Page 35 of Firecracker

She didn’t think that was the real answer, but despite her curiosity, she didn’t push.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” he asked.

“About the fact that I’m not perfect?”

“About the fact that you don’t know everything about your new job on day one.”

“Ah.” She didn’t tell him she’d thought about quitting. “Well, I’ve given myself some homework. I need to study the menu. And make sure I’ve memorized the table sections.”

“There you go.” His voice softened. “That’s all you can do, beautiful. Learn from your mistakes.”

That soft warmth in her chest expanded even bigger and suddenly all her stupid mistakes didn’t seem so bad. “Right. You’re right.”

“I usually am. Except about you being perfect, sadly.”

She shook her head. “You’re crazy.”

“Could be.” He paused. “Did you tell Jamie about the new job?”

“Yeah.”

“And what did he think about you working at Shenanigans?”

She made a face. “Kind of the same as you.”

Tyler nodded. “I won’t say I told you so.”

“You just did.”

He grinned, a flash of white teeth that was incredibly charming. “It kind of sucked you had to start work on the Fourth of July.”

“Whatever. It’s not like I had big plans. You had to work yesterday too.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “No big deal. Someone has to do it. I’m used to working holidays. And now I’m off for four days.”

“That’s nice.”

“That’s why I need a hobby like helping Jamie renovate this place. Keeps me busy.”

“You must do other things besides that.” She paused. “You don’t have a girlfriend?”

“Nah. Not right now. I was seeing someone for a while…we broke up about six months ago.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t sure if she should express sympathy.

“I play baseball once a week in the summer, when I can, with the guys from the station, and in the winter I play for the CFD hockey team. I help out my mom, when she lets me. And I do some community work.”

“What kind of community work?”

He shrugged. “My buddy Tremon and another guy—a cop—and I started a nonprofit organization a couple of years ago. We raise money for victims of fires. People’s lives are destroyed in an instant; they get injured or lose a family member, their homes are demolished. We saw how people suffered after a disaster, and we decided to try to do something to help.”

“Oh. Wow.”

“We do different fundraisers throughout the year and some outreach programs.”

She nodded, intrigued by knowing this about Tyler. “That’s awesome. I used to volunteer with a women’s shelter in Phoenix. I enjoyed contributing to something…meaningful.”

“Yeah.”

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