Page 8 of From the Embers

I may have only been little, but I still remember the blaze, and Denver pulling me through that open window to safety. Sammy’s little face was terrified, as I’m sure mine was, his small body wedged between Denver’s legs. Sammy lived a long happy life after the rescue, and passed away peacefully at the ripe old age of fifteen, just after graduation.

“Well, we can walk. It’s still not safe at night for a woman,” he says simply. “And you know Daryl would be upset with me if he found out you walked home alone.”

“Well, thank you,” I reply. “I can look after myself, much to Daryl’s disapproval, but I appreciate the sentiment all the same.”

Denver slides his hands into his jacket pockets. He towers over me, which isn’t hard to do because I’m short, but at 6”3 and wide-set, he’s a freaking monster.

“Daryl told me you were in town,” Denver goes on as we begin to walk up the street. “But I didn’t expect to see you here. He didn’t tell me where you worked.”

“That’s because I only just got this job,” I say. “And trust me, nobody was more shocked than me to see you again. You’ve… uh, changed.”

“For the better?”

I smile into my puffa jacket. “That would be telling.”

He clears his throat. “Daryl texted me to say you were back in town, and then gave his usual big brotherly lecture about watching over you.”

“Sounds like my brother,” I muse.

“So, weirdly, I have your number already.”

“Oh?” I smirk. “But you weren’t planning on using it?”

“Well, you didn’t even know who I was.”

“You got me there, hotshot.” Oh, the banter we had when I was a teenager rolls right off the tongue. “I should’ve known it was you with that giant chip on your shoulder.”

He blows out an amused breath and gives me the side eye. “One would have thought you couldn’t forget this handsome face.” He grins widely.

I stifle a laugh, not one I can hold back, but it only makes his smile grow. “Wow, Denver, some things really haven’t changed, have they?”

“What are you trying to say, Red Robin?”

“You know, up until tonight I haven’t heard that name in a long, long time.”

“Still suits you.”

It’s my turn to give him the side eye. “You think so?”

He meets me gaze. My, oh my, he only got more handsome as the years have passed. Fucking gorgeous, if I’m being honest. Back when I last saw him he was cute, but being a lot older than me, I really only saw him as Daryl’s best friend that had been around forever. I may have had a small crush, but so did all my friends because he was blonde and beautiful and nice to us. Not like other boys his age, including my brother. But tonight, wow, I’m seeing him as a man as well as the full-blown hottie he turned about to be.

“Oh, I know so.” He’s also still cocky.

“So what’s new with you in the last ten years since I saw you?”

He chuckles. “Meaning?”

I shrug. “You know, life, work. Surely you have a wife and kids by now?” I know for a fact he doesn’t. Daryl has inadvertently kept me in the loop over the years, and he’s always the topic of conversation when I’ve been back home to visit. Granted, I haven’t visited much in the past few years, and our paths never seemed to cross.

“Has Daryl not mentioned me at all?” His eyes twinkle as we cross the quiet street only a block now from my apartment.

Damn. He got me. “Here and there. But who knows? I don’t see a wedding ring, but that doesn’t mean⁠—”

“That I don’t have a wife stashed anywhere?” he laughs. “Pretty sure I’d know about it.”

“Hopefully the kids too,” I quip.

He gives me a playful look, and I’m pretty sure he’s telling me to quit while I’m ahead. Still, cheeky is my second nature, nothing much has changed there. “I’m very sure I don’t have any offspring. Thanks though, for your interest in my love life.”