I scoffed, but Hansen laughed. “Don’t deny it, Butler,” he said. “You barely let me come around, let alone anyone else.”
“Yeah, well, things are better now,” I said, nodding a thanks at Chief Davis as he put a plate of bacon and eggs in front of me. “Much better since the accident, anyway.”
“Might it have something to do with a certain physical therapist?” Paisley asked innocently, sliding into the empty chair next to me with a mug of coffee in her hand. I looked at Hansen with a glare, and he shrugged.
“She’s my fiancé. I tell her everything.”
“Don’t worry, I think it’s great,” said Paisley, patting me on top of the hand. “It’s about time you opened your heart to somebody.”
“I already did that a long time ago,” I told them. “Peyton was my college sweetheart.”
“Wait,” said Matt Nelson, leaning over to the table and lowering his voice. “Are you telling us that your first love is back to give you a second chance?”
“She’s not back for me,” I said with a shrug. “She’s back for personal reasons. I just so happened to run into her while she was here, and we reconnected.”
“Sounds like fate to me,” said Paisley. “When can we all meet her?”
I chuckled and shook my head, picking up a piece of bacon from the plate to chew on it. “This job is the reason I ended things to begin with,” I told them. “I’m not sure she’d be keen to come over and meet everyone.”
Paisley scoffed and shook her head, glaring at me from where she sat in her seat. “I’m surprised she’s still talking to you,” she said. “What a dick move.”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “That’s what I keep hearing.”
“Paisley and I make it work,” Hansen pointed out, going to the kitchen to refill his mug of coffee. “Not sure why you can’t, Butler.”
“Because Paisley is a firefighter too,” I retaliated. “If you both die, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to die together.”
Paisley punched me in the arm, making me wince. “That choice should have been hers, not yours,” she said. “It was selfish, and you know it.”
“So how do I fix it?” I asked, looking around the table. “Because I don’t know if I can do this again. I don’t know if I can be with her knowing that something might someday happen, and then she’ll be alone for good.”
“All I’m saying is, it wasn’t your choice to make for her,” said Paisley, getting to her feet. “But if you’re not willing to move past it and try again, what are you even doing?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, scrambling to my feet to follow Paisley to the kitchen. Out of everyone in the firehouse, this woman probably had the best advice for me. “I like spending time with her. I’ve missed her.”
“So, really, you’re just stringing her along.” Paisley loaded her empty plate and mug into the dishwasher and turned to face me, folding her arms across her chest as she did so.
“I’m not stringing her along,” I insisted, but Paisley held up her hand, cutting me off.
“Yes, Korbin, you are. Because if you haven’t changed your mind about being together and/or marrying this girl, you’re wasting her time. She loved you, and she still just might. So, what happens when it’s time to make a decision? What then? You break her heart again? Send her down the road after you’ve had your good time with her?”
“Wow, Paisley.” I pushed a breath of air between my teeth, cringing. “Way to make me look like the good guy.”
“You’re not being a good guy right now,” said Paisley. “And this girl deserves better. Figure it out, yeah?”
Before I could open my mouth to argue with her further, the bell over the front door jingled, and a moment later the visitor came into the kitchen balancing a tray of cookies and what appeared to be cinnamon rolls.
“Hi,” Amanda said, stepping into the dining room awkwardly. She looked around at everyone with a smile, then stepped forward and set the treats on the table top. “I hope I’m not intruding.”
“You’re not intruding,” Chief Davis said, rising from his chair to nod at her. “You are welcome here anytime, Amanda.”
I exchanged a glance with Hansen, who shrugged, and Amanda’s eyes surveyed the room in front of her, finally landing on me.
“Hi, Korbin,” she said. “I heard you were going to be back today.”
“Oh, uh, thanks,” I said, wishing I could punch whoever had told her that. “Here I am.”
“How are you feeling?” she asked shyly.
