Done (Harmony Haven #1)

Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

EASTON

Jesse showed up in a sundress that flowed all the way to her ankles, with her shoulders bare of anything except the thin straps. I had to bite my lip to keep from drooling as she approached the bay where I was standing. The sun shining brightly made her dark brown hair look lighter, and with the wind blowing, she looked as if she were in a movie, walking sexily toward me in slow motion.

The crew scattered once I announced that we had a visitor, giving me space to show Jesse and Max around alone. Max didn’t seem like the kind of little guy who enjoyed too many strangers, so I asked them to steer clear for a while. I should have known that at least one person on shift that day would make things difficult.

After showing the excited toddler all the buttons and lights of the big rig, I managed to get him inside. But I was all the way down the hall and around the corner before I looked back and realized that Jesse hadn’t followed us. When she still hadn’t appeared after a few minutes, I decided to head back out to see if she was okay.

“Let’s find your momma,” I suggested to Max, setting him down on his well-worn blue tennis shoes. “We don’t want her to miss the fun.”

He nodded with a happy smile and held my hand as we made our way back toward the door we had just entered. Once we were at the end of the hall, I looked up from my charge and through the side window out into the bay. My stomach plummeted as I saw what had held her up.

Jesse was talking to Rory, and I’d have bet West’s entire life savings that Rory wasn’t welcoming Jesse to Harmony Haven. She wasn’t telling her where to find the best cup of coffee in town, or inviting her to the yearly music festival. By the look on Jesse’s face, Rory was pissing her off—which was on brand.

Rory and I had grown up together, and during our senior year of high school, I had mistakenly led her to think we could have been together. I never felt anything for her except pity because she never took no for an answer.

After graduation, she stormed out of town and lived in Atlanta for a few years. Her parents told the whole town I had taken her innocence and thrown her away, so she had no choice but to find peace somewhere else.

By the time she came back to Harmony Haven, the rumors had died and I decided to let it be a part of the past. Rory joining the fire department didn’t even bother me. Everything between us had been friendly and manageable since.

But that didn’t mean I was an idiot.

After scooping Max back into my arms, I pushed open the door to the garage way harder than I needed to and put on a fake smile as both women looked my way.

“Hey,” I breathed. “You coming?”

“Coming?” Max repeated.

Jesse’s eyes shot to Max when he spoke and her entire face softened. “Of course I am.”

“We thought we lost you,” I laughed, although I was feeling the opposite of humored. Jesse walked past me, through the door, while I held it open and eyed Rory with the biggest amount of mirth that I could muster.

She smirked and shrugged, acknowledging that she understood I was upset. When Jesse left, I was going to talk to her, it was time I drew new lines for Rory not to cross. But at that moment, I turned my attention to following Jesse inside and setting Max back down.

He grabbed Jesse’s hand and started to lead her down the hallway we had just gone down. He had been down that hallway and back, so he knew exactly where to go and took his role as the line leader very seriously.

“Com’ere,” he kept repeating, making Jesse smile. I could tell that his joy was making her quickly forget anything Rory may have said, so I wasn’t going to ruin it by bringing it up.

Yet.

“Right in here is the day room,” I explained as we walked through a door at the end of the hall. Most of the crew that had left the garage were sitting on the couches playing video games, or scrolling on their phones. They all looked up when we entered and waved awkwardly to Jesse. “We usually just hang out here, as you can see. It's basically a glorified living room.”

It was a luxury for our small service area to have leather theater seating, state-of-the-art appliances, and an 80-inch TV. But thanks to my brother, the station in Harmony Haven was elite. Sometimes, it was almost more fun to be there than in our own homes.

“Nice,” Jesse nodded, not very impressed, and slowly backed out of the room.

“Hey, are you the ‘no charge’ call from the other night?” One of the probationary firefighters, Theo, started to stand, but I shook my head no and made him sit back down.

Then I grabbed Max, who was standing quietly at my side, back into my arms, and backed out of the room with Jesse.

“What’s that?” Jesse asked as I shut the door.

“What’s what?”

“A ‘no charge’ call.”

Instead of answering her right away, I sighed and grabbed her hand, then led her up the stairs to the bunk rooms. We weren’t supposed to let visitors into that space, but Jesse had been at the fire station a full twenty minutes and had already been subjected to ridicule—twice. Not that Theo meant any harm, but the term “no charge” wasn’t one we came up with out of love and endearment.

Luckily, since I was a lieutenant, there was no one around to tell me no.

“Come sit in here.”

There was my bed and a small stool near my locker. Jesse chose the bed while Max climbed up onto my stool. I knelt in front of him and smiled as I messed up his hair and bounced on my calves with excitement.

“Wanna try on my jacket?”

Max clapped, but didn’t speak, choosing to show his answer with his eyes and smile only.

Jesse took pictures as I worked the heavy jacket around his arms. Even with Max still on the stool, the jacket hung all the way to the ground, and his little arms barely reached the top opening of the sleeves. He wore it more like a cape. It didn’t matter though, because he was happy and pleased with its fit. He didn’t want to take it off, so I grabbed some crayons and a coloring book that the station kept on hand for tours or school visits.

“Want to color a fire truck while I talk to your momma?”

“Yes!” Max yelled as he nodded and grabbed the little packet of crayons.

With my jacket still swallowing him whole, and one of my station hats sitting backward on his head, he slid to the ground and started to color quietly.

“How many questions do you think I can get in before he’s over it?” I whispered as I sat down next to Jesse.

“I thought maybe you forgot about that,” she groaned.

“Forgot? Jesse, I have a binder full of questions typed in Times New Roman, twelve-point font, and double-spaced. No way did I forget.”

“Are all your margins 1 inch?”

“With left-justified positioning and a title page,” I laughed.

“Well then who am I to hinder such astute preparation and diligence?” Her eyes were bright as she watched Max continue to color. “Your distraction may give you fifteen minutes, tops, so I’d open the file up and ask your questions.”

“Let me answer your question first.” Scooting closer to her, I grabbed her hand to get her attention and then tilted my head and smiled. I could tell she was confused, not only at how close I was and how intimate the moment felt as our hands connected, but also about answering her question. “No charge,” I smirked, reminding her she had asked about Theo’s comment.

“Oh, I figured we were skimming right over that.”

“No,” I shook my head to emphasize. “I just wanted us to be in a place where we could talk.”

“Wow, this sounds serious.” She was serious. The look on her face told me that she was worried and that whatever the answer I was about to give her would be big enough to bring down the entire judicial system.

“Not at all,” I assured her. “No charge is just a term we use when we are called to a false alarm. A few years back, we got a call at four in the morning for a fire at the old motel on the north edge of town. An older woman who ran the donut shop across the street had shown up to start her day, getting the donuts ready for the morning rush and had seen the smoke. Naturally, she called and we went. Since that motel is all old wood, and usually had a full house, we rushed over quickly with sirens blazing and command in tow. A much larger presentation than what we came with to your house. Our lieutenant at the time had jumped off the rig first to assess what was happening while the rest of us got to work hooking up hoses. Right as we got done and were about to charge the motel, the lieutenant came running back to us, waving his hands and yelling that it was a false alarm.”

“That was the role you played the other night, right? The lieutenant sent in to see what was going on?”

“Well yeah, and the fact that I knew my brother owned that house but had no idea anyone was living there. Whatever the reason, though, I’m glad I was since it was how I got to meet you.”

Her face pinkened a little but she shook it off and nodded at me to continue with my story.

“Anyway,” I sighed, “It gets pretty cold up here in January and that night, it had gotten down to 29 degrees. The steam from the dryer vents were creating a puff of steam but it certainly looked like smoke. The donut lady realized she had made a mistake which, truthfully, we were glad she had. Just like when Max called and yelled ‘fire truck,’ we would rather come to nothing than not come to something. To make a long story short, the woman came out while we loaded the hoses back up and gave us some donuts. She said, ‘no charge,’ which kind of made us all laugh because ya, damn right there was no charge. As she started to head back to her shop, she shrugged one more time and said “Sorry,” and the lieutenant said, ‘Yeah, yeah, no charge.’ It’s just stuck for false alarm calls.”

Jesse had a disbelieving and humored look on her face, her eyes bouncing between mine, probably wondering if I had just made up that whole story on the fly. But hand-to-God, that was a true story, and I was just about to tell her so when she busted out in a laugh so loud that Max jumped up from the floor to stare at her.

“That’s hilarious,” she cried. “I cannot believe I have joined the ranks of the ‘no charge’ lady. Why didn’t you just say that when I asked? Why be so dramatic?”

“Because,” I stood up, trying not to laugh with her. “I thought after whatever Rory had said to put that scowl on your face, you would take what Theo said just as badly. He meant no harm, but the whole phrase could be taken the wrong way if not explained.”

“I get it,” she laughed again. “I get it.”

“Good,” I sighed in relief. “And I also want to know what Rory said to you in the garage.”

“Oh she didn’t say anything that I’m sure she hasn’t said before. Her words didn’t bother me, but her assumption of me sure did.”

“I’ll talk to her,” I promised, my hands on my hips as I looked down at where she remained sitting on my bed.

“Don’t bother,” she stood up, the top of her head coming just below my chin. She placed a hand on my shoulder and spoke softly. “Whatever she said doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me. Especially if it upsets you.”

“I don’t need a hero, Easton. I just wanted to give this experience to Max.” Her hand fell from my body and she squatted down to help Max out of my jacket. He hadn’t gone back to coloring after Jesse’s laughter had subsided. He had started paying attention to every word we said, and I knew our time was up, even without me asking my questions.

Quietly, I escorted Jesse and Max back to their car. Max was still beaming with excitement, but I could tell his energy was waning. Jesse was determined to get him home for a nap, but I just couldn’t seem to let her go without trying one more time.

“How about–?”

“No.” Her tone was soft, almost sad, as if she didn’t like her response any more than I had. “I was never married. Max’s dad left the second I told him I was pregnant. He comes around a few times a year to try and win me back, but he acts like Max doesn’t exist. So we moved from Atlanta for a fresh start. My parents have passed away. No siblings. No aunts and uncles or cousins. Just Max and me, and being a single mom is hard. Extremely hard. I moved here to make things easier, and if I keep hanging around with, ‘the kinda guy that breaks the heart of every woman he walks past,’ then it'll only be that much harder.”