Page 7 of Almost Always

Parish nodded. “From the looks of this, you fought fires more than you planted trees.”

“It’s New York, there’s a fire every hour every day. I did what I could.”

“And if I’m being honest, someone with your experience should ideally be a lieutenant or captain by now.”

He might be skilled and knew how to handle almost any kind of fire, but that wasn’t why Rafferty became a firefighter. “I was offered the promotions a few times, never really took the tests. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy firefighting. Being able to raise my son while planting a few trees is definitely my preference.”

Parish watched him for a long moment and nodded again, one hand moving back and forth over his bald head. “I respect that,” he said finally. “Gladys will get you all the paperwork and you can meet the rest of the team. You good to start next week?”

“That works for me.”

Parish walked him to the front desk, where Boots had his head in Gladys’s lap. After a quick handshake, the captain wentback to work, while Gladys pulled out all the necessary forms. Once he was done, she gave him a quick tour of the bunk room with at least forty beds, through the kitchen and lounge where the rest of the firehouse was relaxing. He met every single one of them, but couldn’t remember their names. They did give Boots enough attention to keep the bear happy for a lifetime.

They’d done some exploring the first week they were there. This included eating the best donuts from a bakery, visiting a bookstore where Cal insisted on buying every book he touched, indulging in a delicious Mexican meal from a food truck and checking out a popular dog park. When he pulled into an empty spot in front of a coffee shop, Rafferty realized that even though Wildes was a small town, there was still so much to experience.

He’d already decided the extra room in the house would become his home office, but since it hadn’t been set up yet, working out of a coffee shop was his best bet. Once he was sure it was okay to bring Boots in, he commandeered a table in the corner. His dog made a few rounds of the place, getting pets and scrubs from everyone, before returning to sleep at his feet.

When they decided to leave the city, he was a little worried about how he would run the family business from somewhere else. His priorities would change, obviously. As would the amount of time he could dedicate in a day to Ames Landscaping. However, he had been raised to take over the business and vowed to never let it suffer. After his father’s retirement four years ago, he’d promoted two people into senior positions so they could handle a lot of the bigger projects. While he continued to manage the big name clients, he was far more selective about other work he took on.

For the next hour or so he sorted through his emails, made a few calls to catch up on pending work and went through new proposals. When Boots started to get restless, he put the dog on his leash and went for a stroll. They hadn’t gotten very far when his phone rang.

“Hello, Louise,” he said, greeting his therapist with a smile as Boots stopped to sniff at something.

“Rafferty. How is small town life treating you?”

“So far, so good. We made some friends and adopted a dog.”

Louise hummed. “When you saywedo you really mean your son?”

“They’re my friends too. But yes, the dog was adopted by Cal.”

“How is he doing?”

He didn’t even bother to hide his sigh. “He’s okay.”

“Not settling in yet, huh?”

Having been his therapist for the past eight years, Louise knew all about their struggles. She’d been the one to pick him up when he felt like he was failing his son. She’d helped him deal with Zara’s departure countless times. Louise had even promised him that he was doing the best he could, given the circumstances.

“We’ll come back to him in a minute. How are you?”

“I’m getting by. I signed all the paperwork at the firehouse today.”

“That’s good. Did they convince you to join them full time?”

He laughed. “I turned them down, as always.”

“Did you tell them why?”

“Of course. They get it though.”

When he first made the decision to become a firefighter, it was to give back in some small way and make a little extra money. Everyone thought he was being a reckless young man, but what he never told them was that running into burningbuildings made himfeelsomething. Once his son was born and his marriage ended, it became about distracting from the grief and pain he kept shoving down. Now he did it because he was a damn good firefighter and he’d gotten used to the routine of it.

“Good. Have you met anybody yet?”

He scoffed. “I’ve been here three weeks and I’m barely holding it together. Meeting people is at the bottom of my list.”

“Better start working towards it sooner rather than later.”

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