1. Ridge
CHAPTER ONE
RIDGE
“Any chance this guy will be hot?”
Anthony looked over at Ridge and lifted a brow. “Are you asking if the guy whose shop is on fire is going to be hot?”
“Yes. I realize that makes me a moral monster,” Ridge admitted, clinging to the oh-shit grip as Brandon took a hard right. “But I can’t help it, okay? My date last week has me looking at fucking nunneries.”
“Men don’t go to nunneries, and I’m pretty sure you have to be a devout Catholic to become a monk,” Anthony pointed out. “There’s no way you’d qualify with how much you like to suck dick.”
The truck began to slow to a crawl, and Ridge peered through the windshield to see if it was traffic or if they were nearly there. It looked like both.
“After that date, I’m willing to change religions and swear off lusting after penises, I swear to God,” Ridge said solemnly as he grabbed his helmet and mask.
Anthony sighed, unbuckling his seat belt. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“Trust me.” Ridge pulled his mask over his face. “Whatever you think it was, it was worse.”
The conversation stopped there. Brandon and Jada went ahead of them, first in the building, as he and Anthony began to unwind the hose. The fire had died down quite a bit, which likely meant it hadn’t spread from the laundry over to the bookshop next door. All the same, he got the water going, and it wasn’t long before his concentration was solely on making sure all the flames were out and everyone was safe.
The laundry only had two employees working—a married couple who were probably very attractive forty years ago. And for their age, they looked amazing. But he was pretty sure they weren’t looking for some thirty-five-year-old sugar baby with a kid and a mountain of debt he was still trying to get ahead on.
Which was a shame. It sounded kind of nice to be taken care of. Though in reality, Ridge liked to be the caregiver, which was why he ended up on weird, shitty dates.
The cops arrived to take statements after, and Ridge pulled off his mask and helmet once Brandon gave him the all clear. He peered through the door, and his heart sank. The fire had stayed contained, but it was obvious the place was going to be a total loss.
Luckily, that wasn’t as common these days, and the last time he’d seen one as bad as this had been at his boss’s house four years back. Of course, that one hit close to home, considering Adele’s son and his fiancé had been in the house at the time, and no one had been sure they were safe until they arrived on scene.
Ridge hadn’t been there for that fire though. He’d been at the station doing the calendar shoot, which ended up going to help Adele modify his rebuild so Kash could comfortably navigate his space in a wheelchair when he needed it.
But the feeling of it was still fresh on days like this. He took a deep breath and shoved away the thoughts of Adele’s face when he learned his house had gone up in flames, and he focused on making sure the fire was completely out.
“So. The date?” Anthony asked as they picked through gobs of melted plastic from dry-cleaner bags.
Ridge rolled his eyes. “Right. So, he takes me out to Angelo’s.”
Anthony whistled. “Didn’t they get a fuckin’ Michelin star?”
“Why the fuck do you think I’d know that?” Ridge demanded. “Most of my meals are dino nuggets. But it was a nice place, you know. Like, I felt underdressed without a tux. The guy shows up in jeans and flip-flops, and the look on the host’s face…” He trailed off.
Ridge had met him on an app—Shaun, the accountant. His opening line on Grindr had been some math joke, which Ridge appreciated, even if he hadn’t understood it. It was something about you plus me, something, something, the perfect equation. He’d insisted that he wasn’t as boring as his job implied, and Ridge answered back that he wasn’t as interesting as the hot firefighters on TV.
It had been nice.
Until it wasn’t.
Until they showed up and sat down and Shaun immediately began to raise his voice at the server for not being fast enough with their drinks.
“…and it’s obviously not this poor woman’s fault,” Ridge went on as they headed back outside. He cleared the burnt plastic smell from his lungs as they headed back to the truck to wind the hose. “We’d ordered at the bar, so she had nothing to do with it. But this guy is acting like someone whipped out their dick and pissed on his literal naked toes.”
Anthony grimaced. “Shit.”
“Oh, it gets better. He did this thing—I swore it was some BS internet rumor from the twenty-teens, but he actually took out a stack of fives, and he spread them on the edge of the table. The server comes back, and he goes, ‘Sweetheart?—’”
“Wait, he called the server sweetheart?” Anthony asked.
Ridge groaned. “Yeah. He did. ‘Sweetheart,’ he said, ‘this is your tip tonight. Every time you’re late with our stuff or are too busy to attend to our needs, I’m going to take a five away. I’m not trying to be a dick, I want you to realize that if you treat us right, we’re going to treat you right. But if you treat us wrong, you’ll pay for it.’”
“Tell me that was the point you bailed.”
Ridge felt a small burst of shame to admit that he didn’t leave immediately. “I stayed through the appetizer when she lost two fives because the food was brought out in six minutes instead of five and missing the side of ranch he ordered, which she brought over, like, two seconds later.”
“Jesus,” Anthony breathed.
They climbed back into the truck, and Ridge dropped his head against the window. “Anyway, I told him I had to use the bathroom and found her by the bar. I slipped her a couple twenties and told her I was sorry, then bailed on him.”
Anthony burst into laughter. “Classic.”
“I felt like an asshole. I hate ghosting, but all I could think about was how he was going to react if I tried to stand up for this poor woman. I couldn’t handle the scene he would definitely have made. But I also left her there with him. He was probably a monster to her the rest of the night.”
“I’m sure she’s had worse. He probably lied and got his shit to go so he could save face,” Anthony said. “Did he text you after?”
“Probably. I blocked him everywhere,” Ridge admitted. “I spent the night watching all the SignUp-captioned Disney flicks I could find until Ina finally dropped off.”
“I mean, not the worst night,” Anthony offered.
Ridge couldn’t disagree. Most days, he was starved for adult company and a touch that didn’t involve sticky jelly hands since she was currently in her PB&J phase, but considering the way his last few dates had gone, Disney movies and popcorn were a far better option.
At the very least, they had way less secondhand embarrassment, and he didn’t feel obligated to shell out his fun money to make up for the shit-stain of a date he’d had the misfortune of matching with.
“I hope you’re not going to give up,” Anthony said after a long beat.
Ridge groaned. “It’s hard not to. Dating with a kid is bad enough. Dating with a Deaf kid makes people even weirder. I couldn’t even imagine introducing some guy like that to Ina.”
Anthony grimaced. He knew a little ASL since Ina was kind of a fixture at the station, and she went without her cochlear implants more than she chose to wear them. In fact, he was pretty sure it had been three months since he’d bothered putting batteries in them, but he was following the rule that she got to lead in that department.
If she never wanted to hear again, he would respect it. His ASL wasn’t Deaf fluent, but it was decent enough that he could hold his own, and he felt like he was doing something right with her for the first time since he’d pulled her out of that little bin at his former station.
That had been the best and worst day of his life. The best, because he was grateful someone used it instead of doing something shitty like throwing their kid in a dumpster. The best because it was the first step that led him to adopting her, and he wasn’t sure how sorry and sad his life would look right now if he didn’t have his little peanut by his side.
But it was also the worst because he recognized her instantly. The tuft of black hair on her head, and her dark, wide eyes, and the port wine stain birthmark that stretched from the middle of her dimpled right cheek all the way behind her ear.
The DCS agent assigned to Ina’s case hadn’t been able to find Ashlynn, and after her second hearing test came back with profound loss, they hadn’t been able to place her with a family.
Ridge didn’t find this out until almost four weeks later, of course, when he ran into the DCS agent at a bar. They got tipsy, she got loose-tongued, and the next thing Ridge knew, he was looking into what it took to foster.
The process had been both more simple and more complicated than he’d anticipated. And the adoption process had taken even longer. But they were eventually able to track down Ashlynn, who signed her consent for the adoption. It was closed, Ridge was able to make the name he’d given her legal—the name he’d chosen after his favorite grandmother who would have loved that little girl beyond reason—and then he was given permission to move.
Which he did. He told himself he wanted a fresh start. In reality, he was afraid the city was cursed, and he wanted to take Ina somewhere that had softer edges and easier places to land when she fell. It wasn’t ideal, but the week they moved in and Ridge started his new job, he’d become a total cliché and rescued a kitten from a tree.
It felt almost meant to be.
Now, he had Ina, Cheese, their little house, his 401K with an amazing retirement package, and better benefits than most single parents could hope for. He had a shitty rate on his mortgage but an okay one on his car, and he had friends.
No. They were more than friends. The guys had become family. He had babysitting whenever he wanted and drinking buddies where he could unload his burdens to ears that were always willing to listen. He’d acquired a new language so his daughter would never feel like she had to force herself to fit into a world that wasn’t built for her, and she even had her first Deaf friend in Rex, who was maybe starting to outgrow playing with her but would always make time for her anyway.
He’d also managed to usurp Rex’s Deaf mentor now that Rex was more active in his after-school activities, and Oz was a godsend. He was the perfect bridge between Ridge’s hearing world and Ina’s Deaf one. Ridge knew he’d always be a guest in their culture, but Oz had made him feel welcome in ways he hadn’t expected, even if he didn’t exactly seem to like Ridge as a person very much.
He didn’t know Oz well, but he was getting to know him better now that he was coming around a few times a week to take Ina into Deaf spaces.
His life was something like settled, even if he wasn’t where he wanted to be.
Ridge realized he’d totally lost himself in his thoughts when the truck took a hard turn, and he became aware he hadn’t noticed the others getting into the truck, let alone taking off down the road. Anthony was kind enough not to call him on it. Even on easy jobs like this, the ride back to the station was always quiet.
Most of the time, they contemplated all the ways it could have gone more wrong than it went right. And some nights—the really bad ones—they thought about all the mistakes they’d made that led to tragedies.
When they pulled into the bay, Ridge hopped out and felt a surge of relief when he realized it was almost time for him to clock out. “You wanna go debrief your bestie?” Anthony asked, grabbing Ridge’s arm.
He did and he didn’t. He got a lot of shit for being Adele’s close friend, but it was all in good humor now that he’d been there a while. He didn’t get special treatment, but he got called boss’s pet a lot when the guys were in a mood.
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it.” Ridge nodded to his team, then headed up the stairs, where he found Adele’s office door cracked. He knocked with a single knuckle and walked in to find Adele on his phone.
“…yep. Yeah, no, I’ll take care of it. Tell him…Christ Almighty, it’s just a little bit of vomit. No, there’s not—Gage, breathe. No one is going to die from cleaning it up. Stop taking medical advice from fucking TikTok. I’ll call you later. Ridge is here and—okay. Okay.” Adele held the phone away from his ear. “Gage says hi, and he wants to know if he’ll see you and Ina next weekend. He misses his best friend.”
Ridge laughed. “Tell him as long as my mean-ass boss doesn’t make me work, I’ll be there.”
“His mean-ass boss is giving him Saturday off so he can see you,” Adele said into the phone. “Okay, call me later. Love you.”
Ridge sank into the chair beside the desk as Adele dropped his head back and groaned. “Dare I ask?”
“Gage’s buddy got a cat, and the cat coughed up a hairball. Some jackass on TikTok went viral claiming all cats have hepatitis A that can spread through vomit. I hate social media.”
Ridge did too, but he wasn’t a crotchety old man about it the way Adele was. “He’s gonna have to get over that shit quick. That’s one of, like, six things cats do.”
Adele rolled his eyes and hunkered down in his chair. “I’m trying to prepare for him moving back in.”
“I thought he liked working in DC,” Ridge said. After a lot of debate, Gage had eventually worn Adele down and gotten a recommendation for the academy and had passed his certs with flying colors.
He also spent his first year working out like crazy. He’d hit his last growth spurt too, and he was no longer the weedy little theater kid that Ridge had first met. He was as tall as his dad and just as muscular. He’d even started growing a beard before he was told he had to shave it in order to do his job, but he kept a slight five-o’clock shadow that gave him years, which made Ridge feel all kinds of old.
But he was still the same kid. He still gamed with his friends on his days off, and he did plays at the local community theater whenever he had time, and he was doing well in the city. But Ridge also knew that Adele missed his son like a lost limb.
“He does like it there, but he and his boyfriend broke up two days ago, and there’s something he’s not telling me about it. He asked if he could move back in, which that was no question. Kash and I found a place downtown with an opening in three months that would be perfect for him. A little apartment right next to Murphy’s Playhouse. He could join up for fun, and he could go back to gaming with Lucas and his friends.” The longing in Adele’s voice made Ridge wonder if that would be him someday.
Watching Ina go out into the world to live her own life, leaving him empty-nesting and, if things continued on the same path, more alone than Adele would ever be.
“Well, you know he’ll be welcome here if you can get him a spot,” Ridge said. “Also, I’m here for debrief before I get sidetracked again.” He sat forward then and quickly gave Adele his report on the incident. “Anthony will probably write everything up and email it to you.”
Adele nodded and clicked a few buttons on his computer before sitting back. “So. The date…”
“I already rehashed that disaster once today. Save it for drinkies.”
Adele put his hands up in surrender. “Fair enough. Though this is getting a little ridiculous. You should let Frey set you up. He works with a ton of singles.”
Ridge wrinkled his nose. “I’ve met his work friends. That’s a hard pass for me. I dropped in one day, and one of the nurses at the station literally flashed me her fuckin’ bush when she was showing off her new tattoo. I’m not even going to tell you what it said.”
Adele covered his laugh with his hand. “That’s fair. But I hate seeing you so close to giving up.”
“You know how hard it is out there with a kid,” Ridge pointed out.
Adele’s face fell. “Yeah. But Ina’s great. Anyone who doesn’t love her has shit for brains, and they’re not worth your time anyway.”
Ridge didn’t disagree, but it made the dating pool smaller than he preferred. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I was hoping that I’d meet my future husband the same way I got Ina and Cheese, but it doesn’t look like fortune is heading my way.”
“Just promise me you won’t totally give up.”
Ridge sighed. “I’ll do my best.” Slapping his hands on his thighs, he pushed to his feet. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a shower and then some dino nuggets in my future.”
“Promise me you’ll have some veggies with color. I cannot lose you to scurvy.”
Ridge snorted and gave him a quick two-finger salute off the side of his forehead. “Heard. See you later?”
“I’m counting on it.”
Ridge headed down to shower, feeling a heavy weight resting on his shoulders. It was a familiar friend though. He was used to the burden. He only wished it was a little kinder on his nerves.