Except he's notthatold. He's in his mid-forties. I looked it up on the fire department website right after getting in my car.
Yeah, I had to know.
He’s just over twenty years older than me. Sure, a significant gap…but not insurmountable. Not even that unusual, really, in the grand scheme of human relationships.
And age has never been the issue for me anyway.
I reach for my phone on the bath tray, wiping my wet hand on the towel I hung nearby.
Before I can second-guess myself, I open my text thread with Tess.
Tess teaches junior honors English at Deepwood Mountain High, and she's been my closest friend since I moved here. We bonded over being the new girls—both of us in our mid-twenties, both of us starting over in a town where everyone else seems to have roots that go back generations.
She's got this whole bookish-intellectual-romantic thing going on, quotes poetry without it feeling annoying, and has absolutely no patience for bullshit.
She's also plugged into the town gossip in a way I am not, which makes her invaluable for reconnaissance.
okay random question
what do you know about the fire captain
The three dots appear almost immediately.
Ike Thurman?
Why do you ask?
just curious. met him today. he gave a ride to one of my players
“Just curious,” she says…
…at 7pm on a regular Monday.
I'm allowed to be curious about prominent members of the community
Mmhmm
Okay well.
Ike Thurman: mid-forties, been Captain here forever—like 15 over years, I think.
Total pillar of the community type. Everyone respects him.
Keeps to himself though. Very private.
Private. Yeah, I picked up on that. There's a guardedness to him, a sense that he keeps the world at arm's length. It makes me want to know what he's protecting.
single?
AND THERE IT IS
Yes. Very single. Never married as far as anyone knows.
There are rumors he dated someone seriously years ago, but it didn't work out.
Since then? Nada.
Women have tried, babe. He's polite, but completely uninterested.
