Page 10 of Embers of You
“Sounds like a good reason to have my number, then.”
“Goodbye, Jameson.” She shakes her head, going back to the dog she’s grooming.
“Hot guy, Jameson,”the bird says from the perch in the room; I didn’t even notice when he flew in here.
Sutton’s face immediately flushes, and I bite back my smile.
“Talking about me?” I ask the flustered woman who’s avoiding eye contact.
“He said that before I started working here.”
“Sure, he did. Bye Sutton.” As I’m closing the door behind me, I hear her scolding the bird.
I hold back my laughter until I’m almost back at the firehouse where I’m greeted with curious stares, but I refuse toanswer any of their questions as to what I was doing. It doesn’t matter, and besides, I don’t even think I would know how to answer.
CHAPTER 5
Sutton
“I’m goingto open every door and window in this place and let you fly free, Jerry Lee.” I can’t even appreciate my accidental rhyme as I threaten the bird who happily flies back to his perch by the front door after Jameson leaves.
As I try to focus on grooming the dog still on my table, I can’t shake the interaction I just had. Especially the mortifying ending. I finish up grooming Daisy, figuring it’s as good as she’s going to get with what her mom was wanting. I send her a quick text as I clean up my area while Daisy runs around the shop.
The front door opens, and when I look up, I see it’s Trish walking in.
“Hey, that guy Jameson came over here to do his fire check safety thing,” I tell her while I continue sweeping up fur.
“The what?”
“I don’t know, he said you knew about it.”
“Jameson did?”
I stop sweeping, leaning on the broom to look up at her smirking face.
“Yes?” I say slowly, not understanding why she’s questioning this.
“Interesting, what exactly was he checking?”
“Uh, I don’t know I didn’t watch him.”
She just nods without saying much else, her expression unreadable. There’s something in her eyes—hesitation, maybe, or something deeper that I can’t quite put my finger on. The silence between us stretches, not exactly uncomfortable but weighted, as if there’s more she wants to say but won’t.
“Hot guy, Jameson,”Jerry Lee pipes in, and I strangle the broom handle as Trish smiles in my direction.
“He’s a good guy,” Trish says simply.
“Oh, I’m not?—”
She holds her hand up to silence me before giving me a small smile and walking toward her own station on the other side of the salon.
I go back to my task of cleaning up my area. When I’m dumping the last bit of fur into the garbage by the window I look up and see the garage to the fire station is open, and Jameson’s out there with a younger looking guy. He looks like he’s explaining something to him, and I can’t help but watch.
Jameson’s large arms are folded across his broad chest, his baseball cap flipped backwards on his head. He stands at least a few inches above the younger man, and his perfectly straight teeth show as he smiles through whatever speech he’s giving.
I’m so lost in my distraction that I don’t even hear when the front door opens or notice when Daisy starts running toward it. The only thing that pulls me out of my haze is the voice speaking to me.
“Hello?” I snap up and look over to where Mallory is now standing in the front while Daisy dances around her feet.
