Page 2 of Their Stormy Reunion

Tears came again. Hot. Relentless. I turned back to the suitcase and zipped it shut with trembling fingers. Tomorrow, on that perfect sunny day, I would be gone.

And maybe, just maybe, one day, I would learn how to live without Michael.

Chapter One

I looked at my friend and shook my head. “Zarek, if the Captain caught wind of what you did out there, he’d suspend you.”

“Who’s going to tell him?” Zarek stared daggers at me.

“I’m your best friend. Actually, I’m damn near your last friend. I think you need to take it easy with the assholishness.”

“Jesus, Michael, can’t you for once lose your temper?” Zarek glowered.

“Not in my nature.” I smiled.

It wasn’t. As soon as Rick and Nancy adopted me, I’d said goodbye to my rage. Done and dusted. “Let’s get back to the chance you took out there. You scared the hell out of me.”

“It was a calculated risk. If I hadn’t shoved forward like I did, the fire was more likely to jump that path, leaving Lucy, Dave, and Max exposed.”

“They could have fallen back. They weren’t in immediate danger,” I argued. “You should have only made that move if they were in imminent danger.”

Zarek sighed. “Yeah, I know that. As soon as I did it, I knew it was a mistake.”

“It’s like you don’t give a shit if you live or die. I don’t get it.”

Zarek ran his fingers through his thick black hair. “Chloe left last week. She said she needed to get her head together.”

I winced. Zarek and Chloe were meant to be together. They’d been friends since childhood. But her second miscarriage had sideswiped her. Hell, it had hit them both like a ton of bricks, but Chloe?

“Where’d she go?” I asked.

“She’s staying at Evie and Aiden’s place since they’re in San Diego.”

“That’s out of the way.” I frowned. I knew Zarek. It would grate on his nerves that she wasn’t close to town.

He glared at me. “Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Anyway, I hear you have your own problems to deal with.”

“What?”

“Fallon’s back.”

I missed a step as we headed out to the fire station parking lot. “Excuse me?”

“Rumor was that it took her over two hours to unload everything from her fancy SUV into her parents’ house.”

“Shit, I didn’t know that Bob was doing that poorly that Isla needed help.” But come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Fallon’s parents in months.

“He must be. You know there wouldn’t be any other way they’d have Fallon living back at their place after what she did to you.”

I winced. Fallon had never had a good relationship with her parents. When Fallon and I had started dating I’d done everything in my power to smooth things over between them, but they’d cut her out of their lives after she’d cancelled the wedding and left town.

“I’ve told you, Fallon is a good woman,” I said.

“Yes, you have.” Zarek nodded and thumped my back. “And now you have your own set of problems and can stop sticking your nose in my business.”

My parents always got up early. It was their way. I had the coffee made by the time Mom came out of their bedroom. She was wearing the same robe she’d had when I’d left home.

I pushed a full mug over the counter toward her, and she nodded her thanks without looking up at me. It stung, but I knew what I was getting into when I decided to come back home.