He rolled his hands into fists.Today was one of those days.“Was that a clandestine meeting over there?”
Hunter paused, like he was creating the story on the spot.“I was talking with a friend.”
“A friend on the edge of the parking lot?”
“It doesn’t relate to my fire department work, so what business is it of yours?”
