“Hi,” her friend answered cheerfully. “It’s about time. I need to hear how that date went tonight.”
“Awful. Now answer me this. Why would my brother mention you after telling me he and Hannah broke up?”
Silence.
Oh, this can’t be good.
Premonition had her gut twisting.
“Please just tell me.”
“Yeah.” Tori sighed. “It’s probably time we talked. About a couple things, actually…”
*
“See you ina few days.”
Blake glanced up at Reggie, who’d tossed out the curt words on his way out of the station.
“Hang on a second.”
Reggie stopped, sighed, and turned to face him. “What’s up?”
“It’s almost been two weeks. Are we cool?”
Even though he’d already apologized to the other man, Reggie had been keeping to himself.
Reggie’s lips twisted in part grimace, part derision. “Yeah, we’re cool. But only because I’ve never seen you look so depressed. I don’t know what you did to screw that one up, but sucks to be you.”
It was hard to know which insult to address first. Damn, he’d thought he’d kept his feelings pretty tightly under wrap. “I’m not depressed, I’m moving on.”
“I’m going to second that you look depressed.” Amber, another firefighter, approached, fixing her blonde ponytail.
“Damn. You’ve got Amber piling on me too now?”
“Just making a remark. See you guys at poker this weekend?”
“I’ll be there.” Reggie grinned. “Bringing my famous ribs.”
“God, I love your cooking.” Her gaze lingered a bit longer on Reggie before she glanced at Blake again. “Hope you can make it, too. Anyway, watch a funny movie or something. Maybe it’ll help.”
“We’ll see.”
Poker night at Amber’s was routine and happened at least once a month. She’d easily solidified her status as one of the guys.
“See you guys later.”
Once she’d disappeared, Blake turned his attention back to Reggie. “Can I just apologize again that you got stuck in the middle of all that stuff with Kristen?”
“It’s all good. I’ll meet the one when the time’s right.” Reggie laughed and lifted his palms up. “No hurry.”
Reggie really was a genuinely nice guy. And clearly a romantic.
“When you do, she’ll be damn lucky to have you.” Blake clapped his friend on the back, just as his pocket buzzed with a text. “I’ll catch you next shift.”
A quick glance at his phone showed the text was from James.
I’m outside the station.