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“Is she still doing the hotshot firefighting thing?” I asked Archer as I selected a slice of pizza and slid it onto my plate.
He finished chewing a bite and nodded. “She just fills in sometimes. I know she loves it, but I worry. It’s a risky job.” His brow furrowed as he shrugged. “You know what I mean,” he added, glancing at Chase.
Chase was also a hotshot firefighter. While he was picking up work with Fireweed Industries with Archer here, he still did on-call work for the local firefighter crew in town.
“Not gonna argue that it’s a risky job,” Chase said. “But you know Phoebe. She’s as steady as you can get out in the field.”
“I know,” Archer said. “I’m trying not to tell her what to do.”
“You know that won’t work out,” I offered with a chuckle. “Maybe I don’t know Phoebe as well as you, but if you tell her what to do, she’ll do the opposite.”
Archer took a bite of his pizza. After another moment, he added, “She knows I worry, which is why she’s only doing it on call.”
We fell into an easy conversation, getting the update on Chase’s new family. He had recently married and had a baby unexpectedly, but he seemed to have grabbed that chance with both hands.
At one point, he glanced over, addressing Blake, “So you’re an instant stepfather. How are you feeling about that?”
Blake set his empty plate down and took a swallow from his beer. He looked thoughtful as he lowered the bottle. “If you had told me, even a few months before I met Fiona, that this would be my life, I would’ve laughed. But it doesn’t freak me out at all. I love Fiona. Lia is part of the package. We’re pretty fresh, so we’re taking it on pace, but I’m ready.”
“It’s funny how that happens, isn’t it?” Chase mused.
“That’s one way to put it,” I offered dryly as I glanced his way. “You didn’t ever expect to see Hallie again and now you have a toddler with her. Kind of blows my mind.”
“It still blows my mind,” Chase replied with a chuckle. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I felt the tension tighten across my shoulders and shifted them to ease it away.
“What about you? Are you getting serious with anyone?” Archer prompted, his tone light and easy.
I opened my mouth to make light of it, but I couldn’t even crack a joke. I felt his gaze on me and took a slow breath, trying to loosen the tension banded around my chest now.
“Hey, you okay?” Archer asked. “I kind of figured you’d say hell no, and that would be that.”
I glanced from Blake to Archer to Chase, three men I trusted completely. “I kind of made a mess of things,” I finally said.
“What happened?” Chase asked.
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I tunneled my hands through my hair before straightening and letting them fall to my knees. “You guys know Quinn?”
“Of course,” Archer replied. “She heads up the legal department for our main offices. You’ve gotten pretty tight since you both moved back to Fireweed Harbor.”
With three pairs of gazes on me expectantly, I felt uncertain how to explain. Blake appeared to take pity on me and chimed in, “I asked him years ago if there was anything between him and Quinn. He swore up and down, backward, forward, and sideways, that there was no way, never, no how. I knew better. I would just like some credit for being right for once.” Blake cuffed me playfully on the shoulder.
Chase chuckled. “Ah, I see. Are you worried you’re going to mess your friendship up? Is that the issue?”
“Pretty sure I already fucked that up.” I let out a sigh. “Here’s the catch: she wants a family, and this is important to her, but I’ve told her for years I never wanted kids.”
“So that’s a deal-breaker?” Chase prompted.
“I don’t want it to be,” I said. “Honestly, it scares me. But when I think about it, it’s something I want with her.” I looked among them. “I love my family, all of you. But then—” I glanced at Blake. “Shit was fucked up for us. It’s better now. We’re all grown up, and we’re all tight, but I worry.”
Blake held my gaze steadily. “You’d make a great father,” he said.
“But I don’t think Quinn believes it. How do I convince her?”
As I looked around the room, Chase studied me. “For different reasons, my childhood was fucked up. I never wanted to get serious and thought I didn’t want kids. Obviously, that changed. Now, I can’t imagine life without my family.”
“How do I convince Quinn I can do this?”
