Ridiculous, how much attention my body gives it.
I turn towards the door before my face can do anything unhelpful.
“Jacket back on,” I say. “Then we’ll fit the mask.”
Behind me, he clears his throat.
“Yes, Watch Manager.”
The title should sound mocking.
It does not.
I leave the locker room and take one steadying breath.
For safety reasons, obviously.
Not because AJ Hodgson has just shaved off his beard and become considerably more difficult to ignore.
That would be absurd.
I am a professional.
A very professional woman who is about to make him carry an oxygen cylinder around the yard until both of us remember exactly why he is here.
8
Chapter 7
AJ
The first thing Ilearn about being clean-shaven in a fire station is that firefighters are not nearly as emotionally supportive as public messaging would suggest.
I come out of the locker room with my jacket back on, my helmet under one arm and my face feeling aggressively exposed.
Kev looks up first.
He stops what he is doing.
“Oh,” he says.
Mish turns round.
Then Dan appears from the direction of the kitchen, carrying a mug and the expression of a man who has arrived at precisely the right time by accident or divine intervention.
His eyes land on my face.
He smiles.
Not widely.
Worse.
Fondly.
“Look at him,” he says. “Fresh out of sixth form.”
“I’m forty-one,” I say.
