Page 6 of An Ex Affair

I spun around to see a little old lady, no more than five feet tall, eyeing me like Mom eyed that slice of lemon loaf thismorning. “Ma’am.” I took my hat off too, not to follow her directions, but to get the hot thing off my head.

The woman shimmied her hips surprisingly well, given her age had to be up there in the eighties. “Want to come light my fire, hot stuff?”

Joey, standing right next to me, sneezed. Though it sounded suspiciously like an exploding laugh.

Captain whistled, indicating we were heading out. Thank God.

I tipped my head to the woman. “Sorry, ma’am, but we’ve got more fires to put out around town. Saving lives and all is tough work.”

She rolled her bottom lip and pouted. “At least tell me you have a calendar I can buy?”

I grinned and saluted her before hopping up into the rig and letting out a relieved sigh when we rolled out of the park. Joey shoved me so hard with his elbow, I almost fell off my perch. He was laughing his ass off, and so was Frank, another firefighter I’d gotten to know since joining this crew. He was the only other single guy on our crew, which instantly gave us something in common.

I sat back and shrugged. “It’s the mustache.” The thing was pretty legendary, I had to admit. My facial hair grew in lighter than my actual hair, so the ’stache was a golden brown, straight, and beautiful, if I did say so myself.

“It’s not the fucking mustache, asshole. You look like a seventies porn star,” Joey howled.

I glared at him. “That’s what your wife said too.”

Joey’s laughter cut off as he glared right back. Frank only laughed harder. Honestly, I probably teased Joey too much, but it was just so much fun when he got so bent out of shape about it.

“I’m kidding, man. You know I’d never make a move on your wife. That’s not my style.”

Joey lost the glare pretty quickly. “Yeah, I know. ’Cause if you did, I’d have to kick your ass and we both know I could.”

Maybe that was the case in high school, but I’d spent the rest of my twenties after Tully left me in the weight room. I’d bulked up quite a bit since my high school days and Joey knew it. He’d gotten a little soft around the middle recently, probably with that wife of his dropping by with treats when he worked a long shift.

Frankly, I’d give just about anything to have a wife dote on me like that. Well, not just any wife. The one I’d had.

I turned away, jaw locked tight. I didn’t like thinking about Tully or the life I thought we were going to have together. I’d had everything right there at my fingertips, and I’d lost it. It was the reason I hadn’t dated anyone seriously since. Tully had been it for me. Everyone else since her was just a way to pass the time and have some harmless fun.

“You know Gabi has a friend who’s single. Pretty too. We could go on a double date,” Joey offered quietly, nudging my leg when I didn’t turn around to look at him.

“I’m good, man.” The words tasted like acid, which was still preferable to the unthinkable thought of going on a serious date. I was far from good, but I didn’t need to go unloading that heavy shit on my best friend. I kept all of it locked up tight in a black box where it couldn’t hurt me any longer. It was moving back to Blueball that had cracked open the seal on that box, letting old feelings creep in again. Exactly what I feared would happen when Dad mandated I move back home.

Back at the station, Captain was in a foul mood all day. Calls were slow and uneventful, which was a good thing. While we got a workout in, we overheard Captain having an intense conversation about budgets being adjusted. That had our whole crew on edge. Budget cuts were the last thing you wanted to hear about. Especially me. Being the new guy, if employees had to be chopped, I’d be the first let go.

I had dinner duty that night, so while the steaks I intended to grill were thawing, I headed for his office to check in. Captain barely spared me a glance when I stuck my head in the doorway. Papers littered his desk, angry pen slashes all over the pages. While I wasn’t exactly having a good time being back in Blueball, I’d made a promise to my father. This town was it for me and I had to make it work.

“Hey, boss, I have an idea I wanted to run by you.”

Captain waved me in and I had a seat across from his desk. He scrubbed a hand over his face, looking pretty stressed out. “What is it, Wolfe?”

“Back in San Luis Obispo, we put on a fundraiser that was pretty successful. I’m not sure if it would be enough to plug the holes in our budget, but it might be worth a shot.” I dipped my head toward his papers.

Captain sighed. “Guess I wasn’t exactly quiet earlier.”

I grimaced. “We heard most of it.”

He flipped his pen onto his desk and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands across his torso. As far as bosses went, he wasn’t a bad one. I’d had captains before who were absolute assholes, making the station life toxic. Captain Charlie Larson was one of the good ones.“Hit me with your idea.”

“So everybody knows firefighter calendars are all the rage. Women gobble them up. We did a photoshoot at our station and sold the calendars. The printer did the job for free, taking the tax write-off. Some local companies sponsored the calendar which also added to our bottom line. It was wildly successful.”

Captain’s thumb tapped on his hand a few times while he thought it through. “Auburn Hill did something similar a few years ago with zoo animals. The last thing Blueball wants to do is copy them. We’re not exactly on good terms with Hell.”

I nodded my head. I knew that all too well having grown up here. Hell’s high school had been our biggest rival. “Then we’lldo it different. Better, even.” I sat forward, getting into the idea. Nothing I liked better than a little competition to spice things up. “What if we make it an interactive experience? Instead of just flat photos in a calendar, what if we invite everyone to the photoshoot?”

Captain frowned, not getting my idea.

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