Second Chance Summer

by Jill Shalvis

  pick happy,” he said to Gray. “But how do you do that when you’ve already fucked everything up?”

  Gray clapped him on the shoulder. “You drop to your knees and grovel your ass off.”

  Just then the alarm went off, and Gray tightened his grip on Aidan, his knowing smile gone. “Shake it off for now. You need to go into this call with a clear head, you got me?”

  “I got you.”

  Aidan hit the engine at the same time as the rest of his crew, including Mitch. The fire was in Old Town, where the conditions of the row houses were mixed. All of them were old. Some looked it, and some had been remodeled, but they tended to go up like matchsticks.

  They were built using balloon construction, meaning there were no fire-stops in the walls. So when flames got into the walls of one of these places, they traveled unimpeded from the basement to the attic, which sucked donkey balls.

  Complicating the situation, being row houses meant each had a house attached on either side, so not only could the fire go vertical in a blink, it could go horizontal just as fast. And a multihouse fire was always a nightmare.

  In less than five minutes from when they’d first received the call, they arrived on scene. Thick smoke curled in the air. The captain got on the radio telling dispatch to drop another full alarm, which would give them more engines and manpower.

  It was going to be needed.

  The good thing about Old Town was that it had a hydrant on every block, which meant that the second unit would have no problem getting a water supply. Their engine carried 500 gallons of water—about five minutes of pump action—so water supply was always a huge concern. Their saying “There’s no feeling worse than having your hose go limp in the middle of heated action” came from experience, and not the good kind.

  “Shit,” Mitch muttered as they pulled up.

  Yeah. Shit. A crowd stood out around watching smoke billow out of the eaves and windows. No visible flames though.

  First things first. They verified all occupants were out of the house. Then they went to work ventilating the structure to allow gases to escape, preventing a flashover or backdraft. It also allowed for better visibility and got everyone off their hands and knees, where they’d been crawling around bumping into shit looking for a glow.

  With their SCBAs—self-contained breathing apparatuses—in place, they combed through the smoke-filled house pulling hose as they went farther into the blackness.

  The captain radioed them that the homeowners had reported they’d not seen any flames on the main level or second floor.

  Which meant that the fire was more than likely in the basement.

  The second unit arrived on scene and found the stairwell leading down to the basement, but the heat was too intense to make entry.

  The second unit was assigned to open the basement windows from the outside to relieve that heat. And sure enough, a few minutes later they reported they had water on the fire and it would be extinguished shortly.

  Aidan and Mitch were sent up to the attic to check there. It felt like a hundred and fifty degrees in the small, cramped, overstuffed-with-crap room but it was indeed fire-free.

  When the captain ordered them to change out their oxygen bottles, Aidan and Mitch headed through the escape hatch to the main level of the house. Mitch stopped to open a window and Aidan walked across the floor and …

  Fell through it.

  As he fell, he heard the captain reporting on the “sponginess of the flooring” and warning them to use “extreme caution and stay to the edges.”

  Too late, he thought, and landed with a jarring thunk that knocked the air out of him.

  The first thing he heard after landing was his own radio. Mitch was calling for the medic unit to stay on scene. Then the second unit radioed Aidan’s captain, alerting him that one of his crew had decided to drop in and visit them in the basement.

  Everyone was a damn comic.

  Mitch got to him first, which meant that he was either magic or he’d flown down the stairs. “What the hell,” he said, running his hands over Aidan’s limbs.

  Aidan shoved him away and sat up. “I’m fine.”

  No one believed him, so he was forced to cool his heels and let the medic give him a once-over, which only made him all the more pissed off at himself. “If this went out wide on the radio—”

  “Oh, it did,” Mitch said, looking amused, the bastard.

  “Then text my mom before she calls the captain and gets me fired.”

  “Already done,” Mitch said, and he held his phone up to take a pic of Aidan. “She insisted,” he said.

  Aidan rolled his eyes.

  Mitch was reading his texts. “Oh, and she says you’re an idiot to let Lily walk.” He looked up. “You let Lily walk?”

  An hour later the house had been confirmed condemned and a structural engineer had been called in. Official cause of fire—malfunctioning furnace.

  “Hey, that’s kinda like you,” Mitch said to Aidan. “Official cause of breakup with Lily—malfunctioning brain.”

  By the time they got back to their station—with Aidan being mocked by his entire unit, both for his fall and for losing Lily—their shift was over.

  In a hurry to get out of Dodge, Aidan showered quickly. Even more quickly when he saw the six-inch gash across his side. He slapped some gauze on it, called it good and left the station. In his truck, he pulled out his phone, which was loaded as usual. He flipped through the texts. The first two were from Gray. Tell Kenna hell no. And: Just trust me on this.

  DELETE and DELETE.

  Kenna had texted him as well: Thinking about going to Argentina to ski the rest of their season.

  Aidan hit reply and typed: Sure.

  He was no idiot. If he told his sister hell no, as Gray had suggested, his sister would be gone before anyone could blink. But if he agreed with her, she’d chill and hopefully move on to some other whim.

  But just to be sure, he sent Gray a solution: Sneak into her room, find her passport, and put it in the safe.

  Then there was Hud’s text: Heard what happened with Lily. You’re a fidiot. Do I need to spell that out for you? F-u-c-k-i-n-g I-d-i-o-t.

  DELETE.

  Aidan shifted, his side beginning to ache as he accessed the next text. It was a pic of two people kissing, a ridiculously close-up selfie, and he turned his head sideways trying to figure out what the hell he was seeing. When it clicked into place for him, he threw the phone to the passenger seat and stared at it like it was a coiled cobra.

  It was his mom, making out with Marcus.

  Jesus. He scrubbed a hand down his face and gingerly picked up the phone and thumbed to the next message, half terrified it’d be another pic. It was a text: Sorry, darling, I meant to send that to myself and ended up sending it to my entire contact list.

  That had been sent twelve hours ago, and when he hadn’t answered she’d sent another one: I’m guessing by the silent treatment that you don’t approve. Well, I don’t need your approval, Aidan Scott Kincaid, and I don’t want you getting mad at Lily for fixing my hair for my third date with Marcus, either, you hear me? And speaking of Lily, there’s something you should know.

  He hit her number immediately. “What about Lily?”

  “Honey, hi! You okay?”

  “Yes.” He rubbed the spot between his eyes where a headache was forming. “Lily,” he grated out.

  She sighed. “Okay, but you’re not going to like this.”

  “I hate stories that start like that,” he muttered. “Is she okay?”

  “Yes. Or as okay as she can be after what happened with you.”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mom—”

  “It’s all my fault, Aidan.”

  He blinked. “What?”

  “She didn’t tell Lenny anything. I’m the one who’s been talking to anyone who would listen, commiserating on how much we hope the worst doesn’t happen, you know?”

  “Mom—”

  “I did
n’t realize Lenny was a bigmouth.” She sniffed and sounding watery said, “I’m so sorry, Aidan.”

  Aw, shit. He blew out a sigh. “Please don’t cry—”

  “But I made a mess of things and you fired Lenny and yelled at Lily, and then she dumped you, and—”

  “Lenny was fired because he’d had his three strikes, Mom. Not your fault. And I didn’t yell at Lily. I’d never yell at Lily.”

  But he’d hurt her feelings, and that was all on him.

  Char sniffed again. “I’ll go talk to her for you and—”

  “No.” Aidan had to force himself to soften his voice. “Don’t do anything, Mom. This is between me and Lily.”

  “But honey, you’ll just make things worse.”

  Very likely, and again he had to rub the stress spot between his eyes. “I need you to stay out of it. Promise me,” he said.

  She hesitated.

  “Mom.”

  “Fine,” she finally said. “But you almost had a lovely thing going with her, Aidan. Don’t blow it for the second time.”

  “The second time?”

  “Well, yeah. You let her leave town all those years ago without a fight, remember?”

  He let out a low laugh and resisted thunking his head against the steering wheel. Yeah. He vaguely remembered. “Gotta go, Mom. I’ve got a meeting.”

  “But—”

  “Love you,” he said, and hit end. This time he tossed his phone into the backseat, so he wouldn’t be tempted to access any more texts, and drove home. Except his body must have disconnected from his brain because he didn’t go home at all.

  He went to Lily’s. He needed to talk to her. And/or grovel.

  He knocked on her door and then leaned on it because damn, his side hurt and he was suddenly so bone tired he could barely stand. She wasn’t going to answer, and why should she? He was a complete dumbass.

  When the door opened, he nearly fell inside.

  Lily gasped and wrapped her arms around him. “Aidan?”

  Chapter 26

  Lily was as surprised and shocked to see Aidan as she was to find herself wrapped up in him. She hadn’t heard from him. Not that she’d expected to after their last conversation, but she’d been having more than a few regrets on how she’d left things. In fact, she’d been about to go hunt him down and tell him so.

  “I know you said you didn’t want to see me anymore,” he muttered. “But my truck drove me here.” He buried his face in her hair. “God, Lily, you always smell so good. So fuckin’ good …”

  Something was off, and she tried to pull back to get a good look at him, but he tightened his grip. And more than that, he was really leaning over her.

  “Sorry,” he said when they almost toppled to their asses together in her doorway. “I’m really tired.”

  “You’ve been fighting fires,” she said, smelling it on him. “How long have you been without sleep?”

  “Two days,” he said, and straightened. “I’ve never resented the job before, but all I wanted was to get here. To you.”

  Not wanting to read anything into that, she refused to react. “Why?”

  “Because I was a dick, Lily. I overreacted. I was pissed off at Lenny because he’s been in my life a damn long time and I thought—” He shook his head and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Shit. I was wrong about him and I didn’t take that very well. I thought I could trust him.”

  She knew a little something about that. “Not your fault,” she whispered.

  “Maybe not, but that I accused you of talking out of turn most definitely is my fault. Christ, Lily, I’m an idiot. A damned sorry idiot. My mom came clean and told me what happened, that it was her doing the talking—which I think you know.”

  She bit her lower lip, not about to throw Char under the bus.

  Aidan gently stroked his thumb over her lip. “But even when I threw it in your face,” he said softly, “you never said anything. You protected her.”

  “She’s your mom,” Lily said, just as quietly. “She’s so worried about you guys, and she didn’t mean to let loose state secrets.”

  He nodded. “I know. But that you knew it and never repeated it, not even to me, speaks volumes about who you are. So you think about that, Lily, the next time you tell me you don’t know what to do with family. Because you know exactly. It’s about loyalty and kindness and unconditional love, and you are more than capable of all that.”

  She remembered what Rosa had told her. Seems to me if Aidan was asking, that’s better than nothing, right? Maybe he wanted to make sure. Or maybe he just wanted to hear how you feel about him. I mean, I know we think we’re obvious with our feelings, but we’re not.

  “Neither of us is all that good with trust,” she said now. “I get that.”

  Aidan shook his head. “Don’t let me off the hook so easily here, Lily. I don’t deserve it. I came into the salon furious, and I took it out on you because—”

  “Because we’re both head cases?” she asked.

  He let out a short laugh. “Yeah, but I hurt you.” His voice softened. “I’m so sorry for that, Lily.”

  “Well, I had it coming from you,” she said, backing away from him, needing some space.

  He leaned back against the door like he was too tired to stand on his own. “And how do you figure that?”

  “When I ran out of here ten years ago, I hurt you.” She took another step back.

  “Sorry,” he said, mistaking her movement. “I did shower.” He sniffed himself. “Sometimes it takes two or three showers to really get rid of the smell, but I was in a hurry to get out of the station.”

  And he’d come straight here.

  “I don’t mind it,” she said quietly, and she didn’t. He worked his ass off, putting himself on the line, in danger, and he did it without hesitation.

  He was one of the bravest men she’d ever met.

  And that terrified her. But he already knew that. He wasn’t quite as emotionally stunted as she, who managed to keep everything bottled up inside, locked down tight, never to be let out and shared. It was a special talent of hers, one she was someday going to learn to fix if it killed her.

  But probably not today.

  “You busy?” he asked, looking around.

  “Yes.” She had a date with a box of cookies and Supernatural season eight, but that was on a need-to-know basis.

  “All right, I’ll make this quick.” He met her gaze. “About us.”

  “I didn’t sleep with Lenny,” she said. “I was sleeping with you.”

  “I know—” He broke off. “Was?”

  Oh, yeah, it was very past tense in her book, no matter the fact that even now her eyes were soaking him up, wondering how fast she could get him naked.

  Bad eyes.

  “Lily—”

  “No,” she said, and held up a hand to hold him off, because she was weak when it came to him, very weak. So she spoke fast. “I need you to know that I can’t sleep with two guys at the same time. I just …” She shook her head. “I’m not equipped for it. Hell, I’m barely equipped for one man at a time.”

  “That’s not what I—” He blew out a breath. “I know you didn’t sleep with Lenny. I know you didn’t talk about the resort’s business. I had a seriously dumbass moment and I’m here to ask you to forgive me for being that dumbass.” He reached out and pulled her into him, still leaning against the wall. He set his hands on her hips and dipped his head to press his face to her throat, which was really freaking unfair because she loved when he did that.