Chapter 3

Liam Hiller groaned as his phone rang shrilly as he pulled into the parking lot at Literary Stays, the BB where he'd scheduled his stay in the small town of Whale Harbor, Rhode Island. This wasn't the first time his phone had rang today. He'd told himself that he was being safe in refusing to pick up while he was driving, even if his car did have a handsfree system. Now that he'd arrived at his destination, however, he didn't even have that feeble excuse. And he was pretty sure the calls wouldn't stop coming until he finally answered.

With a sigh, he brought the device to his ear. "Hey, Mills," he said. Kathy Miller was a firefighter with the Boston Fire Department, but nobody called her ‘Kathy'… at least not more than once. Liam had seen a rookie make that mistake once, and Mills had made the poor kid do so many drills that his arms practically fell off from hauling the heavy hoses.

Liam and Mills had been trainees together, and the similarities between their names had been a running joke that turned into a real friendship. Mills's name had been shortened because nobody wanted to worry they were mishearing when their name was being shouted through a blazing inferno.

Liam wondered if the crew would go back to calling her ‘Miller' now that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence. Then he grimaced. He was only two words into this conversation and already he was thinking back to his life at the firehouse, as if that wasn't the exact thing he'd left Boston to avoid, if only for a little while.

"Oh, he lives," Mills drawled. "Thanks for bothering to pick up the phone."

Even if Mills's tone was caustic, Liam felt comforted by falling back into their usual banter. She was the kind of woman who showed her affection through gruffness. If she'd ever been polite, Liam would have worried he offended her desperately. He hadn't been surprised to learn, early in their friendship, that Mills was the only girl in a family of five older brothers.

He replied with some banter of his own. "I did come out to this postage-stamp town to get some time away, you know. That's hard to do when you're calling every five minutes. Although I think you made it a few hours the other day."

"Very funny," Mills deadpanned. "It hasn't been that frequently." Her voice grew serious. "Okay, fine, maybe I've been calling a lot, but can you really blame me, Hiller? I can't imagine you without the FD in your life. Heck, I can't imagine the FD without you in it. Having you leave like this…" She trailed off. Liam could practically see her frown through the silence. "I just want to make sure that you're doing okay."

He couldn't hold back his sigh. This was why he needed to get away. He knew his friends meant well, but their constant check-ins only made the memories worse…

But he didn't want to think about that. This was his fresh start. His time away. His break from everything that loomed back in Boston. That included the darkness that kept trying to creep in at the back of his thoughts. This trip was a mental break far more than a physical one.

"I'm fine," he said, voice a little terser than he'd intended. That was another sign he needed space. He wasn't usually the kind of guy who lost his temper. On the contrary, he was known for being the cool head in even the most heated situations.

But the recent stress and exhaustion had worn him down. He took a deep breath. "Seriously, I am. I think I just… need some space."

"Okay," Mills said, then paused. "Okay. I get that. I'm still going to check in though," she added, warning in her voice.

Despite the bad mood that had been plaguing him of late, Liam laughed out loud. "Wouldn't expect anything less."

"Good." In the background, a familiar siren sounded. "Shoot. Gotta go. Love from all of us at the station."

The line clicked off before Liam could even respond. He knew it wasn't personal; such was the life of a firefighter. He'd jumped off plenty of phone calls before saying his proper goodbyes. It drove his mother crazy. It was the kind of life where you had to be ready for anything at any time. Just thinking about it made adrenaline zip through his veins.

And that was the life he was taking a hiatus from, he reminded himself as he climbed out of his car and grabbed his oversized duffel bag from the back seat. He hauled it over his shoulder and took a breath of the crisp winter air as he looked up at the picturesque grounds of Literary Stays.

Liam wasn't much of a reader since his career at the firehouse usually kept him either too busy or too tired. But doing something different was part of the appeal of the place, so when he'd seen the BB on a listicle of up-and-coming places to stay in New England, it had caught his eye. And when he'd recognized the name of its town, his decision had been made.

The building was a typical coastal style, but the pops of color here and there, including on the Adirondack chairs on the porch, made the energy of the place cool and modern as well as classic and cozy. Although the idea of a BB based around reading might have, without this image, made Liam think of something better suited for elderly ladies with knitting projects than for a thirty-year-old firefighter, but the article had made the place seem welcoming to all. Now that he was here, he agreed. The old house and the sprawling grounds were simply peaceful.

He already felt good about the choice. The bite of the wintery air wasn't any colder here than it was in Boston, but it felt cleaner. He hauled in a deep lungful, feeling its bracing effects, before heading up the porch steps and through the front door.

The inside of the BB was so warm and cozy that it instantly banished all thoughts of the chill outside. The entryway was open and bright, but to one side Liam could already see a room lined with bookshelves, which contained all kinds of volumes, from thick, leather-bound tomes, to hardcover bestsellers that even Liam recognized, to battered old paperbacks. A crackling fire had several mismatched armchairs around it, suggesting the seating had been chosen with comfort foremost in mind. Small tables also dotted the space. The room wasn't cramped, however, rather boasting an eclectic décor that felt lived-in and yet elegant. Liam couldn't say he knew much about design, but he felt instinctually soothed by the atmosphere in the BB. That was another sign that this had been a good decision.

He returned his attention to the bright entryway as his duffel on his shoulder made its weight known. He was accustomed to carrying things much heavier than this, of course, as oxygen tanks were an essential part of any firefighter's kit. But packing for a trip of unknown duration was a tricky prospect, so his bag was heftier than he might normally take when he went out of town.

"Good afternoon!"

He turned to see a smiling blonde with large, dark-framed glasses peeking out from behind a check-in desk. The desk was slightly off to one side, giving the woman a view both of the common room, where Liam could hear a few voices murmuring, and the front entrance.

"Hi," he said, approaching. "I'm checking in for Liam Hiller."

"Amazing," said the woman, turning to click to her computer. "And welcome! Let me look up your reservation quickly. I'm Monica Watson, by the way, the owner." She scrolled a little, then nodded decisively at what she saw on her screen. "Liam. Yes, I've got you here. You're staying with us for a week?"

Liam wobbled his hand from side to side in a ‘sort of' gesture. "For now. This is sort of a… getaway to reboot some things," he finished vaguely, hoping Monica wouldn't ask any further questions.

He saw a glint in her eye that looked more like understanding than anything else. "Got it," she said simply, to Liam's relief. "Absolutely. When you know more about your checkout date, you can let me know. The room I've assigned you is open for the next little while, so we should be able to be flexible. Winter is our slow season," she acknowledged. "If you were looking for an open-ended reservation in summer, we might have a little more trouble, since that's when all the tourists flock in, but not too many people want to brave the icy weather of coastal Rhode Island in January."

"Trust me," he said, "I understand. I'm from Boston, so I know the winters around here are no joke."

Monica laughed. "You're telling me. My husband, Braden, works as a contractor and a fisherman. When I tell you how he groans getting ready for work in the mornings."

"Phew, I can't say I envy him," Liam said, thinking about the early hours fishermen pulled. It couldn't be fun to spend the predawn hours out on the water in this kind of weather.

"Me neither," the proprietress agreed. "We both love surfing too, but I prefer to save that for the warmer months." She clicked a few more buttons, then slid a key off the old-fashioned pegboard that was posted behind the desk. "In any case, here's the key to your room. You're in room seven, up on the third floor. Do you want me to show you up?"

He waved her off. "That's all right. I can find my way." He was about to turn and head for the staircase, which was visible from where they stood, when he paused. "Hey, do you by any chance know a guy named Dominic Reeves?"

He felt a bit silly asking; in Boston, asking if you knew another random person who happened to live in the area was ridiculous, and would get you a laughing rejection ninety-nine times out of a hundred. But he figured that since it was a small town, maybe this woman would know his old friend.

Sure enough, her face lit up. "Yes, Dominic! He's dating my good friend Charity, actually."

Dominic was dating?

The surprise must have shown on his face, because Monica laughed. "Yeah, that's kind of what we all thought at the beginning too. But he's really let his grumpy side go since moving here. Is he why you're in Whale Harbor?"

Liam tried to imagine a version of Dominic Reeves that had time for anything else other than his work and his daughter but found it difficult to manage. His friend had spent many years working through grief at losing his wife, however, so Liam was immediately happy for Dominic. The man deserved another chance at a loving relationship.

"Yes and no," he admitted. "I recognized the name of the town because he moved here, but it's not a planned visit. We haven't connected in a while."

"You knew him in Boston?" she asked. When Liam only nodded, she prodded further. "From work?"

"No," he said shortly. He didn't want to be terse with this nice woman, but he really didn't want to talk about his job. In the past, he'd loved talking about fighting fires. It was his passion as well as his job. But he knew well enough that answering one question would lead to more, and even the idea of doing that now made him feel exhausted.

Luckily, Monica seemed to take the hint. "Well, either way, I'm sure it will be nice for you to reconnect. And, while we're on the topic, if you're looking for a cup of coffee that'll knock your socks off, Charity, Dominic's girlfriend, owns Seastar Espresso. It's hands-down the best coffee shop in town. We have their products at breakfast too."

He murmured something about checking it out, then headed up to his room before she could ask any more questions. This was, he figured, the downside to this trip. While he'd get a chance to interact with people who didn't know what he was going through, who didn't look at him with that mix of wariness and pity, he'd also meet people who asked about his job without knowing why that was such a sore spot…

He found room seven and let himself in, taking in the comfortable atmosphere, complete with a chair piled high with throw blankets that looked perfect for an afternoon nap. This place was the polar opposite of a boring hotel, he thought, and definitely different from the utilitarian firehouse where he had spent so many nights. He heaved a sigh of relief, feeling the tension drop from his neck and shoulders. He felt like he was constantly carrying around that stress recently, acting as though he had his full set of gear draped over him even when he was standing in plain clothes.

Suddenly exhausted, Liam banished those thoughts, dumped his duffel bag on the end of the bed, and moved into the en suite bathroom, which had an old-fashioned tub that was fortunately fitted with a modern showerhead. He just needed to wash off his day, he resolved. Maybe lie down for a little while. He'd try to meet up with Dominic in a day or two, after he got settled in.

He wasn't sure that this change of scenery would be the thing to help him recover from the guilt that had plagued him ever since that awful night, he thought resignedly as the shower heated quickly and began to fill the room with steam. But he was out of other ideas. So he had to try.