Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

C olson

“Thanks, man. You’re saving my ass today.”

Lawson handed me two bakery bags and two hot coffees to go. I stopped at Crazy Beans most days of the week, only skipping if my work schedule at the fire station didn’t let me swing by. Today, I was running late and Lawson had my order ready to go for me the moment I stepped inside the coffee shop and bypassed the line.

“Anytime, bro,” the tattooed coffee barista and owner of Coffee Beans answered as I backed out the glass door and headed for my truck.

He and I had developed a kind of understanding. We both didn’t talk much and were able to communicate with mostly grunts and head lifts now. I kept my head down as I walked the sidewalk. I had to talk to the citizens of Blueball often enough on the job as a firefighter. Didn’t need to start waving and saying good morning like I was inviting further conversation.

Moving back to Blueball recently had been a mixed bag of blessings. I was now close by to watch over Mom and Sofia the way I liked, but I was also haunted by a heavy load of memories I wanted to forget about. Every place I looked in this town held a memory from my youth, and most of them either had my dad or Tully wrapped up in that memory. Both caused me pain, but for different reasons. Most days I couldn’t understand why it had been so damn important for Dad to make me promise on his deathbed to move back to Blueball. Didn’t he think I’d been hurt enough over Tully for one lifetime?

I got the coffees settled in the holders and the pastry bags on the passenger seat of my truck. I glanced at the thick black watch on my wrist, seeing I had just enough time to drive by both houses and drop off breakfast. Staying to chat wouldn’t be possible today, but at least my two mothers would have a sweet treat to start their day. First, I swung by Sofia’s, racing out of the truck to drop the caramel latte and her favorite banana nut muffin on her doorstep. Safety took a back seat as I texted her while driving back down her long driveway on my way to Mom’s. She replied with two heart emojis.

Mom, ever the eagle eye, spotted me from the front window as soon as I sprinted out of my truck to drop off the goods. She stood in the doorway, one hand on her hip in a blue bathrobe and reading glasses jammed on to the top of her gray head. “Late again?”

I handed her the goods and kissed her cheek. A hint of lemon hit my nose and I didn’t know if it was her or the lemon loaf in the pastry bag. “Not yet, which is why I gotta run.”

I backed up, shooting her a wink and a smile I knew she couldn’t resist. She pursed her lips like she was mad I couldn’t stick around and chat, but the scent of the coffee and pastry must have kicked in, distracting her from giving me a hard time.

“Oh, all right,” she muttered. “You sure are nicer now that you don’t live with me.” She lifted the items in the air. “Thanks, baby number two.”

I opened my truck door and put my right hand on my heart. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, Gigi.”

She sputtered and waved me away before retreating back in the house. She and I had gone round and round when I first moved back to Blueball. Living with her hadn’t gone well, maybe because Warrick, my older brother, and his then-fiancée, Em, and her daughter, Georgia, also lived with Mom. That’s a lot of people under one roof. I eventually moved out, stating that Dad would have wanted me to keep the peace between us at all costs. Mom couldn’t really argue with that.

My truck slid to a stop in my parking spot at the fire station right as the digital numbers on my dash flipped over to eight o’clock. I slid out and hustled inside, not wanting to piss off our captain. I was relatively new here and didn’t want to rock the boat before I’d had a chance to show him how invaluable I was.

“Look who decided to show up to work today.”

Joey Corsi, my old best friend from high school, was also a firefighter, and while he wasn’t happy I’d moved away years ago, our friendship had picked right up as soon as I’d moved back home. Guys didn’t hold grudges like women did.

“Shut up. I’m right on time, asshole.” I threw my bag into my locker and turned to his wife, who swung by the station on occasion and was much nicer than her other half. “Sorry for the language, Gabi.”

She flipped her jet-black hair behind her back and snuggled against my best friend. “You think I haven’t heard worse married to this guy?”

I put my arm up on the locker door and shot her the smile that made all the ladies swoon. “I know you have with that loser. When are you leaving him and marrying me?”

Before Gabi could laugh like she always did when I flirted with her in front of Joey, my best friend whipped the jacket he held into my gut. I grunted and dropped my arm.

“She’d never date an asshole with a ’stache like that.”

Our captain’s urgent voice cut off our teasing before I could defend my recently grown mustache. “Got a smoke alarm coming from ol’ Betty’s place in the mobile home park. Suit up and let’s go!”

Gabi quickly kissed Joey and headed for the door while all of us jumped into action. We climbed into our gear in record time and boarded the truck, all serious now that a call had come in. The siren blazing as we raced out of the station just thirty seconds after Captain announced the call woke me up more than any caffeine jolt could.

Betty met us outside her home, hair in curlers and still in her bathrobe. “It’s just the bacon smoking! I told that idiot to call you boys off, but he said he already called it in.”

She waved her bony hand at the manager of the mobile home park, a man standing on the sidewalk who looked like he got some of the bacon grease all over the front of his shirt before he called us. We left the captain to deal with Betty and headed inside her home to make sure there was no danger. Grease fires could accelerate in the blink of an eye. I’d seen way too many homes burn to the ground because of a cooking incident in the kitchen.

Once everything checked out, we headed back outside and waited for Captain to calm Betty down. She’d lit into the poor manager and Captain was having to act like a referee in a cage match. He’d only lived in Blueball for a few years himself, but he’d learned quickly the older generation were full of spitfires that needed as much managing as the actual fires.

I’d just taken my jacket off when a reedy voice purred from behind me. “Yeah, that’s it, baby. Take it off!”

I spun around to see a little old lady, no more than five feet tall, eyeing me like Mom eyed that slice of lemon loaf this morning. “Ma’am.” I took my hat off too, not to follow her directions, but to get the hot thing off my head.

The woman shimmied her hips surprisingly well, given her age had to be up there in the eighties. “Want to come light my fire, hot stuff?”

Joey, standing right next to me, sneezed. Though it sounded suspiciously like an exploding laugh.

Captain whistled, indicating we were heading out. Thank God.

I tipped my head to the woman. “Sorry, ma’am, but we’ve got more fires to put out around town. Saving lives and all is tough work.”

She rolled her bottom lip and pouted. “At least tell me you have a calendar I can buy?”

I grinned and saluted her before hopping up into the rig and letting out a relieved sigh when we rolled out of the park. Joey shoved me so hard with his elbow, I almost fell off my perch. He was laughing his ass off, and so was Frank, another firefighter I’d gotten to know since joining this crew. He was the only other single guy on our crew, which instantly gave us something in common.

I sat back and shrugged. “It’s the mustache.” The thing was pretty legendary, I had to admit. My facial hair grew in lighter than my actual hair, so the ’stache was a golden brown, straight, and beautiful, if I did say so myself.

“It’s not the fucking mustache, asshole. You look like a seventies porn star,” Joey howled.

I glared at him. “That’s what your wife said too.”

Joey’s laughter cut off as he glared right back. Frank only laughed harder. Honestly, I probably teased Joey too much, but it was just so much fun when he got so bent out of shape about it.

“I’m kidding, man. You know I’d never make a move on your wife. That’s not my style.”

Joey lost the glare pretty quickly. “Yeah, I know. ’Cause if you did, I’d have to kick your ass and we both know I could.”

Maybe that was the case in high school, but I’d spent the rest of my twenties after Tully left me in the weight room. I’d bulked up quite a bit since my high school days and Joey knew it. He’d gotten a little soft around the middle recently, probably with that wife of his dropping by with treats when he worked a long shift.

Frankly, I’d give just about anything to have a wife dote on me like that. Well, not just any wife. The one I’d had.

I turned away, jaw locked tight. I didn’t like thinking about Tully or the life I thought we were going to have together. I’d had everything right there at my fingertips, and I’d lost it. It was the reason I hadn’t dated anyone seriously since. Tully had been it for me. Everyone else since her was just a way to pass the time and have some harmless fun.

“You know Gabi has a friend who’s single. Pretty too. We could go on a double date,” Joey offered quietly, nudging my leg when I didn’t turn around to look at him.

“I’m good, man.” The words tasted like acid, which was still preferable to the unthinkable thought of going on a serious date. I was far from good, but I didn’t need to go unloading that heavy shit on my best friend. I kept all of it locked up tight in a black box where it couldn’t hurt me any longer. It was moving back to Blueball that had cracked open the seal on that box, letting old feelings creep in again. Exactly what I feared would happen when Dad mandated I move back home.

Back at the station, Captain was in a foul mood all day. Calls were slow and uneventful, which was a good thing. While we got a workout in, we overheard Captain having an intense conversation about budgets being adjusted. That had our whole crew on edge. Budget cuts were the last thing you wanted to hear about. Especially me. Being the new guy, if employees had to be chopped, I’d be the first let go.

I had dinner duty that night, so while the steaks I intended to grill were thawing, I headed for his office to check in. Captain barely spared me a glance when I stuck my head in the doorway. Papers littered his desk, angry pen slashes all over the pages. While I wasn’t exactly having a good time being back in Blueball, I’d made a promise to my father. This town was it for me and I had to make it work.

“Hey, boss, I have an idea I wanted to run by you.”

Captain waved me in and I had a seat across from his desk. He scrubbed a hand over his face, looking pretty stressed out. “What is it, Wolfe?”

“Back in San Luis Obispo, we put on a fundraiser that was pretty successful. I’m not sure if it would be enough to plug the holes in our budget, but it might be worth a shot.” I dipped my head toward his papers.

Captain sighed. “Guess I wasn’t exactly quiet earlier.”

I grimaced. “We heard most of it.”

He flipped his pen onto his desk and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands across his torso. As far as bosses went, he wasn’t a bad one. I’d had captains before who were absolute assholes, making the station life toxic. Captain Charlie Larson was one of the good ones.“Hit me with your idea.”

“So everybody knows firefighter calendars are all the rage. Women gobble them up. We did a photoshoot at our station and sold the calendars. The printer did the job for free, taking the tax write-off. Some local companies sponsored the calendar which also added to our bottom line. It was wildly successful.”

Captain’s thumb tapped on his hand a few times while he thought it through. “Auburn Hill did something similar a few years ago with zoo animals. The last thing Blueball wants to do is copy them. We’re not exactly on good terms with Hell.”

I nodded my head. I knew that all too well having grown up here. Hell’s high school had been our biggest rival. “Then we’ll do it different. Better, even.” I sat forward, getting into the idea. Nothing I liked better than a little competition to spice things up. “What if we make it an interactive experience? Instead of just flat photos in a calendar, what if we invite everyone to the photoshoot?”

Captain frowned, not getting my idea.

“Everyone gets their own custom calendar, boss.” I jumped to my feet. “The women wait in line and then get to pose with us. It’s not a calendar of hot firefighters. It’s a calendar of each woman with twelve different hot firefighters.”

Captain burst into a laugh that finally met his eyes. “You might just have a good idea there, Wolfe.”

“I know I fucking do.”

“Let me run it by a few people and see if we can get this up and running quickly.” At my smug grin, he held up a hand. “And if it’s a go, expect your ass is going to be spearheading the whole thing. I’d hate to see the new guy fuck up his first few months on the job.”

I swallowed hard. He didn’t come right out and say it, but we both knew whose head was on the chopping block if this idea didn’t bring in enough money. “You can count on me.”

My brain kicked into high gear the rest of our shift. I wrote down all my ideas and started forming a plan. Once Captain got back to me that my idea was approved, I’d work my ass off to make the calendar a success. Firefighting had been my whole life, and now Dad had made Blueball my permanent home. I had to make this thing work to keep my job.

I was exhausted from lack of sleep when I pulled up the long driveway to my place. My dog’s face filled the little window at the front of my home as he watched me drive up. The carriage house I was staying in was a tiny one-bedroom-one-bath shack that should have been demolished years ago. It functioned, but barely. Beggars couldn’t be choosers though, so I was grateful to live there.

The main house was still dark, which told me Sofia was still sleeping. I’d head out later and get her some groceries, but right now, I just needed some sleep and Hayes needed to be fed.

Some people might think it weird that I stayed on my ex-mother-in-law’s property, but Sofia and I didn’t. I’d been coming home once a month for years to help her take care of the property. In many ways, Sofia had become more of a mother to me than my own mom.

Tully might not be mine any longer, but I laid claim to her mother.