Page 4 of The Problem with Fire
And it wasn’t that I didn’t want to bother. It wasn’t like that at all. But being a firefighter was not all calendar photo shoots and false alarms. Though rewarding, our shifts were brutal. The bonds and camaraderie were solid, and the risks were real. And like any other profession where the man next to you made the difference in whether you’d see tomorrow or not, it was a brotherhood. And believe it or not, some women got jealous over that kind of bond shared with somebody else. I gave my all to my job and I just wanted a woman who could understand that, rather than resent it.
And while children have never been a must for me, I still wanted a partner I could come home to every night and just love on. If she gave me children, great. If she didn’t, great. Children weren’t a deal breaker for me, one way or the other. I really just wanted a sense of family. And if that family consisted of only me and my partner, well, that was still a family. If it consisted of me, my partner, and twenty kids, that was still a family. And that’s all I really wanted. The feeling of belonging to something bigger than I was.
My phone rang-too early in the day, in my opinion-jerking me out of my obsessive thoughts about my sexy neighbor. “Hey. What’s up?”
“If Mom calls me one more time to tell me how it’s so nice to have at least one son to talk to, I’m going to drive over to your house, and then, to whatever city Nathan’s in, and kick your guys’ fucking ass,” Gideon snapped into phone. “Call your goddamn mother!” He hung up before I could tell him Mom was playing him because I just talked to her yesterday. I also knew for a fact that Nathan always called her before and after a series.
But before I could decide on whether to call him back or not, my phone rang again. I answered it still wondering what Mom was playing at. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Kellan’s voice greeted over the line. “Some of us are headed to Choker’s tonight before we hit our stride tomorrow.” Firehouse shifts varied from city to city or county to county, and in Silias County we were required to work three on, three off, four on, three off, and they were twelve-hour shifts. The family men made the effort to make it home each night after their shifts, but most of us just slept at the firehouse while we were on. It was more convenient that way.
“I don’t know, Kel,” I said, not really feeling the social vibe. “I’d rather hang out at the end of our stride than right before it.”
“Oh, come on,” he cajoled. “You’re talking like an old man.” Kellan was a year older than I was. “Besides, Daria, is going.”
“If that was supposed to be an incentive, it’s not, Kel,” I replied dryly.
“Dude. Sayer, man,” he kept on. “The girl is hot.”
I scoffed. “And she knows it,” I said. “Kellan, man, she likes the attention a littletoomuch.”
He chuckled over the phone. “You don’t gotta marry the girl, Sayer.”
“She’s also the firehouse administrative assistant, Kellan.” I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “No way am I shitting where I eat.”
“Dude, you’re going to die a virgin.”
“Eat a dick.” Kellen knew very well that I wasn’t a virgin. We’d known each other for the entire eight years that I’ve been a firefighter for Silias County. We’ve partied together often in the past.
“The sexy neighbor still not giving it up?”
I groaned.
One stupid, stupid, stupid drunken night, I had confessed my obsession to my best friend, and he’s been giving me shit about it ever since. And while he was, indeed, my best friend, some things were still sacred.
Monroe Stewart was one of those things.
But I still told him the truth. “She still looks right through me. Thanks for asking.”
Kellen laughed. “Don’t give up,” he said encouragingly. “As long as her ex-husband is the only guy knocking at her doorstep, there’s still hope.”
He had a point. “That’s true.”
“Unless, of course, she’s going to her new dude’s house,” he added. “Then-”
I hung up on him.
No way was I going to listen to that negative possibility.
Chapter 3
Monroe~
Why, Lord?
Seriously, why?
Working for the county, I was familiar with all sorts of city codes and ordinances. As a building inspector, you had to know what you were talking about when you were laying down the law because, more often than not, the building owners tried their best get over on you.
