7. Dom
7
dom
The moment the kennel door closed behind me, I felt alone, despite the trio of female volunteers eager to assist. I wanted Ella beside me. I wanted her leading me around, telling me about the things they did here with that tender look in her eyes, the one she got whenever she looked at the dogs.
I wanted her to look at me with that same tenderness.
Lucia and Gina were impatiently waving me on, Lucia with her camera and Gina with her phone. Seeing Oreo again was a bright spot. Like at the shoot, he seemed to want to stay close, and I ended up carrying him around while we were shown the rest of the facility by someone other than Ella.
My thoughts kept going back to her though. I considered slipping away with Oreo and finding my way back to her office while Lucia and Gina did their thing. I knew she had a soft spot for the little guy, and I wasn’t above using any advantage I could.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance. My cousin and my sister kept me busy. I couldn’t complain—at least not outwardly. We’d come here to pitch ideas about promoting the shelter, and now that we had the green light, it was time to get to it.
It did bother me that Ella wasn’t more actively involved in shaping the public awareness campaign, especially when she did so much for this place. She was the one who’d risked her own safety to make sure the animals were okay. The one who, at that very moment, was down in her utilitarian office, working to keep this place afloat even though she looked like a good stiff wind would knock her over.
My gut clenched when I thought about the dark circles under her eyes. Or when I had heard the cough and rasp of her voice—the results of the acrid smoke she’d inhaled. An innate urge to do something rose swiftly within me. Sure, I had what my sisters called strong protective tendencies, which was one of the reasons I’d become a professional firefighter. But this was more than that. This near compulsion to see to Ella’s care and comfort was on par with the kind I had for mia famiglia , my crew, and my close friends. To feel this way about someone I’d just met and barely knew was unexpected.
A growl rumbled deep in my chest. Ella shouldn’t even be here after the night she’d had. She should be at home, resting and taking it easy. She should have someone looking out for her, ensuring she took care of herself—or better yet, helped her with that.
And here I was, raising my hand, wanting to apply for the position.
Despite my preoccupation with Ella’s personal life and well-being, the rest of the afternoon passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to leave. I reluctantly returned Oreo to the play area and deftly skirted the we should get together s and call me s tossed my way by women whose names I didn’t care enough to remember. There was only one woman I wanted an invite from, and she’d remained scarce.
Clearly, she didn’t feel the same inexplicable pull toward me as I felt toward her. Or maybe she did, and she didn’t want to for some reason.
I followed my sister and my cousin outside. Climbing into Lucia’s backseat, I vaguely appreciated the comfortable seating and generous head and leg room. It was a nice SUV, luxurious and rugged, with plenty of room—when it wasn’t loaded up with thousands of dollars in high-end photography and lighting equipment, that was.
We’d barely pulled out of the lot when Gina, riding shotgun, turned around and glared at me. “Why didn’t you tell us Ella was hard of hearing?”
I blinked back at her. “What?”
But even as she said that, some things clicked into place. Like the way Ella hadn’t seemed to hear me at the fire scene. Or the way her eyes had focused on my lips when I was speaking. I felt like an idiot. Why hadn’t I picked up on that?
“He probably didn’t even realize,” Lucia said, smirking back at me in the rearview mirror. “He’s smitten.”
“Smitten?” I echoed.
Gina laughed. “Yep. Looks like Nonno got it right again.”
“I don’t know about that,” Lucia said blithely. “Ella doesn’t seem that into him.”
“Oh, she is,” Gina said confidently. “Didn’t you see the look on her face when those women were fawning over him?”
“She wasn’t even there, Gina,” I pointed out.
“Yes, she was. I saw her peeking in when we were taking pictures.”
Ella had returned? And I’d missed her?
Aloud, I said, “What look?”
Instead of answering, Gina started thumbing through her phone, then thrust the device back at me. “ That look.”
I peered down at the screen. We’d been touring the treatment room at the time, and Lucia’d had the idea of making it look like I was bringing Oreo in for a checkup, highlighting the medical services the shelter provided.
In the image, I was sitting on the exam table with Oreo in my arms. The attractive young vet tech was between my legs, leaning in close with a stethoscope. The tech was smiling at me while I was smiling down at the puppy. It looked like the woman was flirting with me—and she had been—but I didn’t understand what this picture had to do with Ella.
I raised my eyebrow and looked at my sister questioningly. “So?”
“Look at the door,” Gina urged impatiently.
I returned to the image and focused on the exit, where a feminine figure stood just outside the room, looking in. I used my thumb and forefinger to enlarge the image to see what Gina was talking about.
I inhaled sharply. The look of disappointment on Ella’s face in that single unguarded moment made my chest ache while, at the same time, a spark of hope ignited. She hadn’t known the scene with me and the tech had been staged. She’d thought it was real.
My chest ached, even as something stronger surged within. Ella had felt something between us, just as I had. She was just better at not openly acknowledging it.
“No woman looks at a man like that unless she’s into him,” Gina said smugly, snatching back her phone.
“We’re here,” Lucia said, and I realized we’d stopped moving and were parked in front of the fire station.
I was working nights this week. My station used a 2-2-3 rotation—two twelve-hour day shifts, followed by two twelve-hour night shifts, then three days off. I had some ideas about how I’d like to spend my three days off, especially since seeing that image.
I opened the rear door, grabbed my bag, and slid out, my mind swimming with new possibilities.
“So … when are you going to bring her to Mama C’s?” Lucia asked with a grin.
My answer was a smile. “Thanks for the ride.”
“We’ve got your back, bro,” Gina said.
I was still chuckling as I strolled into the station house.
“There he is,” Chas drawled. “You just missed them.”
I was almost afraid to ask. Sometimes, women showed up at the station after a call like the one at the shelter. Hose chasers, some of the guys called them. Females who liked the idea of bagging firefighters.
“Who did I miss?”
“A couple of reporters came by, wanting some inside scoop on the fire last night. One of them was that sweet redhead from Channel 23 with the big?—”
“Hair,” Jonah finished with an admonishing dad look. “Big hair .”
I snorted—because he wasn’t wrong. The reporter in question looked like she had stepped right out of the ’80s. Although her hair wasn’t the only thing big about her. She’d had quite a few obvious physical enhancements done over the years.
“Not like you need me for that. You were there.”
“Yeah, but she asked for you specifically. Do you have something going on with her?”
“No,” I answered honestly, although she had propositioned me on more than one occasion. I withheld my shudder.
“So, where were you?” he asked with a glint in his eye.
“What, are you writing my life story or something?” I said, dumping my gear and wondering when my fire crew had turned into a bunch of Nosy Nancies. “I was busy.”
Chas chose to ignore the not-so-subtle none of your business vibes I was putting out there and followed behind me like a dog who smelled a Milk-Bone. “Wouldn’t by chance have anything to do with the woman from the shelter, would it? The Angel of the Animals?”
I shoved the last of my things into my locker and turned around, noting that we had the attention of everyone else now too. “What’s that now?”
He grinned. “That’s what the press is calling the pretty brunette who got the animals to safety.”
I frowned on Ella’s behalf, knowing her aversion to publicity. I also knew it was practically impossible to keep something like that under wraps. Even Lucia and Gina had heard about it and wanted to capitalize on it—for the good of the shelter, but still.
The best Ella could hope for was to have some control over the narrative. Unfortunately for her, the more she tried to hide, the more sought after she’d become.
“So, were you?” Chas asked.
“Was I what?” I asked irritably.
“Spending your precious downtime with the Angel?”
I thought about lying, but considering that the pictures we’d taken today would end up on the website, I knew it would come out eventually. Best to downplay it, I thought.
“I was at the shelter,” I confirmed. “Lucia and Gina are teaming up to heighten awareness of the shelter’s need for donations. Gina’s going to design a new website. We took some pictures, got some info.” I shrugged as if it was no big deal.
“Maybe we could help too,” Keegan said, joining the conversation.
“How so?”
“We could volunteer a couple of hours here and there. Do some minor repairs and maintenance, that kind of thing. From what I saw, they could use a few extra hands.”
It was a good idea. I was disappointed I hadn’t thought of it myself.
“Count me in,” Joe said.
“Me too,” added Jonah. “My brother runs a construction company. He could probably get us a deal on supplies, maybe even lend us a few of his guys in exchange for some free advertising on the website.” He looked at me. “What do you think?”
My chest swelled. “I think it’s a great idea.”
Bonus: it would provide additional opportunities for me to spend time around Ella. Who knew? She might even start to enjoy having me around.
“Might have to hold off on that,” Cap said, coming out of his office. “I just got off the phone with the chief. He wants to take another look at that basement before we close this one.”
“Why?” Joe asked, echoing my first thought. “Faulty old wiring was the cause, right?”
“That’s the most likely cause,” the captain said carefully.
“What else could it be?” I asked, the words coming out sharper than I’d intended.
“You’re not seriously suggesting someone would deliberately try to burn down an animal shelter, are you?” Chas asked in a rare moment of seriousness.
“Insurance money can be a powerful motivator,” Henry said quietly. “It’s no secret the place is struggling financially.”
Keegan shook his head. “No way. That place is everything to Ben. He’d never risk it or the animals.”
“Calm down,” Cap said. “No one is saying otherwise, but there were some discrepancies that need to be looked into before the chief signs off. And before you ask, no, I can’t say more until the investigation is complete.”
The room grew quiet as we processed that. We weren’t naive. We’d seen our share of firebugs over the years. Their reasons for lighting things up varied greatly. Insurance fraud, as Henry had suggested, was the most common, but vandalism, attention-seeking, and personal vendettas were possibilities too.
An image of Ella huddled in the shadows popped into my head. Her fear of being photographed. The way she isolated herself from others. Then I thought about my brother Paulie’s wife. How her sister had come to Cecilton to get away from an abusive husband and kept a low profile, hiding herself in the corner of Nonno’s bookshop for hours on end. Was it possible that Ella was in a similar situation? That she was staying under the radar because of something that had happened in her past?
“Doesn’t mean we can’t help,” Keegan said. “There’s plenty of work we can do. We’ll just stay away from the old basement until the investigator finishes.”
Cap nodded. “That’ll work. And for what it’s worth, he’s just dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s. I don’t think he’s going to find anything.”
I hoped not. But if things weren’t resolved by this weekend, I was going to shamelessly abuse my family connection and ask Uncle Sal what was going on.