AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, now that you do know, how do I make this right?”
“Sadly, this really isn’t a great time. She recently lost her job, and working here isn’t exactly a good replacement for it.”
“Oh. Okay, well…what did she do for a living?”
“Worked in a salon. She does hair and makeup. We’re hoping she can open a place of her own, but…shh…no one knows about that yet.”
Reid made a zipping motion over his lips. “No worries.” He looked toward the door Ashlynn had walked through. “I’m guessing my stopping by her apartment later won’t go over well then.”
“That depends…”
His curiosity was definitely piqued. “On?”
Billie looked over her shoulder before leaning toward him. “When she’s feeling down like this, she enjoys comfort food. So if you were to show up with, say…some of the potato soup from the pub or something like that…”
But he was shaking his head. “I’ve got to meet with the woman from the rental office at six. Any food I pick up will be cold by the time I’m done.”
“Hmm…good point.” She stopped and thought for a moment. “Okay, I’m stumped. Maybe you should just let this go for now.”
“I guess.” Then he nodded to his order. “Let me get this paid for. I’m sure everyone’s wondering what’s taking me so long.”
“No problem.”
And as much as he hated leaving without saying goodbye to Ashlynn, perhaps her sister was right and he should just let things be for a while.
Only…he really didn’t want to.
Ashlynn Donovan was someone he wanted to know all those years ago, and that still held true. And while he totally understood that she was going through a hard time right now, why couldn’t he be someone who helped her get through it? Why did he need to stay away?
Because she clearly gets annoyed whenever you talk to her, genius…
Oh, right.
That.
As he walked back to his truck, he knew he was going to need to put a little effort into this and make up for laughing at her. Maybe there was something he could do that was equally embarrassing to put them on an even playing field so they could move forward.
Normally Reid didn’t have to work so hard at making friends or getting a woman to go out with him—or at the very least to just talk to him. Granted, this was a rather specific and unique situation, but he was confident that he could get Ashlynn to change her mind about him.
“Probably should stop calling her AJ,” he muttered as he pulled away from Books & Beans. And that one thought led to several others that he was going to have to do if he wanted her to take him seriously. If he had put some real effort in back when they were fifteen, this would be a completely different situation.
But…he was young and immature and…well…not much different from how he behaved at the engagement party.
Shit.
No wonder she’s openly hostile toward me…
Okay, but now that he identified the problem, he could work on the solution. And considering they were potentially going to be neighbors, he had to work on it fast.
Possibly by six p.m.
Once he was back at the station, he accepted everyone’s praise for the muffins, and went about learning more about what a typical day was like as a firefighter in Sweetbriar Ridge. In the afternoon, there was a meeting with the town planners to discuss some of the upcoming changes coming to the town and all the ways the squad was going to be utilized. There were going to be more inspections because of the influx of new businesses, there were plans to build a new, bigger firehouse, and to have a bigger team of EMTs and paramedics. It sounded like an almost impossible number of tasks in the timeframe they were working with, but Reid found that he was incredibly excited by all the possibilities.
When his shift ended, he went back to Leo’s and changed out of his uniform and into something more business casual.
“You know,” Leo began when Reid stepped out of the guestroom. “You probably should have kept your uniform on. It would have made a great impression.”
“I suppose,” he said, shrugging. “But she already knows where I work, so I didn’t feel like I need to advertise it.”
