Nodding, she climbed up into the truck. Buckled herself in. And allowed herself to take a deep breath.
Reese Bristow had not only become the fire investigator and chief he’d always said he’d be, but he’d grown into a man who gave second chances.
Her plan might just work out fine after all.
CHAPTER TWO
THE SCOPE OF the fire was a ten-yard diameter. Ashes composed one yard of that. The rest of the fire had been caused by a burn-off of gasoline. The fuel stopped just a few feet from a dry field leading directly to an abandoned house. Given the abandoned home’s distance from other residences on the private beach, it was likely no one would have been hurt, but considerable damage might have been done.
The first fire, set almost a month ago, had been a three-yard diameter. Set down by the water. The arsonist had only been testing his tools then.
What Reese didn’t yet know was why. How. Or who.
What he really didn’t understand was what in the hell Faye Browning...Walker...was doing working for his department. Or in Santa Raquel, period.
He measured. Took notes.
She hadn’t been surprised to see him. She’d been surprised that he’d been surprised to see her.
What was it she’d said? “I thought you’d at least call.”
Why in the hell would he have called her? Ever again?
She’d been his girlfriend, through high school and two years of college. His lover during the college years. In his mind, there’d been no doubt that they were going to marry, raise a family, grow old together. No doubt that she was his one and only.
And then in one weekend, it had all shattered. She’d gone out with another guy. And the very next day had called Reese to tell him they were through. No talking. No chances. Just done.
With gloves on, he handled, bagged and tagged the ashes that he’d be taking to LA. He was using the forensic lab where he’d studied during college. Doing a lot of the work himself.
The fires felt personal.
Santa Raquel was his town now.
She wasn’t a nurse. Why? It was all she’d ever wanted to be. Just like his passion had been fire investigations. Firefighting. On the front line protecting his home state from the wildfires that threatened it during the dry season.
That’s why, even when she was awarded her scholarship to UC Berkeley, he’d gone to Southern Cal, LA. Because their fire management program was the best in the state.
And now she wasn’t even a nurse?
She’d married. Her name was Walker.
She was married. Walker. Did the guy know his wife had just moved to the town where her ex-lover had settled? Did he know she was working for him?
The audacity of that one burned his blood.
Did she know he’d been married? Did she think that somehow made them even?
Not even close, lady. Not even close.
He walked the beach, his state-of-the-art flashlight leading the way. If the guy had so much as spilled a drop of gasoline, he wanted to find it. It would tell him which direction he’d come from. Or left by. He checked the dried brush on the other side of the fire.
He searched for three hours but found nothing of significance.
Was no closer to discovering his arsonist.
But he had a solid plan for Faye Walker.
She was going to be axed. Immediately.
* * *
“ELLIOTT?” LEAVING HER son’s bedroom, Faye searched the apartment. She’d rented the upstairs of an antebellum home just two blocks from the beach. The rooms, with their high ceilings, new paint and pristine wooden floors, were beautiful, but the clincher on the deal for her had been the landlady.
Suzie Preston, a widow in her sixties, lived on the first floor and had offered her services as babysitter anytime Faye was called into work. Suzie volunteered in the library at The Lemonade Stand, a unique women’s shelter in Santa Raquel. The place had become Elliott’s current daytime habitat.
“Elliott?” She glanced into the bathroom to make sure her eight-year-old hadn’t sleepwalked to the toilet to relieve himself and stayed there.
Suzie had met her on the landing as she’d walked up the second flight of the wide, winding, bannistered staircase that could have been in any number of old films. She’d said the boy hadn’t made a peep during the hour and a half Faye had been gone.
“Elliott!” Not sure whether to be pissed at her son’s deliberate lack of response or worried about finding him before he hurt himself, she sped toward the living room and kitchen.
Her son, thick sandy hair askew, looked up at her with eyes as blue as hers. His expression as dark as Frank Walker’s had been the last time he’d left bruises on her arm with his strong grasp...
“Why didn’t you answer me?”
Elliott spooned another mouthful of cereal between his lips, slurping. Dripping onto the small Formica table, too.
She sat down next to him. He didn’t acknowledge her presence. Not all that unusual when he was in a mood, but there was always a tell. A flinch. A tightening around his mouth. He was only eight. Not yet capable of completely sealing himself off.
Unless he was asleep. Like now. Hard to believe that a child could sit at the table with his eyes open, eating a bowl of cereal and be asleep—but such was her life.
Looking out through the thin black bars on the large window overlooking the gorgeous, flowered backyard, Faye issued a silent thank-you.
For them. The bars. They were the second reason she’d chosen this home. Suzie had told her the bars had been put on the upper windows by her great-grandmother, after a child had almost fallen out one hot summer day.
The bars were tasteful. Decorative, expensive wrought iron that matched the fencing around the house and the rails on the front porch downstairs.
They were what let her sleep at night. Elliott was locked in. There was an alarm system on the front door in case he did manage to find a key and get himself out of their door. And the bars kept him from throwing himself out as he’d tried to do the first night after they’d left his father.
They’d been in a hotel. On the fourth floor. She’d awoken to the sound of the balcony door opening, and she’d had to rip him from a deathly clutch on the balcony rail. The next morning, he’d wondered how his forearms had gotten bruised. He’d remembered none of it.
She’d checked both of them into a women’s shelter. She’d had nowhere else to go, no one to turn to, no idea what to do. That had been in Mission Viejo, where she’d fled when she’d left Frank Walker.
Almost two years had passed since then.
Elliott was fine with the divorce. Never asked to see his father. Never spoke of him.
But he was still sleepwalking.
And he was still angry with her.
Because she hadn’t stopped his father from hurting her, because she’d stayed.
For starters.
So here they were in Santa Raquel. Elliott had been referred to The Lemonade Stand as one of two choices for daily education with domestic violence counseling and emotional supervision. Technically he was homeschooled at the shelter.
Reese Bristow had made the town the only choice. For her own healing.
And perhaps for Elliott, as well.
The boy finished his cereal. Carried the bowl with both hands to the sink, as she’d taught him when he was about two so he wouldn’t drop it and raise his father’s ire. Stopping by the table on his way past it, he wiped at the dribble of milk on its surface with his pajama sleeve. And then he was gone.
Back to bed.
She’d been told not to wake him during these episodes. She should watch out for his safety, but unless he was hurting himself, she should just let him be.
He’d be up again in a couple of hours.
Getting ready for her to take him to the Stand. Probably wanting breakfast. Not remembering a thing about his middle-of-the-night snack.
Sitting at the table, thinking about the past few hours, about Elliott, about seeing Reese again for the first time in nine very, very long years, she considered getting some sleep, too.
With tears dripping slowly down her face, she put herself to bed.
On the couch in her son’s room.
* * *
“MOM, COME ON, we’re going to be late!” Was it just her imagination or was Elliott’s tone starting to sound like Frank’s?
“I’ve got ten more minutes,” she told him, leaning over the sink to apply concealer under both eyes. She’d smoothed on extra foundation, too. And eyeliner. And lipstick.
“Who ever heard of an EMT showing up at a crash in makeup gunk?” Shaking his head, the thick hair he preferred to wear down past his ears flopping, he turned and left her room.
Frank had always insisted on a military cut. For himself. And for their son.
Though Elliott had more stuff—furniture and toys—Faye had taken the larger of the two bedrooms when they’d moved in the week before. Mostly because she’d loved the claw-foot tub in the adjoining bath. Loved that the room had an adjoining bath.
Almost as much as she’d been opposed to Elliott having one. At least if he had to cross the hall to go in the night, she’d have a better chance of hearing him.
“Mom!” he called from the other end of the apartment, near the front door.
Pulling on a clean set of the standard blue utility pants and shirt she’d been issued, Faye was nervous but excited. She slipped into the ugly black EMS boots she’d purchased as soon as she’d graduated from training four years before and reminded herself that she was not only worthy, she was capable.
And had five minutes to spare.
Surprisingly, Elliott was not standing impatiently by the front door. So far, he liked going to The Lemonade Stand. There were two other boys there his age. Both had mothers who were victims. He’d taken quite a liking to one of the older boys, as well.
Maybe that older boy could be someone Elliott could look up to? Someone who’d be able to reach the little guy inside of Elliott—the little guy who’d spent years listening to the sounds of his mother’s sexual abuse without her knowing he could hear it?
“Ell?” She turned the corner toward the kitchen. He’d already had breakfast. She’d fixed it—a lighter rendition than usual—and then run for the shower while he ate. The Lemonade Stand provided balanced and delicious meals, so he didn’t need to take a lunch.
The boy turned around as she came into the room. She noticed his hesitant expression, like he wasn’t sure of his reception. And then she saw the paper plate he held in both hands. He’d made her a bagel with what looked like a half-scrambled, half-fried, somewhat-raw egg on it.
“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want,” he said, shrugging as he held the plate up to her. “I just...” He shrugged again. “It’s your first day and all.”
He’d made breakfast for her.
Her precious, precious angel boy had made her breakfast.
Because it was her first day...and all.
They were going to be okay. She knew for certain now that Reese knew about her. She hadn’t received a call telling her not to come into work. Which meant she was still employed.
The rest—her plan, Elliott’s future—would all fall into place now.
When she could speak without tears clogging her throat, she thanked her son, careful not to let too much emotion spill onto him and make him withdraw. Taking the sandwich with her as they left the apartment, she ate every single bite.
CHAPTER THREE
SLEEP MIGHT HAVE been good. But it wasn’t the first time he’d shown up at work without it. Wouldn’t be the last.
When a fire was raging out of control and there weren’t enough fighters with the necessary training, sleep wasn’t an option.
Today Reese had a personal fire raging and he wasn’t going to rest until he’d put it out. Faye Walker was not going to have a first day of work. Not one second to settle in. He wanted her out.
He was waiting in the station when he saw her get out of an older, light gray, four-door sedan and head toward him.
Mark, who was in the middle of forty-eight hours on, walked past with a cup of coffee. Reese had sent Brandt home. He didn’t need his second caught in the cross fire that could very well happen after he’d had his moment with the woman who’d invaded his den.
“Send the new hire to my office as soon as she gets here,” he told Mark and strode in that direction himself, sure that his employee was staring after him. If he’d waited thirty more seconds, he could have told her himself.
If her aim was to force him to keep her on, or threaten to sue for wrongful termination if he didn’t, then let her bring it on. He wasn’t going to fire her in front of witnesses.
She wasn’t staying.
One thing didn’t make sense. If she’d meant to trap him, she wouldn’t have assumed he knew about her hire. But that phone call thing...why would she expect him to call? Unless she thought he didn’t have the balls to fire her face-to-face.
He’d gone home long enough to shower and shave, run a comb through his hair. It was shorter now than when she’d known him. He’d shaved his mustache since she’d last seen him, too. Tabitha had hated it. Said it poked her when he kissed her.
He’d had one clean uniform left. Technically Mondays were his day off. Laundry day, among other things. Instead, he was planning a trip to LA just as soon as he’d finished with the business at hand.
That was all Faye Walker was to him. Business.
And he was a master at handling his job. Which was why, at twenty-nine, he’d already made fire chief.
The knock came as expected. Sharp. Short. No hesitation.
I have to break up with you, Reese. I’m sorry.
She’d left a damned text message. Four years together, plans for a lifetime and he didn’t even warrant an in-person breakup?
Or a phone call?
He’d texted back: Okay, why?
Nine years before, that had meant pushing number buttons on a flip phone for corresponding letters. No quick task for a guy with big hands.
That had been shaking.
There’s someone else...
He hadn’t responded to that. There’d been no point.
“Come in,” he called now. He stood a few feet from the door, blocking the chairs in front of his desk, hands in his pockets.
There was no need for her to sit. She wasn’t staying.
“Reese, Mark said you wanted to see me...”
Her eyes were as blue as he remembered. And seemed to have all kinds of things to say to him.
He remembered that about her, too. It had been the promises she’d made with those eyes, as much as any words she’d ever given him, that had held him captive.
There’d been only one night he hadn’t been there for her. A night after he’d almost been hurt in a fire. He’d been facing death for the first time. Asking himself if there was more he might want out of life before he died...
“You’re going to fire me,” she said before he got a word out of his mouth.
Damn her. Reading his mind when she was his girlfriend was one thing. But now...there had to be something illegal about that. Invading a person’s mind against their will.
“I am.” She’d broken up with him in a few words. He could fire her the same way.
At least he’d given her the respect of doing it in person.
He could have texted her. Told her not to bother coming in.
“I’m going to beg you not to do so,” she said, standing there with her hands at her sides. Not at all
challenging.
And yet he felt...pushed.
Reese didn’t like feeling pushed. Most particularly not by a five-foot-three-inch woman with a cute ass and a cheating heart.
“Beg all you want,” he said, meaning to hand her the paperwork he’d already filled out.
As he turned to pick up the page lying on his desk, she said, “Please, Reese, I need this job.” The pleading in her voice did his injured heart good.
He picked up the sheet and turned back to her. But he didn’t immediately hand it over.
Turned out, he wanted her to ask him again. To prolong the moment. He’d had no idea he was such a sick bastard.
But he also couldn’t believe that Faye Browning had just walked back into his life expecting to work for him as though they’d never loved each other to distraction.
Probably because she hadn’t loved him that way.
“It’s not just for me, although, of course, I need the money, but this job, here in particular...it’s...important, Reese. Truly important.”
She was looking him right in the eye. Not fidgeting. Not even blinking.
The woman was honestly and sincerely begging him.
It kind of threw him for a loop and he had to remind himself that she’d texted him to break up with him. Because she’d met another man.
“Your husband doesn’t make enough to pay your bills?” That was it. Remember Mr. Walker. Had she cheated on him, too? And how many in between him and Reese?
“I’m divorced.” That seemed to mean more to her than it did to him.
He almost told her he was sorry to hear it. But he wasn’t. What he was, was pissed. Pissed that she was there at all.
And pissed that he hadn’t kicked her out yet.
“Just out of curiosity, who broke it off? Him or you?”
If she said the guy had left her...if she really was alone and in need...
“I did.”
Of course she did.
And then came to beg him to take her in?
Uh-uh. No way. In hell.
Or out of it. He held the termination paper out to her.
The Fireman's Son Page 2
