Chapter 21
“Seethat spot right there behindyou?”
It took Anthony a moment to register what Trent had said. He glanced up to meet his gaze. “What wasthat?”
“Behind you,” Trent said. “There’s a gap we need to close. Mind tossing a bag ontoit?”
“Oh, yeah. No problem.” The sun was barely rising over the pines in the east, lending light on a new day that Anthony wanted no part of. He trudged back to the truck where Bear Schaefer handed over anothersandbag.
“There you go, man. Think we’re just aboutthere.”
“Looks like it,” Anthony agreed, lugging the heavy bag to the place in need. He hunched forward, hovered it over the spot, then let it loose. A quick adjustment with the sole of his boot, and the job was done. He strode back toward the fire station, following the building toward the back lot, and leaned his back against the scratchy brick. What had he done? He hadn’t even heard Kira out. It was like he’d given up before she even told him about theoffer.
Still, he had to admit that—as much as it had hurt to push her away—there’d been an element of relief, too. Something he hated admitting even tohimself.
“So things didn’t go so well?” Trent asked, joining him behind thebuilding.
“Nope.” Not that his demeanor could hide it. “But I’m starting to think that’s okay, you know? If I don’t have a woman in my life, I don’t have to worry about herleaving.”
“Ah,” Trent said. “I relate to that in a way. You want to know what my biggest setback was withJessie?”
That caught Anthony’s interest; the couple had seemed to be a perfect match from the start. Minus their firework introduction, ofcourse.
“I was in a car accident as a teenager,” Trent continued. “My younger brother was in the passenger seat. And I just got reckless, you know? Taking a curve too fast.” Trent shook his head, his tone turning quiet. Reverent. “The car rolled over, and he waskilled.”
“Man,” Anthony said. “I didn’t know that. I’msorry…”
Trent nodded. “I told myself that, if I didn’t go off and have the life that I took from him, it’d somehow make up for what Idid.”
Anthony glanced over. “Dedicate your life to helping othersinstead?”
“Yep. Eventually though, with the help of my loved ones and Jessie, too, I realized I could have both. But it’s taken a lot of time for me to get to thatpoint.
“What I’m saying is, you can sit around keeping women out of your life the way I did, but just like me, you won’t be any better off for it. What you’ll be… is alone. And I don’t think you want thateither.”
Trent was right. Being alone was the last thing Anthony wanted. “She got an offer to go to Milan and shoot picturesagain.”
“For howlong?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t let her get thatfar.”
“My old man would always say,anything worth having comes at a risk,”Trent said. “And that seems to go right along with what you’re facing now. You felt you could trust her,right?”
“Right.”
“So what’s changed? The fact that she got an offer she’d like to consider? That can’t be acrime.”
He was right again, but Anthony didn’t want to sayso.
“You’ve heard the whole butterfly thing. You’re supposed to let themgo.”
“I’ve letenoughwomengo.”
“If she’syours,”Trent said, “she’ll come back to you. There’s only one way to findout.”
As he considered that, he recalled the many times he’d had moments of peace and assurance with Kira. Even then, as he heard Trent phrase the question with a bigifat the start, Anthony already knew how it would go. He felt in his heart that Kira was meant to behis.
He tugged his phone from his pocket to check the time. “You knowwhat?”
