14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter fourteen
W ith a multitude of calls at the station, I haven’t been able to call Whits to see how she’s doing. Christian told me she accepted the job but said nothing more, though his hesitancy to discuss the interview said a lot. Something is off, and since this is my first free moment in a couple of days, I decide to drop in on Whits and see how things are going. The last time I dropped in didn’t go too poorly, so I’m banking on this visit going just as well. Assuming she’s in a better mood than she was that day.
I pull into her driveway and park my bike, which she must have heard coming from a mile away. She opens her front door with her usual sunshiny smile and bright eyes. This is the Whits I’m used to seeing, but I can’t help worrying it’s all fake for my benefit.
“Hey there. I wasn’t expecting you today.” She leans on her doorframe and watches me stroll up her walkway and onto her porch.
I tuck my helmet under my arm and remove my gloves. “I thought I’d drop in on you again and see how things went with Christian. I mean, I got your text and his, but no details since I’ve been busy at the station.”
She steps aside and motions me inside.
“Well, it went.”
I pause walking and turn around to look at her. “What do you mean it went?”
She bites her lip and winces almost as if I might be disappointed with what she’s about to say, but truthfully, I’m not sure there’s anything she could do that would disappoint me. Except give up completely, but there isn’t a “roll over and die” bone in her body.
“I went to the interview, freaked out, ran out of his office, and broke down sobbing in the lobby. You know, that kind of thing. Fortunately, he really likes you so he chased me out, we chatted in the main corridor, and he offered me the job.”
I take her hands in mine and fully face her. “Whits, I’m—”
“Hey, it’s okay. I think I needed a good cry, and he was kind to me. You were right about him being a really nice guy.”
I swallow the lump in my throat and search her face. She needed to cry? She was so upset, she cried in front of him instead of reaching out to me? “But why? Why did you need to cry? Why didn’t you call me?”
A frown steals her smile. “I should have messaged you as soon as I found out but I had my doctor’s appointment before the interview. There is no reason to hope that I might regain feeling in my hand. There’s no improvement, and there should be by now if there ever will be. I mean, there is always a small chance, but it could take years.”
I squeeze her hands and pull her into a hug. “I’m so sorry, Whits. I’m truly sorry that you won’t be able to do what you love.”
She snuggles against my chest and I remember how amazing her hugs have always been. “It’s okay. I mean, I guess it’s not really okay, but working for Christian will be fun. It’s all thanks to you.”
Yeah right. There isn’t a person alive my Whits can’t charm. It was all her, no doubt about it. “Nope. He likes you. I have no doubt you charmed him despite the hiccup in the beginning.”
She breathes deeply and releases me. “Well, either way, I guess I’m getting a crash course in marketing for the medical sector. He’s been working to get a new medical office as a client, and they said they’d be all in if I run point. He’ll set me up with a team who can help me. I guess God worked it all out just right.”
I can’t help brushing the hair from her face and pinching her cheek. “I know you can do it. You’re a fast learner and you’ve always been good at everything you do.”
A sudden urge to kiss her takes over, and I have to fight like a pro-boxer to stamp it out before I make things even worse for her. But man, these feelings are getting harder to deny. With every moment she’s in my presence, the need to make her mine increases until I’m almost insane with jealousy toward every man who has ever dated her. She’s here now, though, and she’s been leaning on me like she used to. That must mean something to her.
“Can I take you to dinner tonight to thank you for rescuing me? Both times. The accident and the spiral,” she asks as if she somehow has to repay me for being her friend. For being the man who is crazy about her and wants the best for her. “And for getting me a job so I don’t have to spend so much time searching and getting rejected.”
“Sure thing, beautiful, but I want to treat you. After all, you just got a new job and it’s cause for celebration.”
“Cai—”
I press a finger over her lips. “Nope, won’t hear otherwise. We’ll have to take your car, though. Chantelle needed her helmet back. I guess I’ll need to get an extra one for you, so we can have regular rides.”
I drop my finger and her lips part but she doesn’t comment on the helmet statement. Instead, she glances over my shoulder toward her kitchen. “Actually, it’s been a busy few days. Maybe going out tonight isn’t such a good idea.”
My heart deflates. “Oh, well maybe another time. Sorry I dropped in on you without warning.” I move to put my gloves back on and leave to give her some peace when she steps forward.
“What are you doing? I’m not throwing you out. I’ll order some Chinese and we can catch up. It’s been ten years, and since we’ve reconnected we haven’t really caught up past the accident. I want to know what you’ve been up to for the last decade.”
“You sure? I don’t want you to feel obligated. I know you’ve got that stack of books and all.” I tease her and put my hands up as if I’m interrupting something serious.
“Ha, ha. No, I want you to stay. I should probably invite Jackson and his wife over so we can all catch up and you can meet Deni.” She pauses on her way to grab her phone from the coffee table. “But you know what? I don’t want to. I want you all to myself for a while.”
I can’t help but raise an eyebrow at this, but I manage to keep my mouth shut. No need to spread all my cards on the table just yet, especially when I’m not sure why she wants me all to herself. Maybe it’s to talk about things she can’t discuss with Jackson, something that was common back in school. If that’s the case, it does not mean she is interested in dating me. Why does this have to be so complicated? You’d think knowing someone well would make things easier, but it seems to make them impossible.
“I’ll order the food. You get—wait, do you still like the honey chicken like a little weirdo?” she asks, scrunching her nose as she picks up her phone to place the order.
“How is that weird? A lot of people like—you know what, order everything on the menu and we’ll have a buffet.” I shake my head and sink into the depths of her sofa. There’s no way I’m getting out of this thing. I’m probably stuck here forever. I’m practically swallowed by fluffy sofa cushions, throw blankets, and accent pillows.
While struggling with her furniture, I forget to remind her that I’m allergic to shrimp. When I hear her order and specifically say, “And when I say no shrimp, I mean no shrimp. He’ll swell up like a balloon and die, then your restaurant will go out of business and I’ll sue you into bankruptcy, okay?” She chuckles afterward. I can only hope she’s joking around with the person on the other end of the line or else we might be eating fried rice with a side of someone’s spit.
When she hangs up I point at her. “You better not have just gotten our food contaminated with someone’s saliva, beautiful.”
“Ha, no. Not a chance. They love me over there.” She waves her hand over her shoulder. “I performed surgery on the owner’s wife two years ago. Ever since, we’ve had a long-standing relationship built on sarcasm, threats, and free spring rolls.”
“That’s odd.”
“Meh, it’s all in good fun. Seriously, it’s the best Chinese this side of…well, China.”
“Have you been to China to test that theory?”
“When would I go to China? Between medical school, my internship, and landing my sweetheart of a job at the hospital, I haven’t been on a vacation period, let alone left the country.”
“So, what you’re saying is that it might be horrible food and you’d never know because you’ve never been to China to ensure that it is, in fact, superior to all other Chinese restaurants.”
“I’m saying it’s the best Denver has to offer, and you’ll eat it and like it, rookie.”
“I am not a rookie, thank you. In fact, there will be a Captain’s position opening in a few months that I’ll probably apply for, thank you very much.”
Whits grins and flops on the sofa beside me. I raise three inches and work to stay in the sofa. “Where did you get this beanbag style monstrosity of a sofa? It’s horrible.”
She mock gasps. “Are you making fun of my taste?”
I wiggle free and stand, ready to sit on the floor or risk suffocation in the depths of the most uncomfortable furniture imaginable. “Yeah. Yes, your taste in furniture sucks if it’s all like that.”
“Such a complainer. Sit on that one. It’s hard as a rock.” She motions to the sofa across the room, which is so very far away from where she’s sitting. It doesn’t seem as if she’s willing to move, and I have no desire to be so far from her. I resign myself to swimming in a cushion and flop back beside her, closer this time. She steadies herself but still ends up halfway in my arms by the time the insides of the sofa settle.
She blushes and sits upright. “Okay, maybe it is a little much for two people to sit on. Let’s take the floor.”
I slide onto the floor and drag her with me, toppling the stack of books she had piled beside the end table.
“Oops, sorry.” I begin stacking them up again, but she swats at me.
“They were in the order I wanted to read them. I’ll get it.” She tugs a book free from my hands and rearranges everything in the most systematic, Whits way possible. I run my gaze over the titles, noting most of them are romance books, but a few are mysteries and some nonfiction stuff. And because there is still some of that annoying teenage boy inside of me, especially in her presence, I do something completely rude and yank the bottom book from the stack, causing the whole thing to landslide again.
Whits swats me with one of her books, toppling me backward. “You jerk! You and Jax always did stupid stuff like that. Not one of my books is in pristine condition, all because of you two.”
“Pristine condition?” I ask while lying on my back. I open the book I got ahold of and skim a few lines.
“Yeah, you know, not wrinkled or bent because immature boys tossed them about. Gimme that,” she scolds and tries to steal the book back. I keep it just out of her reach and continue reading the paragraph I started. It’s a mystery book, and I’m literally already hooked.
“Cai! Gimme back my book!”
“I don’t wanna. Let’s read it together. I’m already invested.”
“I have all of these other books to read first, now give me that so I can set the table before the food arrives.” She lunges for the book again and misses, but she does manage to elbow me in the gut when she lands beside me. I grunt but it does not dissuade her from going after me again. I roll to my stomach and hold the book to the floor, buying myself enough time to read two more sentences while she pushes and pulls me, working to free her prized possession.
I finally chuckle. “Is this not the first book in the series?” I check the spine and see a book one mark on it. “It is the first. There is literally no reason I can’t read it.”
“But there’s an order, Cai. I have all of my sweet romances first, then I was going to read—”
“What does that even mean? There is an order of book reading separate from reading a series in order? Says who?” I roll back to my side to face her, but maintain my grip on the book.
“I don’t know. I say, I guess.” She chews her bottom lip while adorably sitting crisscross applesauce beside me. “I like order and things that make sense.”
“You say that like I don’t already know that about you, but it doesn’t hurt to be a little flexible.”
Instantly, her mood shifts. Anger sparks in her eyes and her nostrils flare. “You sound like my brother, as usual. Is this some way of you trying to tell me that I have to deal with my accident and move on? Because I am. I took a job, I’m going out and about, and I—”
“Whoa, whoa.” I sit upright and close the book, my attention on something more important now. “No, not at all. I was teasing you about your laser-focused tendencies, that’s all. I wasn’t trying to insinuate that you’re doing anything wrong.” I slide the book back to her so she can adjust her stack the way she wants it.
“There’s nothing wrong with order and neatness, you know.” Whits stares at the book but makes no move to put it back.
“I know. I function with order inside a world of chaos every time I go on shift, Whits. Contrary to what you think, I like it too. I think I’m just used to shaking things up so I don’t fall into a bad place.”
Whits jerks her head up from staring at the book and settles her intense gaze on me. “What do you mean, a bad place?”
Well, this is it. Time to fill her in on the life of a firefighter. Thor is probably the only person who knows about the things I’ve seen, and only because if I don’t tell someone I’ll go crazy. “Whits, being a firefighter isn’t just about putting out fires. I’m on the rescue truck, which means I do things like I did for you, pull people out of crashes and other bad situations. We go on medical calls, too. A lot of people don’t know that. Maybe you do, I don’t know, but I’ve seen a lot of stuff that would keep me up at night if I didn’t have some order in my life.”
“Cai, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want you to be sorry. I like my job. Yeah, I see some really bad stuff, but I see a lot of great stuff too. So I know what it’s like to crave things that make sense in a world that doesn’t.” I tap the cover of her book. “All I’m saying is, sometimes it’s also fun to shake things up a little and break your own rules when it’s safe to do so.”
Whits rolls her eyes and smiles. “Okay, we can read this book together if you want, and we can do it on the uncomfortable sofa.”
I shove off the floor and swipe the book up before hoisting her into my arms.
“Cai!” she shouts but she should know by now that it’s a useless attempt to escape. I toss her on the sofa and fall onto it beside her, swooping her feet onto my lap. “You are such a…a… firefighter.”
I smirk, mostly because I know what she means, but also because I can’t wait to see her blush when I make her elaborate on it anyway. “What is that supposed to mean? I’m a hunky hero at your disposal?”
Like clockwork, her cheeks brighten, but mine warm too. Instead of clarifying her comment, she clears her throat and opens the book to chapter one. I’m partly enthralled with the story, while the other part of my mind focuses on how exquisite this woman is. Her hair is all tied up in a knot, and I’m positive she wouldn’t wear these worn out sweats in front of just anyone. I love that she’s comfortable with me, but I love more that with every page turn, her body gravitates closer to me until she’s practically in my lap while we share a story together.
We’re deep into the chapter by the time the doorbell rings and we have to pause for our meal, but if I had to guess, I’d say there are a lot more reading adventures in our future. The little groan she releases says she wasn’t quite ready to un- snuggle.
Once our food is plated and we’re settled in, she sighs. “Okay, you might be right. I think I needed that mystery. It’s so good already.” She stuffs a bite of noodles into her mouth and her eyes roll back. “So good.”
“You better not read ahead on me. I’m invested too, you know.” She’s right about the noodles. They’re probably the best I’ve ever had.
She gives me a smirk and moves the food around on her plate. “I guess that means you’ll have to come by my place every day. I’m a fast reader.”
“Every day? I do work forty-eight hour shifts, you know. You might have to read something else while I’m on shift.”
“Ugh, I guess I can. So tell me about your relationships. Anyone in particular stand out?”
I choke on my chicken and have to take a sip of water to get it down. I was not expecting our conversation to shift to past romances. “Uh, I mean I guess I had a few girlfriends but nothing that stuck obviously. Had my heart broken a time or two. Never flipped a car over a woman breaking up with me, though.”
She throws a wonton at me. “I did not roll my car because of a man. It was a deer.”
I grin and eat the wonton. “I know, I know. Too soon to joke about the accident?”
“What do you think?” She sighs again and takes a small bite. “I don’t even know what the car looked like. Everything happened so fast, and after you got me into the ambulance, I couldn’t see anything else.”
I swallow hard and push my plate aside. I know what her car looked like. It’s amazing she survived with the injuries she has. The only other time I’ve seen a car so smashed, the occupants all died on impact. Visions of little faces in the back seat fill my mind and my eyes sting. Those are always the hardest calls, the ones where children are seriously injured or killed. They break my heart every single time. I cough to cover the fact that I’m about to shed tears. It isn’t like I worry I will somehow seem less manly to her. To the contrary. I don’t want her to be upset for me.
“Cai?” Whits’ gentle touch brings me back to reality.
“It was pretty bad, Whits. I’ve seen people die in much less.”
With a few blinks, she manages to clear her eyes of unshed tears. “I guess I should be thankful I’m alive. I told Jax…” Her words trail off, but I know what she told him. It’s the reason I showed up at her place. “I told him I wished I’d died, that it would have been better. I was so stupid to say that to him.”
I pull my phone from my pocket and open the photos app. Captain sent me a few photos from the scene to add to my report, the one I wrote while waiting for word that she would be okay. “I’m going to show these to you so you know just how close you were, Whits, but I need you to remember something. God saved you because he has big plans for you, and whether it’s working for this account Christian’s giving you or something else, I need you to know that I will always support your dreams. I’m in your corner as much now as I was when we were kids, and I never want us to be so far apart from each other again.”
I hand her my phone with the image of her car front and center.
She stares down at it as if it’s a foreign object, but I understand. There is nothing recognizable as a car in that heap of metal and glass. Her eyes drift from the screen to meet mine. Everything, every emotion, swirls in them. “I don’t want to be apart from you again either.” Her gaze lowers to the photo again, solidifying that she very easily could have died that night. But she didn’t. I thank God for giving her more time, and pray that I’m written in her future as deeply as my heart begs to be.