Chapter 11 #2
Cerise nodded for him to go ahead but she looked strained, not what he wanted to see on her face, especially after the kiss they’d shared.
He was being pulled in two directions: sitting with Finn to continue what they were doing or go over to Cerise and taking her into his embrace to soothe the look of indecision on her face.
Before he could do either one, his cell phone blared into the silence that had fallen between them. He scooped it up from where it sat on the coffee table and saw the main HVFD number flashing on the screen.
Dammit, he was about to get called out.
“Brodie here,” he said the second the call connected.
“Hey, Dice, Gene here. We need you at the station. We’ve got a wildfire that’s getting out of control. All hands on deck.”
“Right. I’ll be there in about forty minutes.” Brodie stood before he finished speaking.
“Sounds good.” The call disconnected.
He looked between Cerise and Finn. “I’m sorry. I have to go. There’s a fire.”
“Oh man, will you be gone long?” Finn whined and Brodie felt bad that he was letting the boy down.
“It’s okay. I understand.” Cerise came up to stand by Finn, placing a hand on his shoulder. “And Finn, you know Brodie’s a volunteer firefighter, right? This is what he has to do. He can’t ignore it when he gets a call. He has to help people, like I do at the hospital.”
He rose from where he was seated on the ground and came over to Brodie. “I’m sad you have to go, but I promise I won’t do any more of the LEGO until we can do it together. It’s our project.”
With every passing second the little boy was working his way into Brodie’s heart. Actually, so was his foster mom, which was mind blowing, considering the short amount of time they’d spent together. Wasn’t it supposed to be months before couples worked out they cared for each other?
“I trust you, buddy. Now you look after Cerise, okay?”
His little chest puffed out after being given such a responsibility. “I promise.”
Brodie smoothed down the hair sticking up on Finn’s head and in response, the boy hugged him tight.
“Come on, Finn, we need to let Brodie go.”
The boy dropped his arms and went over to Cerise. “See ya, Brodie.”
“Bye, buddy.” Brodie looked up at Cerise. “Walk me to my car?”
She hesitated for a moment, and he feared she’d turn him down. “Sure,” she said with a nod before turning to the little boy. “I’ll be right back. Why don’t you get into bed, Finn?”
He looked like he was going to argue and remind Cerise that she said he could stay up later than he normally did, but a second later he nodded and disappeared out of the room.
Together they walked out to his car. “I’m sorry our night got cut short.”
“We’ve spent the whole day together. It’s okay, Brodie. I understand.”
He reached out and slipped his hand through her hair, cupping the back of her head. “I want you to think about what I said earlier—about us, you know.”
“I don’t want to lie to Daphne or my lawyer, Brodie, no matter how tempting it is to say yes.
It’ll be suspicious if I turn up with you in tow saying we’re together and we want to adopt Finn together.
Daphne won’t believe it, even if she does know you.
Plus, she already cautioned me not to do this. ”
“I know the risks but still, think about it.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. They were expecting him at the station, and he needed to get moving but saying goodbye to Cerise was proving harder and harder.
“You need to go.” She gave him a gentle push against his chest. “Be careful.”
“Always.” He pulled her in for a brief hug before he got into his truck and pointed it toward Hunt, leaving a little piece of him behind with Cerise and Finn.
Sweat poured down Brodie’s back as he and Eric dug out the underbrush to create a firebreak. This was the third location they’d been sent to for this very purpose. Slowly they were getting ahead of the blaze. The rest of the team was spread out doing the same.
Another lot of guys from Hunt were helping another team with attacking the fire head on. Gene just radioed that the fire was sixty percent contained but they couldn’t get complacent. A wind shift could change the direction of the fire, which made the need for firebreaks so much more important.
He would’ve liked to have been working on the front line, but it was safer that he wasn’t. His mind wasn’t totally focused and the last thing he wanted to do was put anyone in danger.
The radio crackled in his ear and he paused, listening to Gene. “East team three, check for stray embers. Wind changed from north-northeast, to northwest direction.”
Brodie glanced up watching the trees sway. The wind had picked up. Shit. They needed to make sure this firebreak was completed and pray the wind didn’t strengthen. He tackled the area in front of him, determined that the fire wasn’t going to eat this area they were working on.
Two hours later they were dragging their asses back to the truck. The fire was now ninety percent contained and the wind shift had worked in their favor. Another team from another county had come in to relieve them.
“You okay, Dice?” Eric asked when they were settled in the truck and headed back to Hunt. “You seemed a little out of it back there.”
Fuck, he’d hoped he’d hidden his distraction from his teammates so they wouldn’t notice. He’d kept his head down and done his job, but there had been a couple of times he’d stopped and had to go back to an area he’d completely missed clearing.
“Sorry. I’ve got some things I’m trying to work out.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
As much as he’d love to work through what was going on in his mind, the situation was too personal, and he would bet that Cerise wouldn’t want her personal business talked about. “Thanks, but it’s not really something I can talk about.”
“Does it involve a woman?”
“Yeah, it does.”
Eric studied him a little longer and then a small smile teased his mouth. “Do you like Cerise?”
“Cerise? What makes you think it’s got anything to do with her?” They may have decided they were going to explore a relationship with each other, but they hadn’t actually talked about how or when they were going to go ‘public’ with it.
Eric chuckled and pointed to Brodie’s head. “You got glitter just by your ear. That shit really does stick, no matter what you do. Cerise may not live in Hunt, but I work with her. Plus, everyone knows she loves glitter. Do you like her?”
Brodie remembered when Cerise told Finn that if he saw some glitter on him, it was her way of saying she was with him. He liked that sentiment. “Yes, I do. I like her a lot.”
“What’s the issue then? You date and, if it works out, great. If it doesn’t, you move on.”
“True, but it seems too soon to be feeling the depth of emotions that I am.” Not to mention he’d suggested they fake a relationship for the social worker and lawyer to help with her case.
He didn’t regret it, but he was wondering if he’d been a little hasty about it all.
They hadn’t known each other for long in the grand scheme of things.
“Look,” Eric continued. “Sometimes when love hits, it’s a slam in the gut when you least expect it.
Other times it’s a slow burn. You start out as friends and then you work out that you were meant to be together.
Neither way is right or wrong, but what I can tell you, if you ignore it or doubt it, then you lose.
You don’t strike me as the type of person who likes to lose. ”
Brodie mulled over what Eric said as he leaned against the headrest, exhaustion threatening to pull him under. He’d never asked what his parents felt when they’d met. Whether it was a slow burn or a slam in the gut, like Eric talked about.
His brother wasn’t married, so it’s not like he could ask him.
Then again, he and his brother weren’t the type to talk about their feelings.
They were more than likely to get into an argument about which baseball team was going to win the World Series.
Baseball was a serious sport in the Spelling household.
Could he imagine a future with Cerise and Finn in it? Imagining one without the other wasn’t really an option. In his mind, they were a team, unless Poppy came back for Finn. He hoped that didn’t happen.
There really was no point thinking anymore about it right now. They needed to talk. He’d dumped a bomb on Cerise and then he had to run out before they could really discuss it.
No way was he going to let her not consider his idea because, the more he thought about it, the more he embraced the vision of him, Cerise and Finn creating a family together. Maybe even adding another one or two children to the mix.
When he’d arrived at Alexander Dude Ranch, he’d never expected his life would start to fall into place like all the pieces fitting together in a puzzle. Everything was beginning to make sense in a way it never had before.