Page 32 of Never Alone
"Speaking of love stories—" Quinn said. "I heard the woman from the video came to the firehouse twice in the last week?"
Rosie squealed.
"Do you have something to tell us?"
Quinn and Rosie's smiles were about as wide as they could go now.
I gave them both a look. "I'll tell you when I have something to tell you."
"That's not a no."
I ruffled Quinn's hair. She swatted my hand. The two of them were still laughing when I walked off.
I'd been bracing for the questions all afternoon. They came in waves.
Jamie caught me in the kitchen with a tone and a smile and asked how I was doing. Megan, two steps behind her, gave me the same question with the smile turned down a notch. Carol was polite. The three of them were standing close enough that they were either a coordinated effort or had agreed in advance to take separate runs at it, and I couldn't tell which.
I told all three I was fine.
Sean caught me on the patio. He didn't ask. He clapped my shoulder once, hard, and told me he was happy for me. I didn't ask what for. He didn't specify. We left it there.
Martinez and Davis were kept busy by the kids, and the captains—Sam, Danny, and Tyler—were too dignified to start anything. Aunt Jenna gave me a look from across the yard onceand let it go. That was Aunt Jenna. She'd ask me when I was ready to be asked.
Sometime in the afternoon, I found myself at the far end of the fence, alone with a beer I hadn't drunk.
I'd told Tessa I'd come find her when I had an answer. I'd had five days, and I didn't have one.
Saying yes wasn't as simple as it sounded.Yes, you can tell people we're together.That was the surface. Underneath it was a charade I'd have to put up—a story I'd have to tell about a relationship we hadn't lived in. Lying.
I wasn't comfortable with lying.
Saying no would be?—
I paused.
Shelby, are you okay? What did he do to you?
I'm fine, Cole. Go back to bed.
If I said no, I'd be no different from the man I'd sworn I wouldn't become.
So I had to say yes.
I took a drink of my beer and winced. Lukewarm.
If I said yes, I'd have to pretend to be in a relationship with her.
Her face came up. Every smile she'd given me. At the bakery, with the flour on her apron and the smile she'd been holding the door shut with. The white dress crossing the lot at the firehouse, the box of pastries in both hands like she'd floated out of a church rose window. The way her lips had felt on mine. The way her face had looked after she'd realized what she'd done. The softness of her hair in my hand at the planter.Thank you. Really.The way she'd said it before she drove off.
If I agreed to this, what would it cost me?
The screen door opened across the yard. Sam came out with two beers. He saw me. Didn't change course. Walked past Martinez, past the kids, all the way down to where I was.
"Hey."
"Hey, Cap."
He handed me a fresh beer, and I took it. He leaned against the fence next to me and looked at the yard.
