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I start to answer his barrage of questions, but he puts up his hand to stop me. “You don’t have to answer them, Carter. I just wanted to give you some food for thought. If friendship is all you can give Leanna right now, then so be it. But let her know why and accept the consequences.”
“What kind of consequences are you referring to? Because I can’t lose her, Ben.”
He gives me a look of sympathy and places a hand on my shoulder, “You might. Although I don’t think that’s going to be the case. Leanna values your friendship too much to walk away, but you’ll have to stand by and watch if she decides to date other men. You can’t have it both ways.” Ben slaps me on the back before unlocking the door to leave.
“Thanks for the advice, Ben. It wasn’t easy to hear, but it was necessary.”
“I’ve been in your shoes, Carter, remember? I was holding on so tightly to my past and to my failures that I almost missed out on my future and God’s plan for me. I nearly lost Claire to a madman because of my unwillingness to let go of my fear. Don’t make the same mistake.”
I mull over my friend’s words long after he leaves and on the hour-long drive back home. Once I’m across the bridge, a sudden urge to see Leanna washes over me. I turn right where I should have turned left and see the station up ahead. Pulling into a parking spot across the street, I see that the bay doors are open and the ambulance is parked inside. Good, that means Leanna’s inside.
I walk inside and see several of the firefighters milling about, but I don’t see any sign of Leanna. A few of the guys wave when they see me, and I give them a quick uptilt of the chin in acknowledgment. It doesn’t take long before I find Sebastian and Trey standing in the hallway on opposite sides of the doorway.
Trey sees me first, and his eyes widen in shock. He walks over to me quickly, drawing Sebastian’s attention in the process. Sebastian looks through the open door and then to me, his mouth forming an “O.”
“What are you doing here?” Bash asks in a whisper.
“I need to talk to Leanna, and why are we whispering?”
I hear a distinct snort and giggle emanate from the room, followed by Leanna saying, “All joking aside, there’s no need for all that when breakfast will do. There’s a great little café just down the street, and I get off at eight in the morning.”
A man’s voice I don’t recognize says, “I’ll be here with bells on.”
I cast my eyes downward as if that will hide me from Leanna’s view when she and the mystery man join us in the hallway.
“Oh, Carter. Hey! What are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting in the city?”
“I did, but it was a short one. I just wanted to stop by and talk to you for a minute before I leave town. But I can see that you’re…um…busy.”
“Give me just a minute while I escort Joe out.” Leanna walks down the hall, Joe following her.
I look at Bash and Trey, “Who is that guy? And how does he know Leanna?”
“His name is Joe King, and he’s a patient that Leanna and I rushed to the emergency room last week. The man had nearly died due to anaphylaxis,” Trey explains.
“Apparently, the taco truck he normally orders from changed their recipe and started using peanuts in their mole sauce. At least, that’s what he told me while waiting for these guys to return. He’s the mystery man who sent her the flowers last week.”
“Her knight in shining armor? The guy that wants to give her whatever she desires?” I ask, my voice rising in pitch.
Sebastian leans in and lowers his voice so it doesn’t carry down the hall, “What did you expect, Carter? You told her that you want to keep your relationship platonic, and she has respected your boundaries. But after meeting your ex-fiancée this morning and realizing how much of your life you held back, I’m sure it’s the first time she felt like your roommate and not your best friend. That was a pretty big bombshell for her.”
Trey slings his arm around me and whispers conspiratorially, “It’s not too late to change your mind and go after the girl if that’s what you really want. If it’s not, then you have to be all right with Leanna dating and let her go. It’s your call.”
I feel like I’ve been knocked out with a heavy dose of reality, one hit after the other. First, there was Ben’s advice to me, and now this. It’s too much, and I need to leave.
When Leanna asked why I had stopped by, I told her I wanted to talk. But instead of explaining to her what she saw this morning, I panicked and took the coward’s way out, implying that I was leaving. Now, I plan to make that a reality, even if it’s only for a few days. I need the time to get my head on straight and figure out what I’m going to do.
I remove Trey’s arm from my shoulder and turn to leave. Since Leanna has yet to return as promised, I expect to see her talking with Joe when I get outside. However, it’s Bryce Jordan who has her attention, not Joe. I walk up to Leanna to tell her that I’m heading home while giving her an opportunity to escape his advances should she need it.
“Officer Jordan, fancy meeting you here!”
“Today, it’s just Bryce. I’m off duty until Friday,” he says, avoiding eye contact with me and keeping his focus wholly on Leanna. “I’m trying to convince this beautiful lady to let me take her to breakfast in the morning.”
“Good luck with that,” I tell him. “I think she already has a date with Joe, right?”
“Carter,” she warns.
“Who’s Joe?” Bryce asks.
