“I was … I am. It was supposed to be just Angela and I, and then Janet decided to tag along.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Emanuel, you’ve met my mother, right?”
I chuckle into the phone. Janet is definitely eccentric and probably thinks she’s fifteen years younger than her actual age, but I don’t see why that has to ruin Janine’s time.
“Tell me what you’ve gotten so far.”
She runs off a list of clothing items she purchased for work and for going out.
I check over my shoulder to make sure no one is around.
“What color are the new panties?”
“I never said anything about buying new panties.”
“Yeah, but you can’t get a new wardrobe without new undergarments. What color are they?” I growl into the phone.
“I’m not telling. You’re going to have to find out for yourself.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
Janine giggles into the phone, and it reaches through and massages the ache in my chest. The one that is almost always present now when I’m not with her.
“I have to go,” I tell her reluctantly.
“Okay. Love you,” she says casually as if we’ve been saying it for years to one another, instead of just a couple of weeks.
“Love you, too,” comes my response, just as casually.
I hang up the phone and stare at it, marveling at the depth of my feelings for this woman.
“Oooh, love you, muah,” comes a deep, mocking voice behind me.
Turning, I find Don continuing to make dumbass kissy face sounds. Sean and Carter stand behind him laughing.
“Fuck all of you,” I grunt.
Their laughter grows louder.
“What the hell are you laughing at? You’re worse than I am.” I point at Carter.
“I know. They gave me shit for it, too. Comes with the territory.”
“Bet your ass it does,” Don says, slapping me on the back.
Chuckling, I shake my head. Ever since we had it out over two months ago, Don has been much more relaxed with me. I’ve gotten to see the funny, shit-talking, wise ass that everyone refers to when they talk about him. But I’ve also gotten to see the kickass, take no prisoners firefighter that holds nothing back while on the job. It’s evident that he still misses his friend. Not to mention he’s still working hard to figure out who the hell is behind these fires, and if there’s a cover up or not. So far, there haven’t been any incidents.
“Allende, there’re some people here to see you,” Captain Waverly barges into the kitchen and calls out.
Frowning, I wonder who would be here to see me. I just got off the phone with Janine, who said she was all the way across town with her mother and Angela shopping.
“I hope you get to tell them you love ‘em,” Don calls behind me.
I can hear Carter and Sean laughing as I pass through the door. I head toward the front of the station house by the front entrance. There’s a woman, about five-five in height, slender with medium-length brown hair. She seems familiar but I can’t quite put my finger on it. The man next to her doesn’t look familiar at all.
She looks nervous when she sees me. She switches the squirming baby in her arms from one hip to the other, and then it hits me.
