Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

T ully

There was complete silence on the drive over to the fire station. Which was a change for us. I’d always been the chatty one in our relationship, but Colson hadn’t been quiet either. Grown-up Colson was much more serious. I wasn’t sure if age, his profession, or our divorce had made him that way, but I was finding it disconcerting. I wanted to ask what he was thinking, just to get some conversation going, but I had a feeling I didn’t actually want to know. If his outburst last night was anything to go by, he had some pent-up feelings and now was not the time.

“I was thinking the slogan From Flames to Fame would be really cute,” I blurted out as the fire station came into view.

Colson grunted and made the turn, the truck bouncing over the curb as we parked around the side of the station.

“You know, because you’re getting your own calendar. You could become famous hot firefighters. At least to the town. Or maybe it’ll go viral, who knows?” I was rambling, and given the look Colson gave me as he threw the truck in park and took off his seat belt, he knew it too, but wasn’t going to call me on it.

“Just what we want,” he mumbled, sliding out of the truck.

I bit my lip and shook my head at myself. Bringing up the topic of fame was probably not the right move. Colson had never cared about such things, probably less so when he had to watch his ex-wife become famous. He yanked open my door, startling me. I slid out and forced my shoulders back. Joey came out of the station’s side door and held it open for us.

“Hey, Tulson! It’s like a trip back to high school seeing you two arrive together.” He laughed at his joke, while Colson and I awkwardly refused to look at each other. Tulson was the name they all called us back when we were together, long before celebrities started going by portmanteaus.

“Frank! Danny!” I called out as I stepped into the fire station and saw them leaning against the counter eating an early lunch. I held up my camera. “I need to get pictures of you.”

They shot me winks and smiles, all too happy to be my subjects. I felt, more than heard, the grumble coming from Colson directly behind me. I got started, taking pictures of the guys holding equipment around the station. I even got Chief wrangled into the pictures and got a smile out of him. I figured all the ladies my age and up would appreciate that picture more than the rest.

Colson followed me around everywhere, acting as my bodyguard, giving everyone a dirty look if they got too friendly with me. When all the guys were looking over my shoulder in fear instead of smiling at my camera, I had to ask Colson to get my other lens from his truck. I didn’t have another lens but it kept him busy for ten minutes while I got perfectly flirty pictures we’d use for social media leading up to the fundraiser.

The guys were called out and left in a hurry, sirens blazing. It was a sight to behold, watching them in action. I snapped pictures left and right, figuring they might make it onto social media too. Colson, who was off for the next three days, stood in the empty bay after they left and stared at me.

“No pictures of me for social media?”

I held up my camera, hoping my cheeks weren’t giving me away. I’d purposely not gotten any of Colson. I didn’t particularly like the idea of using his sexy picture as bait to get more women out to the fundraiser. It would be bad enough having to see him shirtless taking pictures with them. “Nah. I got enough of the younger guys.”

Colson grabbed his impressive chest. “Damn, woman. Hurt a guy with that age card.”

I grinned, enjoying being back in a place where we could tease each other. “Come on, old man. Let’s plan out where the photo ops will be.”

With his hand on my lower back, we stepped outside and went around to the back of the station where there was considerable land for everything we wanted to do. Colson pointed and explained what he already had planned. It was good. If a little limited.

“What if we did all that, but added in a penned area here for the petting zoo?” I pointed to the far left. “And then add in a small stage. We could ask around and see if we can get a band to play? Set up a few food trucks? Make this an all-day shindig for the whole family, not just lusty females?”

Colson stared at me, swiping at his ridiculous mustache. “That’s a lot.”

“Fuck yeah it is.” I turned to him, excitement over a project running through my veins for the first time in a long time. “Let’s not half-ass this, Wolfe. Let’s put Blueball on the map. We have the hottest firefighters, hands down. Way hotter than Hell.”

Colson’s smug grin made me crack up. “Well, that’s true.” He looked around at the grounds, envisioning all the things I’d laid out. When he turned back to me, I could see the same excitement reflected in his eyes. “Let’s full-ass this.”

I whooped and high-fived him, making him laugh. “Let’s get to the hardware store!”

He shook his head, still laughing as we walked to his truck. “You say that like it’s your own personal Nordstroms.”

He wasn’t wrong. We ended up leaving the hardware store several hundred dollars poorer and with a full truck bed. Carl had even ordered in some of my personal brand of fleur-de-lis board and batten, which I planned to buy for that renovation Em was doing on the coast. Not that I’d made a decision about staying here and taking the job, but that option was looking better and better every day.

We dropped everything off at the station and then ran back to the carriage house to get Colson’s tools. Mine were somewhere in a container, making its way to Blueball. Colson’s were a bit dirty and not as state of the art as mine, but they’d do the job. We worked like a well-oiled team, measuring, cutting, and building each of the photo backdrops. By the time the crew came back, we also had two sides of the petting zoo fence up and functional. The guys stayed with us outside, all talking about the stations and who was looking forward to what.

I’d had an idea the other day, but hadn’t brought it up to Colson, knowing he’d veto my idea before I’d fully gotten it out of my mouth. Instead, I waited until Joey had Colson preoccupied with the plans for the band’s stage. Captain was eyeing the petting zoo area with concern.

“Hey, Captain.”

He turned and nodded hello. “You’re magic with a circular saw, Tully.”

I grinned. “It’s my favorite power tool.” I stepped a little closer so I could keep my voice down. “I had an idea for another station that I think will bring in a ton of money.”

“I’m all ears,” Captain said cautiously.

“Okay, so what if we did a little auction? Citizens can bid on each firefighter and win, say, an hour with them. Maybe it’s just someone to talk to for an hour? Or haul branches off their property for an hour? Or play darts? Who knows! The possibilities are endless!”

Chief frowned at me, but he didn’t immediately say no either.

The no came from behind me. In Colson’s loud, irritated voice.

“Hell, no. You want people to bid on firefighters for a date?”

I spun around to find a furious Colson. He folded his arms across his chest and glared at me.

“Not a date. An hour. Tops. Manual labor. A friend to chat with. Maybe a fire safety class for a family. I don’t know. But no, not a date.”

The guys had come over, hearing Colson’s outburst. Frank nudged Danny. “The ladies are going to go crazy over me.”

“Have you seen my biceps recently? I’ve been working out, man. They won’t even see you when I get up on that stage,” Danny responded.

I rolled my eyes at their antics. Colson didn’t find it funny, however. He leaned in closer. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Now hold on a second there, Wolfe,” Captain interjected, putting his hand on Colson’s chest. “Tully might be on to something.”

“We can make sure there are rules so everyone knows what kind of activities are allowed,” I added in quickly.

“You’ve got a girl already, dumbass,” Frank said to Danny, ignoring the thunderclouds on Colson’s face. “If anything, they’ll be bidding on me and Wolfe. We’re the only single guys here.”

“I think we can make this work,” Captain said, ignoring Frank and Danny’s bullshit. “Great idea, Tully.” He patted me on the shoulder, which earned another pointed glare from Colson.

I rolled my eyes and pushed through the crowd of testosterone. I was used to it on construction sites for my previous job, but firefighters were proving to be even more intense. “Well, I’m starving. I’ll be back tomorrow to keep working on the stations.”

I barely got into Colson’s truck before he was climbing behind the wheel, having decided to follow me instead of standing around frowning at everyone. He hadn’t been this grumpy when I knew him nineteen years ago, that much I knew. Yet another mystery that my brain chewed on and ultimately decided I was the problem.

Colson drove in the direction of Grass, his thumb tapping out an irritated rhythm on the steering wheel. His jaw clenched over and over again, but no words came out.

“You gonna say it or what?” I finally asked.

He sighed. “You better bid on me to save me from some lusty ol’ Blueball lady.”

I burst out laughing. “You wish!”

A grin tugged on his lips as we parked at Grass and ordered takeout. He may have been teasing, but the idea rolled around in my brain, making me wonder if I dared do exactly that.

After dropping off dinner to Gigi, she shooshed us away when we offered to stay and eat with her. We had gotten takeout for Mama too. Gigi said we needed to get it to her before it got cold. Mama was delighted to see us and attacked her meal with gusto while we visited. She’d slowed down over the years so it was good to see her eat like that.

“I’m so full!” Mama exclaimed, sitting back and rubbing her belly.

Mama said she spent the afternoon at the house, chatting up Savannah and Pip as they got to demo’ing the damaged kitchen. For a woman who didn't leave her house anymore, that much socializing had probably made her exhausted.

“I’m going to bed.” Mama pushed away from the table, and Colson tossed his head toward the back door. I knew he would walk Mama to the carriage house while I cleaned up the takeout containers. Many things had changed since I left Blueball, but clearly our silent communication still worked just fine.

When he came back, I’d inspected the work the girls had done, finding all the damage gone and plastic covering all the open spaces. I made a list on my phone of all the items I’d need to buy to renovate this kitchen into the vision I had in my head. Colson grabbed my hand and steered me out of the house, locking the front door behind us. I tried not to make a big deal of him holding my hand, even for just a few seconds.

I went over my list on the drive over to Gigi’s house, Colson grunting his approval of my ideas. Colson didn’t bother to knock, just stepped right inside and hollered out a hello to his mother.

“I just baked some cookies!” Gigi hollered back from the living room where I could hear a television program going. “Help yourselves!”

Colson squeaked like a little kid and made a beeline to the kitchen. I was too full from dinner to even think about adding cookies to the mix. I found Gigi in the living room, a pile of fabric on her lap as she hemmed something by hand. She had a pair of glasses on top of her head and another pair perched on the end of her nose.

“Hey, Tully. How’s the fundraiser going?” She set her project aside and gave me her attention.

“Good!” I sat on the opposite end of the couch and waggled my eyebrows. “I started on the petting zoo pen.”

Gigi clapped her hands, looking like I just told her Christmas was coming early this year. “Those kids are going to love my animals.”

“Wan’ showr?” Colson came in the room, his mouth stuffed with cookies and more in his hand waiting to be devoured.

“Colson Wolfe, where are your manners?” Gigi shook her head.

I hopped to my feet, not wanting to get in the middle of a squabble. These two could go back and forth for half an hour before anyone got a word in edgewise. They loved each other, but man, could they argue.

“I’m going to grab a shower and head to bed. See you tomorrow?”

“Good night, sweetie,” Gigi said before turning back to Colson. “I didn’t mean you should eat all the cookies.”

“Relax. You made like four dozen. I only had six.”

I rolled my eyes and left them behind. Colson and I would be sharing a bathroom. I wanted to hurry up and be done with my shower so I didn’t pose even more of an inconvenience than I already was by staying here. The hot water felt great, and I didn’t even mind the bottle of shower gel that smelled just like Colson. When my fingers started to prune up, I shut off the water valve and wrapped a towel around me. My soaked hair dripped onto the floor. I hurried to wring it out in the sink as much as I could. I needed the special microfiber towel I took everywhere with me. It soaked up the water and kept my curls from frizzing, but I’d left it in my suitcase.

Opening the door, I slammed right into a wall of Colson. The towel loosened around my chest and I grabbed for it, while Colson grabbed my hips to keep me steady.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I, uh, was going to ask if you were done.”

I tipped my head way back to peer up at him. He looked embarrassed.

“Were you just perving outside my shower like a Peeping Tom?” I teased him, resorting to humor when I was nervous.

His eyes widened, but instead of denying my ridiculous claim, he licked his lips. His gaze slid over my face, down my neck, and to my damp chest where I clutched the towel like a lifeline. The hands bracketing my hips dug into my skin.

And that’s when I felt it. The undeniable proof digging into my belly that my ex-husband still found me attractive. Just like the rest of him, he’d grown and developed over the years.

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.