Page 15 of Burning Love
“If you had to choose, what would you rather get the money for?” she asked.
“It’s not up to me.” As much as he liked to get more equipment, he also knew how hard it was for the families that lost so much and couldn’t replace it.
To see a child lose their favorite toys or be left with the clothes on their back.
“If it was up to you?”
His head went back and forth. He could tell she was going to be like her mother and not walk away without getting what she came for.
“I’d like to see it go to those in need. We have a budget and taxpayer money goes toward our needs. I want to say it’s never enough, but every department, hell, every business will say their budgets aren’t enough. But those families who lose it all, the despair they’ve got to live with and the nightmares. It’s a lot. You don’t know those things until you lose something or someone close to you.”
He knew all about that.
He lost the whole world he ever knew at a young age.
Not in a fire, but that didn’t matter.
There was no amount of money that could bring back the life he’d thought he had.
Did the one he had now turn out great? Yeah, it did.
But the relationship with his mother was damaged. Her suddenly dying weeks later didn’t give him the time to say he was sorry for how he reacted.
The words that he’d said in anger.
He knew he was justified in feeling them, but he should have kept them to himself in her last days.
“I’ve lost people close to me,” she said. “I can understand. If you know who my family is, then you know the story behind it.”
“Not really. I don’t follow those things. I don’t have the time to get involved in them.”
“That could be a conversation over a drink too,” she said. Her grin never left her face. “You get out of work at eight tomorrow morning?”
“I do. Then I’m back on Sunday at eight in the morning.”
“How about a Friday night drink? I’ll be done working around four, but I’m sure you’ll have to sleep at some point.”
“I do or will. Not long though or I won’t sleep that night.”
He had too much work to do in his house. It was about all he did in his free time so he could get it done.
She pulled her card out that he already had. “My cell phone number is on the back. Reach out to verify with a time and place to meet. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll know you changed your mind. I won’t change mine.”
Which left the ball in his court.
She was a lot more direct than he thought she’d be based on their first meeting and then her mother coming over to drop some information on her.
“How did it go?” Kent asked him.
“Good. We’ll get something, but I’m not sure which fund. I didn’t push one way or another.”
Kent and a lot of the other guys would have gone for the gear. He’d go for helping the community. He remembered what it was like when his mother was a single parent and needed assistance with things.
Not always money, just a helping hand around the house.
He’d always lean that way.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and get some for both,” Kent said. “That pretty face of yours could have done well for us.”
