Page 47 of Red Hot Rancher

“It’ll take time,” Caleb said. “We don’t get too many new doctors, and it’s gotta be hard in a town that remembers when you were in pigtails.”

“Pri,” Maisy’s sharp voice cut it. “It’s time to go.” Maisy stalked away.

Brigit didn’t miss the fortifying breath Priya took, nor the way she deliberately avoided looking at Maisy. Priya set her glass down and smiled at them, but her eyes brimmed with concern.

Brigit couldn’t help but ask, “Is she…doing okay?”

Priya gripped her purse until her knuckles were white. “I’ve always felt like I should apologize for the way she acted, but I talked myself out of it. Now we’re adults and she’s still—” She shook her head. “Anyway, I’m so sorry, Brigit. For everything. I should’ve told her straight up to stop. Instead, I ran ahead of her and tried to minimize anything she’d find to pick on. Hindsight and all that. Anyway, it was great seeing you two and, uh, together.”

Caleb gave her a little wave as she left, but he didn’t steer Brigit back to their table. “That was unexpected.”

“In so many ways.” An old nemesis hadn’t turned into a friend, but at least she was no longer an enemy. And she was someone Brigit could commiserate with. “I don’t think her friendship with Maisy is in the same place it was ten years ago.”

“Maisy might be in the same place, but the rest of us aren’t.”

The rest of us? That pool felt tiny. Maisy was the same, if not worse, and guys like Teddy treated her no differently than before. Moore hadn’t changed, but Brigit had just stood up for herself. And not everyone in Moore insulted or somehow demeaned her. There were people like Priya, who was actually pleasant. Or had she always been that way, but Brigit had been too jaded to see it? The longer she stayed, the harder it was to see everything that Moore didn’t offer.

The fire engine was washed, and its red exterior was shiny enough to see his face in. After the snowfall in the last week and the extra car accidents the weather had caused, it had needed a good cleaning.

“Apparatus looks good, Cruise.” Tate McGill gathered the hoses.

“I can wash this thing in my sleep.” Caleb helped Tate put all the cleaning supplies away.

“Was that Priya Patel I saw you talking up at the bar last weekend?”

“Yeah, but we’re just friends.”

“Right. I’ve heard the guys say something about Brigit Walker.” Tate leaned against the apparatus.

Caleb scowled at him. He hadn’t talked to his crew much about Brigit. Mostly because he didn’t want to face all the questions and advice about when she got a job in a big city, not because he wasn’t dying to talk about the woman who was the center of his world. “You’re a nosy fucker, McGill.”

The guy laughed, his boom filling the garage. “Brigit Walker it is, then. Congrats, man. You’re finally seeing someone for more than one night.”

“Nah. It’s not that serious.” His stomach twisted just saying it. “She’s moving soon, once she gets a job.”

Tate’s smile faded. “That sucks. I mean, I thought since she was someone you were actually dating…”

Damn Tate and the way he seemed to see through all their bullshit. “If I could have my way.”

A voice crackled over the intercom. “Cruise. Come to my office.”

“The LT wants to talk to you. What’d you do?” Tate chuckled. “Kidding. But seriously, you’re not trapped here. You’re a firefighter with experience. If she’s worth having, don’t let her get away.”

It wasn’t up to him whether she left or not, and he couldn’t make her ask him to come with.

Caleb jogged to his lieutenant’s office, rolling through everything he’d done. He’d seen the fire chief walking through earlier, too, but he was on good terms with the man. They used to be neighbors, but now the chief’s sons ran the ranch. Not long ago, there had been trouble between Caleb and them, but that had been resolved. One of the silver linings of the tornado.

The office came into view. Chief Bradford sat in one of the chairs across from the LT’s desk.

Caleb nodded to him as he entered. “Chief.” He glanced at Lieutenant Johnson. “Sir.”

“Have a seat, Cruise.”

Nerves rippled in his gut. His butt hit the chair and he settled his hands on his legs. He couldn’t lose this job. A firefighter with experience was no good if he’d been fired.

LT did all the talking. “Cortez put in his resignation.”

Cortez was one of their driver engineers. He and Caleb didn’t work together often, but he’d heard talk that Cortez’s wife had gotten a promotion that’d take them to the East Coast. But what did that have to do with him?

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