They were a good group of guys. It was a shame they had to work with Billy.
Clara arrived five minutes later. She hurried through the front door with her suitcase in hand, closing the door behind her and then peering out the window nervously.
“I parked down the street and waited for them to leave. Then I waited some more, just in case they came back.”
My eyes skimmed down her body involuntarily. Clara had a gorgeous curve to her hips and full breasts. A voluptuous figure that was accentuated by her tight jeans and blouse. Her blonde hair was usually pulled up in a ponytail when she made deliveries, but now she wore it down, a curtain of silk around her neck. It suited her that way.
I had been admiring Clara from afar ever since she started delivering food to the firehouse. All of us had admired her, as a matter of fact. But we knew she was only in town because her father had gotten sick, and then passed away. Surely she would eventually leave again.
Except she hadn’t left. She was still here. And so Jordan had finally been the first to ask her out.
“I’ll call Officer Balmer and let him know not to give you a ticket for parking there too long,” I said, locking my eyes onto hers. “Thanks, uh, for doing this, by the way.”
She had such a warm, welcoming smile, and she gave it to me then. “Of course. Anything for the baby.”
“I moved some money around in the budget. I should be able to pay you as a consultant. I’ll figure out the exact verbiage later, when I submit the expenses up the chain. But the point is, you won’t be doing this for free. We know your time is valuable.”
“Oh. You don’t have to—”
“This isn’t a discussion,” I said firmly. “You’re essentially doing a full-time job for the foreseeable future. You need to be paid accordingly.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Is there anything else I need to know?”
I hesitated. There was something else I needed to talk to her about. And it was an awkward conversation, both because I liked her, and because she was helping us.
But I had to talk to her about it, no matter how uncomfortable it was.
“The other night,” I said. “When you delivered our food, and then we had to run out on a call. There was something you did…”
“Oh, I wasn’t snooping!” she suddenly blurted out. “I glanced in one of the bedrooms, but only for a minute. It probably looked awkward on the security cameras or whatever, but I didn’t do anything weird. I stayed in the hallway the entire time.”
I shook my head. “What? No, it’s not that. You put the food in the oven.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, visibly relieved. “I wanted to keep it warm. Don’t worry—I checked for food crumbs to make sure nothing would catch fire.”
I clenched my jaw. “You can’t leave an oven on while nobody is here, Clara. It’s careless. Carelessness leads to fires, and fires lead todeaths.”
Clara’s mouth hung open. “The oven was barely on. I used thewarmingsetting. They wouldn’t have those settings if they weren’t safe.”
Fire safety was a big deal. I had seen homes burned down and lives lost thanks to the logic she was using right now. It pissed me off that she was acting so flippant about it when confronted on the matter.
“You shouldn’t have done it. It was a mistake. If you’re going to be living in this firehouse, you need to acknowledge that. Because I need to know you won’t do something careless again.”
“Careless? I was trying to help…” She trailed off and shook her head. “Nevermind. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
She rolled her suitcase down the hall past me, tears welling in her eyes.
I sighed. Shit. I didn’t mean to make her feel bad about the whole thing. I just wanted to make her aware.
If some hurt feelings are what it takes to make her understand the importance and take it seriously,I thought,then so be it.
The weight of responsibility was heavy indeed.
I followed her down the hall to the bedrooms, annoyed that I had gotten off on the wrong foot with a girl I liked.
9
Clara