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"Sugar, I don't have to.”
JAKE HAD TEXTEDEva four times that morning and received diddlely-poop from her.
After yesterday at the lake, his step was lighter, his heart fuller, and his back a little sore from a rock he'd rolled onto while making love to Eva. He'd been looking forward to being a bit more front and center in Eva's life, but her failure to respond indicated the opposite.
He wasn't a needy sort of fellow, but her lack of response had dinged his pride. Which was silly. But still.
"Where's Eva?" he asked, tromping into the fire house, juggling a tin of muffins his mother had made.
Dutch looked up from his position on the couch. Jake's fellow firefighter was deep into another sudoku puzzle. "She ain't comin' in. Moon's switching shifts with her this week."
Irritation filled Jake. "Why?"
"Something to do with the kid."
"Charlie?" Jake asked.
"I guess."
Jake pulled out his cell phone. Still no response to his earlier queries. "I better call."
Dutch ignored him and Moon came in, cracking a fart joke, and breaking into the muffin tin. Jake slipped to the back and called Eva.
On the fourth ring she answered, sounding harried."Hey."
"Hey," he said. "I've been worried."
"Sorry. I meant to call but things have been crazy this morning. Hold on a sec." In the background Jake could hear Eva talking to someone. "I'm going to have to call you back, Jake."
"Wait. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'll call you." And then she hung up. Jake didn't want to feel miffed, because he knew Eva had a good reason. He'd just expected things to be different once he admitted that he thought he was falling in love with her.
Last night when they'd talked over the phone before bed, they'd whispered sweet things to each other. He'd talked about her luscious satin skin, and she'd complimented some of his best moves. They each lay in separate beds several miles apart, but the intimacy and tenderness had been so real. And tonight he'd fantasized about sneaking into her room. Dutch wouldn't hear an explosion in a nitroglycerin plant once his head hit the pillow, so sneaking around and having naughty times would have been a breeze. But that was off the table.
The phone rang. Eva.
"Hey."
"Sorry I couldn't talk. I was at the pharmacy counter. Charlie has the flu, and I had to get a prescription for some obnoxiously priced medicine. I'm pretty sure I'll be living on bologna this month."
"I won't let you starve," he joked, flopping onto the old recliner Hank had brought from his house. "Fancy won't let you starve."
"No, she wouldn't. Good thing, because taking care of a kid is expensive... and I've already used four sick days. Thank goodness I'm not on again until Thursday night. Then I'm going back-to-back, taking Moon's Friday shift. I don't know when I'll see you again."
"I can come over tomorrow afternoon when I get off."
''And get the flu?"
"Already had my flu shot." He wanted to tell her he had to see her but Jake was a pro at pretending indifference.
"I miss you, too. I've been thinking about yesterday, about the way your body felt next to mine. How weirdly right it felt.”
Jake felt his body stir. "Don't go there, babe. I'm stuck here with Farts A Lot and Snores Insanely. I can't get-" he lowered his voice “-stimulated.”
Eva laughed. "Well, the way I look now, you could call me an erection killer. I'm practically walking ED."
''Never."
