Page 60 of The Fire Captain's Unexpected Baby
“Maybe it’s his default,” she offers. “Maybe you need to do a little work to get past his defenses.”
“If he really wanted this to work, he would have texted me back by now,” I complain, trying to make my best friend see reason.
“You know where he is. Zachary barely even sends me a text when something like this comes up,” Summer chastises me.
Deep down, part of me knows that she’s right.Ofcourse,texting me back isn’t Aaron’s top priority right now.
“I think he’s mad,” I say instead. Not a change of subject, but a shift in content. I don’t want to blame his job for keeping him from me.
“Well, he probably was. But that was before he went up there to save us all,” Summer scolds me again. “If he is angry, he has every right to be. He put himself out there with you, and you ended it before it began. Over atext message.”
I groan and press a pillow to my face to hide my pink cheeks. I don’t have to be a seasoned relationship expert to know that Summer is one hundred percent right.
“You’remybest friend. You’re supposed to take my side,” I complain when she doesn’t make any move to soften her words.
“No can do. Not when you’re the one who’s wrong.” Despite the harsh words, Summer gives me a gentle smile. Her voice drops, a telltale sign that she’s about to say something serious. “Stop being afraid to live your life, Paige. It’s been too long.”
“I’m not afraid to live my life,” I say, eager to set the record straight.
“Youare. If Aaron is truly what you want, then you should go after him. Without apology. Without logic. Without reason. Justbecause you want to, just because it feels like the right thing to do.”
“I don’t know if I can,” I admit.
“You’ve spent your entire life putting everyone else’s needs above your own. Everyone else is more important. Me, Levi, Noah. I hate to say it, but you did it with James, too. It’s time for you to do something for yourself for a change,” she insists.
The weight of her words hangs in the air between us. There is an undeniable truth to them, one I feel in my gut.
“What if Aaron?—”
“Dada,” Noah blurts, looking around the room for any sign of the man himself.
Summer freezes, almost like she didn’t believe me when I told her what happened at Mr. Oakley’s.
“See? I can’t bring him into this.” The words come out in a rush. “What if he decides he doesn’t want to raise a child for the rest of his life? What if hedidwant me for you-know-what, and then Noah would have two father figures to miss?”
“No,” Summer interrupts me firmly before I can spiral further. “What if Aaron is exactly who he says he is? What if he wants you more than you want him? What if you finally get the happiness you deserve?”
I sigh. She has valid points. I just don’t know if a happily-ever-after is really in the cards for me. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt that, not even when James and I got married. We were young, and I don’t know that I would call what we had real love.
Or maybe I would. We had real, immature love with some seriously mature issues.
I open my mouth to share some of these thoughts with her. I just want to get them out of my head, to give them shape and help myself make sense of them. But I never get the chance before Summer’s phone rings.
Our conversation is forgotten in the flurry of grabbing the phone. Neither of us has had an update since the start of the fire.
Zachary.
She answers it quickly, and I try to give her privacy to talk to her new husband alone. Surely, she wants to tell him how much she loves him. I head to the kitchen to refill my coffee cup.
I’m pouring cream when she calls from the living room, “The fire is out. Everyone is fine, just a few minor injuries.”
The cream slips out of my hand before the words register. A few minor injuries—what does that mean, exactly? Minor by whose standards?
“Who?” My voice is hoarse and croaky when I force the word out.
“Samson.” She looks me dead in the eye. “And Aaron.”
I take a deep breath, letting the information wash over me.
