Page 51 of The Fire Captain's Unexpected Baby
He finishes his vodka soda and looks at the empty glass in my hand. “Go hit the weight room. Take a long run. Then, come back and see me.”
He’s dismissing me, but he’s also offering advice. I can’t sit here on my laurels and wait for things to change.
Paige loves this town, and I’m going to prove that I fit in here.
I’m going to prove that I can fit into her life, starting with the men she loves at the station so much. They all know a piece of her that I will never get to see. The most I can hope for is to learna bit more about her, enough to convince her that I can be the man she needs.
As soon as I figure out exactly who that is.
Chapter Fifteen
Paige
Three days and no sign of Aaron.
Part of me is grateful that he didn’t try to argue with me when I told him I needed space. Grateful that he’s willing to just let me be as I try to mother my son. Grateful that he understood I was serious when I said I wanted this to be casual.
The other part of me? That part feels excruciatingly lonely, even when I happen to be surrounded by people who love me.
The pain isn’t just emotional, as I thought it would be. It has steadily crept into my bones, my muscles. Deep beneath the surface, all these feelings have roared to life.
Thisis the reason why I spent the last two years not dating. Because now, I’m having a hard time focusing on Noah.
Noah, the little boy who desperately wants a dad.
“Don’t you think you could give him a chance?”
The question startles me out of my reverie, reminding me that I have other responsibilities.
I haven’t seen Levi in a while, though we talked after Aaron and I broke up—if you can call it that. He won’t reveal what he already knows, but I suspect it’s too much.
Levi invited Noah and me to the station today for the Saturday cookout. When the weather is nice and the guys aren’t too busy, they use the small outdoor seating area, where they grill up chicken, hot dogs, and burgers.
Today is Aaron’s day off, and he said he was too busy to come to the cookout. I suspect that Levi asked him not to come so that he could invite me. He’s been on a silent campaign for me to resume my new dating life.
“This has nothing to do with Aaron,” I insist.
I don’t really want to have this conversation with a crowd of people who know both of us, but I guess there’s no other time to discuss it.
Levi arches an eyebrow at me. “If it has nothing to do with Aaron, then it has to do withyou.”
“Of course, it has to do with me.”
“Well, we can fix you,” he laughs. “I could come up with a list of things we could fix about you: your cooking, your time management, your attachment to those puppies at the shelter. Did I mention your cooking?”
“I resent the fact that you think I need fixing.” Mock outrage colors my voice.
The only person who could insinuate that I needed fixing is Levi—and only if he’s going to use this teasing, lighthearted tone that I get to see far too infrequently.
“Listen, you love the firehouse,” he says, sweeping an arm to indicate the others, who are all inhaling their meal. “Aaron is part of it now. Can’t you just trust that we know what kind of person he is?”
Exasperated, I narrow my eyes at him and refuse to give in to this idea that I’m the reason we can’t be together.
“You don’t know what happened.” Blood rushes in my ears at the idea that I’m soon going to have to explain what I was thinking.
“Enlighten me.” His words hold a hint of every challenge he’s ever issued to me.
“Noah was getting too attached, okay?”
