Page 26 of Only Ever You
“Tate seems like a good guy. Do you see him and Josie much?”
Parker chuckled as he fetched a bag of dog food and some treats out of a kitchen cabinet. “All the time. They live right next door, and he works with me.”
A few minutes later, we were driving out toward Fireweed Winery & Restaurant. “What made you want to be a firefighter?” I asked as he drove.
When I glanced his way to see his arm resting on the steering wheel with his hand dangling over it, my eyes lingered on the subtle flex of his forearm as he steered. Heat spun through my veins, and I forced my eyes away as he replied, “When my probation officer set me up with a vocational program, this was the only thing interesting to me. I love it. It’s never boring.”
I glanced over when he chuckled. “I imagine not. How often do you travel in the summer?”
“It varies. I imagine we’ll get called out soon. When I first trained, there weren’t as many wildfires, but now they’re a lot more frequent. Alaska is busy, along with other areas. If we’renot dealing with fires here, we rotate with other crews anywhere we’re needed.”
Anxiety twisted through me as I contemplated him out in the wilderness, fighting literal fires. “Do you worry about your safety much?”
Parker’s eyes flicked to mine before briefly stating, “Of course I do. Statistically speaking, just driving down the highway carries more risk than firefighting.”
I let out a little snort. “I suppose.”
We fell quiet when he turned onto the road that led to the winery. This was a beautiful part of town with a view of fields with the mountains in the distance. Of course, the mountains were always in the distance in Alaska. Alaska was a show-off when it came to nature.
After we ate, Parker insisted on paying for our dinner. When I tried to argue the point, he arched a brow. “Luna, you’re making dessert, and I have absolute confidence it’s gonna be amazing.”
Heat blazed in my cheeks as he parked in front of my house. “You have a lot of confidence.”
He tapped the button to turn the engine off before leaning over and surprising me with a quick and fierce kiss. “I’ve had your donuts. I know how good they are.”
I was so flustered that I fumbled to unbuckle my seatbelt.
Chapter Fifteen
PARKER
“Amazing. I told you.” I finished my first bite of Luna’s strawberry rhubarb crumble cake. She’d whipped it up within minutes after we arrived.
Luna bit her lip, pink flaring on her cheeks as she looked over from across her small kitchen table. “Told me what?”
“That this would be amazing.” I took another bite, closing my eyes as I savored the subtle sweet flavor with bursts of tartness from the berries and rhubarb.
She pressed her lips together. “Thank you,” she finally said. “I love to bake.”
“Good thing because you’re seriously skilled. I’m decent in the kitchen, but that’s it. I definitely can’t bake donuts or anything like this magic.” I gestured toward the baking pan in the center of the table.
Fuzzy was sound asleep on the floor beside Luna’s feet. I didn’t doubt my dog’s love for me, but I was pretty sure that he thought Luna was the best human being in the universe. While we were waiting for the crumble cake to finish baking, she’d whipped up molasses oatmeal dog biscuits for him. He’d gobbled two of them in quick succession before she put the others away, assuring him he could have more later.
Everything about today felt too good to be true. Time and again, it harked me back to that feeling from that afternoon. Over the years, I convinced myself those hours were better in my memory than they’d been in real life. But now, I was pretty sure my memory didn’t do the time justice. There was a comfort and an ease to sharing space with Luna. I now thought of her in my memory as Luna. Because that name suited her in a way that Jane never had.
It was approaching the time where I should make a graceful exit, but I didn’t want to leave. Yet again, a comfortable silence fell between us.
I felt her gaze on me and lifted mine to hers. “You look like you’re thinking a little too hard, Luna,” I teased lightly.
She was quiet for a beat. “I don’t want you to leave tonight.” Her words came out in a rush, followed by a wash of deep pink staining her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have said that,” she added quickly.
“I definitely don’t want to leave.” I was completely serious. “So I’m really glad you said that.”
She smiled sheepishly as she looked over at me. “Well, good then. At least we agree.”
A little later, Luna was trying to keep me from washing the dishes. “Luna, you baked,” I protested. “And it was amazing. It’s a total of four plates.”
“And the bowl.” She pointed to the large mixing bowl she’d used.
