He frowned down at me, arms folded.
“All clean!” A smiling Jeremiah entered the kitchen holding up his hands in the air as proof he washed them.
“Thanks, sport. Can you do me a favor and set the table like I taught you?” I asked, handing him a couple of Solo cups.
“Yeah!” He nodded his head before dashing out of the kitchen with the cups.
Ignoring Sean, whose eyes I felt on me, I took down three plates for our lunch.
“Who’re the sandwiches for?”
“None of your business.” I placed spaghetti noodles on each of the plates.
“For Eric?”
I stopped myself from turning toward my brother. “You heard, huh?”
“Who didn’t hear with the display you two, apparently, put on at the bar the other night.”
I sucked my teeth. “It wasn’t a display.” I figured news of Eric and I would’ve made it back to my brother by now. I knew there were a few firefighters in the bar that night, as there usually are. And one thing I’ve realized is that nobody gossips like firefighters.
Sean tutted. “That’s not what I heard. You two were practically dry humping by one of the booths.”
I turned sharply, facing Sean, pointing the wooden spoon I held at him. “Stop being ridiculous. You know me better than that.”
“I’m just saying, Angie, out of all the firefighters, you go and date a guy from Rescue Four. The competition.”
I rolled my eyes, trying to keep from laughing. “How are they your competition? Last I checked, you both work for the Williamsport Fire Department. Heck, for all you know, you could be transferred to Rescue Four and work with those guys someday. You might wanna be careful who you piss off,” I warned. Sean had recently put in a transfer, seeking a new station. Although he loved his current house, he’d also passed the lieutenant's exam the previous year, and since his fire station already had three lieutenants, to progress in his career, he needed to move somewhere else.
“I?”
“Cups are done. What’s next?” Jeremiah interrupted Sean’s retort.
“Here, buddy. But be careful. Take one plate at a time to the table.” I watched, smirking as Jeremiah carefully held onto the paper plate I’d just given him, slowly creeping toward the dining area with it.
“That’s not gonna happen,” Sean finally stated, once his attention was back on me.
I shrugged. “If you say so.”
“I do say so, and I also say I don’t like hearing news about my sister and who she’s dating from anyone besides her. Especially when it concerns her dating a firefighter.”
The way he spit out the word firefighter, caused me to rear back, frowning.
“Why did you say it like that?”
“I’m just sayin’, I know how we are. We meaning firemen,” he added when I scrunched my face up at the word “we.”
“We’re loud, brash, and sometimes we’re players.”
I gave him a look.
“Okay, more than sometimes.”
“Eric’s not like that.”
He let out a humorless laugh. “Wrong.” He pointed at me. “Eric’s exactly like that. Don’t think just because he’s quieter than the rest of us that he’s Prince Charming. That man lets the bevy of women he leaves behind do his talking for him.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You sound as if you admire him.”
