I wipe a hand through my hair. It’s bad enough having to wear thick uniform in the middle of summer. Add Piper into the equation and I’m sweating like a sinner in church.
Ellie’s teacher catches me on my way out. “I knew you did shift work, but I never knew you were in fire and rescue.”
“That’s probably because I didn’t mention it.”
The teacher blushes and lingers, the same way they all do. “Ellie’s doing very well.”
“Yes. She’s a good kid. I’ll see you at parents’ evening,” I call down the hallway as I take my leave. “Please tell me all about her progress then.”
I release a heavy sigh as soon as I’m out of the school. The space is way too confined for me, especially today. The weight on my chest felt lighter before the talk.
I’m single and a firefighter, so short-term dating has always worked out in my favor. But I haven’t been interested in a woman enough to want to see them a second time. Holly was the exception, since she was Ellie’s mother.
And Piper has always been the real deal.
I never had the time to date with Ellie. But I do now, with another person in the house.
I climb back into the truck and set off toward the station. I have the opportunity to get out into the dating pool, but I have no urge to do that. All I’ll be doing is searching for a Piper Hart replacement.
And besides, even if I wanted to give dating a shot, I’d hurt Piper by doing so. She’d probably hurt me back and go on a date with someone else, and the cycle would repeat until it killed me.
No. It’s her. Always has been.
Dating will make things even worse than they already are.
I return to the station more levelheaded than before, even though the weight in my chest hasn’t yet subsided. Kellerswitches places with me, and I spend the rest of the afternoon out on the road completing jobs. We head out into the forest to save an elderly hiker from a fast-flowing river, and bullet down the road to cut someone out of a car. The afternoon is busy for a change. But busy is good. I need to distract my mind, and there’s no better way to do that than to be rushing down the road with lights and sirens, feeling the adrenaline again.
Marco and I make it back to the station just after nightfall.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t expect you to flip when I called Piper…that.”
“No apology necessary,” I tell him as I jump out of the truck. “It should be me who’s apologizing.”
“You really care about her,” he states, staring down at me from the passenger side.
I frown. “What?”
“You only left town because you had to,” Marco says. “Did you tell her why you had to leave?”
“No.”
“No?” Marco repeats with wide eyes. “Why not? Everything will go back to normal again if you’re both honest.”
“Exactly.” I point my finger at him. “Things have already changed too much between us.”
“Have they?” Marco shoots me a pointed look.
“Yes. They have. I’m not thirty anymore with no responsibilities. I’m a father, and Ellie needs me. Telling Piper the truth about why I had to leave—if she hasn’t figured that out herself yet, is dangerous.”
“Because you’re afraid you won’t get to have both.” He’s reading me like a book and I don’t like it. “You think that by giving Piper attention, you’ll lose your daughter. Grass grows where you water it, right? And the patch of grass that you leave, perishes.” He’s still observing me from the passenger seat. “You’re still watering Piper’s patch of grass by thinking about her.”
“What are you trying to get at here, man?”
“I’m saying that you’re in love with her, and the distance you’re trying to create is making things worse.” Another thought pops into his head. “How do Ellie and Piper mix?”
“Well.” I keep my response short before I help prove Marco’s point even more.
“Exactly.” Now he’s pointing a finger atme.“So you’re burning not one bridge, but two.Three,even, if you have any sort of relationship with her son.”
