Page 47 of Hex Appeal

“I saw the smoke.”

“Oh, Welles.” She touches my face.

And I can't hold it in anymore. “I love you. I’m in love with you.”

Her lips part. Maybe this wasn't how I planned to say it.

Actually, I hadn't planned to say it at all. Not yet. But I spent the entire drive here imagining every possible way I could lose her.

I'm not wasting another second pretending I don't know how I feel.

“I know it's fast.”

Her eyes fill. “Welles⁠—”

“I don't need you to say anything.”

“But I was going to.”

“You don't have to.”

“Would you shut up?”

I close my mouth. She smiles.

Then a siren sounds.

Shit.

I turn toward the front of the house. The engine. Right. Every damn volunteer in the department is coming. Because I called them.

I grab my radio. “Chief to responding units. Scene is under control. No structure involvement.”

A pause.

Then one of my volunteers responds. “We're about a block out.”

“Cancel emergency response.”

Serena is trying not to laugh.

I point at her. “Not a word.”

Her smile gets bigger. A minute later, the engine rolls to a stop out front.

I meet the crew as they come around the side of the house. One of the guys looks at the extinguished fire. Then at me. Then at the group of women.

“Chief?”

“False alarm.”

He looks at the extinguisher residue. “Looks like you got it.”

“Go back to the station.”

Nobody moves.

“Now.”