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Upon arriving at the fire station, I noticed a ton of cars in the parking spots. Way more than usual. I frowned a little as I pulled into a spot. What was going on? I knew we were having a meeting with all the firefighters who worked out of this station, but this appeared to be far more than that in the parking lot. We had enough parking spaces to keep everyone happy if everyone needed to come in. There were cars parked on the street in the parallel parking spots today, which almost never happened. Not unless some large event was going on nearby, and we usually knew of those ahead of time.
The only other excuse I could think of for all of the hustle and bustle was that it was fundraising season. My stomach dropped at the thought.
If it was indeed fundraising season, I had lost track of all the time. I usually took vacation this time of year and left to go to the ranch for a few weeks because I wanted nothing to do with the fundraising. However, I’d needed my days for other things this year because the ranch had had a tough run last winter.
I walked inside to find a bunch of artisans setting up their little stands. A glance at my watch revealed that I was about five minutes early for the meeting, so that was fine. What wasnotso fine was that I recognized someone.
I saw Jade and Maria setting up a small table with purses, earrings, bracelets, and other useless items.
How long had they known they were going to be doing this?
Instead of immediately going to talk to them, I decided the best thing to do would be to put some distance between us, especially after our disagreement last night. Also, I didn’t want the rest of the men to realize that this was the woman I had allowed to move in with me. If they knew her name and face, I would never hear the end of it. And that was absolutely not what I wanted to happen.
Eventually, the fire chief got everyone settled down. There had been some excited chatter. I imagined that had been because the others recognized some of the vendors from years previous. Since I always took vacation, this was the first year I would be around to help with the fundraiser – which I thought would be an utter disaster. Fundraising has never been my area of expertise, and I figured my helping out would really raise the risk of totally bungling the event.
Fundraising is all about making people feel like they’re a part of something. Those types of superficial connections are really not my strength.
“Thank you all for coming, especially those of you who were not scheduled to work today,” the fire chief said. “Now, we have a few changes to the roster this year. Some of the businesses we’ve worked with in the past have decided that they’re too busy this year, but it’s all right. We have a brand-new business here in town to help us out, and I’d like everyone to give a round of applause to these two lovely young women for offering their helplast minute so that we have a full roster of shops for people to support us through.”
The chief motioned towards Maria and Jade. They both looked a little embarrassed to be called out like that, but they smiled and waved to the crowd of firefighters.
I offered meager applause to keep up the appearance that I had no interest in this fundraising but to also show that I appreciated what they were doing. I may not have wanted to be a part of the fundraising, but I knew exactly how invaluable this season was for us.
There was a lag in the applause, and when the fire chief didn’t step in, it became obvious he was waiting for the women to say something in the way of introduction.
“Thank you for inviting us to help,” Jade said with a wide smile. “I know that it can be difficult to reach out to new members of the community, but we’ve got a good track record already. I sell my jewelry online as well, and opening a store was just the next step. In addition to the proceeds that are to be given to all of you at the end of your day of fundraising, I’ve already started collecting twenty percent of my proceeds in general from online sales to come to you guys at the end of the fundraising.”
“Now, that’s mighty generous of you,” the fire chief said. Then, he turned to the crew of firefighters. “You all know the drill. Talk to the vendors, and find the ones you like. I will need at least one firefighter assigned to each stall on the day of the fundraiser, and we’ll have plenty of posters to start going up tomorrow. Now, get going.”
With that, we were left to our own devices. I immediately headed for the small table of refreshments to get some water. What were they going to do here? Had they accepted because they wanted to get their business started, or were they purposefully tormenting me because they knew how much I wasn’t interested in building a connection with Jade.
Reasonably, they probably were just here because they wanted to help with the fundraiser. But I was worried. I knew my buddies would have a field day when they found out Jade was my new tenant. Objectively, she was very attractive, and I knew that’s all my friends would see. A single, attractive woman living in my house.
After calming my stomach down a little bit with some water and some of the crackers, I walked over to Jade.
“Jesse! I swear I was going to tell you last night,” Jade said when she saw me. “I just didn’t have a chance to with everything going on. And this morning, you didn’t give me much of a chance at all to say anything.”
I studied the way she spoke, but I didn’t really care.
“Next time you want to help fundraise, pick another department,” I said coldly. “We get enough help from the businesses around here as it is, and I don’t need my crew teasing me about living with a woman any more than they already do.”
With that, I walked away to hide in a corner until the event was over. If I was careful, I’d be able to avoid the duties of having to sit at one of the stalls all day long in the heat. Then again, there would have to be a crew in the fire station in case a fire did break out. Maybe I could talk to the chief and be part of that crew.
It’d be a lot better for me than sitting around helping my roommate at her stall, or even suggesting that we know each other to the rest of Lantana.
I watched as Jade flittered off to talk to someone else after taking in the fact that I just didn’t want anything to do with her. I was not okay mixing work and my personal life, and if that made her mad, then so be it. She’d only been renting from me for a few days, and she was already climbing all over my business.
One of the other firemen came over to me.
“That Jade is a pretty one,” he said. “It’s no wonder you haven’t told us much about her. Knew you’d have some competition,” he winked and nudged me in the ribs.
“No—” I began, but he cut me off.
“She’ll do great in the dating scene here in Lantana if she’s not already dating someone else. Do you have any news to share with us?”
“Shut it, Lance,” I said through gritted teeth. “I do not have any interest in her. She’s just a roommate.”
“Just a roommate?” Lance raised his eyebrows. “Why do you sound so angry when you say it? You know, I’ve been watching, and you’ve barely spoken two words to the lady. I thought that aroommatewould at least get the privilege of seeing the same civil Jesse Delaney we see on shift. You may not like her, but that doesn’t mean that you get to ignore her like this, Jesse. It’s not right.”
