Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“I spent a night with Duke—” Again, she squeezes my hand in hers. “And I was happy, but I was also sad. You were missing. Trevor and Adrian were missing. Maybe I’m just a greedy girl wanting to make up for lost years, but having one of you isn’t enough.” She laughs softly, maybe to lighten her words, or because she’s uncomfortable admitting that.
“I get it,” I say. “We all shared something together.”
“We did, and it was so good, and so intense, and felt so right … I’ve been miserable ever since our night together.”
“Me too,” I admit. “I’ve missed you so much, even though I see you five days a week.”
With her free hand, she traces a circling pattern on the tablecloth. “When I told him how I felt, Duke encouraged me to try to get us all back together,” she says.
“So you’re quitting so you and I can be together. Are you sure you want to do that?”
Autumn nods. “It wasn’t an impulsive decision. I did some planning. There’s a big market for freelance work in our field, and I can do most of it online. I can also focus more on my music career, and hopefully find more places to play.”
I nod. That all seems sound, and I know that Autumn’s the type of person to think things through. “You want us all together. What do you envision that looking like? How would it work?”
She shrugs.
I guess it’s not the kind of thing she can plan for, with so many variables involved.
“I’m hoping we can figure it out as we go,” she says. “All I know is that I want to be with all of you in any way that I can have you.”
Now, I squeeze her hand. She’s very brave. I worked with her for two years and couldn’t summon the courage to ask her out, and here she is, asking for exactly what she wants.
“I’ve been staying at Duke’s. I’m still on the lease with Kelly, so I don’t plan to officially move out anytime soon, but I haven’t slept there much,” she says.
“Do you want to sleep at Duke’s tonight?” I ask.
“Only if you come with me.”
45
Autumn
The night that follows is still only half of what I want, but twice as good as the night before.
There’s a new ease between Duke and Garrett. It’s apparent they’ve spent time together, but they don’t mention fishing. Their focus is entirely on me.
They put me through my paces, and I think I hold up nicely and give as good as I get. When we’re ready to rest, the three of us crawl under the covers in Duke’s big bed, me in the middle, of course. I have the best night of rest I can remember in quite a while.
Garrett sleeps over several nights during the next two weeks. I spend a couple of nights at his place when Duke is working and Garrett has early morning meetings. My job ends with a nice little party with a cake, and then I’m free to focus on our plans.
When the right day arrives, the three of us climb into Duke’s big truck, and we hit the road.
46
Trevor
Two more hours until two very well-earned days off. It’s the part of the day for practical training, which is my favorite. The day started, as they all do, with all of us in formation for roll call and flag raising. There are hours in the classroom, and hours of rigorous workouts that are well beyond anything I had to do to keep my body in shape for stripping.
The practical training isn’t too demanding yet, but we’ll start to cover more challenging situations soon, and start to actually fight fires under controlled conditions.
Adrian catches my eye and lifts his chin as we pass each other while carrying equipment. He’s counting down the time, too. Duke is coming up for a visit today, and I can already taste the beer we’ll soon be drinking at the local bar.
It’s good to see Adrian with a brighter expression. He’s even more motivated to be a firefighter than I am, but he’s not quite been himself since we’ve been here. During the short breaks we’ve spent away from the training center, I’ve seen his head turn when petite women with long blond hair pass by, and I know what he’s thinking.
I’ve been imagining that I see Autumn, too. That’s what happens when someone is on your mind way too much.
I still can’t figure out how she got under our skin so thoroughly. Some things can’t be explained, but they also can’t be denied.
Maybe we can somehow get together with her in the future and make something work, but for now we need to focus on the fire academy or all of our time and effort will be wasted.