Page 86 of Until We Come Home

“Yes.”

“Do you think Captain Barnes would murder me?”

“Also yes.”

“Oh, God,” he groans, burying his face in his hands.

I laugh under my breath. “Relax, I don’t actually think Barnes is going to bury you in the yard. You’re a good kid, and Mary already adores you, so you’ve got backup.”

He nods, gathering his nerve. “Okay... maybe I’ll try and work up the courage this week.”

“Good,” I say, clipping the latch shut on the jump bag.

Captain Barnes pokes his head around the doorway, his usual gruff scowl in place, and beside me Ollie stiffens right back up.

“Mateo,” Barnes grunts. “Got a minute?”

“Yep,” I say, pushing up off the bench and leaving Ollie to finish the gear. I follow Barnes down the hallway to his office. Dozer looks up from his rug, where he’s gnawing on a dental chew, and gives two slow thumps of his tail as I take the wooden chair across from the desk.

“I wanted to check on how long you’re planning on sticking around,” Barnes says, leaning back in his chair and eyeing me over his glasses.

“Hoping I’ll head back East soon?” I say with a dry smile.

Barnes arches an eyebrow. “The opposite, actually. I was hoping you’d consider staying on full-time.”

Saying I haven’t thought about making it permanent would be a lie. Barnes has always looked out for me, and Station 7 has felt more like home than almost anywhere else over the last few years. The crew is family, and being here in Seattle keeps me close to Calvin and the Midnights.

But things with Mia are fresh, and we’re still figuring out what our life looks like together. We may have been best friends for two years, but we’ve only been officially together for a couple of weeks.

“I’m not sure yet,” I admit. “I’d love to stay, but Mia and I are still sorting out what’s next once her teaching extension at Meridian wraps up in October.”

“I see,” he says. “Well, I’m making my pitch anyway. I want you here on a permanent line. You’re one of the best firefighters I’ve got, even if you do test my blood pressure. Just think it over, alright? I’d like nothing better than to get you locked in on the roster for good.”

“Thanks, Captain,” I tell him. “I appreciate that. I’ll give you an answer as soon as we figure things out.”

“See that you do,” he says, a rare, faint smile touching his mouth. “I’m only going to say this once. It’s been real good having you around, kid.”

I smile back at him. “Same here.”

Mia sits on the counter in a tank top and sleep shorts, slicing a ripe pear she picked up at the farmers market, watching me with a lazy smile while I tighten the loose hinge on the cabinet door she asked me to fix.

“So Barnes actually made the offer?” she says, taking a bite of pear. “Did he say anything else about it? And take me out of it—just what you want.”

I smile and look up at her. “I don’t think it’s possible to take you out of the equation.”

“Okay, well, humor me.” She rolls her eyes, pointing the paring knife at me. “Would you want it? If it was only you? But what about Boston?”

“Yeah, I think I would,” I tell her, dabbing glue onto a toothpick and pressing it into the stripped hole. “I’ve been going back and forth between here and Boston for years, and I never minded it. But I don’t love the station back home, if I’m honest, and Boston and my mom aren’t going anywhere. I can visit whenever I want. A real job here, on Barnes’s crew, a permanent spot...”

“Makes sense. I love the Seattle station too.” She smiles, swinging her bare foot against the cabinet below her. “I mean, they’re definitely my favorite crew.”

“You haven’t even met my crew back in Boston,” I point out.

“I don’t need to,” she says cheerfully. “From everything you’ve told me, you got stuck with a tough crowd over there. The Seattle crew is special. I adore every single one of them.”

I laugh and snap the toothpicks off flush with the cabinet frame. “Well, either way, we’ll work it out. I’ve got a little time to give Barnes an answer.”

“You’re waiting on me, you mean.” She wrinkles her nose. “Me and my indecisive Sagittarius nature. I’m sorry. I can’t seem to pull the trigger on anything right now. I haven’t even asked Claudia if they have openings, because the second I ask, it’s real. And meanwhile you’re stuck waiting on me to get my life together.”