Page 30 of Where We Found Our Home
She chuckles. “I love how my idea of a quiet night on the job is not spilling a drink or no one throwing up and yours is you only put out one major fire and helped a few people with medical emergencies. We have two very different ideas of slow, my friend.”
I laugh, but it falls short. I know my job is a lot to take in, and this is my reminder to not get my hopes up with Ciara.
“Hey, Linc?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s your greatest fear?”
Now that gets a real laugh out of me. “Diving deep in the wee hours of the morning, huh?”
“I’m just curious. What makes the great Lincoln Cole tick.”
“Letting the people I love down.” I wasn’t planning on going that deep, but here we are.
“In what way?”
“Just disappointing them.”Leave it at that.“Or being too late to save them from some sort of danger or emergency.”Jesus. I need to go back to sleep. My guard is not up high enough for this conversation.
The silence between us borders on uncomfortable before she puts me out of my misery. “I get that. More than you know.”
“What about you? What’s your greatest fear?”
“Death.” There’s a short pause. “Or being the cause of someone I love’s death, I guess.”
“Aren’t we a pair?”
“Ha! Something like that. Wanna hear a joke?”
I want to hear everything from her lips. “Bring it on.”
“Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants?”
“Why?”
“In case he got a hole in one.”
I’m too tired not to think that dumb shit was funny so I laugh. “I’m only laughing at how bad that was, Ci. You want dad jokes? I got you. Ready for this?”
“I was born ready.”
“What do you call a crayon dressed in a sexy outfit?”
“I don’t know, what?”
“Foxy brown.”
A laugh escapes her, and I can tell it’s against her will. “That was better than mine? I think the hell not.”
“It was way better than yours.”
“Okay, I will admit it was funnier than mine. Still trash though.”
“You know what, I’m taking that as a W. So thank you.”
“Yes, get your flowers now.”
We spend another fifteen minutes telling corny jokes and talking about our hopes and dreams. Her voice is my lullaby. The more time I spend with her the more I want from her. She brings this light to my life that I never thought I’d have again.
