Page 53 of Love, Untangled

“Ah, good. She should come into the bank as soon as possible.”

“This has to do with her mother embezzling her grandmother’s funds?”

Marvin’s face cleared as he nodded. “I didn’t like the documentation I saw.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to get the money back?”

Marvin shrugged. “We have to have a reason to call in investigators, and think we have pretty good ones. But I’ll need to discuss all that with Pen. It’s really her decision.”

“Yeah, of course. She and I talked about it last night, but I get that this is a privacy thing—something you need to work out with her.”

Marvin raised an eyebrow. “Like that, is it?”

Carlo smiled, enamored with the idea of the other man knowing he was seeing Penelope. He wanted the whole town to know. The world. “Yeah, it’s like that.” He sobered, a trill of concern twisting through his guts and chest. “I…wanted to know if you have any spots on Blazers.”

Marvin’s eyebrows shot up. “I’d need to talk to the chief and you’d have to fill out paperwork, go through the same training process as everyone else. You know that.”

Carlo nodded. “Of course.” He was relieved to know that even in this small town the first responders met a high standard. “You need to be sure I can haul the hoses, carry bodies.”

“That too. But…” Marvin tugged at the napkin he’d picked up a few moments earlier, shredding bits of it. “From what you, ah, told me before, it seems like you left LTFD because of some significant trauma.”

Carlo let his comment settle, taking the time to absorb Marvin’s words. “I was one of the firefighters called in to a huge blaze in a residential neighborhood. Because of the drought, everything went up fast. I hadn’t gotten the address and I was in the back of the rig, so I didn’t realize we were headed toward my house until…”

Marvin hissed out a breath.

“Yeah. It was bad. Seven people died. The heat was intense; the houses just…gone. Four more had severe burns, and a multitude of others, who were lucky enough for us to get there and get them out, were treated and released within a few days.”

“And…your wife?”

“She was in the second house. Everything happened so fast and I didn’t even know where we were headed. If I had, I would have called her, told her to get out.”

Marvin winced.

Carlo’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

“I can understand why,” Marvin murmured. “Don’t feel like you have—”

“I found her,” Carlo interrupted. He never talked about that day. But somehow, now, with Marvin, he knew he’d understand. He knew he’d found someone who could truly empathize. “She was still in our bed. She hadn’t even had a chance to wake up before the smoke got her.”

Marvin winced again, picking up his mug of coffee and taking a healthy gulp. “That’s…I don’t know what to say. A true nightmare. Just the idea of something like that happening to Shiloh turns my stomach.” Marvin’s expression morphed into pain.

“Yeah, it was. And I needed time to get past that.”

“Have you?”

“Fair question.” Carlo crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels. “I think so, but I won’t know for sure if I don’t try.”

“Why do you feel like now’s the time? To try, I mean.”

Carlo’s mind drifted to Penelope. His Sunshine found joy in nearly every interaction. She saw the good in people. Well, most people—not her mother, but he couldn’t blame her there.

“Penelope’s part of it.” Carlo leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table and meeting Marvin’s concerned gaze. “She deserves a man who’s whole. Who can give her what she deserves.”

Marvin twitched a little as if the comment made him antsy. “And you’ve asked Pen if that’s something she wants?”

Carlo raised his eyebrow. “It’s what she deserves.”

Marvin frowned. Eva called his name. “We’re starting training on Monday. Come in, fill out the paperwork. We can see how it goes from there.”

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