“Doing what?”
“I’m on cleaning duty today.”
“Do you guys ever actually do any work here?”
Tyler whips around to face me, broom in hand.
“You should be happy we haven’t been called out. It means no one needs us at the moment.”
“Maybe you’re right, but every time I come here to talk to you, you’re doing something else!”
“I’m still wondering why you keep turning up here.”
“I don’t have a lot to do. I work one day a week, Skylar’s at school, my parents are working…”
“You could find a hobby. Or maybe help your dad out in the fields.”
I glare at him.
“Never mind.”
Tyler drops the broom and gestures for me to follow him into the fire station kitchen.
“I need another coffee. Do you want one?”
“Why not? Thanks. And no sugar – I’m trying to cut down. I don’t do much exercise nowadays, and I definitely eat more than I move.”
Tyler hands me a mug and we both sit around the table.
“So you turned up at her place for dinner, had sex, made her breakfast, then ran away because you were scared?”
“I did not run away because I was scared!” I say, trying to defend myself from his perfectly apt description.
“Then what happened? Why did you suddenly change your mind?”
“I didn’t change my mind. I just followed the usual course of events.”
“The events that led you to her house? And told you to sleep with her?”
“Exactly.”
Tyler rolls his eyes, then leans back into his seat.
“I told you to sort your head out before you did anything.”
“Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not the kind of guy to sit around thinking about things. I just do whatever my gut tells me.”
“And your gut told you to jump into bed with her?”
“My gut told me to go and see her. Jumping into bed was just a natural part of the process.”
“You’re making things too complicated, Kerry.”
I scoff. Why did I even come and talk to him? Oh, yeah. I had fuck all else to do.
“You’re behaving exactly as she’s expecting you to.”
“She was perfectly clear about what she doesn’t want from me.”
