“My feet are screaming at me,” Ashley whines as she sits down, and I can’t help but laugh at her as I update a chart.
“You sure it isn’t the little ones inside you?”
With a groan, she rubs her belly. “Both. Remind me again not to have twins next time.”
“Not sure that’ll work, but I’ll try,” I mutter as I flip through a few pages to make sure I have it all updated.
She’s only in her second trimester, but you’d swear it was her third with the way she’s carrying the twins. I don’t envy her. Being on our feet all day is exhausting. Add in the joys of pregnancy and it’s twice as hard. I can’t even imagine.
“Barry still hoping for two boys?” Her husband has been swearing they’re going to be his little fire buddies. The guy’s been a firefighter since he got out of high school and married his sweetheart. The only thing he’s more nuts about than fire is her.
I should have figured he’d go into firefighting. He was always burning stuff in high school. I’m still surprised he never got into any serious trouble over it. Probably helped that his mom was a guidance counselor, and he said everything was a “controlled burn.”
When she doesn’t answer right away, I look up. The always-smiling blonde cheerleader type you want to hate onlooks alone but never actually could because of her bubbly personality is now frowning.
“What’s wrong, Ash?”
She shakes her head but then speaks anyway. “It’s just… Barry’s been acting funny lately.”
“Funny how?”
“Like I should take more time off.”
I snort. “That sounds awesome. A break from this place would be a blessing. Maybe he can take you on one of those babymoons and you can get off your feet the entire time.”
“More like he wants me to quit.”
My eyes widen. “Quit? But you love this place. Even more than I do.”
She smiles and puts her hand on my arm in comfort. She was a nurse before I started and helped make me see how awesome it could be.
“I think you and I love it the same. Which Barry knows. We used to always say that he would save the people from the fire and I’d nurse them back to health. But lately, he keeps saying that I need to stay home and focus on him and the babies more. That work is taking up too much of my time. Like somehow I’m cheating on him with my job.”
Now I join in her frown. “That doesn’t sound like Barry at all.”
“Right? It’s so weird.”
I shrug. “Maybe he’s just nervous about being a dad. You’ve seen how people can get—scared and jealous overthings that don’t even matter. Maybe he’s worried that you’ll spend more time with the kids than him.”
“Yeah, maybe.” She shrinks in on herself in thought.
“Think about it, okay? I’m sure if you just talk to him or maybe take some time away for just the two of you it’ll be fine.”
“We have been going nonstop since we discovered the news. And I do have some time off, and he’s off rotation next week.”
“See, it’s meant to be.” I stand up and hold out my hands till she puts hers in them, then pull her to her feet. “Go talk to Beatrice about getting her to approve the time off.” I spin her around and smack her ass. “Now, shoo.”
Her smile, like her personality, is infectious. And it keeps me smiling for most of the day. But by dinner, I’m more than exhausted. I’m downright dead on my feet. And the only thing that’s worse than my feet is the microwavable meal waiting for me.
“Diana, take a break,” Vicky barks at me.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say I’ll pass, but if I know Vicky, she’ll run me ragged till the end of my shift, even if I beg to take a break. I’d better take one now, sad meal and all, before I get nothing.
As I make it down to the break room, I pull out my phone. I’ve been debating texting Karter all day. Last night was amazing. I hardly slept, my thoughts jumping from one memory to the next. It was a perfect evening. Almost too good to be true.
And I guess it was, because I haven’t heard a thing from him. Sure, it’s only been a day, but if it meant somethingat all, there would be a text. A call. Hell, a smoke signal. Something. Anything. Right?
Instead, it’s been nothing but silence.
