Chapter 7
Eiley jumped as something was draped across her shoulders, then faltered when she realised what it was. Who it was from.
Coffee Giant – Warren, she remembered the other firefighter calling him – gripped the grey blanket to keep it from falling, his free hand raised in a show of surrender.
Whatever scorn she’d brought out of him earlier was gone, only a calm pleading left in its wake.
“Only trying to keep you from freezing to death on the street.”
She wiped the tears from her eyes and drew the blanket around her shoulders, any sense of pride long gone.
God, she was embarrassed. She’d been ridiculous in there, yelling at him and acting like she could somehow save the stock in her pyjamas and a stolen helmet.
She dreaded to think what the others must have thought.
What he thought. She stood by the fact that he was an arsehole, but he had been doing his job – and all of that dislike for him was her problem, not his, born from insecurity and disappointment.
She could have just told him no at the pub and walked away.
She could have tried to maintain her composure in front of him tonight. Instead, she’d erupted.
So it didn’t seem right that he was here, now, lowering to sit beside her on the kerb.
He steepled his hands between his knees, and she tried not to notice the way his uniform stretched over his bulky biceps and thighs.
Failed, because they were right there, only a healthy distance from her own body, which felt frail and dwarfed in comparison.
“Waiting for a cab?”
She shook her head. She’d lied to Harper that she’d call one, as well as playing down the flood damage. If Harper asked Fraser to come and get her, as she’d offered, it would only disturb the kids’ sleep, and she didn’t have the courage to face him, or them, yet.
So she hadn’t moved, because moving meant going to Mum’s house.
Telling her that, not a month after packing her bags, she was coming back.
They’d all take it as proof that she just couldn’t do this alone, because even when she tried – so, so hard – it was impossible to navigate every sharp, unpredictable turn.
“Can I call you one?” he asked, voice quiet. “The water is nearly all gone now. Should be okay to go back in by morning. No point you hanging around until then. Besides, this should really be the property owner’s problem.”
Eiley shuddered, only now realising how cold and wet she was. And how utterly disheartened.
“I don’t want to wake anyone,” she said, which was also the truth, if only half of it.
“I’m sure they’ll understand. These things can’t be helped. Well, they could be, if—”
“If you start lecturing me again, I swear to god …”
He snorted, rubbing the stubble on his chin with a weariness that only made her feel worse.
How much harder had she made his job tonight?
His team’s? She prided herself on being the opposite of a problem.
A pleasure to have in class , she’d been in school, albeit a daydreamer.
Quiet, polite, helpful : praises that made her feel good about herself even now, as a grown adult.
What had happened to her? Where had all that anger come from back there?
“Believe me, I’m not that brave,” he said.
“I only started working here this week,” she admitted, because she felt the sudden urge to explain herself.
To prove that she wasn’t a complete noodle head , as she would phrase it in front of the kids.
“I’m sure you were right about the stockroom, but to be honest, I had barely been in there.
It wasn’t on the to-do list Maggie left me. ”
His mouth tugged down at the corners, and he clasped his hands harder with what she thought might be guilt. “I see. So, Maggie’s the boss as well as the landlady?”
She nodded. “She has a lot on her plate. Probably just didn’t think of it.”
“Nobody does until it’s too late.” His eyes darkened, fixed intensely on his whitened knuckles, and she wondered what it was he’d seen as a firefighter to make him so cautious, so vehement.
Here she was, acting like this flood was the end of the world, when for him, it was probably nothing more than a blip in comparison to the usual emergencies he faced.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have acted the way I did in there.”
He shrugged. “I appreciate that. You had a rough night. This is your home, your work. I’ll try not to take it personally, even if it all felt personal.”
That patience surprised her. She hadn’t done anything to deserve it. She reminded herself of why she didn’t like him, building her walls up again before they dropped completely. “Well, you did tell me I have a stick up my arse,” she reminded him. “It was a wee bit personal.”
Humour danced in his eyes once again. “God forbid a single man tries to chat to a bonny lass on his night off.”
The warmth in her cheeks almost staved off the cold air. Bonny . She felt anything but that, both then and now. Definitely now. “Well, maybe next time, you’ll be more subtle when you shift your attentions from one person to the next. And avoid families.”
He bit back a smile. “I really was just being friendly to her. I didn’t know she was your sister, all right?”
“In-law,” she added, because somehow, it felt important. “And you’re just lucky Cam, her wife, was in a good mood, otherwise you might not have made it out of the tavern alive.”
“If that was her in a good mood, I dread to think.” He paused. “Fine. I’ve learned my lesson.”
Eiley almost smiled despite herself.
He twisted to look at the bookshop again, his arm brushing hers with the movement. “Since I’ve not been hunted down by anyone yet, and you’re here facing this alone, I’m assuming you don’t … have a partner?”
If he’d asked her this in the tavern, she’d have been furious – full of disdain for him poking his nose in where it wasn’t wanted.
But here, in the dark, she wondered if, in his clunky, direct way, he was actually trying not to cause more offence.
Maybe she just wasn’t used to someone being so honest.
Maybe she could use a little more of that.
“It’s just me and the kids.” It was still strange to say that, though it had been true long before Finlay had officially left.
He’d switched all at once, feelings changing seemingly overnight.
One day, he’d been dying for a third child.
The next, she was pregnant with Saff and juggling her two boys, waiting for Finlay to come home drunk, if at all.
She’d predicted then that he’d leave eventually.
In her world, it was just what fathers did.
As wrong as it was to generalise that way, a few hazy memories of a stranger and an empty space at the dinner table were the only glimpses of fatherhood she’d had before Finlay.
“Where are they tonight?” Warren asked.
“With their uncle.”
“I could call him, if you wanted.”
“No. I’d rather let the kids have one more night of thinking this place is still their home.”
“It will be again. This is all temporary, Eiley.” He toyed with the cuffs of his jacket, voice delicate enough to leave her stunned. “Trust me, I’ve seen hundreds of homes with damage beyond repair. This isn’t one of them.”
It was a comfort, but her heart still felt shattered. Tomorrow, she’d have to tell the kids that some of their most beloved belongings were gone. She’d have to start all over again.
A tear slipped onto her cheek, and she wiped it away with the corner of the blanket. “I’d rather just stay here. I don’t want people fussing over me.”
A crinkle etched itself between his brows, strangely out of place on those usually unfazed features. “Thing is, my mate in there is worried about you, so we really do need to get you home. Or at least somewhere warm. Preferably where you might find an extra shoe or sock.”
“If I go home, I won’t leave.” The words escaped her before she could stop them. “It took us ages to get here. Ages to save up enough money for me to move out of my mum’s. When I go back there … I feel stuck.”
Her teeth began to chatter again and she knew Warren was right. She couldn’t stay here all night, even if going home felt like a step, or five, backwards.
“Being stuck is better than sleeping on the street.” He stood up and reached out his hand. She looked at it like she’d never seen one before, unsure what it was doing in front of her face. “Come on, firecracker.”
“Where?”
“I’ll drive you to your mum’s myself.”
The idea of him taking her anywhere felt risky. She didn’t want to sit in a confined space with him for any length of time. Didn’t want to let that spark she was trying to ignore start to smoulder. “I don’t need you to do that for me.”
“Well, I need to do it for the sake of keeping my job. If you go into shock out here, we’re all in trouble. Get up, Eiley. I promise the hardest part is over.”
She steeled herself, and then stood without his help, ignoring his outstretched hand until he rolled his eyes and let it drop. He reached into his pocket for a set of keys.
“You’re not going to take me in the big fire engine, are you?” If she was going to roll up to Mum’s in the middle of the night to tell her she was moving back in, she at least wanted to do it without a show.
“Why? Haven’t you ever wanted to ride one?” He cocked a playful brow. She only cast him a flat look, which made him chuckle. “All right. Car it is.”
She followed his heavy boots over the cracks in the pavement, unsure if she could meet his eye after the way she’d acted tonight.
He went to the passenger side of the emergency response car first, opening the door and waiting until she slipped inside.
She made a point of closing it herself, buckling her seatbelt while he rounded the bumper and eventually made himself comfortable in the driver’s seat.
“Music or no music?” he questioned.
She shrugged.
“Fair enough. No music, then. I always like how quiet it is in the wee hours.”