Chapter 4
4
It had been a full week since her new neighbor had moved in and they spoke at length in the hallway, when they saw each other, but that was it. Her family had all popped in at least once and that included her brother, who was currently deployed overseas, who arrived on video call with Jack one night. Grant had managed to avoid them.
“No family tonight?” Grant asked as Cassie unlocked her door.
She snorted. “Don’t jinx it.”
“They aren’t so bad,” he told her.
“I love my family, don’t get me wrong, but this is too much. Next time, you should move into a place with better security. Or even some security.”
“Jack was here earlier.” He skipped over her comments. “Said he was looking for you.”
“Oh my gosh.” She heaved an exasperated sigh and leaned against the open door jamb. “He knew where I was, even stopped by to say hi.”
Grant threw his head back and laughed. “I kinda figured that.”
“Can you ban them from a game or something in threat for staying away?”
He shook his head. “I actually was hoping to catch you. Do you have any spare air filters? I don’t think mine was changed before and I didn’t want to run out right now, but I can’t stop seeing it.”
Cassie laughed. She understood that. “Sure, come on in and I’ll get you one.”
She left the door open for him and walked into her apartment, setting all her stuff down on the bar as she did. Her yoga class had been more exhausting than she would have liked, but she’d been tricked into teaching a hot yoga class and she hated it.
“There’s in the hall closet. Let me just get you one.” The apartment was small, two bedrooms, with one being more like a walk-in closet and one bathroom. There was a hall closet that she kept all the house related things in, along with her coats and stuff.
“Thanks, no rush.”
She got it down and handed it to him. “I have an entire pack of these, so no need to replace it.”
“I appreciate it. I didn’t notice it until tonight and once I did, I couldn’t stop looking at it.” He faked a shudder.
“I don’t even want to imagine.”
They chatted for a few more minutes about their days and how eager Grant was to get back on the pitch tomorrow. He was playing in an actual practice for the first time in several months and looked ready to crawl out of his own skin at the mention of the time that had passed.
A beeping stopped the conversation and Cassie knew exactly what it was. A fire alarm was going off somewhere nearby.
“Oh. Shit.” Grant bolted from his seat at her bar counter and ran for the door, forgetting the air filter.
Cassie followed quickly to see what was going on. A light smoke came from his apartment as she cussed and pans banged around.
She peeked inside to find him dropping a huge black disc into the sink. It had probably been pizza.
“I’m sorry. I forgot I stuck this in before we started talking.” Grant said sheepishly over the beeping.
She sighed, but not at him. No, her whole family was about to burst in here because that alarm automatically called the fire department. Sirens grew louder as she walked further in and opened the windows.
“Well, you’re about to get a real welcome from the entire fire department.” She picked up a plate that was on the counter and climbed up to use it to fan the smoke away from the detector.
“I didn’t call the fire department.”
“Nope. This did. It’s automatic.”
“Shit.”
“Yep.”
“Get down. It’ll clear out on its own.” He reached for her waist, pulling her off the counter and up against him.
“What the hell is going on?” That booming voice belonged to the fire chief, her dad.
“Forgot I had a pizza in the oven, sir.” Grant stuck out his hand to shake but kept the other one on her waist. “I was just stopping Cassie from climbing on the counter to fan the smoke detector.”
“Cassie,” her father warned.
“Yes,” she said sweetly.
“What’s the word?” Jack was the next to arrive in full turnout gear.
“Food in the oven. Go get some fans to vent this place out a bit.”
“This is the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever experienced,” Grant whispered in her ear.
“It gets better. That’s only two of them.” As if on queue, two more brothers walked in carrying fans. “Grant, this is David and Ben.”
They nodded a greeting as they set up the fans. Last to arrive was Alex, her oldest brother and the only cop in the family.
“What’s going on?” He casually looked around at everyone.
“This guy burned a pizza because he was talking to her instead.” David pointed at Grant.
“Must have been some conversation,” Alex remarked.
“Leave it alone,” Cassie threatened.
“Seriously, I just asked if she had an air filter I could use because mine was definitely not changed before I moved on.” Grant pointed at the wall where the offending filter was. “We got to talking at her place and I forgot I was cooking.”
“Well, you’re lucky you got to it.” Her dad said. “Could have been much worse.”
Grant nodded his understanding. “I can promise you it won’t happen again.”
“It didn’t need this response. Everyone can go.” Cassie waved at her family.
“It’s automatic,” Jack reminded her.
“I know that. But now it’s done, and he has to get to practice in the morning. You wouldn’t want to put him off his game because you were busy giving him a hard time over a burnt pizza, would you?” She didn’t think it would, but if it got them to leave, she’d pretend it mattered.
Grant turned to face her, and she caught the laughter in his eyes.
“I think we can probably get out of here. Looks like the smoke has cleared out. You’re welcome to come down to the station for some dinner instead.” Gone was her grumpy Dad, now he was a fan who remembered who he was talking to.
“Thank you, but another time. I think I have something I can stick in the microwave, or just make a sandwich instead and not cook anything.” Grant followed them as they walked out.
Cassie didn’t go with everyone, preferring not to get caught up in whatever the conversation was they wanted to have with her. Instead, she began cleaning up the small mess from the pizza.
“You don’t have to do that,” Grant said as he walked back in.
“I know that. I just didn’t want to dip out on you or go with them.” She sent him a grin. “I’m about to start my own dinner, so if you want to wait half an hour, you can eat with me?”
“Sounds perfect. I’ll get the filter changed and take out the trash before I come over.”
“You might want to leave every fan on in here,” she reminded him.
He sighed as she laughed. His apartment would smell like burnt pizza for a while.