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“We are,” Nat says as she leads me to her car.
“Fuck, couldn’t you have borrowed Cam’s truck?”
“Language…”
“Well, it’s the size of a damn sardine can for someone my size,” I complain.
“Then one day when you’re rich and famous, you can buy me another one.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
She makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like a snort. “Trust me, bro, I won’t. But you can make it up to me by buying my ice cream.”
“Sweets have always been the way to your heart.”
“Like you know me so well.” She laughs as I get in the passenger seat, my knees up to my chest.
“I do, which is why I know you’re getting such a kick out of this. My leg was broken,” I remind her.
“You’re fine.”
Blowing out a breath, I cough out a chuckle. I realize I am. I’m broken, but fine.
“If there’s one thing I learned after I didn’t go as far as I wanted with softball, it’s that life keeps on going whether you’re living it or not, Gauge. I’d much rather you be living it, than it passing you by.”
Those words reverberate, because life is. It’s completely passing me by.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Cameron
Back on shiftand I’m exhausted. The past couple of days have been busy. With helping coach the girls team and trying to ignore my attraction to Natalie, I’m burning the candle at both ends. It’s not unusual really, to be tired, but now it’s a different kind of tired. All I want is for Natalie to be next to me when I drop into bed at night.
For years I’ve been fine with the status quo but, after a taste of her, I now want one all the time.
“How’s it going, LT?” Danny asks as he has a seat beside me at the counter.
Paperwork is my least favorite thing to do so, whenever possible, I come out here, just so I don’t have to mess with it by myself. Being with the guys is one of my favorite things and I miss Gauge being around the firehouse. I know everyone does.
“Not bad; how’s it going with you?” I realize I haven’t made it a point to ask the guys how it’s going with them and I’m disappointed in myself. This is something I always make a point to do. I never want them to think I don’t care.
“Busy.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Been helping the family on my days off here.”
“Thought you were done with that.”
“Thought I was too, but I started to miss it. After everything that happened with the fire, I realized it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. If I feel like spending the day with Hayden, I can. If I want to help my family, I can do that too. With that being said, they have a huge project they’re doing for one of the new farms outside of town. They’re turning it into a wedding venue. Hoping to make it social media worthy and offering to let some of the influencers from Nashville come to check it out. So we have to be on our game.”
A small smile spreads across my face. “You know this town is proud of y’all,” I remind Danny. “Even when things are difficult and you feel like nothing is going correctly, we’ve always got your back.”
“Didn’t feel like it a few months ago.”
“I know. There will forever be people in this town who look down on someone else because they don’t understand things that are different. Know this fire station has your back and we’re proud of not only who you are, but where you started.” I don’t tell my guys how much I appreciate them enough. I realized that after what happened with Gauge.
Although he’d known what a friend he was outside of here, I’ve never been one to heap praise on my guys. I like to think they know I’m proud and I appreciate them, but the accident with Gauge has had me re-thinking my approach to my job. It’s uncomfortable for me, but I’m willing to give anything I’ve got to the guys who give me everything.
“Thanks LT, it means a lot to me that you would say that. We’ve still got a couple hard days to go.”
“Just let me know if you all need help. We can get everybody together. If nothing, we’ve got strong backs.”
