He shrugged. “If there’s anything else I can help you with, just let me know.”
Hayden forced a noncommittal smile and hoped her pizza would be ready soon. Alec was a very nice guy, with a handsome face, but his unmistakable attempts at flirting were a little too much for a woman who had only ever kissed one man. A woman who was still grieving her broken engagement.
“But to get back to your initial question,” Alec went on, “I grew up in Kentucky. But I spent the last five years in the Seattle police force.”
She suppressed the tremor she could feel rising in her voice and asked in a neutral tone, “And what brought a Seattle cop to Boston?”
“Seattle lost its appeal when my girlfriend went to bed with half the squad,” he replied in a surprisingly calm voice.
“Oh.” Hayden blinked in embarrassment. “I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be.” He sounded amused. “After all, I’m not the one who no longer owns a non-shattered television.”
“If you say so,” she murmured, lowering her eyes.
“Listen, Hayden, I have no idea why Shane was behaving quite so territorial at your house before, but I’d really like to ask you out … for dinner, maybe?”
She swallowed, noticing the pizza chef’s too-tense stare at his computer screen. Was he merely interested in Alec’s story, or was he getting a kick out of the guy flirting with her? She couldn’t tell, but she didn’t want every resident of Charlestown talking about this encounter by tomorrow. Or worse—for Heath to hear about it. Even though they’d fought when she last saw him, it would make her deeply uncomfortable if he believed she’d immediately gone out with another man.
“That’s really very nice of you,” she began haltingly, not sure what to say next. Behind her, someone entered the restaurant, setting the bell over the door tinkling. A brief glance told her that the person who’d just come in to indulge an appetite for fattening food was none other than Father Brady. Closing her eyes, she sighed. Father Brady was easily the biggest gossip in all of Boston.
When she didn’t go on, Alec prodded her. “That’s very nice of me, but …?”
“But I’m not ready for a date or anything like that.”
“Oh.” He furrowed his brow. “May I ask why? Is it me, or …?”
Hayden’s shoulders drooped. “It isn’t you. I just don’t think it’d be a good idea. Shane is your partner and … and I was engaged to his brother.”
“But you aren’t engaged anymore?”
She shook her head silently.
“Good … I mean, good for me.” Alec gave her a sympathetic smile. “I wasn’t sure, after Shane’s theatrics. Tell you what, why don’t we meet for coffee instead? You shouldn’t see it as a date, just a good deed on your part.” He winked.
“A good deed?” she echoed with a quizzical smile.
“Yep. Because I hardly know a soul in Boston, apart from my bullheaded partner and dear Tony here,” he nodded at the observant pizza chef, “so you could tell me a little more about my new town over a cup of coffee. What do you say?”
She squirmed, fully aware of the curious glances both Tony and Father Brady had directed her way. The inquisitive eyes of the friendly detective were also still staring at her, waiting for an answer.
“I don’t know …”
“Come on, Hayden.” Alec let out an exaggeratedly tortured sigh. “If you turn me down now, Tony’s pizza is going to taste like ash in my mouth, and then I’ll never be able to return to this place because of the awful memories involved. Next thing you know, I’ll starve to death in my kitchenless apartment. Is that what you want?”
Sure, he was funny, but she was in a quandary. She bit her lip as the priest chuckled behind her. The damage was already done, so she might as well have coffee with Alec.
She nodded. “Okay. One cup of coffee.”
He laughed excitedly. “Let’s make it two cups, so it’ll be worth it, once Shane gets wind of it.”
She didn’t care what that Fitzpatrick brother thought, but she didn’t say that aloud.
Thankfully her pizza was ready only a minute later, so she gave Alec her number and left. Back at the house, she still felt a little uncomfortable about her coffee date, but she forced herself to focus on getting things ready for a relaxed pizza dinner with Kayleigh. Just as she was about to turn on the TV, her friend barged into the house, throwing her bag into a corner.
“I had to shower three times! Three freaking times!” Kayleigh cried. “The first time, I was just about to leave, when a critically injured man was brought in. Arterial hemorrhage, and our chief resident was nowhere to be found, so I had to assist. Afterwards, I showered and changed, but as I was standing at the admissions desk signing a medical file, a little kid puked on me! As if that wasn’t enough for one day, I was then peed on. Someone peed on me! A homeless guy just couldn’t hold back any longer. God, what a day!” She flopped down on the couch and stretched her legs out. “Why didn’t I specialize in plastic surgery? I could be making new tits for frustrated rich ladies, right now or performing liposuction. Instead of wallowing in diarrhea and peeing hoboes. I could be making a shitload of money creating pretty new pussies …”
Hayden promptly choked on her wine. Sputtering and coughing, she choked out, “Dammit, Kayleigh!” The slightly sour wine burned her throat and sent the same sensation up her nose.
Kayleigh blinked at her in confusion, then shrugged, and slipped out of her shoes, before crossing her legs under her on the couch. “What do you think women want corrected these days?” She took the second wineglass, which Hayden handed her, still coughing. “Ironing out the wrinkles around your eyelids is so last season. Now everyone wants to look good down there, too.”
“Please,” Hayden pleaded, sinking onto the couch next to her friend. “No more details. You know I get sick when you talk about something as mundane as taking someone’s blood pressure.”
“You’re such a sissy.” Kayleigh grabbed a piece of pizza dripping melted cheese all over, with no consideration of either Hayden’s pretty couch or her own clothes. She devoured the slice in record time.
Hayden rolled her eyes, set her glass on the coffee table, and took a piece for herself. She placed it on a plate, however, which she balanced in her lap. Her friend was a cautionary tale: This was what happened when a girl had four brothers. Granted, Kayleigh could be a girly girl when she wanted to, painting her toenails pink and scouring the entire town for the perfect peep-toe shoes, but most of the time, that was not what Kayleigh wanted. Her job as a resident in the ER did nothing to alleviate her tendency to run her mouth like a truck driver, and hit like a bouncer.
“Just refrain from telling me about the abscess on the butt of that runaway grandpa again,” Hayden pleaded. “I’m starving, and I want to keep my appetite.”
“No worries,” Kayleigh mumbled around her mouthful of pizza. “I’m glad to be out of there. I don’t want to think about hospitals at all for … well, until my next shift.”
“That’s good to hear.” Hayden sighed and finally dug into her own piece. She uttered a soft, happy moan. “God, that is so good!”
“No need for blasphemy, girl. You know I grew up in a Catholic household.”
Hayden leaned back and relaxed, studying her best friend’s dark brown hair. “You’re about as Catholic as a pack of birth control pills, my dear.”
“Never say that to mom’s face.”
“Ellen knows full well what kind of rascal she raised.” Hayden laughed, thinking of the summer Kayleigh had volunteered on the campaign of a homosexual politician. The Fitzpatricks were anything but parochial, but her mom had drawn the line at taking her daughter to Sunday Mass in a t-shirt that said: Jesus was single, had no kids, and lived with his parents. Today, that would be called gay. Joe, on the other hand, had merely laughed loudly and treated his daughter to a beer.
The thought of Joe made the pizza suddenly taste like cardboard.
Hayden put the half-eaten p
iece back on her plate and set it down on the coffee table, before grabbing her wineglass and taking a large sip. Sometimes she asked herself what would have happened if Joe hadn’t died that day. It was clear that Heath was suffering over his father’s death, and she could guess that his breaking up with her was a consequence of that suffering and guilt. But because Heath was so abrasive and cold towards her, she had no chance of helping him see things in a different light. Her eyes were on the TV screen, but she didn’t register any of the stories on the news.
If Joe were still alive, she could have asked him for advice, instead of just racking her brain as she lay alone in bed.
“How was your day?” Kayleigh asked. “Did that bad kid do anything crazy?”
“He wasn’t even there today.” Hayden wet her lips.
Kayleigh chuckled around a mouthful and propped her feet up on the coffee table. She looked at Hayden, who was reminded of a hamster, looking at her stuffed cheeks. It was hard to understand what she was saying, and Hayden was waiting for crumbs to fall from her mouth. “Maybe he was kidnapped.”
“That isn’t funny.” Shaking her head, she handed her friend a napkin. “Nobody in their right mind would kidnap the little brat anyway.”
Kayleigh wiped her mouth and nodded merrily. “True. Same goes for the kid who puked on me today.”
“With your level of empathy, you should’ve taken a job in the morgue.”
“A very tempting idea sometimes.” Kayleigh nodded at her. “Have you heard from Heath?”
Hayden shook her head and picked up her plate again. That would at least give her something to do, so she didn’t have to answer any more questions.
“When I saw him at O’Reary’s, he was a total asshole.”
Hayden swallowed hastily and asked, “When did you see him there?”
“Three days ago. Didn’t I tell you?”
“No.” She frowned in annoyance. Three days ago, she’d faced him at the fire department, and she hadn’t heard anything since, neither about selling the house, nor about what to do with the car. She refused to chase after him, but she hated waiting for an answer. “What did he say?”
“The usual crap.” Kayleigh waved her hand dismissively. “When I asked him directly about the other women, he evaded the question. I don’t believe he really screwed anyone else, Hayden.”
She gasped in disbelief. “You marched into the pub and asked him whether he’d slept with other women?”
“Of course I did.” Kayleigh nodded as if that was the natural thing to do. “What is far more interesting, though, is that his right eyebrow was twitching like crazy when I suggested you could be seeing other men. You know what that means.”
It meant a warmth spread through her stomach, but she admonished herself immediately. She had to remain sensible and realistic. The familiar token of his jealousy probably didn’t mean anything. Maybe it had been a reflex, a matter of habit, or Kayleigh had imagined something that wasn’t even there.
“Maybe you should make him jealous on purpose.”
Hayden snorted. “We’re not in high school anymore. Your brother broke up with me, and no amount of flowers I send to my own address will change that.”
“Nonsense!” Suddenly excited, Kayleigh shifted on the couch to face Hayden directly. “Forget the damn flowers! We’re going to find a really hot dude and have you flirt with him right under Heath’s nose. Maybe a few wild make-out sessions are in order, too …”
Firstly, she didn’t want any wild make-out sessions with some stranger, and secondly, Kayleigh obviously had no talent for making someone jealous, because her plan was far too obvious.
“You can forget that right now,” Hayden said calmly. “To Heath, we are history, and no handsome stranger is going to change that. Plus, I’m not the type to try a thing like that.”
“You never know until you try.”
Resolutely, she shook her head and lowered her eyes. “No way. If I go for coffee with a guy, it’s not because I want to make your brother jealous.”
“Oh!” Kayleigh gasp. She burst into giggles. “Who’s the lucky man you’re having coffee with?”
Hayden blushed violently. “What? What makes you think—”
“You’re a lousy liar, baby, and you can’t keep anything from me. You never could. So who’s your date?”
“It’s not a date,” Hayden hastened to insist. “We’re only having a cup of coffee together. There’s nothing more to it.”
Kayleigh gave her a knowing look. “You’ve never been single, Hayden. Coffee means you should shave your legs and straighten up your bedroom.”
Hayden’s eyes widened. “Stop! Coffee just means coffee. Who the hell would have sex after just meeting for coffee?”
“Me, for one.”
Hayden clicked her tongue. “And here you are talking of your Catholic upbringing!”
Her friend grinned mischievously. “I even use condoms, which probably means I’m going straight to hell.”
“I bet you’ll be in good company down there,” Hayden joked, but then she grew serious again. “It’s not a date, Kayleigh, okay? After Heath … I still can’t imagine being with anyone else.”
“Then why did you agree to have coffee with this guy?”
Hayden raised her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “Shane’s new partner asked me. He just moved here …”
“Shane’s new partner? Shit, Hayden, you’re really going for his balls!”
Beginning to feel annoyed, she gave Kayleigh a scathing look. “I beg your pardon?”
Kayleigh rolled her green eyes. “If you go out with Shane’s partner, Shane will get wind of it, and he’ll tell Heath. And that’s when the trouble starts. I can see at least half the family getting suspended, and I’m the one who’ll have to stitch them all up in the ER.”
“Stop exaggerating,” Hayden replied with a frown. “It’s none of Shane’s business what I do. And don’t get me started on Heath.”
“I thought you didn’t want to make him jealous?”
“I don’t. Alec and I will have coffee together, and that’s it.”
Kayleigh shook her head. “So if it’s not about making Heath jealous, what’s the purpose of this non-date?”
Hayden pursed her lips for a moment. “I’m just trying to get on with my life,” she said softly.
Chapter 6
Although he’d spent an hour sweating on the treadmill, attempting to exhaust himself completely, he still wasn’t tired, so he’d followed that with a round of weightlifting. He was now sitting on the butterfly machine, working on his shoulders and upper arms, panting as he listened to the loud music on his iPod.
When you had to operate heavy machinery at work, relying on your physical strength, continuous training was essential. Heath went to the gym several times a week and went jogging for general fitness. He preferred to do that outside, but because of the oppressive heat today, he’d chosen the air-conditioned fitness center he’d belonged to for a few years now. One of the perks of working for the Boston Fire Department was the municipal employee discount you got at several businesses. In general, the life of a firefighter was not very glamorous, even though movies and books suggested otherwise. What was true, however, was that you were immediately seen as a hero whenever you mentioned your profession.
His job was tough, dirty, and sometimes dangerous, and you weren’t paid as well as some people thought. Still, when he graduated from high school, Heath didn’t have to think for more than a second about what he wanted to do with his life. Maybe it was because both his father and his grandfather had been firemen before him, and he’d just followed that tradition, or maybe it had been his pronounced sense of duty that led him down this path. He simply knew that he couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
He let go of the handles on the machine and leaned back, picking up his towel from the gym floor and wiping his face with it. His eyes roamed the large room and scanned the other patrons, realizing he knew some of the men s
weating on machines or straining under weights. There were a few colleagues of his, but also a few policemen he’d gotten to know while doing his job.
One of them was patrolman Jerry Macintosh, who had spotted him and was now coming over, holding on to both ends of the towel he had wrapped around his neck.
Heath pulled the earbuds from his ears and nodded at Jerry, who leaned against the butterfly machine and studied him curiously.
“Hey, Fitzpatrick. How are you?”
“Fine.” Heath grabbed his water bottle and took a large sip, leaning forward. “How about you?”
“Can’t complain. Teresa’s pregnant again.”
“Congrats,” Heath said warmly.
“Thanks. I’m hoping it’ll be a boy this time. We have an ultrasound next week, and I’m praying to God I’ll see a tiny penis on that screen.”
Heath had to grin, because he knew Jerry’s wife and their three daughters. He’d met the cop with the receding hairline a few years ago, when he was called to help with the rescue work after a train wreck. Jerry had just had his first daughter then, and ever since, he’d kept telling Heath about their pregnancies and his wish of having a son. Heath had seen the three little girls in action, wreaking havoc on the annual Easter egg hunt at the police department, so he could understand Jerry’s wish for a boy.
“Good luck with that. Please say hi to Teresa for me.”
“Will do.” Jerry’s pleasant mood faltered, the corners of his mouth suddenly curving downward. “I heard about you and Hayden. I’m sorry that it didn’t work out.”
Although Heath wondered what exactly Jerry had heard, and from whom, he didn’t inquire. “Thank you,” he muttered darkly.
“You were such a great couple, but sometimes it just isn’t meant to be.”
“Exactly.” He nodded, feeling like a fool and hoping Jerry would just shut up.
No such luck. The slightly gawky cop was known for being slow on the uptake. He was utterly unable to sense the moods of other people, which often caused him to say the exact wrong thing. He’d managed to screw up all the promotions he’d ever been recommended for, simply because he didn’t know when to speak and when to be silent. There was a rumor that he’d asked his captain, in front of half the department, when his wife was due. Everybody but Jerry was aware that the captain’s wife was not pregnant, simply very fat. And, what’s worse, everybody but Jerry also knew about the captain’s sterility, thanks to a few overeager gabbers in administration.
The Heat Is On (Boston Five Book 1) Page 7
