“In DC? You’d be relocating?”
“If I get the job.” I pause. “And if I take it.”
“But now Hallie’s here.” Patrick states the obvious, then he takes a bite of his sandwich.
“Yeah. I didn’t think anyone needed me here. I knew Mrs. Kinkaid would miss me, but I know Waterford. Our town would step up and fill my shoes. And the station can find another firefighter. They found Dustin and Hallie.”
Patrick doesn’t say anything, but I see he’s got thoughts.
“But now, Hallie and I have grown closer,” I say. “I don’t know where this is heading. She’s dead set on Mia not finding out for now.”
I glance down at my sandwich, letting it sit on my plate. My appetite has vanished. A knot is lodged in my gut.
Patrick sets his sandwich down. “First of all, technically, we can all be replaced.”
I nod.
He adds, “But not easily. Especially not you.”
“I don’t know about especially not me.”
“Take my word for it.”
His face is serious, so I just nod.
“If you really wanted that job,” he says. “I’d miss you—a lot—but I’d support you.”
“Thanks.”
“But this thing with Hallie,” a smile overtakes his face. “That’s a whole other subject. Maybe before I started dating Daisy, before we got married even, I would have thought a man could find love anywhere. But now I know. The kind of feelings you obviously have for Hallie, that kind of love doesn’t come along every day.”
“I’m that obvious, huh?”
“So obvious.” He chuckles.
“I don’t know where things will lead with her,” I say. “Mia comes first. Rightly so. And Hallie is protective. We don’t want to rock her world.”
Patrick gives me a side eye. “And yet you two are seeing one another.”
“Yeah. We can’t stop. Not yet. We just found one another after all these years.”
“I’m not telling you to stop seeing Hallie. And I get why you’re being careful. I just don’t know if pursuing the position in DC still seems wise now that everything has changed for you here.”
“That’s what I’m thinking. I was going to call off the interview, but I’ve been so wrapped up in her, I forgot.”
Patrick chuckles. “The great Greyson Stone forgot an item on his task list? This is serious, folks.”
I don’t even joke back. “It’s serious. So serious.”
Patrick smiles. “I won’t mention a thing to anyone.”
“Dustin knows.”
“What?”
“He walked in on us when we were hanging out in the kitchen one night after everyone had gone to their bunks.”
“He never said anything.”
