Page 69 of Burning Love
She couldn’t tear her eyes away though. Water was spraying out of the hoses and landing on the house trying to fight back the flames coming out of the side window. Two more firemen ran in battling it from within.
More water was landing on the neighbor’s house while trying to prevent the spread.
She stood there watching for over an hour, ignoring her mother’s attempts to get her to leave.
Time ticked by like a clock spinning on the wall in warp speed.
The fire was out, the homeowners were crying and hugging each other. It appeared no one was hurt, but the house was badly damaged, not destroyed though.
The firemen were taking off their helmets and gear, the heat of the day and the fire not stopping them from doing their jobs.
Her eyes locked with Jace briefly before he turned to his men and started to issue orders.
She knew he was fine; she could leave now.
Once she was in the car, she turned to look at her mother. “How did you do it?”
Aileen sighed. “I told you not to watch.”
“I can’t hide from it.” She started the car and drove away. “I feel better knowing he’s fine.”
“But you also know how dangerous his job is now. It’s not going to make you sleep any easier.”
She didn’t watch it for that reason.
She watched because she had to know and now she understood what her mother might have felt all those years her father was deployed.
But that didn’t mean she could walk away from Jace either.
Not when everything else pulled her toward him.
21
STATING FACTS
Jace turned his truck into the driveway of Aileen Carlisle’s house the following Sunday.
He’d said he’d be willing to meet her but hadn’t expected it this soon.
Then again, he hadn’t expected to be sweating gallons of water out of his body during a fire, only to remove his gear and see Talia standing there watching him while he worked.
Even from the distance, he’d seen the fear in her eyes.
She hadn’t run up to him to talk, hadn’t even done more than nod her head, let out a gush of air, and then climb in her car and drive away.
He’d seen her mother in the car with her and fully expected a text when he was at the firehouse.
It hadn’t happened.
She texted him the next day when she thought he’d be up like she’d been doing and never once mentioned she watched him fight that fire.
He didn’t know what to think of that. When she’d come over for dinner on Tuesday, she briefly explained she’d goneshopping and saw the smoke on the way home, and that was the only reason she stopped.
She didn’t want to leave until she knew he was fine and the fire was out.
If he wanted to ask her how she felt about it, something inside him said not to go down that road.
There were already enough obstacles in their way. She knew what he did for a living. She’d watched him at it twice now, if he counted her house.
