Miles
“Ugh, I think I’m in love,” I cry.
“It’s just cheesecake, Miles, stop being so dramatic,” Audrey says as Noah giggles from his seat.
“It’s the best cheesecake I’ve ever had.”
“It’s a frozen store-brand one.”
“Better than the one you made from scratch.”
“Hey,” she says firmly but playfully, pointing at me with her fork. “Say that again, and youwilleat outside.”
Noah throws his head back and laughs, causing the plastic fireman’s hat to fly off his head. He scrambles up to get it and put it back on.
It’s been a week since we visited the fire station, and Noah hasn’t stopped talking about it for a second. You’d think we justleft the station, rather than days ago. I love seeing him happy about something, but I was tired of hearing about fire trucksbeforethe visit, never mind now. I guess that’s the price I pay for having such an adorable nephew.
“Maybe next time you can come with us, Mom, so you can get your own hat,” he says brightly.
“That would be nice, honey.”
“And then you can sit in the truck too. Maybe the fireman will let you drive it because you have a license.”
“Maybe I should just buy him one,” I say.
“Yeah, that’ll only cost a couple million. Glad you have that lying around,” Audrey mutters, cutting a piece of cheesecake and dragging it through the whipped cream on the side.
“Nothing else to spend it on,” I mutter.
“Noah, you have to have a special license to drive fire trucks,” Audrey explains.
“Yeah, but the firemen were really nice, and they let me sit in the seat when I wasn’t s’pose to, so maybe they’ll break rules for you too.”
“Have you talked to your friend?” Audrey asks, swinging her head toward me.
My stomach gets heavy. “No.”
“Well, when you do, make sure you send him my regards.” She gives me a cocky smile.
I force a laugh, but nothing about that topic is funny.
I haven’t talked to JJ, and I hate it because I shouldn’t care so much. I’ve seen the guy only a few times. We hooked up once, and that was it. Nothing more. I know that, I really do, yet… I keep thinking about him. And it sucks. Especially because I texted him a few days ago, just to see how he was doing, and I haven’t gotten a response.
Maybe he’s sick. Or maybe he’s been working a lot. He did say he does long shifts, so he’s probably tired. He could haveseen the text at some point and forgotten about it. I do that sometimes. I am not a priority to him. I’m just a guy he met at a bar that he hooked up with and was nice to and let his nephew visit the station, which any of them would have done.
See, I’m nothing special.
“Are you ready for Community Week?” I ask.
Audrey sighs. “Don’t remind me.”
“It’s just a bunch of kids, Audrey. It’s not that serious.”
“You can say that when you go up in front of them and talk about what you do for work.”
I blink slowly at her. “Are you kidding? I literally stand in front of themall dayand explain things.”
She waves me off, getting to her feet. “You know what I mean.”
