Page 46 of Embers in the Dark

“You mean, does River often make shirts with inappropriate sayings on them? No.” I shake my head.

“No. Do they bicker like this often?” he asks.

“Not really. I mean, they’re brothers. They usually bet on things. This is a new element to the relationship. I’m here for it, though.” I laugh.

Hunter looks at them and back at me, laughing, but I can tell he thinks it’s all a bit strange. I grab him by the shoulder and pull him in. “Welcome to the family, Bro.”

He looks over and it's clear his smile is genuine.

Soon, I hear River’s ringtone and he pulls his phone out of his pocket.

I expect it to be Kennedy calling him to ream him out for the shirt, but I’m surprised to hear him pick up and say, “Hey, Ma! What? No, I mean no disrespect… of course I love Kennedy. Ella is the light of my life. Yes, she’s my everything. Of course I’m still getting married. I do respect women. Of course, Ma!”

She must say something to him and he hangs his head and rubs the back of his neck. Then he pulls his shirt off and throws it at Clay. The triumph on Clay’s face says it all. We laugh at the look of defeat River gives us. He flips us off as he walks away toward the lockers.

The last we hear is a simple, “I’m sorry, Ma. I love you…Yes, of course, I would never do anything to disrespect you, Kennedy, Ella or Lola. You’re my girls. Love you too. See you Sunday.”

River doesn’t get far before he runs back. “Snitches get stitches, you fuckers! I can’t believe someone ran to Mommy on this one.”

That only gets us to roar with laughter. Even our captain is laughing, trying to cover his face as best he can, but failing miserably.

I’m putting some equipment away from our last call when Hunter meets me out in the bay. We had a string of back-to-back calls. Some of the guys are inside, while some are checking equipment on one of the other trucks.

“Hey, man. Need some help?” Hunter asks.

“Sure, thanks.” I hand him some equipment.

He’s been doing tasks all throughout the firehouse. I don’t know if it’s his military background, but he’s efficient. When I was at the station in Dover, our probie was always trying to take breaks. Hunter is the complete opposite.

“Okay,” he looks over his shoulder, “spill.”

I’d usually keep this to myself, but I feel a friendship with Hunter beyond the firehouse.

“I’m taking her out on a date.” I smile.

“Nice. I’m happy for you man.” He smiles. “I hate to bring this up, but what about Rios?” He looks over and finds Rios talking to some of the guys at the truck on the other end of the station.

“Our friendship is pretty much non-existent at this point. He made that clear when I took her in to live with me. I hate to say it, but I choose Baylee, even though it should never have come to that. He knows it could’ve been both our friendship and his sister. He’s just too stubborn to realize both can exist.” I grab a few things from the truck to check them off the list.

“I don’t know him well, but I see what you mean.” He nods.

“I tried, I really did, to keep myself away from her. But my life, doesn’t make sense without her,” I admit to him.

He stops what he’s doing and looks over at me. “I completely get that.”

“Yeah? You ever have someone like that in your life?” I ask him.

He shakes his head. “I didn’t have to make a choice like you did between friendship and love. But I’ve had nightswhen I was away and dreamed of coming home and finding it. And I guess I’ve held hope that one day I’ll still find it. I’ve had stirrings of love in the past, but nothing lasting. If I ever do get that type of love within my grasp, I wouldn’t run from it. So, yeah man, don’t let it go.”

I’m about to press him further, but then we’re interrupted by River, “Hey, Malloy, it was you, wasn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” I come off as clueless as possible.

Since his mom called, he’s been asking everyone who ratted him out to her about his shirt and it’s been fun throwing him off the scent. We love watching him squirm.

“Who the fuck had my mom call me? I felt like a fucking teenager again on that call. She was fucking pissed! She threatened to take my dog!” He looks horrified. I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

“Oh, no,” Hunter finally says.

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