Dallas Fire & Rescue: Scorched (Kindle Worlds Novella) (The Eldridges Book 1)

by Melissa Schroeder

  Now, he was left with a crappy selection on the TV and nothing to do. He was still on pain medication, but it usually took a lot to make him lightheaded. So, while the pain was gone, he felt as if he were wide awake.

  He heard something vibrating and looked over at the bedside table. His phone was going off. He saw a picture of Jax Malloy from the station.

  “Hey, Jax.”

  “Hey, yourself. How are you doing?”

  “Doing okay.”

  “Ready to kill people, aren’t you?”

  He couldn’t help but chuckle. His inability to sit still for any amount of time was well known throughout the station. “I’m ready to scream.”

  “I was calling to leave a message, I thought you’d be asleep because of the drugs.”

  “You know it takes a lot to knock me out.”

  “Yeah. I hope you don’t mind me calling Misty about your accident.”

  He hadn’t known until now who had called her. At the moment, he still didn’t know whether to thank Jax or to be pissed. “No. She’s going to stay to help me get back on my feet.”

  “That’s good to hear. If you have any other issues, you just call. I figure you’re not going to last long at home, but you are on mandatory leave.”

  “What?”

  “You had your leg broken in four places. The city always wants to make sure we let our men and women heal completely before they return to work. Don’t overdo it.”

  “Sure thing.”

  “I talked to Misty earlier today and let her know if she needed anything to give us a call.”

  “You talked to my…” wife wasn’t the correct word. It was what she was, but it didn’t feel right.

  “Yes, I talked to her. Sweet girl. Just let her know again, if she needs anything, to let me know. Since she’s not from around here, I thought she should at least have a contact.”

  He knew Jax was hinting around that he wanted to know the backstory, but Cooper wasn’t in the mood.

  “I will. Thanks.”

  “Just glad you’re okay and that we can get you back. Rest up.”

  Then the line went dead. He clicked off his phone and started to think about his wife. He liked that idea of calling her wife. In the last eight months, it had been too much for him to think about. Every time he thought of Misty, it had hurt too much. That last day when she wanted to talk about meeting her family…well, he had felt somehow inadequate. He knew he would never measure up to any family.

  A foster kid from the wrong side of the tracks, Cooper understood how he would appear to her family. He didn’t know much about them, but he did know they had a family business in the hill country. It was more than he had in his background. No father to speak of and a junkie mother who abandoned him didn’t add up for some families with deep ties. So, he had opted to avoid talking about family in general.

  He shifted in his bed trying to avoid the uneasiness that crept into his gut. He hadn’t spent much time thinking about his marriage. Truth was, it hurt too much each time he thought of Misty and the mistakes they had made. Still, he realized now that he hadn’t looked at it objectively. When Misty left him, she had told him she was saving him the trouble of leaving her. He hadn’t known what she meant, but now he was starting to understand that maybe it had more to do with his actions. Did she think his reasons for not wanting to meet her family was because he wanted out of the marriage?

  It could be. She’s the one who got the divorce papers drawn up, though, so he had always assumed she had gotten bored with her walk on the wild side and headed off.

  There was a soft rap at the door, then it opened. One of the medical techs came in pushing a cart. Cooper pushed those thoughts aside. He’d have more time to decide just where he stood with his wife since he’d blackmailed her into taking care of him.

  Damn, from the beginning of his relationship until now, he had made some big missteps. Now though, he planned on using this opportunity to make sure he took at least one last chance to win her back.

  Two days later, Cooper was finally home. It hadn’t been easy, and he felt as if he had run a marathon, but he was in his own house, thankfully. Several of the guys had shown up to make sure Misty had help getting him into the house. He hated the idea of looking so damned weak in front of her, but at least this way, the guys were helping him and not her. Now, the house was quiet as he sat in his easy chair and watched TV. Misty was on her phone in the bedroom talking to someone. He wanted to know who, but he had too much pride to ask her.

  She came walking down the hall and he turned around to look at her. She had put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and her hair was down. It was the first time since she had returned to him that he had seen it down, cascading over her shoulders and halfway down her back. It was darker than when he’d first met her last year. At that time, she had kept it light blonde. But now…he liked the different color. It brought out the golden flecks in her eyes.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “What?”

  Way to win her back with your witty banter.

  “I said your name three times and you just kept staring at me. Do we need to go back to the hospital?”

  “What? No. I’m fine. The meds are probably just making me spacey.”

  She didn’t look convinced, but Cooper figured it was best just to settle with that logic. It was better than telling Misty that just looking at her made his brain go blank. From the moment he had met her, it had been this way for him. Standing in front of the Alamo in San Antonio, he had watched her walk down the street with her friends, and he had been mesmerized.

  She was pretty, gorgeous in fact, but that wasn’t what attracted him. Sure, her looks had drawn him in, but it was that smile…and her laugh. The woman had one of the best laughs. Every time he heard it, Cooper would smile. He’d been with friends and she had been with friends, so it seemed like a natural fit that they all go eat and drink together. By the end of the night, he was hooked. The whirlwind romance, a trip to Vegas…it had seemed romantic. That is, until they had to deal with each other. Then, there wasn’t much smiling, and definitely no laughing.

  “Are you sure, because you seem kind of out of it?”

  “I’m fine,” he said from behind clenched teeth.

  “Okay,” she said, but he didn’t miss the irritated look on her face. Great, now he was pissing her off. He knew that he had made the bargain, but he hadn’t thought it through. Sure, Cooper convinced her to stay so he could spend time with her again. That was great. The problem lie in the reason she was there. Misty was there to take care of him, but he didn’t want her to see him as weak.

  “When was the last time you took your meds?”

  She was treating him like a child. And worse, it made him want to act like a child.

  “I’m fine.”

  He didn’t mean to be so curt, but he couldn’t help it. The woman had him all turned around. Again. And here she was treating him like a sick baby who needed help.

  Her expression grew distant, and he could almost feel her pulling away from him.

  “Sorry. I just thought I was here to take care of you.”

  Damn.

  “I’m sorry. I just don’t like being laid up, and you know all men are babies when they are sick.”

  It only took her a second to soften and offer him a small smile. Why didn’t he try to make her smile more after they returned from Vegas?

  “Yeah, my brothers are all like that. Why don’t you relax and watch some TV? I’m going to make us some dinner.”

  “You can cook?”

  She cocked her head to the side. “Yes. I can cook.”

  How did he not know that? He knew what music she liked, the way she hummed after that first cup of coffee, and the way she sounded when she moaned out his name in bed.

  “Oh. I just thought…”

  Then he let his thoughts fade off. He didn’t want to tell her he didn’t think a woman like her would ever cook dinner. They had lived together for almo
st two months, and he didn’t know that she could cook. That was his fault, not hers.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Sorry. Okay, sounds good. They didn’t feed me much in the hospital.”

  She chuckled. “Yeah, right.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Don’t think I didn’t see Mike sneak you in a bag of Whataburger yesterday.”

  He tried to look innocent, but apparently, that wasn’t going to work on her.

  “Please. I grew up with three brothers who were getting in trouble all the time. Those sweet looks don’t work on me.”

  In the few months they were together, they hadn’t talked much about their families. Truth was, he had never wanted to talk about his family. Mainly because he didn’t have one. But now, he wanted to know everything about her.

  “Yeah?”

  She smiled as she pointed to the chair and waited until he got comfortable before she continued. “Yes. Well, not Smith. My oldest brother acted like a middle-aged man for as far back as I can remember. Chet and Ryan, though, they were always in trouble. Drove my mother crazy.”

  He was happy to hear her talk about her family. “And they are all older than you?”

  “Yes, and they all thought they should tell me what to do. Still do.”

  “And you all live in South Texas?”

  “The hill country. I moved back there…well… after.”

  After their breakup. “Oh.”

  “But you don’t want to hear about that. Let me get dinner started.”

  “Okay.”

  She touched his arm as she walked passed him, and Cooper had to fight the urge to lean closer to get a whiff of her scent. He turned and watched her as she made the short walk to his tiny kitchen. He hadn’t had much use for them, but he still had the pots and pans from when they lived together. As she worked, she hummed, the happy sound was so sweet, so like her. His eyes grew heavy, and he felt himself start to drift off.

  His last thought before he fell asleep was that this was probably the best homecoming a guy could ever have.

  Chapter Five

  M isty puttered around the tiny kitchen, happy to be cooking again. She often would eat alone, now that her brothers seemed to be too busy running around to have a regular family dinner. Strike that. Chet and Ryan were running around. Smith would often eat at his desk. Her brother had control issues.

  Still, she missed them, and she especially missed those dinners. They’d had a few when she returned to the ranch, but soon, they had all started to drift away. She just couldn’t bring herself to make a huge dinner and eat by herself. It was just a little too sad to sit at her dining table without anyone to talk to.

  Good lord, she sounded depressing. She hadn’t realized until now how much she missed sitting down to dinner with another person. But not just any person. Cooper. She missed sitting down with him. She hadn’t cooked the six weeks they had lived together, but they had taken the time—when their schedules allowed it, to eat together.

  She glanced back out into the living room, and found him sleeping in the recliner. She smiled and went back to work. Misty was very grateful to Firehouse 58 and their support. They had made sure she had fresh food when she’d arrived, and there were enough casseroles to last a week. Tonight, though, she wanted to cook for Cooper. It was always nice to see a man enjoy a meal.

  She stopped humming. Oh, no. She was starting to romanticize him again. Cooper was a romantic man. One that inspired dreams of happily ever after and beyond. There had never been a man who made her feel so sexy and wanted in her life. Day to day life though, that was hard for him. He didn’t like to open up about his past, and he never really asked her about hers. It had been convenient at first, then, it hadn’t been. When she started to want more from him, he had built walls too high for her to climb. Then she had left.

  With a sigh, she checked on the lasagna she had thrown together. The cheese had melted and the sauce was bubbling, telling her it was ready to eat. She grabbed some oven mitts and pulled it out of the oven.

  “That looks good,” Cooper said from behind her. She almost dropped the dish on the floor.

  “Good lord, Cooper. What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me?”

  He cocked this head to the side and studied her. “I can’t really sneak up on anyone.”

  She glanced down at his cast and the crutches.

  “Yeah, I guess not. Well, have a seat. Are you hungry?”

  He nodded. “And you know I love lasagna.”

  She inwardly smiled. Of course she knew he loved it. He ordered it every time they were at an Italian restaurant.

  She set the lasagna on the counter as Cooper maneuvered himself into one of the kitchen bar chairs. She grabbed a couple of plates and silverware. Once everything was in place, she served it up for them both.

  “Do you want anything to drink?”

  “How about a beer?”

  She ignored that. “Water it is then.”

  “Hey, I said a beer.”

  “And you’re on medication. The doctor also said no alcohol.”

  “That’s insane.”

  She shook her head and set the glass down on the counter beside his plate. “It’s only for a week or so, and you’ve never been a heavy drinker.”

  “You haven’t been around for eight months. How do you know what I’ve been up to?”

  She shook her head as she watched him fork up some of the noodles and then hum in appreciation. The man was always easy to please when it came to food. Anything homemade and comforting.

  When she finally answered, she could say nothing else but the simple truth. “I know you, that’s all. You’re a good man. Always have been.”

  He glanced at her. “Yeah, but I could be a drunkard by now. The woman I love left me.”

  She couldn’t say anything for a moment. He was sitting there eating just like he had made a remark about the weather, or the Cowboys chances at making it to the Super Bowl. Just like it was an ordinary thing to say.

  After a moment or two, he glanced at her again. “What’s wrong?”

  “I…nothing.”

  That was all she could say, because comments like that usually left her in a mess. She would end up crying if she didn’t quit pushing the issue. Misty couldn’t allow that. Besides showing that she was weak, she was a pretty ugly crier.

  “Did you think I changed the way I felt about you?”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t know.”

  “You didn’t know? Why do you think I haven’t signed the papers?”

  “You were being a pigheaded goat as usual.”

  He snorted. “I thought you would come looking for me. I thought when I didn’t sign the papers that you would hunt me down and make me pay.”

  “You moved.” And she had stopped by their old apartment in San Antonio, but he had moved out. There had been a forwarding address, but by the time she had the courage to look for him, he had moved on from there as well.

  “I had the same damned cell number. You could have called.”

  Where she had been hungry before, she was starting to lose her appetite, and the food she had eaten was now beginning to turn in her stomach.

  “Do you think this is such a good idea, Cooper? This is your first day out of the hospital, and you want to start an argument now?”

  “No,” he said, sounding tired. “No. But I do want to discuss it.”

  “Discuss what?”

  “Our marriage. You always wanted to talk about things before you left. Why are you hesitating now?”

  “I wanted to talk then. About our backgrounds, our plans. Now it’s too late.”

  He reached out and grabbed her hand. “Is it? You came to help me when I needed you. If you didn’t still care about me a little, you wouldn’t have showed up.”

  Dammit, why did he have to do this now? She blinked several times trying her best not to cry. “Of course I still care about you. You’re my husband.”

  That w
as weak and lame, but Misty was doing her best to hold it together. The reason she had left all those months ago was this. He was her kryptonite, the one thing that could break her.

  He grunted as he took another bite. She was glad at least one of them could eat.

  “I just say you’re here because you love me. And I plan on making sure to remind you of that.”

  She blinked. He said the statement in such a calm voice, but it landed on her like a ton of bricks.

  “What?”

  “You heard me.” He tossed her a smile. “And you only say what so you can gain control of the argument. See, I do know you too.”

  “You said you would sign the divorce papers if I helped.”

  “If you still want a divorce by the end of our time together, then I will sign the papers.”

  “Then what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that while I made that agreement with you, I made one with myself as well.”

  Oh, he was just so damned pleased with himself. She could see it in that stupid little sexy smirk of his.

  “And that would be?”

  “I will do everything in my power to remind you of why we should be together.”

  Chapter Six

  T hree days later, Misty still wasn’t talking to him much. Oh, she made conversation, but everything was couched in those niceties you get from acquaintances you aren’t that acquainted with. She would smile, but it wouldn’t reach her eyes, and when she helped him move around, she was gone the moment she was done.

  He couldn’t blame anyone but himself. He hadn’t meant to blurt out the truth to her, not like that on the first day they were home. It was the stunned look on her face when he told her he loved her that did it. Seriously, the woman never seemed to understand what she meant to him. Of course, part of that was his fault. He didn’t know how, but Misty wasn’t a stupid woman. She was bright and amazing. Not to mention, she was the best thing that ever happened to him.