AARON

It was taking everything inside of me to not go to her place and make sure she’d found my note. I’d left it there early the morning before, but what if it fell off and landed in the grass. It could take days, maybe weeks, before she found it.

Monday had dragged on and on at the station, and I was on a crazy schedule that week, a seventy-two hour shift that I was only halfway through when Tuesday evening finally hit.

I sat under the open garage door in my lawn chair, work done, just waiting for something to happen, when my phone finally rang.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Vaughn says you’re coming here Thursday. Yay!” Hannah squealed over the line. “What do you need me to do? Just clean everything out? I’m so ready for this to get done. Thank you so much. You have no idea.”

I had some time off Thursday and Friday, and had messaged Vaughn earlier to see if it would be a good time to start on their bathroom.

Her excitement about the renovation was contagious, and I was glad to help. “That would be perfect.”

“Did you see the new tub?”

“Yeah, at the lumberyard when it came in. They delivered it then?”

“It’s in the garage.”

My phone beeped and I pulled it away to see why. The settings on my phone were such that if a sheepherder halfway across the world took a shit, I was getting notified about it. But, to my surprise, it was Faith on the other line. I hated being rude, but I refused to miss the one call I’d actually been waiting on.

“Hannah, I gotta go.”

“Shit, you’re probably working. Okay. See you Thursday.”

I accepted the incoming call without another word to my friend.

“Oh my God. Hello.”

“Hi.” She chuckled on the other end. “Did I catch you at a bad time? Is it too late?”

I could have probably left the Holy Father out of my greeting, but I was happy to finally hear from her. “No. Call me anytime.”

The line was quiet a few seconds before she began rambling. “This is so awkward. I can’t remember the last time I called a guy. I have no idea what to talk about, but Delaney just went to bed and...” She took a breath and continued, speaking slower. “And I just thought I’d call and say hi.” She was smiling; I heard it in the lilt of her cheerful voice.

I crossed my legs and relaxed for the first time since I’d kissed her good night three damn days earlier. I was patient, but fuck, it had been killing me.

“So you did get my note. I was beginning to wonder.”

“Were you always this thoughtful? Tires. Notes. Phone cards.”

I added, “Gutters. Weed eating. I’m nothing if not romantic.”

“You’re something all right.”

I bit the side of my grin, enjoying the banter, but didn’t want to talk about me. “How was your day?”

“My day? I worked at the diner, ran a few errands after that, made dinner, and lost three games of Candyland. Exciting, huh?”

Smokie emerged from the station, stretched, and wandered the yard.

“Doesn’t sound too bad.”

“It wasn’t bad at all. What about yours? Are you at the firehouse?”

“Yep, last night, tonight, and tomorrow night.” One more, then I’d be off a few days.

“Doesn’t it get boring when there aren’t any fires?”

I got that question a lot, but I liked that she was curious. There was no way she’d been thinking about me like I’d been obsessing over her, but it was possible I’d crossed her mind.

“It’s a lot of cleaning and checking equipment, but yeah, there’s some down time.” My Dalmatian came back and sprawled out at my feet, soaking up the last bit of the day’s heat from the cooling pavement.

“Do you have to stay there the whole time? How does that work?” 

“Mostly, but we can leave for a while. Run to the store. Here and there. Our station isn’t too strict.”

“Not like the Air Force?”

I was rarely asked about my service anymore, but I enjoyed having her attention. She was interested and if I expected her to tell me about herself, I had to do the same. “It was a lot faster paced, but the same stuff, just on a much bigger scale.”

“Were you ever scared?”

While I was away there were a few times I was terrified. Like when Mom told me Faith was seeing Chad. Then how they were moving in together, both back from school. When I found out she was pregnant. Those fears were more frightening than any combat I could have been faced with because I thought I’d lost her.

Forever.

I told her a stripped down version of that truth. “It was hard being so far away.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t anything like what you were going through, but it was hard here too.”

The conversation flowed easily, which I shouldn’t have been surprised about because back in the day we talked non-stop.

Sure, we danced around from topic to topic, keeping it light, but it was nice. Comfortable. She told me how her mom was moving in with Darrell soon, and how, at the end of the summer, Delaney was starting Pre-K.

It was unbelievable how fast the years had gone.

Faith asked what I’d done when I had time off in the Air Force, and I told her about the beaches I’d been to. I told her about Qatar and my uneventful deployment. She confessed she always worried about where I was and what I was doing. Hearing that meant a fucking lot. Often, I wondered if anyone back home thought about me at all, aside from my family.

Soon it wasn’t awkward anymore and we were just old friends finally catching up.

“Isn’t it funny how it’s almost like we haven’t talked in years? But, I’ve seen you like every day since you came home.”

I replied, “We’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for.”

“Holy crap. It’s already eleven. We’ve been on the phone for over an hour.”

Nearly two, and I’d be buying her more minutes. As far as I was concerned, it was money well-spent.

“So you’re off this weekend then?” she asked.

“Well, kind of. I’m off Thursday and Friday, but I have shifts Saturday and Sunday. And I have a construction job that might take me a few days.”

“Oh,” she said softly. “Well, I’m working afternoon and dinner shifts for Mom on Friday, so I won’t be at the bar that night. They’re taking Delaney to the fair in Spring Valley to watch the derby.”

Was she telling me she was free Friday night? I wasn’t sure when I’d be done at Vaughn’s, but the possibility of spending time with her was motivation to work my ass off. However, I didn’t want to make a promise I couldn’t keep.

I sat up in the lawn chair and stretched my back. “I want to see you Friday,” I admitted. “I’m not sure what time I’ll finish up, but if you’re free...” There was no way I was going to ask her to sit around and wait for me on one of her few nights off.

Her reply came almost instantly. “I want to see you too.”

That was all I needed.

“Call me tomorrow?” I asked.

“Maybe.” She stretched the word out, playful and sweet, but sounded easy enough to persuade.

“I’ve missed this.” Packing up to head in myself, I collapsed the chair and stood looking down the road with it in my free hand. She was inside her house and I couldn’t see her, but it was still a comfort knowing she was down the street. Somehow she felt closer. “I know you have a lot going on, and I don’t want you to feel any pressure, but this feels so damn good.”

She sighed, and it reminded me of a sound she’d made Saturday when I kissed her neck. “Fine. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay, good night.”

“Very good night,” she contended and hung up.

I strolled inside and shut the overhead door. Her voice and her words swam around in my head. The tone she’d used. Her relaxed laughter.

It was juvenile how easily she turned me on, and I’d never jacked off at the fire station—ever—but that didn’t mean I couldn’t run home for a couple minutes and take care of a few things.

So I did.

Twice.

#

SHE CALLED THE NEXT night, and I called her Thursday when I got home from the Renfros’ house. I loved listening to her talk about Delaney and her day. Honestly, she could’ve talked about overseas exchange rates, and I’d still hang on her every word.

The bathroom project was going so smoothly that it almost scared me. It was only day one and we’d gotten everything torn out, new drywall hung, floors down, and the tub, toilet, and sink switched. Mostly, I worked alone for the better part of the day, but I’d had help with the heavy lifting.

Although, Hannah nearly murdered me when I showed up at six a.m. on Friday to start back into it.

Let’s face it. I had shit to do that night. I kind of, almost, sort of had plans with someone special.

Additionally, I wanted to get as much done as I could, maybe even finish.

“Are you unstable? What are you doing here at this hour?” she croaked when she answered the door wearing a T-shirt and sweats. Her hair was all over the place and there were creases on her face from sleeping.

“You wanted this done fast,” I reminded her.

She scowled but let me in.

“Vaughn is showering in the hall bath, and I guess we’ll just see how long Sawyer sleeps. Want some coffee? I have regular and shitty decaf.”

“I’m good. Already had enough.” I rounded the staircase and headed up, motivated and raring to go. “I’ve been up for hours. You’re lucky I didn’t show up at four.”

“You are unstable,” she muttered as she walked into her kitchen.

I found the bathroom just as I’d left it the night before, shoved my earbuds in, and went to work. The most time-consuming part was the last section of tile around the vanity. They were smaller versions of the large white subway tiles we’d used around the Jacuzzi tub, but after I found my rhythm they went up without issue.

It was long into the afternoon when Hannah finally snuck in to see how it was coming. All I had left was some plumbing while a few last minute touch-ups dried. Then I’d hang the towel bars and call it a wrap.

“This looks so good. Thank you. If Vaughn had to do this alone it would have taken him weeks.”

I sat back on my heels and appraised my work. A full bath reno in two days, and I was actually proud of it. “Not too bad, huh?”

“Not at all. I think all the white makes it look bigger in here.” She stepped around my tools and the trash I hadn’t picked up yet, and sat on the edge of her new bathtub. “You should be done about the time Vaughn gets home. Wanna stay for supper?” I didn’t have to think about my answer. Even when she sweetened the pot. “I’ll grill steaks.”

Any other night, I wouldn’t have turned down steak, but that night was different. “No, I’ll probably get out of your hair.”

She turned on the tub’s faucet, testing it, and then turned it off. “Something going on in town? You have big plans or something?”

I leaned over and went back to tightening the bolt on the back of their toilet. “Nothing’s going on that I know of.”

She kicked my leg. “Oh, come on. A little birdie told me that you bought four brand new tires this week, and they didn’t go on your truck.”

Little birdies had big mouths.

I propped myself up on my elbow and fired back, “So?”

“Well, tell me about it. What’s going on?” Eyebrows up, she eagerly waited for me to come out with it.

“Since when are you into gossip?” I asked, secretly enjoying it.

“It’s not gossip if it’s true, and it’s not like I’m going to tell anyone.”

I knew better than that. She wouldn’t tell the whole county, but if Dean was talking to her, she’d be talking right back. Then Sunny would hear about it and the rest of Wynne after that. The last thing we needed was a peanut gallery full of opinions.

“There’s nothing to tell.” Which was technically true—I hadn’t even taken her out. Kissing and a few phone calls didn’t equate to anything newsworthy. “And it’s not anyone else’s business.”

Hannah gasped. “It is too my business. My dad and her mom are practically living together. She’s almost my sister. It’s family business.”

“If you’re so close, then you ask her about it. I can’t believe you’re being this nosy.” With the bolt as tight as it was going to get, I tossed my wrench into the toolbox and sat up.

“I’m not trying to be nosy. It’s the romance of it all.”

I’d known Hannah my entire life, although we’d grown much closer after Vaughn moved to town and they got together, but she’d never struck me as a romance enthusiast, even after being married.

“Bullshit,” I alleged.

“It’s true. This isn’t my fault. Blame Astro. He’s the mushy, lovey one, and now that I’m all impregnated it’s got me swoony. It has to be because I’m carrying his spawn.” She laughed and rubbed her belly, even though she wasn’t showing much that I could tell. “Besides, you’re a great guy, and I’ve always liked Faith. I think it’s a good thing. My fetus and I need you two to fall in love.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Your fetus?”

Hannah cringed, hearing her word repeated. “Yeah, sorry. That grossed me out, too.” She reached for one of the towel bars on the vanity and pointed it at me like a weapon before patting it against her palm. “Start talking.”

There was a trash bag hanging on the door handle and I shoved empty packages into it then faced her, hoping she’d see I wasn’t hiding anything.

“There isn’t much to tell. We’ve just been talking more lately.”

She pointed the long chrome bar at me again. “But you’re interested?”

“Very.”

My friend sucked her lips between her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut tight, barely containing the excited squeal in her throat. I was apprehensive about everything, but it felt great to see someone else as excited as I was. Still, I wasn’t about to say anything else for fear of jinxing things.

What little I’d admitted to Hannah would have to be enough to shut her up. That was all she was getting out of me.

I waited until she calmed, and after the shimmying and clapping, she beamed, apparently pleased.

“Tell me where you want these hung. I’m ready to get out of here.”

Rolling her eyes, she relented and told me where she wanted the fixtures. An hour later, I was on my way home, satisfied with the job I’d done and eager to hear from Faith.

Maybe next time I saw Hannah I’d have more news for her, her little birdie, and her nosy fetus.