Page 24 of Flirting With Fire
“Nothing much bothers her,” Dex agreed. “Apart from snakes. She doesn’t like snakes.”
“Sensible girl.” I agreed, and the mare tossed her head as if she agreed with me.
We reached Charming Station and came to a halt. Suddenly, my mouth was dry as I stared up at the building.
“Does it bring back memories?” Dex murmured.
“I spent half my childhood here,” I said, remembering cycling here after middle school and my father’s loud booming laugh as he greeted me. He always looked so happy to see me. “More than half really. Mom said if she ever wanted to find me, she’d call the firehouse.”
Dex coughed. “Chief Brannigan.”
I blinked, distracted from my memories, to see the stocky, gruff chief emerge from the firehouse just as Dad used to.
“Dex,” he boomed. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I’m on my way home,” Dex said, smiling at him. “Met your newbie on the way.”
Brannigan turned to me and held out his hand. “Good to see you, Meyer. It’s been too long.”
“Chief.” I shook his hand warmly, noting that he’d aged since I last saw him, his hair completely silver now. Uncle Gary, as I’d called him as a kid, had been in my life for as long as I could remember. He was my dad’s best friend from elementary school. “Good to see you too.”
“I’ll leave you to get on with your day.” Dex turned to me. “Do you want to come up after work to look at the cottage?”
“Yeah, sure.” I thought it was a dreadful idea, but I wasn’t going to say that now. I’m not sure why I was so opposed to the possibility of living next to Dex.
Brannigan looked between us, then burst out into a smile. “Are you thinking of renting the cottage on the ranch?”
“Lindy suggested it,” Dex said. And I noticed he didn’t say yes or no.
I wondered if Brannigan knew how much he smiled whenever my mom’s name was mentioned. It made me even more suspicious that there was something going on between them.
“That’s a good idea.” Brannigan gave an approving nod. “You don’t want the property empty for too long.”
“No, sir,” Dex agreed.
“I’ll cycle up after my shift,” I said, knowing I had no choice now. I could always say no when I saw it. There had to be somewhere else to rent in Charming.
He waved, clucked at the horse, and they disappeared around the side of the building. I watched him go, then turned to seeBrannigan staring at me thoughtfully. I was determined not to blush. He did know I was gay, didn’t he? I wasn’t about to step back in the closet now. I’d come across enough homophobes at work in my time and fought my battles accordingly. I’d been lucky to have the backing of my captain back in Chicago. But Charming was a small town, not a large city, and I needed this job. The next words out of his mouth would determine whether I stayed at the firehouse or cycled home with my tail between my legs.
“Dex is a good man,” Brannigan said.
Were we back to Saint Dex again?
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“You treat him right.”
I stared at him. That was one short of asking me my intentions. But there was only one reply. “Yessir.”
He smiled and nodded. “I told Lindy to give you two time. You boys will settle down soon enough.”
Ground, swallow me whole. My mom had been talking to my new boss about me and Dex? It was like being back at high school again with my mom trying to sort out why I’d had a fight with my ex-best friend, Jake Cooper. He started it. I finished it. I never let asshole comments slide about being gay. He knew it. He’d just been showing off to his new girlfriend. We’d both gotten suspensions for the fight and were lucky we hadn’t been kicked out. Mom had tried to make the peace between us, but Dad had told her to leave me be. I’d lost a best friend but gained the respect of a number of boys in the school. It had been worth it.
“I’m keen to get started,” I suggested, anxious to move on from the subject of Dex.
To my relief, Brannigan turned and guided me to the firehouse. “Some of the guys are here to meet you.”
We were the only two full-time members of the team, the rest being made up of part-timers and volunteers, mainly rookies and older men. As the chief had told me when I first called him, it was hard to keep the experienced volunteers. They were like me, wanting to be full-time firefighters. They moved away to the larger towns and cities when vacancies became available. There was funding for training since wildfires were common enough around Charming, but not for additional staffing.
