I don’t feel like I’m ever going to be hungry again. “No, I’m fine.”
Mae looks more like her usual self than she did earlier this morning. She’s wearing lipstick and thick lashes, and her hair is perfectly arranged.
“You need to eat.” She slides her plant mister toward the back of the counter, then goes to the pantry and returns with a loaf of bread. “I’ll make you some toast.”
I don’t know why she bothered to ask if she was going to make it anyway, but I appreciate her care.
“T.J. still sleeping?” she asks.
“Mm-hmm. Pretty solidly, it seems.”
Mae gets butter and jelly out of her refrigerator and sets them near the toaster. “That’s good. I can watch him if you want to go over to the house later. I have cartoons queued up on the TV for him, and I found a few toys in a closet that he might like.”
“I appreciate you so much, Mae. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
She waves off my gratitude. “Someone in town would help. That’s whatwe do here.”
It’s true, and it reminds me of the reasons I love this town so much.
While I eat the toast like it’s an assignment, I check my phone and find a text from Buck that came through twenty minutes ago. “Let me know when you’re ready to come by. We’ll pick you up. No rush.”
Though I’m pretty sure he’d be fine, I don’t want T.J. to wake up and find me gone, so I wait until he gets up half an hour later. He’s quiet, but in good spirits, and happily accepts Mae’s suggestion to have soup while he watches TV.
“Could I have another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, too?” he asks. “It was amazing.”
Mae chuckles. “Sure thing, kiddo.”
I’m glad to see he has an appetite. “Will you be okay here while I see what’s going on at our house?” I ask him quietly.
He gives me a thumbs-up as he climbs into the chair where Mae’s already set up a TV tray for him.
I text Buck, and he responds thirty seconds later to say Calder will pick me up soon. I had a feeling Calder or Weston might be included in the “we” Buck mentioned in his earlier text.
Less than five minutes later, Mae cranes her neck to look out through the kitchen window. “Your fireman’s here for you, Elena.”
I frown at her. “He’s notmyfireman.”
“He’d like to be,” she says ina sing-song tone. “I see the way his eyes follow you in town. And not just him. Three of the firemen, if I’m not mistaken.”
I’m learning Mae is hardly ever mistaken, but she’s wrong about the reason their eyes have been following me. I’m not ready to tell her about the men’s connection to my husband, though.
I give T.J. a hug and a kiss, and tell Mae to call me if she needs anything.
I’m preparing to run out to Calder’s truck, but he comes to the door. He has a spare coat draped over his shoulder and is carrying two pairs of boots, mine and T.J.’s.
“Morning,” he says in a gruff tone.
Technically, it’s still morning for a few more minutes, but the day already feels incredibly long. “Morning,” I say. I can’t manage to addgoodbefore my greeting like I usually would.
“These were by your front door.” He holds out both pairs of boots to me.
“Thanks. I appreciate it. Come in for a minute.” I step back, tug off the rubber boots one of the other firefighters gave me earlier, and put on my boots, which smell of smoke.
“Do you need a jacket?” he asks. “I brought one of ours.”
“They gave me one earlier. Thanks.”
Mae appears, and Calder, who hasn’t come further than the doorway, greets her with a tone as respectful as the one Buck used earlier.
