Chapter 12
“Hey, girl. We’re all okay,” Colton told her as she jumped from each person to make sure they were all accounted for. “It was just a silly student not fully awake for their eight in the morning chem lab and who accidentally made mustard gas. But it’s all clear now.”
Jack moved to the kitchen and began cooking breakfast as the guys joined him in the community room that extended off the kitchen. Nolan dropped onto the leather couch as the morning news played silently on the television in front of them.
“Are we really not going to mention the fact that Nolan came flying down the street straight from the bed and breakfast this morning?” Conley asked, clearly ready to rib Nolan.
The reply was Nolan’s phone vibrating in his pocket with a series of notifications from the Blossom Café betting app. “What the heck? Haven’t you all already bet on me?”
“Yeah,” Colton said with a shrug. “But I moved my bet up by a week.”
“Same,” Flint said as he dropped into the leather chair.
“Two weeks,” Conley smirked.
“I already moved mine up last night when Lucas told Talon you snuck into the bed and breakfast,” Jack called out from the kitchen. “I was with Talon, so we both changed our bets.”
“You all do know Helena is too good for me, right?” Nolan had been trying to ignore that fact since he met her. After hearing how she was raised, the point was driven home.
“Duh,” his friends all said at the same time.
“That just means you’re as lucky as I am. Cady is way too good for me, but I enjoy showing her how much I appreciate her every day,” Colton said of his wife.
“You’re not actually worried about the fact she’s, like, über rich, are you?” Conley asked, his face showing utter disbelief.
Nolan sighed. They knew him too well. “Not that she’s rich. It’s just that we are from two very different worlds. I won’t fit into New York society if we get together.”
“You?” Colton asked with a laugh. “The same man who dared to date Abby Mueez? The one who went toe to toe with Ahmed when you were a teenager? The one who had a drone following him that would shoot paint balls at you if you got too close to his daughter? And you’re worried about New York society?
If you can handle Ahmed, you can handle some society events.
And let’s not forget you are friends with a royal family.
How many of them literally grew up with a royal family? ”
“Now that we've got your ridiculous insecurities out of the way,” Conley said with a grin as he sipped his coffee. “You two are dating, right?”
“Are we a bunch of kids at a sleepover?” Nolan asked, looking around. He was trying to deflect the conversation because he didn’t want to share the details of his night with Helena with anyone else.
“Duh,” came the reply from everyone else.
“This is a firehouse. What else do we do while we wait between calls but gossip?” Jack asked as he set out a platter of pancakes. Everyone got up and moved to the large kitchen table. “So, stop avoiding and just tell us.”
There was no way Nolan was going to get out of this.
“I think we’d both like there to be something between us.
There can be for now, but when she goes back to New York?
” Nolan shrugged even as it broke his heart.
He was trying to show he wasn’t affected by the thought, but he was.
If this did work out, he’d be faced with a choice. Keeneston or Helena.
The day progressed as it normally did and Nolan made sure to send some texts to Helena to just check in. Apparently, Lucas had gotten Ahmed to visit Bella in the hospital and that had been a highlight of her year.
“Oh boys!”
The guys all looked up from where they were washing the fire truck to see Miss Violet waving at them. Her two sisters, Miss Daisy and Miss Lily, were walking in behind them with a basket of what smelled like fried chicken and mac and cheese.
“We made you boys some lunch,” Miss Lily told them as Jack hurried forward to grab the basket while Colton stopped Princess from pouncing—on either the ladies or the food.
“That’s so nice of you ladies,” Conley said, giving them a wink that had them giggling.
Nolan loved the Rose sisters’ visits. They brought food, not marriageable relatives.
“Oh, dear.” Miss Violet put her hand on her chest and blinked.
Flint was to her in an instant. “Are you alright, ma’am?”
“My heart,” Miss Violet said softly, tapping her chest.
Flint bent down even as all the guys lunged forward. It was too late. Miss Violet had him by the head and Flint’s whole head disappeared into her bosom. “Such a sweet young man to check on an old lady’s heart. How does it sound?”
There were some muffled noises coming from Flint, but no one could make them out until Miss Violet let go of him.
“Sounds as strong as ever, Miss Violet.”
“Thank you for checking. I must have been overly excited to see you young men.” Miss Lily and Miss Daisy rolled their eyes at their sister. “Next week we’ll bring some pies too,” Miss Violet told them before they all shuffled off.
Nolan was shaking his head as Flint grabbed a piece of fried chicken. “Why do you always fall for that?”
“Because, the more I fall for it, the better the food we get. Did you all hear? Pies! That is worth thirty seconds of suffocation. And she always stops before I pass out.” Flint bit into the chicken and moaned. “So worth it.”
Colton picked up a leg to toast Flint with. “Thanks for taking one for the team.”
From there the day progressed to three rescue calls.
One was a dog who had gotten stuck in a tree.
That was from Delaney Mueez. Donna, her Vizsla, had somehow climbed a tree and gotten stuck.
Flint, Jack, and Conley whispered that Delaney must have stuck her up there.
Colton and Nolan knew better. They’d been around for Bob, another Vizsla from their childhood who had climbed trees.
“If I recall, Donna is a Bob relative, right?” Nolan asked Colton.
“Gee, how can you tell?” Colton asked as he climbed the ladder to retrieve the young dog.
“That’s just not right,” Conley whispered.
Donna glared at him.
“It’s not natural,” Jack agreed.
Donna let loose with a string of drool. It dropped the twenty feet and landed on Jack’s face. Jack flailed and fell on his ass. Flint wasn’t even Catholic, but he made the sign of the cross.
“I think she understood you,” Flint whispered before looking up at where Donna sat patiently waiting for Colton to reach her.
“Definitely understands you,” Delaney, her owner, told the men.
“Aren’t you a smart, pretty girl?” Flint called up.
Donna wagged her tail and smiled. Like, literally smiled. Colton reached her and tried to grab her, but Delaney stopped him. “Just move out of the way. We’ve figured it out. She likes the ladder. Kale is going to pick one up when he goes to Lexington tomorrow.”
Colton turned sideways and the dog walked right down it as if it were no big deal. Conley and Jack joined Flint in making the sign of the cross again.
From there, they headed to Mrs. Stevenson’s house. There they found her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter in a tree.
“Thank goodness you’re here!” Mrs. Stevenson had been Nolan’s second grade teacher before retiring a decade ago. “My granddaughter, Saharah, is visiting and one of my scarves was yanked off the drying line and got stuck in the tree by some wind.” Saharah held it up from her place in the tree.
“It was easy getting up,” she called down. “Not so easy getting down.”
“Saharah is from Louisville,” Mrs. Stevenson told them. Here came her bio. This wasn’t the first granddaughter in a tree for them.
“I’m from Louisville!” Flint called out as Jack began to climb up the ladder.
“What do you know? Small world,” Mrs. Stevenson said, not sounding surprised at all. “Saharah is getting her master’s in education. She’s going to apply to Keeneston Elementary School for a teaching position in the fall.”
Jack reached out and helped Saharah onto the ladder.
He used his body to block hers in case she slipped as they made it down the ladder.
Jack picked her up when he reached the ground and set her down so she didn’t slip on the last two rungs.
Or maybe it was because Saharah was especially cute.
Or it could be the brownies Mrs. Stevenson was holding for them.
“You’re so brave. Thank you,” Saharah told them. “I’m famous for my hot wings. I’ll have to make you some as a thank you for this embarrassing call.”
“I love hot food,” Jack said eagerly.
“What do you know?” Mrs. Stevenson said with a huge grin. “Small world.”
Colton came up to Nolan as they all ate the brownies Mrs. Stevenson insisted they take as a thank you. “I am so glad I’m married. Marry Helena and you’ll be protected too. Like, how’s next Thursday?”
Nolan shook his head and thanked Mrs. Stevenson before hopping in the truck and waiting for the flirting to stop. He knew he’d be next. Mrs. Stevenson had been about to tell a story about how sweet he’d been in the second grade. Fighting off granddaughters was not on his to-do list today.
I have a twelve hour shift today, so I don’t get off until eight. I know it’s late, but I’d love to take you out to dinner when I get off. Would you be up for a late dinner date? Nolan looked at the text and without overthinking it, hit send.
Three bubbles immediately appeared. I would love to!
They agreed to meet at the B&B as soon as his shift was over. Normally, time would fly on his shifts, but not when he was waiting to spend the evening with Helena. Now it seemed to crawl.
Two more calls—one for a dryer lint fire and one for a kitten that turned out to be a stuffed toy that had been thrown in the tree in order for Felicity, one of the Keeneston Belles who was vying for the presidency, to ambush them.
Five minutes after they left the call, Felicity had posted a very heavily edited clip to social media that made it appear all of the firefighters were fawning over her. Even Colton.
That prompted some cursing and a phone call to Cady, who had already seen the video and assured her husband that she knew it wasn’t accurate.
One thing Nolan had learned growing up with all the Davies—they didn’t cheat.
Ever. When they fell, they fell hard and never looked at another man or woman.
Nolan’s own parents were the same. It was why Nolan was still single.
He hadn’t fallen hard like that . . . until now.
Until Helena. Until it was messy and not as simple as falling for a local girl.
One thing he’d also learned from his friends falling in love—it was worth the fight to keep it.