Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

DUSTY

It was early in the morning, almost time to leave for my shift at the firehouse. The sun had started to make an appearance, the hazy light sneaking through my farmhouse windows and softening the edges in my dark living room. I sat on the couch and leaned my head on the back of the cushion, closing my eyes.

My grandpa had left me his house when he’d moved into the retirement home, which felt uncomfortable for the first year. He’d still live with me if I had the ability to pay for someone to be here with him at all times. When he’d reached a place where he needed more help than I could provide, he was the one who selected his assisted living facility, met with the lawyers to move the house to my name, and made me an executor with the power to manage his finances.

It was necessary, because we didn’t have anyone else left. The last time we’d heard from my parents was almost fifteen years ago, when they visited the summer before I started high school and took my Darth Vader bank when they left. It had been radio silence ever since. They could be living in Kentucky for all we knew. Or Mexico. Or a compound in Oregon.

Or maybe they were still in North Carolina .

I stopped googling them about five years ago. It wasn’t that I’d given up, exactly, but Grandpa had made me realize that at some point it was healthier to let go.

A soft furry head pushed itself down my arm, and I opened my eyes to see my orange striped cat climb onto my lap. “There you go, Leia,” I said, rubbing my hand down her back. She always seemed to sense when I needed a companion and slipped out of nowhere to fill the empty space. It felt good to be chosen for a moment. Cats were picky little things, so I never took it for granted.

Tucker had thought he was playing a prank on me when he’d left the kitten on my doorstep last year, but he was really providing me with exactly what I’d needed. He’d also christened her with the name of the A&M mascot, but I quickly corrected that misdeed.

“I need to go to work,” I told her, running my hands through her soft fur over and over again while she nestled in. “I should have left already.”

She purred, completely ignoring me. Typical.

Mustering the strength to stand, I lifted her with me and carried her to the window, dragging my hand along her back like the villain in a kid’s show. Some days were easier than others, and today, for whatever reason, was one of the harder ones. I put Leia in the middle level of her climbing gym and fetched my things before letting myself outside. Cold air hit me like a wall. The old farmhouse was much too big for one person, but it was solidly built, keeping in the warmth in like an oven.

The drive into Arcadia Creek was quick, and station 4 was busy when I arrived with people leaving for the day and the new shift taking over.

“You making breakfast, Chef?” Randy asked, stashing his things in his locker.

My smile went wide. “You know it.” I wasn’t formally trained or anything, but living with Grandpa had meant a lot of meat and potatoes until I learned my way around the kitchen. My secret Pinterest board of recipes and techniques was still one of my most opened apps, and Tucker’s mom, Jan, had filled in the gaps in my cooking knowledge where the internet couldn’t.

“Please tell me its quiche again. I woke up drooling just thinking about it.”

“That’s disgusting,” Jill said, passing us to get to her locker. “But I’ll put a second in for that quiche if you have all the ingredients.”

I’d been thinking waffles, but quiche was fine, too. So long as the fridge was stocked with what I needed and the spinach hadn’t gone bad yet.

“Hayes,” Captain Bowman called, his voice clipped. “Come to my office.”

“Yes, sir.” I finished putting my things away and closed my locker, exchanging a glance with Randy, who shrugged.

“We’ll start the chores,” he said.

Jill lifted her hand. “I’m folding hoses.”

Great. I’d be stuck cleaning the toilets, thanks to this meeting.

Captain Bowman was a middle-aged man with a rounded belly and a shiny forehead, but I will undoubtedly be jealous of his thick head of dark hair someday when mine thinned like Grandpa’s.

“Take a seat,” he said gruffly.

I closed the door to his office and sat on the other side of his metal desk. He looked tired, so I kept my mouth shut and refrained from teasing. Was I in trouble? I was generally well liked and kept my nose clean.

“Battle of the Badges is coming up. Stephanie has been working with the police officers to plan an event that will bring in a good crowd.”

“Boxing always?—”

“We’re not boxing this year.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Some people were saying that the violence of it isn’t a great way to show camaraderie.”

My mouth fell open. “It’s a tradition as old as this town.”

Captain Bowman shrugged. “I’m not opposed. I look forward to it every year. It’s been nixed this time in favor of flag football.”

“Flag?” I asked, shocked. “We can’t even tackle each other?”

His lips pressed into a thin line. “There was some concern about injury, particularly among the older set.”

I clenched my jaw to keep from responding. Captain Bowman didn’t seem to agree with the directive either, and it would do no good to complain together. “What do you need from me, Cap?”

He rubbed his jaw again, looking at me like he was trying to figure out how to word it.

I swore internally. If he wanted me to coach the firefighters, that was going to be worse than wrangling cats.

“It’s a multi-layered event,” he finally said. “We’re going up against the cops in every way to find the ultimate winner—who has the most ticket sales, who wins the game, who makes the better strawberry shortcake.”

“Strawberry shortcake?” There was no way I’d heard him right.

He looked frustrated, like he didn’t support the decisions. Grooves lined his forehead between his eyebrows. “We’ll provide lunch after the game—burgers, chips, dessert. The people will vote for a winner after sampling both meals. The way they’ve designed the points, we have the ability to win if we pull in a landslide on the meal, even if we lose the game and the ticket sales.”

Which mattered, because there were more solid football players on the police force by a wide margin. There was no guessing necessary to figure out who chose football as the game.

“Can you lead the kitchen for us, Hayes?” Captain Bowman asked, holding my gaze like he’d asked me to head the charge into battle.

I supposed he had, in a less literal sense. Obviously I had no choice but to accept. “What does that entail?”

“Plan the menu, bring in a team to help you cook if necessary, and execute on the day of. I’ll have numbers for you, but they recommend we size our burgers like sliders so everyone has a chance to eat from both teams. Since the community is voting, the more people who sample your food, the better.”

“And dessert needs to be strawberry shortcake?”

“Yes, or some variation. The meal has to be generally the same for both teams so it’s easier to judge.” He looked at me long and hard. “Will you do it?”

“You know I will,” I said, leaning back and linking my fingers across my stomach. My head was already spinning with ideas. “The cops won’t stand a chance.”

I’d been sitting on one of the recliners in front of the TV while Randy watched a game, doodling possible menu plans in my notebook, when a call came in through our overhead speakers for a possible fire in the elementary school. Randy had kids at the school, and I’d never seen him jump up so quickly. To be fair, he was always appropriately urgent, but these were his kids.

We drove to the school and parked in front, meeting the principal before the doors. “Smoke in the teachers’ lounge,” he said.

It took a few minutes to discover that the microwave was on fire, and only a few seconds to put the fire out with the extinguisher. Randy opened the microwave and pulled a blackened bag of popcorn out, raising his eyebrows at me.

“At least it wasn’t a real crisis,” I said .

“It’s gonna stink in here for weeks.”

I chuckled, moving past him to open the windows. Given how much paper was on the bulletin board behind the microwave, it was a miracle the entire building hadn’t ended up in flames.

“They need newer appliances here,” Randy said, looking around the teachers’ lounge.

“Mention it to the principal,” I told him.

Within an hour, we were able to deem the building safe for re-entry. Fans were blowing air out the windows and the area was closed to the teachers for the time being. Aside from a little smoke clinging to the walls, everything was fine.

Randy spoke with the principal and took down statements for our report, then we stepped back so the teachers could return to the building with the kids. I stood near the door, resting my thumb in my belt loop and high fiving the kids as they walked back inside. I lifted my hand a few times to make some of them jump, and the grins were worth it. Ms. Corbin, the secretary, gave me a tight smile when she walked by, so I didn’t offer a high five. She didn’t have to like me, but it was a little ridiculous when my biggest crime was trying to make it fun when we attended school festivals.

When Alice Walker passed me, I offered her my fist and she bumped it with a bashful smile. The girl was shy, and I was determined to win her approval.

“Hayes,” Randy called, jerking his chin to indicate he needed me.

I reached over to a little black-haired boy and ruffled his hair on my way out of the school line.

“Bet you didn’t expect to have such an adventure today,” I said, approaching Randy and Principal Hurst.

Neither of them looked very pleased.

“Parents are going to be a nightmare after this,” Principal Hurst muttered, looking at the parents lined up on the sidewalk waving goodbye to their kids.

I scanned the moms until my sight fell on Nova giving Ben a wave. She pulled her sweatshirt tighter around her waist and grinned. Her smile was so pretty, less guarded, when she was looking at her kids.

She glanced over and caught me watching her. I felt like I had a split second to decide how I wanted to play the moment out. I sent her a big, wide smile. I was looking at her, so there was no sense in pretending otherwise.

Nova seemed to chuckle lightly, shaking her head and pulling her attention away. I finished speaking to Randy and Mr. Hurst about the situation, and when I looked back at Nova, she was chatting with Chad Lincoln.

Hold on. I threw up inside my mouth a little.

“Don’t go over there,” Randy said in warning when he followed my gaze. “There are kids around.”

“They’ll be gone soon,” I muttered.

“It ain’t worth it, man.”

My stomach was already clenching, as if preparing for a fight. Which happened to be the case most of the time when I saw Chad.

If there was a bigger tool in this town, I didn’t know him.

There were textbook, good-natured rivalries all over town. My beef with anyone who went to Texas A&M, my university’s rival. Or people who didn’t hand out candy to kids on Halloween. Or my best friend and his fellow electrical linemen. We all engaged in good-natured ribbing.

But Chad Lincoln? The man was actually a jerk. I tried not to engage when possible, but his smug little face made it hard to walk away sometimes.

It was going to feel so great to beat his department in Battle of the Badges .

Because I was going to win. In most things, I just faked my cockiness and it usually turned out all right. There were few things I was legitimately confident in, but cooking was one of them.

Watching him flirt with Nova, though, made my blood run cold. It sent me flashes of high school, when Chad had always tried to steal whatever girl I was into at the time. He wasn’t successful every time, but the fact that he constantly tried made me hate him back then. I didn’t feel much differently now. He’d been jealous of my relationship with Coach Gable, and since I worked with the man on the high school football coaching team, that hadn’t gone away.

I started toward them and heard Randy muttering behind me, but I ignored him. Pasting a wide smile on my face, I kept my gaze entirely on Nova. “This guy bugging you?”

Her eyebrows shot up, and I realized immediately I’d made an error in judgment. She wasn’t going to appreciate me riding in on my trusty red engine and trying to save her.

But, because I’m an idiot, I kept talking. “I’ve heard the cops around these parts can get mighty pushy. It’s better to be firm when dealing with them. Know your rights.”

“Hello, Dusty,” Chad said tightly, like he deserved sainthood for putting up with me. “Can we help you?”

My blood simmered with jealousy, which was exactly what he wanted, given his use of the word ‘we’. My reaction was entirely unwarranted, so I tried to suppress it. I widened my grin and clapped him on the back. “You know I’m just messing with you, man.”

We both knew how strongly I disliked him, because the aversion was mutual. I dropped my hand.

Nova peered at me with bemusement. “I need to get back to the diner. Is everything okay in the school?”

“Microwave caught on fire in the teachers’ lounge, but it didn’t spread. There will be some smoke damage, but it was contained. The students shouldn’t be affected. ”

“Even the ones with asthma?”

“Even them,” I confirmed. “We’ve aired it out and are leaving the fans for a few hours.”

She nodded. “Thanks for keeping our kids safe.”

It took everything in me not to send a smug look to Chad. “Just doing my job, ma’am.”

“I better run,” she said again and turned to go, sliding her hands into her sweatshirt pockets.

“See you tonight,” Chad called after her.

She shot him a smile over her shoulder before her eyes flicked to me.

When she walked away, I wanted to hit something, so I started back toward Randy just to get out of swinging reach of Chad. I hadn’t thought Nova was interested in dating. It was disappointing to hear she was entertaining the idea and Chad was the waste of space she’d accepted.

I really, really hoped I’d misunderstood that interaction.