by Reina Torres
It leant her strength.
“I pointed to one of the bottles. ‘Get this one, mommy.’” Aylin smiled at the memory of her mother’s face. “She could have laughed at me, or told me to be quiet. My mom was hardly ever short with me, though. She looked down at the bottles. ‘Why?’ And I told her that the bottle I was pointing to had more for the price. My mom was a little shocked but when a store employee stopped and asked if we needed help, she asked him if the bottle I’d pointed to did have more for the price. You should have seen the size of his calculator!”
Aylin held out her hands like there was a trophy winning fish suspended between them.
“I swear, it was like THIS BIG!”
Chief laughed out loud, and she joined him.
“He did the math and told my mom I was right. From then on, she let me figure out which products to buy and we got a cheap calculator from a drug store and she showed me how to double check my figures. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe me.”
Nodding, Chief agreed. “She showed you how to use the calculator and let you double check it. A good skill for anyone.”
“She believed in me. She always has. And now I feel like I’m keeping a secret from her.”
The look on Chief’s face only made her feel worse, because she knew what he was thinking.
“I know I shouldn’t be keeping it from her, but I’m doing it to protect her. You’ve seen how happy she is with Ethan.”
Chief nodded. “They are a perfect match.”
She agreed, wholeheartedly. “Just like you and Sophie, and all the others. It’s like there’s something in the water here at the station. Or maybe it’s just about you guys and your hoses.” She winced. “That sounded better in my head.”
“And your secret?”
“Twice now, in the last few weeks, I’ve seen Craig, my biological father.”
Chief sat up, his eyes narrowed on her face. “Did he hurt you? Did he even try?”
She held out her hands to calm him. “No. The first time was a complete shock, and I didn’t even really wrap my head around it for days. Like a bad dream.”
Biting into her lip she drew in a long breath, trying to fortify herself.
“And I saw him tonight at the catering job.”
Chief picked up his phone and she put her hand on his to stop him from calling her dad. Ethan. Yes, he was still her dad in her heart and probably always would be.
“He came to the back door of the kitchen and told me he was leaving because he didn’t want to upset my mom. He was right. It would have upset her to see him.”
“But he talked to you?”
She nodded. “I felt the same way I think you’re feeling. I felt like I had to guard myself in case he tried to say or do something to hurt me, but he didn’t. He told me that he’s been reevaluating and making changes in his life. He said he wants a chance to prove that to me.”
Saying it out loud should have clarified things for her, but it only seemed to make things more difficult. As she formed the words and the thoughts in her head, she knew that she wanted the chance to get to know him.
“I want to talk to him, Chief. I know that sounds crazy. And I know the ways that he’s hurt my mom and me, even though I know it was so much worse for her. But I’ve got these questions inside, and I want answers.” She felt tears prick at the backs of her eyes. “I’m being selfish, right?”
Aylin looked up at Chief and prayed that he wouldn’t be disappointed in her.
He took a deep breath of his own and leaned in. “In our lives, we can’t protect everyone we love. We can try our best, but sometimes things happen and all we can do is try to make sense out of it and, in some cases, make amends to those we’ve hurt.” He narrowed his eyes as if he was searching for the answers in hers. “Do you believe that he means what he says? That he’s trying to be better?”
“I want to say yes. I’m just not sure though. I worry that part of why I want to talk to him is because I’m still that little girl who missed having a dad and didn’t miss the looks that people gave her because she didn’t have one. If he has changed, then good for him. I’ve already told him that my mom is happy, so very happy with her life right now that he’d be crazy if he had any idea of winning her back. He told me that wasn’t what he wanted. That he wanted a relationship with me.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“I told him he had to talk to my mom. That if he was trying to work around her by coming to me, then I didn’t see the kind of change he’s talking about.”
Leaning back against the couch cushion, Chief gave her a thoughtful nod. “So, what are you struggling with?”
She couldn’t help the petulant pout of her lip as the answer blared in her brain like a stereo set to eleven. “I hate it when I have to adult.”
Chief laughed softly as he nodded. “It can be challenging for all of us, but the rewards are good.”
“Like you and Sophie?”
“Like your mom and the Chief. Don’t struggle with your thoughts so much,” he advised her. “Your mother raised you to be a kind and caring woman. Listen to your heart and I think you’ll be fine. In the end all we can do is our best. If someone is hurt because of your actions, you know what to do.”
She nodded back. “Apologize and fix what I can. Hope they accept that apology and we can move on.”
“It sounds like your…”
“My bio-dad,” she provided.
“… bio-dad is trying to do that. It’s up to you if you’re going to accept him into your life.”
Almost on cue, Chief’s cell phone vibrated and a sound like baby laughter rose from the speakers.
“Oh, that is cute!”
She swore she could see Chief’s cheeks redden with a blush. He might be an absolute hottie, but he was also a devoted husband and father too. Using a couple of make-shift hand signals, she got up from the couch and started toward the open doors to the apparatus floor as Chief answered his phone.
“Hey, Soph. How is…,” was all Aylin heard before she headed out.
Chapter 6
As they queued up in the line of cars along the street in front of Club Cumbia, Stillman looked over at Warren. “Uh, Peace? You want to explain why we’re here?”
Warren’s bright smile spoke volumes. “I knew you needed to get out, loosen up, so I thought we’d go somewhere you could do that.”
“Loosen up?” Stillman blew out a breath. “I was thinking we were going to a bar with music.”
They moved forward a few feet and Warren shrugged. “It’s a bar and there’s music.”
“I was hoping for something a little less-”
Thumping the heel of his hand against the steering wheel, Warren turned to Stillman and let out a huff that went against his firehouse name. Warren was normally the guy who was the peacemaker, but not at that moment.
No, Stillman had an idea that his friend was about to lose his cool.
“What’s up with you, Rook?” He didn’t even wait for an answer. “You’ve been really off for the last few weeks. Tense. Wound up. The main reason why I wouldn’t let you beg off tonight is that Quintero was going to take you out and get you drunk off your ass.”
“Wait, Rush?” Stillman was struggling to understand the situation. Oliver Quintero was a complete introvert. He’d only gotten the name ‘Rush’ because the one area in his life where he wasn’t the sit back and blend into the scenery guy was in an emergency. He had the leadership skill and know-how to be a lieutenant, but Oliver hated speaking up in front of others. Give him a task to do and he was good, but he didn’t want to be the one handing them out. “He was going to take me to a bar?”
Warren gave him a hard stare. “Yeah. And Caddo was going to start taking bets about when you were going to lose your mind and have a meltdown. Consider this your intervention, okay?”
The valet waved them a little closer. One more car and they’d be up front.
“We’re going to go in there. You’re going to have a drink.
I don’t care if it’s a coke as long as it isn’t water. You’re going to dance-”
Stillman opened his mouth to argue, but Warren cut him off.
“You don’t have to dance with anyone. But it has to be away from the bar or a table, and you have to move your feet to the rhythm of the music. You can dance, right?”
Stillman gave him a look. “Don’t even go there. Or course I can dance. I just haven’t really had a reason to in a while.”
Like he needed a reminder that he’d last danced at the prom when he’d gone as Aylin’s date for the evening. Dancing with her had been the best part of the night. If it hadn’t been for someone walking by and jostling them at the end of the last song, he would have kissed her.
She’d looked so amazing that night and when she’d leaned into him, her lips parting slowly as the music began to wind down-
“Sir?” Stillman turned his head and saw the valet holding his door open. “Sir, do you need help?”
Warren’s laughter was unmistakable. “Even he’s wondering if you qualify for the senior discount, you’re looking so tense. Now get out of my car!”
It wasn’t really all that easy to get out. Warren had pulled up right to the curb so Stillman needed to put his hand on the frame to push himself out of the Mustang GT. Warren Vidal’s dream car attracted the ladies and his looks were a bonus, but Peace had yet to look at any one with the future in mind.
Warren almost knocked him down when he nudged Stillman shoulder to shoulder. “Focus, Rook. You keep looking like a Basset Hound, and I’m going to find one of those Goth clubs and drop you off there. You’ll fit right in with all the brooding.”
“You’re really trying to yank my chain, right?”
“No,” Warren paid both cover charges and set a hand on Rook’s shoulder, “I’m trying to pull you out of whatever cloud you’ve been sitting under, Rook. So, let’s go and take care of that, okay?”
As they stepped inside the club, they started down the long hallway that led to the main room. The people that went in ahead of them seemed to be both in a rush to get to the dance floor, but also trying to find a way to make an entrance and be noticed.
Rook was neither, but he was going to try to ease his friend’s worries. He didn’t want people to worry about him, or think he was going to explode or do something stupid. He thought he’d been holding it together, but if Caddo had gotten a sense of it, then Stillman knew he had to pull himself together.
And this might be just what he needed to pull himself out of his doldrums. The music was pumping through the room and what he could see of the dancefloor, he could tell it was going to be a tough fit to get even a bit of space along the edge.
Instead of looking at that as an excuse, Rook was actually looking forward to dancing. Warren was right, he needed to loosen up. From what he’d understood from talk around the house, and the conversation he’d had with the Chief and Viviana when he’d gone to their house for dinner a few nights before, Aylin was doing just fine and doing well with her school.
So, having accomplished what he’d set out to do, this would be a great time for him to pull himself together.
“I see some space at the end of the bar!” Warren lifted his hand over their heads and pointed toward the far wall. If he hadn’t, he would have hit someone else, given how close everyone was.
Nodding in reply, Stillman followed his friend. Knowing Warren’s warm up drink, Stillman ordered a couple of beers and paid the bartender a good tip, earning him a smile and almost guaranteeing good service for the rest of the night.
Warren took his beer and they tapped their bottles together. “Salud!”
The music had shifted to a Shakira song and a rousing cheer went up through the crowd. Stillman had heard his share of Tejano music since he’d moved to Texas, but Shakira wasn’t one he’d connect to the genre.
Warren must have seen his confusion and leaned in. “Don’t start a fight in here. Some people lump her into the music genre, and some don’t. But the ones who grumble about it don’t usually say anything in a club. Anything that gets the ladies up on the dance floor shaking their hips? Most people will suck up their issues to just watch. Sexist? Crazy? Probably, but as long as you don’t start a fist fight, I’m good. I don’t want to be banned from the club.”
“Consider me warned.” Stillman took a long draw from his beer as he watched the crowd on the dancefloor shift. The men had mostly moved to the outside edge while the women were jumping around and shaking their hips to the music. And then there were a few who really could move to the music. The ones who didn’t just approximate the steps, but who could wrap themselves up in it like they were wearing the music itself. They stood out easily on the floor.
As the song continued on, the floor cleared a little as a number of the dancers decided to watch the group at the center of the room, urged on by the DJ who started the whole room clapping and cheering as the volume and the tempo of the song built up near the end.
Stillman leaned in closer to his friend. “I have to admit, this is very...”
“Distracting?” Warren gave him a knowing look.
“Entertaining,” Stillman corrected him. “And okay, a little distracting.”
“Ha!” Warren lifted the bottle to his lips. And given the angle, he was probably going to empty the bottle with that one pull, but that was before something caught his eye on the dance floor.
“Is that your sister?” Stillman had seen her too.
Lissa Vidal was the same height as her brother, and while Stillman wouldn’t be so crazy to say that she was tall for a woman, she wasn’t going to need help reaching the top of her cabinets. It made it somewhat impossible to miss her on the dance floor.
Her height and the way she could move. That drew half of the room in her direction.
Warren was choking... or coughing... Stillman couldn’t quite figure it out, but all he could offer was some support, pounding on Warren’s back to keep him from drowning in beer. That would have been hard to explain to the guys at Station Seven.
Trying to figure out what to say, Stillman tried to find something simple and to the point. “The good thing about this is that it’s only women on the dance floor now. You don’t have to worry about anyone getting too close or trying to touch her.”
The thought seemed to calm the worst of his coughs and Stillman had a moment of peace to stand back and enjoy Lissa’s dancing skills.
Warren cleared his throat. “Don’t look too hard, hmm?”
Stillman waved off his warning. “I’m only half looking at your sister, and when I say looking, I’m mean it as a man who enjoys the fine arts. And dancing, as my mother taught me is part of the fine arts. So, you don’t have to worry about me making a move on your sister, that’s not in the cards.”
“Good, good.” Warren reached over and took two new beers from the bartender and handed one to Stillman. “And I wouldn’t get any ideas about the other girl dancing beside her. You know that’s Aylin, right?”
Stillman almost dropped his beer as the words settled into his head. Only a frantic grab for the bottle saved it from cracking on the hard, laminated flooring beneath his feet.
Stunned by the realization, Stillman couldn’t quite believe that he’d missed ‘seeing’ her. Later he’d say that he must have been blinded by the lights or something just as silly, but maybe his head just couldn’t wrap around the idea that the woman whose hips his hungry eyes had been glued to, was the very woman he’d promised to ignore. She wore leggings that were wrapped around her body like a glove, the top edge barely climbing above her hips. The top that she was wearing fluttered at the hem, rising and falling with a rhythm her own body was creating and giving a tantalizing view of her belly as she turned and undulated to the music.
Stunned didn’t quite describe how he felt.
Hungry.
That came closer.
He wanted to hold her.
Touch her.
Breathe her in.
; Aylin tossed her head back and laughed and he swore he could hear her voice in his ears. He’d heard that laughter and been staggered by its soul lifting beauty.
He’d held her against him as they’d danced, but that had been tame compared to this.
He’d held her gently during a slow song, and felt the muscles of her back caress his open palm.
If he tried to hold her like that now, she would likely flow out of his embrace. Her body merged with the music. The pounding rush of melody and instrumental rhythm had come alive with her.
And then, before he was ready for the spell to end, the music finished, and the crowd erupted into applause. The DJ pointed out the two women who had literally cleared the floor with their dancing and just as Stillman clenched his jaw tight enough to flex the muscles in his jaw he heard Peace beside him roll out a string of curses in Spanish that didn’t need any translation.
“I hope I’m not going to have to knock one of these guys out if he touches my sister.”
Stillman managed a reply of some sort, although he had no idea what he’d actually said.
He was standing there, the neck of his beer bottle strangling in his grasp as he restrained himself from walking across the room and... and what?
He was nuts if he thought she’d react well to him taking her hand and walking her out of the club. And even if she walked out with him, what was to stop her from chewing him out for all but disappearing from her life? And where exactly would they go anyway? He didn’t bring his car since Peace had promised to drive him home so he could drink his fill.
And then some.
So, there he was. Watching helplessly as Aylin and Lissa walked off of the dance floor and back over to a table.
There were three people already there. A blonde with a pretty smile…a pretty brittle smile. And the look in her eyes was like daggers at the other two, but neither Aylin nor Lissa seemed to pay her looks any attention.
“Who,” he had to clear his throat to get around the knot that had formed there, “who’s the blonde at their table?”
Leaning in closer, Warren almost had to shout as the DJ made a string of announcements. “That’s Kat Jennings their roommate.”
