Page 14 of Half Baked

When I do lift my gaze, he says, “I’m not a lunatic for insisting that you’re safe. I think you might be the lunatic for kicking and screaming, Poppy Seed.”

He flashes me a cocky grin and brushes his hand along my chin before turning and heading back towards the commotion. Absent-mindedly, my hand drifts up to touch my chin where he just caressed me. He had been… tender.

Watching him go, I sniff the air and realize that I can indeed smell smoke. How did I miss that? And could my bakery really catch on fire too? I’m watching the scene in horror when Tara comes to stand beside me, a smirk playing on her lips. “Who wasthat?” she asks.

“That was no one. I’m sorry. We can move to my house, and I can finish?—”

“No need.” She cuts me off with a shake of her head. “That was delightfully entertaining, talk about having heat in the kitchen. I want to feature you on the show with one condition.”

“Really? You do? Oh my gosh, thank you!” I’m giddy, a smile bursting across my face. And then her final words sink in. “Wait, what’s the condition?”

Tara raises her hand and points a long, polished finger at Hayden just before he disappears inside the burning pizzeria. “He bakes everything with you in the episodes.”

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. Stubborn heart, don’t fail me now.

Chapter 7

Hayden

“What just happened?” Captain asks me as I approach the crew once again.

I had done exactly what I was supposed to, and at the same time, probably something I shouldn’t have. As soon as the call came in, it felt like my heart was in my throat. The idea of Poppy so close to danger had my mind whirling. The second I surveyed the scene and saw the fire through the roof, all that mattered to me was getting her far, far away. Our first step with a blaze this sizeisto evacuate the surrounding structures due to fear of spread. But everyone just saw me pawing at Poppy in the process.

“I cleared the building,” I reply, adjusting the mask on my face once again.

“No, you just… I don’t know what that was. But your hand was not in the proper position for a fireman’s carry. Are you dating that girl?”

My laugh sounds more like a bark. I would pay good money to have seen Poppy’s reaction to his question.

“On the hose,” he instructs me. With the surrounding area cleared, I follow Cap’s order and get to work battling the fire at Oak + Harbor Pizzeria.

“You looked pretty handsy with a girl you aren’t dating,” Captain shouts from the hose beside me.

“She’s a pain in my ass. Has been for years. I didn’t have time to deal with her attitude, that’s all,” I call back.

“Someone in this town that’s not charmed by Thompson? That must be one smart woman,” Nash cuts in from his spot on the hose. He’s made the same deal as me to be a part-time firefighter alongside his sea-air rescue duties.

“She’s got my vote,” Cap adds.

“And thanks to me, she’s not sitting in her little bakery next door waiting to get charred.”

“I’m guessing she didn’t thank you for carrying her to safety.” Nash laughs.

“The day Poppy Wheeler actually thanks me for anything is the day hell freezes over,” I snort.

Turning my attention back to the task at hand, I pour my attention into working diligently with the crew. I’m good at this. Active, hands on, needing to be calm in crisis. It’s always been my thing. It makes sense to me. More so than the alternative path I was nearly forced down.

We get the fire out without it spreading to any neighboring buildings, such as the bakehouse, or any structural part of the wharf. But even still, I feel for Sam. His pizzeria got hit almost a year ago by a deputy who went off the rails and started destroying businesses around town. Now he’s facing a much bigger repair.

I catch sight of light, strawberry-gold hair at the edge of the crowd gathered. Poppy is alone now, whoever had been with her is long gone. And she’s watching me with an indecipherable expression. Whatever she is thinking, the look in her eyes is certainly less violent than I’m accustomed. Curious, I start her way.

“Need something, Poppy Seed?”

She opens her mouth and shuts it again in a tight line. That’s a first. But maybe she’s just worried about the bakery? When she doesn’t respond, I speak again.

“Your place is fine, nothing spread to it. Once we get out of here, you’re good to head back in.”

“Okay, good.” She nods distractedly.

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