Page 93 of My Favorite Hero

Casey looked up. “I like cuddling with you too.”

I shook my head in amusement. “Now I’m talking out loud the way you do. Great. I’ll be breaking in to houses soon enough.”

Casey giggled, the sound light and airy. “I don’t think you’ll fit through most windows. I’d stick to your day job.”

“Hmm,” I responded.

“Do you always do the three-on, four-off?”

“I’ve only been doing them a short while, but I like them. I know my hours, my days off. I can make plans. On occasion, I get called in or things change. We have different crews. I like the three p.m. start and end. I still get parts of those days even when I’m working. We have some crew that only works days, and some only work nights. I see different people, work with different people, but the core of my crew is the same. Mark likes the shift work—always something new. When you first start, that’s what you get. The longer you’re there, the more seniority, you get to choose.”

“How long have you been in Covington?”

“Five years since I transferred in.”

“You were in Toronto?”

I shifted, the conversation becoming personal. “Yeah. I started there. I was lucky to get on when I was still young.”

She looked up at me, resting her head on my arm. “And you came here for a different life after the accident.”

I nodded, feeling the tightness in my neck. Casey frowned and cupped my cheek.

“Sorry, Jesse, we don’t have to talk about it.”

I shut my eyes at the sweetness of her voice. The way she was willing to move on. But she had told me her story, and she deserved to know mine.

“I have a younger brother,” I began. “He lives in Toronto with his wife.” I paused. “My ex-fiancée.”

“Oh, Jesse.”

“Miriam and I dated in high school. She knew I wanted to be a firefighter. She always supported me. She hung around with my family. My parents loved her.”

“And so did you,” she murmured.

“My brother was two years younger than me, and my parents—especially my mother—doted on him. Ryan could do no wrong. He got away with everything. And he disliked me. Intensely. He was always jealous, and whatever I did, he had to do better. He had to have everything I had. Be the winner in everything. It was draining.”

I sucked in a deep breath, looking out at the brook and trees, willing myself to relax. “Preparing to be a firefighter is grueling. Constant physical demands and mental ones too. Learning. Training. Practicing. Drills. Extra courses—anything to get noticed in the crowd of other people trying to become a firefighter. Years of work. I was deep into it when Ryan announced he was going to be a firefighter too.”

“Ugh.”

“I didn’t really care. I knew we’d never work together. They don’t put family members together, in case,” I explained.

“Right.”

“But it was personal to him. He had to be better. Be fitter. Stronger. Better marks. It was a contest, not his life dream.”

“How did he do?”

I shook my head. “Not so well. Physically, I was always bigger. Stronger. I’d been working out since I was fourteen, knowing what I wanted to do. He was smaller, and, yes, strong, but not like me. He didn’t like that. Not being number one.”

“What happened?”

“I came home and found him and Miriam together. He was fucking her in my bed. I walked in, and he looked over his shoulder, smiling the whole time—almost gloating. He knew how I’d react.”

“Jesse, how awful.”

“We fought, and Miriam told me she loved him, not me anymore. I was never around. She chastised me, telling me that Ryan managed both personal and professional balance so much better. That she was lonely and he was there for her.”