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It only makes things worse.
The sunlight catches the fine beads of water still clinging to his skin.
His chest rises and falls a little heavier than normal from the drill, every breath reminding me exactly why firefighters somehow keep ending up on calendars.
He says something to one of the guys beside him, but never takes his eyes completely off mine, and honestly I’m just surprised I haven’t dropped the cupcakes.
Then, he starts walking toward us.
Every step somehow impossibly calm.
Like he has absolutely no idea what he’s doing to my nervous system.
Or…maybe he does.
My heart decides now would be a wonderful time to audition for a drum-line.
Bo looks up at me again.
“You still didn’t answer my question.”
“I don’t remember the question.”
“Why were you looking at my dad like that?” he says, right as Luke reaches us.
Luke’s brows lift. “You were looking at me?”
I am speechless.
“Yeah,” Bo says helpfully. “Just like she was looking at the cupcakes at the bakery.”
“Is that so?” Luke hasn’t taken his eyes off me. Then he glances down at the box in my hands, takes it, and lifts the lid to look inside.
“These look good.”
“Yeah, you do.” It leaves my mouth before I can stop it. “I mean. They do. Bo and I went to the bakery and thought of you.”
“You thought of me?”
“It was Bo’s idea.”
“No it wasn’t.” Bo frowns up at me. “That’s a lie, Olivia.”
“It’s not a lie.” I give him the look. The play-along look. He does not catch on. “It was a group effort.”
“You had the idea.” He has the tone of a man reading a contract back to me. “In the bakery. You said, ‘You know what would fix it? We could bring him one.’ Those were your exact words.”
“You remember my exact words?”
“I remember everything. That’s what I’m best at.” He turns to Luke, setting the record straight for the official file. “It was her idea to bring you a cupcake. I said we should get a cupcake for everyone.”
“Everyone?” Luke says.
“For all of the firefighters. That part was me. But the idea was Olivia. She wants it to be my idea because she likes you and she doesn’t want you to know she thought about you at the bakery.”
The bay goes very still.
“Bo,” I say.
