“Nothing. Marlon…well…”
“Nepotism?”
He chuckled. “That’s the word.”
Somehow, I was certain he knew that word all on his own.
He cupped my cheek. “Marlon’s a twit. If he’s directing traffic, that’s not a bad thing.”
“Yeah, but would you trust him to have your back?”
“I trust you when I’m on my back.” He licked his lips. “Come and kiss me. I’m not sure we did it right the last time.”
Of course we’d done it right the last time. And we did it right again.
The next morning, after reluctantly leaving Finn’s warm bed, I dragged myself to the office.
“You look like shit.” Spring placed a coffee on my desk.
“Late night.”
“I saw the story you posted about the car accident. How’s everyone doing?”
“Elderly driver is going to recover. Her husband confirmed she had a heart attack and feels incredibly guilty.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. She’d been feeling unwell, but figured she just had indigestion and didn’t want to miss dinner with friends. There’s going to be a lot of guilt around that decision.”
Spring plopped onto her chair and put her feet on her desk. “Women have different symptoms for a heart attack.”
I nodded. “Maybe time to do another reminder?”
“Sure. I’m certain I can find an expert. There’s that new cardiothoracic surgeon in Abbotsford, right? What’s the guy’s name?”
“Dr. Leopold Rodgers. I suppose you could do a profile on him as well, right?” She sipped her coffee. “Yes, to a story. How was the family who were in the accident?”
“All expected to make a full recovery—including the infant. She was taken to Vancouver.”
“That must’ve been scary.” Spring nudged open her bakery bag and pulled out an actual donut.
“Scary? Yes. Fried dough?” She tended to only eat actual donuts on tough days.
“The best.” She grinned. “What are you planning?”
Apparently not a tough day.“I’m going to do an in-depth piece about the fire department. I want to understand the ins and outs of a small-town FD and what goes into running the department on a functional and community level.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s hardly a news story.”
“It’s been more than twenty-five years since anything substantial’s been done on firefighting in town. Firefighting is a whole new ballgame since then, and readers will be interested. Very few people left over from back then.”
Spring squinted. “Hell, I was barely around back then.”
“In diapers?”
“If I’d been born at all. Seriously nothing since then?”
“Nothing I could find. An occasional piece on a particular firefighter. And when the first woman joined and—”
