Big Engine: A Firefighter Romance (Firehouse 22 Book 1)

by Scarlett Brooks

  Now I started thinking about what I was going to do. Obviously I couldn’t depend on Crew. Why the hell would he just disappear and not be able to be reached by anyone? A project that no one at the station knew about? What the hell did that mean? Andy why didn’t he tell me he was off today? It just didn’t make any sense to me. I couldn’t stop thinking of what he might have been doing…

  I was so confused. Why didn’t I give him a chance to explain? Was I afraid of what I would find out? Shit, why was everything so difficult for me? Couldn’t my life just be normal?

  I seemed so close to being truly happy and now my world was closing in on me. So here I was again, picking up the pieces of my life. Where do I go from here?

  I called Summer and asked her to come and pick me up. I was going to go back to work. That is the only place where my life makes sense. I got out of bed and called the nurse to come and take my IV out so I could go home.

  She told me that I had to wait for the doctor to see me and sign my release. He was making his rounds now, he would be here soon. I called my mom and told her about my setback with hypoglycemia. She said that the same thing happened to her when she was pregnant with me. Figures, would have been nice to know earlier, so I could have looked out for it.

  I didn’t tell her about Crew and me.

  I just didn’t know what to say.

  11

  Payton

  Summer packed up my stuff quietly, she knew something was up but didn’t want to pry. I was thankful for that.

  “So, Chinese food and a movie at home?” She tried to sound cheerful.

  “I really don’t want to go home now, Summer. I'm okay. I want to go to the bakery and be useful.”

  “But the doctor told you that you had to take it easy for these last weeks.”

  “Yes he told me not to overdo it, and I have no plans to overdo it. But if I go home, I will just be miserable. Keeping busy will help me to work out these issues I have with Crew.”

  “Payton, what is there to work out? He adores you and he wants to take care of you and that baby.”

  “Yeah, Summer, and when I needed him the most, he was AWOL. No one knew where he was. What if I would have gone into labor? What if I had lost the baby? He wasn’t here!” I affirmed.

  “But Payton, you did not even let him explain what happened. He told me that you told him to get out and wouldn’t talk to him. You should have seen his face when he came by this morning to see you and you weren’t home. He flew out of the door without even listening to what happened. He just wanted to be with you to see for himself. That man adores you! At least give him a chance to tell you where he was and what he was doing.”

  “I know you’re right, but I'm just not ready to talk to him yet. Please take me to work.”

  “Fine. But I’m watching you like a hawk, okay? We can’t afford any more of these dizzy spells. You kind of have the tendency to cover them up.” She gave me the eagle eye and I knew I was in trouble.

  “I will be fine! And I will talk to Crew later, after I have some time to think. I just want to make a couple batches of muffins and work on the books a little. I promise I will not over do it. You have my permission to stop me if I look like I'm being overworked.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m holding you to that, all of it.”

  “Fair enough,” I agreed as we walked out of my hospital room.

  12

  Payton

  When we got to the shop, I got myself settled in with my tea and muffin—honey pecan of course—they were my favorite too. They were actually just like the ones my grandmother used to make. Everyone was eating sticky buns with all of the brown sugar and butter, but she was diabetic, so she made hers with honey and butter and they were totally awesome. I was happy to share her muffins with my clients—but not her recipe!

  I started to get out the ingredients to make them, and I heard the buzzer on the door go off. I walked out to the shop and it was Meghan.

  “Hi Payton, Summer!” she yelled before I got around the corner. Once she say me she said, “I'm so glad you are here, Payton. I heard that you had an incident yesterday. I'm so glad that you are okay.” She continued on, “I have a property that I want you to check out. Do you have time to come along with me to look at it?” she asked.

  “Is this place on the same level as the restaurant?” I asked.

  “I think it's perfect for you, and it's even here in Austin,” Meghan added.

  “But I don’t want to stay in Austin,” I said.

  “Well I really think that you will be happy to see this one. Please, just come with me and check it out,” Meghan begged.

  “Okay, I will humor you, but don’t get your hopes up. I really like the restaurant and I'm just hoping that we can get it at a better price if we hold out.”

  “Summer, can you finish the muffins for me? I will make something else when I get back from seeing this property,” I promised.

  “Be careful,” Summer said handing me a bottle of water. She really was going to babysit me until I had this baby. That was going to get annoying, fast.

  I went along with Meghan in her car as she drove me to a small residential area about five miles away from my shop. I was confused, but I didn’t say anything until she pulled into the driveway of a really beautiful large stone house.

  I looked over at her and asked her, “What are we doing here? This is not a commercial property.”

  “I know, but I want you to come in and check it out. It is unbelievable.”

  I got out of the car and we walked together up the walk; she reached into her pocket and pulled out a key and unlocked the door. She stepped aside and held the door for me to go in first. I walked through the doorway and she closed the door behind me, and stayed on the outside.

  Crew came down the stairs and greeted me.

  “Hey there.”

  I was stunned. “Um hi.”

  “You wouldn’t listen to me in the hospital when I tried to explain to you where I was. Now I'm going to show you,” he said as he took my hand and led me up the stairs. I was about half pissed that I was tricked into coming here. But I guess that this was the time for him to explain.

  “What? I don’t understand. Why are we here?” I asked.

  “Well, don’t freak out, but I bought this home for us, you, me, and the baby. I want us to live together and be a family. Pay, I love you so much, and I want you to be in my life forever.”

  “Oh Crew, I don’t know what to say.” I wasn’t kidding; I really did not know what to say.

  “Yesterday when you had your incident, I was here working on the nursery. My cell phone died, and when I was getting ready to go home, the fire alarm went off nearby, and I drove to the station and offered to help them out. You can check with the chief at Station 58 to verify that I was there. It was in a nursing home and there were a lot of people to get out and they really needed my help. But if I had known that you were in the hospital, I would have been there in a heartbeat.” He went on.

  “I'm so sorry that I wasn’t there with you. I would never forgive myself if something had happened to you or the baby. Please forgive me. I love you and the baby so much—you are my life now.”

  I was so touched when I heard the love in his voice. I could feel the wall crumbling again.

  “I love you too, Crew. At first I was so worried that something happened to you at a fire, but Summer told me that it was your day off and that no one at the station knew where you were. My mind just wandered, in ways that I shouldn’t have let it. Then I got angry,” I confessed.

  “You have got to stop comparing me to your old boyfriends. I'm not them; I'm Crew. I love you and I will never do anything to knowingly hurt you. Please trust me,” he begged.

  “I'm sorry too Crew. Can we start over? I promise that I won’t doubt you again.”

  He took me in his arms and kissed me. I felt all of those tingles again as we stood there together in our new house.

  “Come on, let me show yo
u around our new home. Do you want to see the nursery—what I was doing yesterday?”

  “Yes, I want to see it!”

  “But if I show it to you, you will know what we are having. I peeked in the envelope so I would know how to decorate the room. So, do you still want to see it?” He smiled and my knees went weak.

  “Yes, I will just be surprised today instead of a month from now,” I answered.

  He stepped aside and let me open the door.

  “Pink!! The baby is a girl!! Oh, Crew, we are having a daughter! Wait, are you happy? Most men want sons…”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, I'm not most men; I'm thrilled to be having my own little princess. She will be beautiful just like her mama.” He pulled me in for a kiss.

  “You’re sweet,” I offered.

  I looked around the room and he had little ballerinas on the border of the cotton candy pink walls. The curtains and sheets and comforter were matching with the ballerina border. There was a white rocking chair and a little table and lamp beside it for late night feedings. The crib we bought together and the other furniture was all assembled. It looked like it was baby-ready.

  And I loved the fuzzy pink area rug he had placed at the side of the crib. I was so happy.

  We went downstairs and Crew gave me a tour of our new home and it couldn’t have been more perfect for us. I loved the kitchen. It was huge! It had an industrial size stove with a regular oven and a convection oven. There was a double size refrigerator and an island with stools and a dining area for a table and chairs. The front of the house was a great room with a huge stone fireplace—that matched the outside stone. There was an area dedicated to an informal living room and recreation room.

  There was a guest bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and a large laundry area and mud room that led to a two car garage. A half bath was right behind the kitchen. It was perfect. Then Crew took me outside to the backyard. There was a huge patio right outside the French doors in the dining area, and an in ground pool with a small beach house.

  “I want to put in an in-ground trampoline for the baby and a swing set and a playhouse for her. I'm going to make furniture for her in it and we will get her dishes and dolls so she can play house.”

  “Well, you have certainly thought of everything, haven’t you? Is our baby going to be a little bit spoiled? Just asking…” I said in laughter.

  “Her mama will be too, I promise.”

  “And Summer? I feel bad leaving her hanging at the condo.”

  “She was in on the whole thing of course. She’s got the condo all figured out. Trust me, I’ve taken care of everything.”

  And for the first time, I did.

  13

  Payton

  In the next two weeks, we moved all of our things into the house and it was starting to look more like a home. Crew bought a swing set for the backyard and he built a little playhouse for the baby. He just couldn’t get enough of being a daddy-to-be. I was so much in love with him now.

  I was getting excited for the baby to get here; not just for the thrill of holding her in my arms, but also I miss sex! I know he is afraid of hurting me or the baby, so we were limiting ourselves. I missed the intensity we seemed to always have. But we were still having some fun together.

  I hired a baker at the shop to help Summer while I was not so able to work as hard as I was until the baby was born. I also have been looking into finding another partner to go in with Summer and me so we can buy that restaurant and work my dream into fruition. Crew was going to check around for me.

  Jocelyn had a baby shower for me and we got a lot of clothes for our daughter and other items that we would need. Crew’s mom was so nice to me. She was really excited to be a grandma, even though she thought it would be Brad and Jocelyn first.

  I mentioned to her that I had been looking at expanding my business and I was looking for an investor. I hoped that she might know someone in her social circle who might be interested. She told me that Crew had mentioned it to her the other day and she has been thinking about helping out on the side.

  “Are you serious?” I asked her.

  “Yes, since I retired, I'm at a loss for things to do. I do a lot of charity work and it's fulfilling, but I need more. I love to bake, but I'm probably not as good as you are. My talents seem to be in the business area of it all. I don’t know if you know it or not, but I have a master’s in business administration. I used to draw up plans for commercial businesses.”

  “No, I wasn’t aware of that. I struggle all the time just keeping the books.”

  “Well, I can surely help you out there! What do you think?” she asked.

  “That would be perfect! I would love to have you come into our business and help with the books! Welcome to the Magic Muffin,” I said, hugging her.

  I was still going into the shop every day, helping where I could, but I was pretty tired most of the time and being on my feet was hard on my back. Although I did have the awesome masseur at home…

  I would go home around three so I could help with dinner. He liked to cook on the grill and as the weather was getting nicer, we did that often. Crew and I were like an old married couple, doing the sort of things that they do. We worked, we came home, we ate dinner, we went for walks when the weather was nice, or we watched a movie when we didn’t walk.

  We had fallen into a great rhythm, but I knew all of that was about to change.

  14

  Payton

  I was down to my last two weeks, and I had to go to the doctor’s every week now until the baby was born. I was very uncomfortable and my feet were starting to swell. I had to stop working now, and it was hard to not go in to work while so many things are going on there.

  People were making meals and bringing them over and doing grocery shopping for us; I started feeling like I couldn’t do anything at all. But Crew told me to take advantage of the help right now. Without stresses, the baby would be happy and we all would be happy. Yep, I was happy.

  Why wouldn’t I be? I have a dream home, a dream-come-true man who loves me, I have a beautiful baby girl on the way, and my dream bakery was in great hands with Summer.

  Crew was supposed to come home early and he was going to make some steaks on the grill. I had scrubbed potatoes to bake on the grill and I made a nice Caesar salad for us.

  I lay down on the couch in the living room and I dozed off and slept until Crew got home. He bent down and kissed me awake.

  “Hey sleepy head, are you gonna sleep all day? I’ve put the potatoes on the grill and the steaks will go on soon. I set the table already, and I brought some sparkling grape juice for you. We can pretend it's wine.”

  “You’re a gem, you know that?” I said as he helped me to my feet.

  “You make it easy.”

  He held my hand as he walked me out to the patio where he had the table set and ready for us. He helped me into my seat and then he went back into the house to get the salads, and the sparkling grape juice. He poured us each a glass. Then he put the steaks on the grill and sat down.

  He told me all about his day as we ate our salads. They got a call today from a little old lady who set fire to her stove. She forgot she had eggs on to boil and they cooked dry and exploded. She had left a dish towel lying close to the burner and it caught on fire when the pan got really hot.

  “The poor thing was fanning the flames with a bigger towel and it caught on fire too. She burned her hands pretty badly. Sad that people don’t know enough about fires and how to stay safe. Her home didn’t get too much damage, but she could have lost her life. I went to the medical center with her to get her burns attended to. No point in calling an ambulance.”

  “That was nice of you, but I bet the EMTs gave you hell for it.”

  “As usual. I’m fucking terrible at protocol,” he admitted.

  “I wish I would have met you sooner,” I admitted.

  “Well you couldn’t have because I was screwing off like a dumbass. You were building you
r empire and I was skateboarding and wasting my life away until my brother rescued me. And thank God he did, or I might not have met you at his wedding. My parents had almost given up on me growing up.”

  “That is hard for me to imagine; you are so level headed and responsible now.” I laughed. He was sweet, but level headed, not in the least.

  “I learned the value of life every time I save someone from a fire. It makes you grow up really fast. My life is so much better for it, too. Just look at me, in a few days, I will be a father; bringing a new life into the world and being responsible for her.”

  “I can’t wait to hold her in my arms, a little life that we created together, seems crazy,” I added.

  He got up to flip the steaks and took the potatoes off the grill. By the time we got the potatoes dressed with butter and sour cream, our steaks were done. We ate our dinner quietly, just letting our little talk sink in.

  “Well, I must admit, that steak was pretty freaking awesome. Was yours good?” he asked.

  “It was perfect!” I leaned over and gave him a big kiss. “I'm stuffed.”

  “Me too,” he said as he took a drink from his wine glass. “You good to walk tonight? I don’t want to push you.”

  “Let’s go,” I said, rising to my feet.

  We took off, hand in hand and walked to the other side of the development. When we got to the park, we stopped to sit on the bench a bit. My feet were starting to hurt. These days my ankles were hanging out over the tops of my sneakers.

  As we sat there on the bench, watching the children playing on the swings and sliding board, Crew started talking very seriously to me.