Page 11 of Her Silver Fox Firefighters
“Jim, you’ve been flipping through waitresses like crazy over the past few months,” Dax tells him. “You fired one becauseshe wasn’t clearing the tables quick enough. You let another one go because you didn’t like that she had to commute from the next town over. I get that you and Melinda miss Annie but come on.”
“Wait, who’s Annie?” I ask.
“Our daughter,” Jim replies with a heavy sigh. “She kept this place together for years until she moved out to Lake Tahoe with her new husband. Melinda was happy for her, and well, so was I, but we haven’t been able to find anyone good enough to replace our little girl. Nobody does service like Annie.”
“I can tell you for a fact that Olivia’s up to the task,” Dax states. “Come on, Jim. Give her the full-time gig. She doesn’t need the uncertainty, and you really don’t need to put another ad in the paper. Pretty sure the ad manager rolls his eyes whenever he gets an email from you.”
Jim lowers his gaze. “Melinda’s fine with that, but I still need to make sure?—”
“Is Melinda aware that you keep a secret stash of chocolate chip cookies hidden in your back office desk drawer?” Dax cuts in with a cool grin.
Jim gasps, then stills. The shock on his face tells me that Dax’s gamble was worth it. “How did you know that?”
In the meantime, my gaze bounces from Dax to Jim as I eagerly await the conclusion while Leo and Beck work overtime to keep their faces straight.
“I’m the one who cleared the back office after that grease fire spread,” Dax cordially reminds him. “At the time, you and Melinda were already on a serious diet. I kept my mouthshut then, but I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be keeping a chocolate chip cookie stash?—”
“Triple chocolate chip cookie stash,” Beck laughs as he corrects him.
“Triple chocolate chip cookie stash,” Dax echoes for dramatic effect, “while living with diabetes, Jim. I’ll bet you a million bucks that Melinda doesn’t know about it.”
Jim shakes his head slowly. “I don’t keep that stuff anymore. I’m clean.”
“So if I were to go into your office right now,” Leo says, pretending to get up from his seat, “I’m not going to find anything?”
“You can’t go back there,” Jim replies nervously.
“I can. Surprise fire safety inspection,” Leo shoots back. “You know I’m authorized to do that as a lieutenant.”
And there it is. The surrender plastered all over Jim’s sweaty face.
“Olivia deserves the full-time job,” Dax repeats, making my heart grow a couple of sizes. “And you need staff that you can rely on. Keeping people for three months and then letting them go for downright trivial reasons isn’t helping your diner, Jim, admit it.”
“Fine.” He exhales sharply and forces himself to smile. “Congratulations, Olivia. The full-time gig is yours. But I expect you to really rise to the occasion here.”
I light up with excitement and suck in a deep breath before I respond. “Thank you, Jim. I promise you won’t regret it. I’ll work twice as hard to prove myself.”
“I better not regret it,” he mutters, giving the guys a slight nod before he heads back into the kitchen. “We’re taking breakfast orders until eleven. Not a minute after that!”
“Got it!”
I laugh lightly once he’s out of sight, then turn to look at the three handsome gentlemen who literally just made my life a lot easier. Permanent employment has some perks that I will need in the long run, especially after the years I spent under Marcus’s heavy boot.
“I cannot thank you enough,” I tell Dax.
“You can, actually,” he replies. His phone rings, and he looks at the screen, the joy fleeing from his chiseled features. “We have to go back to the fire house. Car fire.”
Beck jumps from his seat. “On it.”
“Right behind you,” Leo says, then gives me a wink and follows Beck outside.
I can hear the fire siren sounding as Leo and Beck open the door to head back to the station. But Dax lingers for an extra second, giving me the most intense look.
“Drinks tomorrow evening? We can celebrate your new position,” he says, his tone not leaving much room for me to say no.
Not that I can find a reason to anyway.
“I’d love that,” I reply with a soft smile, then watch him head out to save another life.
