1. Ember

1

EMBER

T oday, to Ember Thompson, Phoenix Ridge was the most beautiful city in the world. Not in the way of being the prettiest, the cleanest, or the most advanced. Its beauty went beyond all that. It was its people, the culture, the terrain, the smell of fuel, and the scream of loud combustion engines in themidsummer’sheat surrounded by the vast desert that ensconced the city and hundreds of other car enthusiasts who showed up to the watch the cars compete against each other in the most beautiful sport known to man. Drag racing.

“Whoo-hoo!” some excited spectator screamed nearby.

Ember winced slightly, leaning away from him.Phoenix Ridge wasmaybea little too loud sometimes.Nobody said it was perfect, but that was part of the charm. She sat in her car, chugging down a cold can of Coke to stave off the heat. Everyone was dressed in shorts and t-shirts, except for the few eccentric kids who wore hoodies with the hood up no matter the weather.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Somebody banged on the trunk of her car with their palm, causing her to wince again. She stuck her head out the window, irritated. Everyone knew not to touch Joan carelessly. The’76Z28 Camaro was a jewel. She stumbled upon the car three years ago and had taken a great risk in buying it from the seller. The carwasn’tin perfect condition, but Ember saw her potential. All Joan needed was a little love. Ember poured her heart and soul into the car, and it turned into a work of art.

“Hey!” she yelled. “Hands off my ride.”

The man grinned at her, showing teeth.“What? This rust bucket? I’m surprised she hasn’t ended up in the junkyard yet! Get your ass to the strip, you’re running next after these guys. Swift Hog’s ready to race ya.”

Ember sat back in her car, shaking her head.She’dseen her opponent working on his car shortly before the races began. He was an older man, probably in his mid-sixties, and allofhis hair had gone grey. Old man Farcy had been racing these deserts longer than Ember had been alive. She would never question his driving skills, but Swift Hog was a terrible name. However, who was she to judge? Actually, she was totally going to judge. Cars were the single most amazing things human beings had ever invented. They deserved to have great names. Not Swift-freaking-Hog. Especially not the legendary American Buick GNX.

All her stray thoughts fledthe momentJoan’sengine came alive with a healthy rumble. The sound got everyone’s attention right away. Folks turned to stare at her ride. Shecouldn’thelp smiling and waving at the few of them she recognized.Yeah, Phoenix Ridge wasabsolutelythe best city in the world because it was home toall ofher favorite people.

If her mother saw her right now, she would be livid. The daughter of Becky Thompson, the chief of Phoenix Ridge Fire Department engaging in drag races of all things. Anybody whodidn’tknow her would be surprised to even see her at events like these, let alone have her own drag racer, but Ember didn’t see the issue. These races were perfectly legal, after all.

Farcy pulled into the track next to her, his modified Buick screeching loudly even thoughhe’dbarely touched the throttle.

Thatengine’sgonna explode before we hit the finish line.

The judges ran final checks to ensure they both followed safety protocols. She was decked out in a full protective suit, complete with a fire jacket, pants, and a helmet. Most of itwasn’trequired for the“domestic class”she was racing in, but she took safety very seriously.

The track official made sure they were both ready. He raisedhis hands in the air, signaling to both racers that it was almost time to go. He brought them down dramatically. Ember was off like a bullet. Joan jumped slightly from the starting line. She wobbled a bit on the launch, but Ember predicted it and corrected her course in time. As soon as the Camaro was stable, she focused all of her attention on the road ahead.

This was it. This was the timeshetrulycame alive. When there was nothing but her, Joan, and the road in front of them. All of her worries faded away. Her mind became rejuvenated from the experience. Ember felt like she was ready to take on the world from thedriver’sseat of her car. She felt protected and safe. Nobody else could catch her here, not even the wind. It was a dream that had fallen right into her grasp.

As she approached the finish, she looked in the rearview mirror to see how big of a lead she had on her opponent. Farcy had barely gotten halfway down the track. There was a large plume of smoke coming off his hood that sparked into flames as she watched. Instincts took over. She slammed on the brakes hard, slowing the car down significantly. She spun the wheel rapidly, sending thecarinto an oversteer as she made a quick U-turn, crossing the track to the next lane and sped back the way she came.

“Oh God, please no,” she prayed.

Someof thespectators had jumped over the borders and made their way onto the drag strip, attempting to crowd around the car. Nobody knew what the hell they were doing.Some tried to get the hood open toput outthe fire, and others tried to get the old man out of the car, but noneof themsucceeded.

She pulled the car to a stopin front ofthe burning Buick and jumped out in a blink, her fire extinguisher ready in one hand and a crowbar in the other.

“Get out of the way! Step away from the car!”she yelled authoritatively over the din. That got a reaction. Most of these people here were townsfolk. Almost all of them knew who she was. She was the closest firefighter. She took in the situation quickly. As always, with emergencies and accidents, there were far too many people gathered around. There needed to be no more than two individuals helping; everyone else was simply getting in the way.

“Cut the seatbelts! Use a pocketknife! I have one in my pigeonhole! Be careful not to cut him!”she instructed the men helping Farcy.

She dumped the extinguisher on the ground and pried the hood open with her crowbar.She braced it against the hood to keep it open beforeshe picked up the extinguisher once more.Thick smoke and heat slammed into her, blinding her momentarily. Ember was trained for this, though. She already knew where to aim the extinguisher.She let it loose on the burning engine whileshe assessedthe rest of the car tomake surethe firehadn’tspread anywhere else.

“Holy shit!” Farcy swore.

Apparently,he’dfinally managed to get himself out of the car. Hedidn’tlike the look of his engine bay, but at least he was alive. Embermade surethe fire had completely died down before she let up on the extinguisher. She waited still and watched. Fires were trickythings to handle, and one could never be too cautious.One thing her mother always said was,“It’s easier to recover from being too cautious. If you’re not cautious enough, you won’t live long enough to learn your lesson,”and Ember held on to that principle.Somewhat.

“Thanks, kiddo,”Farcy said, grimacing at his car.“Glad you were here to take a hold of things. Those guys were choking me in there until you told ‘em to cut the seatbelts.”

Ember merely nodded. She was still on high alert.This was work mode, and there wasnoroom for chit-chatuntilshe wascertaineveryone was safe.The chances of cars exploding, like in the movies, were actuallyvery low, but itwasn’tzero.

With the situation handled, more and more people started to gather around. That was her cue to hightail it out of there. She returned to her car and drove off the drag strip. They were alreadymaking plansto move thecaroff the strip and clear it for the next batch of racers. Incidents like these happened all the time when it came to drag racing.

“That was so cool!”a teenage boy flashed her a bright smile

“Hey, Mandy.”Ember offered the girl a tired smile.

The adrenaline was wearing off. The heat and stress accumulated through the day were starting to set in. Thankfully, that was her final race for the day. She planned on recovering her tools and heading home right away.

“You were like an actor in a movie! The way you turned your car around and came back to save his life!”

Mandy was a bit of a talker, but she was such a sweet girl. Ember could never bring herself to be tired of her company.

“Is there some secret serum they give all you firefighters that makes you all so badass?”The girl looked like she had stars in her eyes.

“Idon’t know about everybody else, but I certainly didn’t get any of it. Where’s your mother?”

“Oh!”Mandy looked around rapidly.“She was standing next to—there! She’s talking to that old lady with the baseball hat.”

Ember started packing up her things. She was almost done whenMandy’smother cameoverto talk to her.

“Hey, that was a good thing you did back there.”

Ember stuck her head out of her truck.“Oh, yeah. Thanks, Kathy.”

The two of them had attended the same high school together, though Kathy was her senior. They remained friends ever since. Kathy graduated and had a family, while Ember went on to become a firefighter. Ember suspected Kathy had a crush on her at some point, but nothing ever really came of it. They werebothhappy for each other anyway, and the friendship was easy since Mandy adored Ember.

“Heading out already?”

“Yeah, you know how it is.”

“Not really,”Kathy laughed.“You’re always running somewhere in that beautiful car of yours.”

Embercouldn’tresist the urge to glance at Joan. Shetrulywas a beautiful car. Of course, what Kathy saidhadn’tgone over her head completely. She tried not to think about it too much. Life had been lonely lately. Sure, Phoenix Ridge was great, and all her friends and family were here, and they were great. But shecouldn’thelp but feel like something was missing.

“See you around, then.”As predicted, Ember hopped into her car and ran.

Shortly after she got home, her phone rang.

MOM flashed up on the screen.

She must be calling to ask about the fire accident. Of course, her motherwould’veheard about it.Even if shewasn’tthechief of the fire department, her mother seemed to know someone everywhere.Hardly anything ever happened in Phoenix Ridge without her knowing about it.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Hey, sweetie,”hermother’sworried voice came through the phone.“Ijust heard about the incident. I hope you’re okay.”

“Yeah, I’m good. It wasn’t my car that caught on fire.”

“Okay,”her mother replied.“That’s good to hear.”

Uh oh. Ember recognized that tone. Becky was about to attempt to discourage her from going to drag racing events for the millionth time. Ember wasn’t ready to have one of those arguments again. Not after the exhausting day she just had. Itdidn’tfeel right to be arguing with her boss/mom on her day off.

“Hey, can I call you later. I gotta go do… stuff.”Ember cringed. That was a terrible lie. Lying had never been her strong suit. And that wasn’t entirely a bad thing, but it wouldn’t have hurt to have some skill, even at telling little white lies.

“ Riiiight ,”her mother drawled.“That’s alright. I know you don’t want to talk about it. I’m glad you’re okay at least.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“I love you, Ember,” Becky said, and Ember smiled to herself. She knew her mom loved her. They might have their differences sometimes, but she was grateful for her mom’s love.

“Love you too, Mom.”

The call was brief. Ember plopped facedown on her bed. She would have to return to work the next day. That lent her some energy. She actually looked forward to it. This is not something a lot of people would say, but Ember genuinely loved her job.Not because her mom was a firefighter, too, despite what other people might believe.She loved saving people from fires just as much as she loved the thrill of running into burning buildings to rescue them. That was something her mom would hate to hear.

Ember was a thrill seeker and that was what she loved the most about her job.

“Look at our little hero!”KieraO’Malleyhollered the moment Ember walked through the doors. The redhead woman had the thickest Irish brogue Ember had ever heard, even though she was born and raised in Phoenix Ridge. Keira was a firecracker, always raring to go. One could hardly tell it was the end of her shift, and Ember wasactuallythere to relieve her.

“Don’t start with me, Kiera.”Ember rolled her eyes.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you? Saving lives even on your day off?”her coworker asked, her dimpled cheek glowing with her smile.

“How the hell are you so cheery after spending most of the night on duty?”

“She’s a mutant,”Zara answered for her. Zara had been on the night shift with Kiera, and she lookedcompletely tuckeredout with thick bags hanging under her eyes. At nearly six foot two, she was the tallest firefighter in the department. She was a gentle giant who was prone to teasing Kiera from time to time. Ember suspected she had a crush on Keira but was hesitant to speak up about it for some reason.

“I am not!” Kiera protested in false outrage.

“You are. There’s even been some research on the subject. Redheads are not like normal people,” Zara said earnestly.

While the twoof thembickered back and forth, Ember went into the locker room to change and grab her gear. The morning routine was always the same. Confirm which engine she was assigned to, relieve the person on duty, check all the equipment tomake sureit’sfunctioning correctly, and then wait for a call. Usually, theydidn’thave to wait long. Something was always going on in Phoenix Ridge. Haley and Leilani arrived not long after she left the locker room and helped with the inspection of the equipment and the fire truck.

Haley was the only firefighter at the station younger than Ember’s twenty-eight years, but she was a powerful youngster. Coming from a family of firefighters, Haley knew whatshewanted to be when she was fiveyears old and had spent her whole life training for it. She was close friends with Leilani.

Leilani was laughing happily as Haley asked her about her partner, Adaze, their cats, and their weekend together. Leilani had actually saved Adaze from drowning—that was how they met—and they had been together ever since. They made a cute couple. Ember wondered if she would ever have something like that.She’dbeen in very few relationships inall ofher twenty-eight years of living. Something about forming connections with people always made her shy away.She ran awayquiteoften, so none of her relationshipseverlasted long.

Elle Rodriguez came just in time, completing their four-woman team lead by Captain Hallie Hunter, who Ember had seen arriving earlier. Elle was gruff and not a morning person, but they all knew that and that was fine. Once they finished their checks, they did a session together in the gym and then they showered and headed to the kitchen where Haley put together poached eggs on toast and pancakes for everyone.

The first call out came two hours later.The bells rang out through the station.

“House Fire in the suburbs, down at Yellow Flower Close. Dispatcher says it started from the grill in the backyard and is spread to the house,”Captain Hunter informed everyone. She was in the passenger seat next to Elle, who was behind the wheel. Elle was always the driver when she was on shift.

These types of fires wereridiculously common. People often overestimated their ability to keep fire under control. Accidents did happen, though, so itwasn’talwayssomebody’sfault. That was the thing with fire. It was just naturally dangerous, but peoplecouldn’treally do without it.

It was basics, Ember thought to herself. Keep a bucket of water next to the grill and keep the grill away from obvious hazards like a wooden fence or a dried-out patch of grass.

They sped down through the city, sirens blaring. Everyone was calm and collected.They’dalready done this hundreds of times.Conversation was minimal as everyone got into the right frame of mind. Anything could happen. Each call was different. It was exciting but also incredibly dangerous.

They pulled into the neighborhood, and right away, Ember spotted the location of the fire despite still being a few blocks away. They could see the smoke over the top of all the bungalows tightly packed together. The crowd confirmed they were in therightlocation. Thankfully, everyone heard them coming and cleared a path.

“Shit,” Leilani swore from the back.

“Accurate,”Ember agreed. The fire washuge—much bigger than to be expected from the information they had. The house was most certainly well on fire.

Captain Hunter snapped out instructions and Ember donned her helmet and hopped down the moment the firetruck came to a stop. Everyone knew the drill. They worked together seamlessly to get a hose set up and water going on the fire.

Elle hooked them up to the nearest hydrant.

“Thompson—you are in charge.” Captain Hunter nodded to Ember. Ember was hoping for promotion so was gaining practice leading the team at incidents.

She slipped easily into leadership. She had been learning about fire her whole life and doing the job long enough. You didn’t grow up with the famous Becky Thompson as a mom and not know your shit when it came to fighting fires.

“Is everyone accounted for?!” Ember asked.

It was stillimportantto search the building, but Ember wanted to know whether to prioritize that or put the fire out first. The latter was going to take a bit longer. If there was somebody trapped inside, they were in danger of dying from suffocation or smoke inhalation.

The family looked greatly distressed andlargelyin shock. Disasters could do that to a person. Ember badly wanted to console them, but it was an emergency situation. They needed to act right away and recoup their losses later. Better to save what they have right now.

The father snapped to attention.

“Yes, everybody got ou?—”

“Timmy’s still inside!” one of the children screamed.

“Who’s Timmy?”Ember asked, checking to make sure all of her equipment was strapped correctly.

“Timmy’s our cat!”

“It’s alright, Henry,”the father triedto get the child to calmdown.He turned to Ember, looking apologetic.“The cat would’ve gotten out by now. It’s alright.”

They’vealready accepted the loss? Not on my watch

“I’m going in! There might be a cat trapped inside!”

“What?!”Haley looked surprised but Ember grinned back, pulling her breathing mask on. “Silva—you are with me.” She nodded at Leilani and Leilani obediently put her own mask on. “Johnson, Rodriguez—sort the water.”

“Ember! Wai?—”

Ember ran through the door followed by Leilani. She was immediately engulfed by the smoke.Oneof the worst things about entering a burning buildingwas the visual obstruction.Inexperienced folks could easily get disoriented. The house itselfwasn’tlarge. Ember knew itwouldn’ttake too much time to clear all the rooms.

They quickly checked downstairs, and Ember decided if the cat was down there it was not going to be alive. If Ember had to bet, the cat would be hiding somewhere upstairs. The stairs were not compromised by the fire so she nodded and indicated to Leilani and they made their way upstairs. Ember broke through a couple of windows with her axe to clear some smoke so they had some visibility. There was no fire up here apart from the back windows.

No sign of the cat in the first two bedrooms.Sheburst into the third room upstairs. The last room was the one in the back.Since the fire had started in the backyard,it was likelythis portion of the house was the most affected.Floors might be compromised. Ember moved carefully checking the floor as she went but without hesitation.

The fire had gutted most of the rear wall. The glass in the window had shattered from the heat. Despite the crackling flames,sheheard the cat right away.Hewas meowing for help from somewhere in the room. Itdidn’ttake long for her to locate the cat, hidingawayunder the bed. It was curled up in the corner, eyes wide with terror as she dropped to her knees.

Ember tried to reach for him, but he was too far inside, and her gear made it difficult to crawlfurtherunder the bed. Shedidn’thave much time. She had to be careful as she could hear the fire in the room below. She didn’t want to risk it coming through the floor.

With no time to waste, Ember grabbed the entire bedframe and lifted it up. All that time in the gym was paying off. The sudden lack of cover terrified the cat. It freaked and made a dash for the closet. Ember tried to reach out and grab it, but she was too occupied with the bed frame. Chasing the cat again would cause her to lose more time that shedidn’thave.

“Got it!” Ember heard from behind.

Leilani rushed in and scooped the catupin her arms before it could find a new hiding place.

Perfect. Leilani is a cat lesbian—I knew she was the best bet for a cat rescue.

“Let’s go!” Leilani called to her.

Relieved, Ember let go of the bedframe, letting it lean against the opposite wall as they moved as fast as they could out of the room. The instant she stepped out of the room, there was a loud crack and part of the floor came away where the bed frame had been. Emberdidn’tstop to see what else was damaged. The sound of destruction only spurred her to move faster. They flew down the stairs and out of the house with the cat in a blink.

Embermade her way towardHaley, Elle, and Captain Hunter while Leilani brought Timmy back to the family. From there, now they had the hydrant connected and the big hose out, all it took was getting the hose around the property, going through the neighbor’s house to get to the back, where they blasted the house with high-pressure water. It took another quarter of an hour before they put it all out completely.Ember directed operations and all went smoothly.

They were in the middle of packing things up when one of the kids rushed in to give Ember a hug.

“Thank you! You saved Timmy!”

Ember laughed, ruffling the kid’s afro. “Just doing my job.”

“You’re becoming something of a local hero, Ember Thompson,”Captain Hunter commented, observing them with a raised eyebrow.“That was some next-level cat heroics today.”

Ember understood she had made a bold decision to save a cat, which luckily had worked well. It wasn’t really against protocol, but she knew that not every captain would agree that saving a cat necessitated the level of response that Ember and Leilani had given.

“Sorry about that,”Ember apologized, acknowledging her fault. Leilani glanced at her and looked away guiltily.

“I love cats, Ember. I would have made the same call. I just might have been a bit more cautious in the building,”she said, searching for the right words.“But, when you love someone, there’s—it’s just different. You want to protect yourself more. You’ll understand when you find someone.”

Ember didn’t reply, but the words stuck with her. Would she ever find someone? She cared about the lives she saved, and she had had some flings in her time, but she had certainly never been in love in the way that Leilani was with Adaze. Or Captain Hunter was with Kaia. Or Elle was with Maya Monroe, the doctor. For Ember, this job was about thrills, and her personal life was about thrills, and that was all just fine.

“RUNNING INTO A BURNING BUILDING TO SAVE A CAT! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!”

Everyone near thechief’soffice winced at the sound of her voice. She was pissed alright. Chief Thompson always saved her top level of pissed for Ember. That was the wonderful thing about your mom being the big bad boss. However, it was a rare sight. Chief Becky Thompson wasnormallyknown for being level-headed and good-natured. Until it came to her daughter.

“Iwas just doing my job,”Ember replied, her voice steady.

“And you couldn’t wait to confirm it was safe to go into the burning house for a cat ?” Ember should have known. Her mom had never been a big cat fan. Ember preferred dogs if she was honest, but she knew how much people loved their pets and she felt like saving a cat was nearly as good as saving any other family member.

“The cat could’ve died.”

Becky ran her hand through her reddish blonde hair in frustration. Ember could tell there were words she wanted to say butcouldn’t, chiefly because ofthe position she held. She knew, more than anyone else at the fire station, what the duty of a firefighter was. Even if it was a cat, every life wasimportant. This was what they signed up for.

Ember’smother paced back and forth in her officefor a few secondsbefore her mind settled.

“Good work today, you can return to your duty,”Becky said stiffly.

“Thank you.”Ember rose from her seat and made for the door.

“One day you’ll understand why I’m so worried about you.”The door shut behind her. Ember did understand why her mother was worried. But what was she to do? Quit her job?

“Ember!”Leilani called out to her.“It’s lunchtime.”

Leilani Silva was thatone firefighter who always made sureeveryone wasproperly fedduring lunch.She enjoyed spending time in the station kitchen putting together a feast.

Ember had gotten lunch on her way back to the station after they were done with the first call of the day. She grabbed it from the truck and joined everybody else.

“So,”Haley nudged her, wiggling her eyebrows.“That’s two saves in two days; you’re breaking your own record, Ember Thompson.”

“Old man Farcy was fine. It was just his car on fire. I didn’t save anyone, I just put an extinguisher on a car engine.”

“Still counts,” Elle mumbled. “Car could’ve exploded.”

“You’ve been watching too many movies,”Ember responded.

“You saying race cars aren’t prone to explosions?” Haley asked.

“Well.”Ember gave it some thought.“Anything is possible. There have been instances of explosions but not like in the movies. What you should be worried about in situations like that are flying engine parts. Those can do some serious damage.”

“I can imagine that.” Haley nodded.

“Hope the chief wasn’t too upset with you?”Leilani ventured cautiously.She’dalso been chewed out for running into the burning building with Ember.

“It’s fine. We do this all the time.”

Leilani replied,“You put your life in danger all the time. Sometimes, it looks like you have a death wish.”

“I’m not suicidal. If that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Iknow.” Shedidn’tpush it any further. Leilani had no such compunctions. “The problem is that you’ve been single for too damn long, girl.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”Ember bit into her bagel. She moaned at the heavenly taste. It was worth making a pitstop.

“Ithink she has a point,” Haley said.

Ember’sshoulders sagged in defeat.“It’s that bad, huh?”

“Yup,”Haley said, looking away in embarrassment.

Leilani faced her squarely.“We all noticed you’ve been looking more and more like a lost puppy each day you show up for work.”

Ember took a sip of herCoke.“Hard to find someone when I spend most of my time here with you guys.”

“And that’s why you have dating apps.”

Ember was already shaking her head before Leilani was done talking. Dating apps were a huge no-no for her. It was too much work. Too many women who were just catfishing, and she couldn’t be bothered with that.She’dheard too many horror stories from people who used them. She wanted to meet someone organically.

“It’s not as bad as you might think,” Haley hedged on.“I’ve seen some great couples who met thanks to dating apps.”

That was probably true.

What the hell, nothing to lose, thought Ember to herself.

“Okay, I’ll give it a shot.”

Leilani looked surprised by her response.“You made up your mind very quickly.”

“Irealized I was just being scared. I’ll try it out, at least.”

“Excellent!”Haley clapped in delight.“Let’s do it right now.”

Ember was seized by trepidation once more.

“What if nobody finds me attractive? What if I don’t get any matches?”

Everyone froze and stared at her in surprise. Haley was the first to break in laughter.

“What the hell are you talking about?! You’re hot, you know you are, Ember.”

“She’s not joking,”Leilani agreed with a gentle smile.“You look great, Ember. You’ll get plenty of suitors. Anyway, all the girls love a firefighter.”

“Anyway, you guys know I’m like Leilani. I like hot older women. Hot older women don’t use dating apps.”

“EMBER!” Haley cried. “No more excuses. I bet there are plenty of hot older women on there!”

“Alright, alright… I’ll download it.” Ember gave into the inevitable.

True enough, soon after they established her profile, Ember had gotten multiple responses before her shift ended. She looked over some of the profiles, but noneof them reallyinterested her. Manyof themlived outside Phoenix Ridge, and shedidn’twant a long-distance relationship.

Eventually, she started scrolling, checking out other profiles herself. Shewasn’tcontent to merely sit around and wait for the right partner to find her. She wanted to go out and search by herself. Most of the people she saw had the same problem, or a lot of them looked like they wanted something shecouldn’tquiteprovide for them. Then, she stumbled upon one profile that held her attention.

“Suzanne 45,”Ember said the name out loud, lovingthe wayit rolled off her tongue.The image was of a mysterious woman in a business suit with a glass of wine. Because of the angle and the way her hair fell, you couldn’t see her face. Hot mysterious older woman—check.

Live a little, Ember thought to herself. You could do with getting laid.

Suzanne’s profile read “Just looking to have fun.” Ember found that to be exactly what she was looking for as well. At least for now.