Page 81 of Things You Save in a Fire

“HedidRSVP no.”

“But now we’re stuck in a closet.”

“You’restuck,” Owen pointed out.

It was so dark, we were nothing but voices. Owen was tapping around the doorframe for a switch. “We could be in here for hours,” I said.

His voice was a little teasing. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

I was mad, and the teasing made me madder. “I’m serious.”

“We’ll figure this out.”

“How?” I demanded. “You said we wouldn’t get caught!”

“We won’t!”

“Hello!” I said. “The captain just saw us!”

“But there’s no way he recognized you.”

“Why?”

“Trust me,” Owen said. “You look nothing—at all—like you do at the station.”

Was that an insult or a compliment? I frowned. “I’m recognizable, though. I’m not in a clown suit.”

“Whatever he saw out there, it wasn’t Hanwell the firefighter.”

“What did he see?”

“He saw me holding a sexy drunk girl who was all legs and hair.”

“I’m not drunk!” I blinked. “Or sexy!” Did he just call me sexy?

“That’s my point. That girl out there was the opposite of you.”

Guess not. “Thanks.”

Owen had already shifted into problem-solving mode. “There are a million ways to get you out of here. We just have to take a second to think it through.”

I didn’t want to have to solve this problem. “What was I thinking coming here?” I demanded into the darkness. “This was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”

“You were helping me out,” Owen said.

But I was just getting started. “I knew this place would be lousy with firefighters. Even if the captain wasn’t coming, there was no way we weren’t going to get caught somehow, by somebody. I knew that, but I came anyway. My captain in Austin specifically told me not to do this. Of all the ten thousand things I wasnotsupposed to do, this—right here—was number one! But here I am, like a chump. Sabotaging everything I’ve ever worked for. I’ve never even been kissed, and now I’m going to get fired for sleeping with a rookie!”

The rookie held very still. “Wait. You’ve never been kissed?”

I gave an angry sigh. Tried to think of a way to backtrack. Then gave up. “Not properly.”

“How is that possible?”

“I’ve been busy, okay? I’ve been working.”

“Yeah, but—no one’s that busy.”

Silence.

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