Page 82 of Ignite

Chapter 21

Burn Me Once

“Awildfireamidaheat wave in the Blue Mountains has forced authorities to order residents to evacuate several communities where the record for hottest temperature three days in a row has been smashed …”

Rylee

“I don’t know anything about paint jobs, but that is almost as hot as the man it belongs to,” Zoe fanned her face as she, Grace and Felicity walked around Ethan’s ute.

“It’s almost finished,” I admitted, not wanting to admit how hard it would be to draw a line in the sand and declare the job complete. It was the time in the job when daddy would usually pull me aside and say “Girlie, you gotta know when to walk away and finalize the invoice.”

Damn I missed him. Although when I looked at the photos on the wall this morning, they didn’t hurt as much as they had yesterday. Today, I looked at the comparison between our work and decided that daddy would have been proud.

Just being brave enough to think those words would have been unheard of a month ago. But it was because of Ethan and now I had to be brave enough to hand over his ute and hope he would be proud of me.

“Why don’t you give him a chance?” Flick asked, unwrapping a tea-towel from around a loaf of homemade, fresh bread. My best friend knew how to get my attention, and how to make an entrance.

“Who?” I deadpanned.

“Hmm, the guy you keep avoiding? The guy who keeps subtly asking about you …”

“Ethan asks about me?” I asked before stuffing my mouth with fresh bread.Stupid, stupid girl. My phone taunted me on the bench—Ethan and I had been texting until after midnight, again. It was as if he didn’t annoy me when I couldn’t see him.

“Gotcha! I knew you had it bad.” My friend looked as if she’d won the lottery. I left her hand hanging, not needing to confirm my embarrassment with a high-five. As for the text messages, no one other than Ethan needed to know. “When are you going to put him out of his misery?”

“I don’t.” My weak protest did nothing to help my cause. “I don’t have it bad for anyone. I’m too busy trying to keep my garage afloat and get all the trucks ready for the next fire season.”

“Oh, Rylee, you can lie to yourself, but not to me. You’d never put this much work into a job if you didn’t want the guy to do a job on you.”

“That is the most pathetic line I’ve heard,” I laughed. “Yes, Ethan is hot. Yes, we have spent somequality timetogether, but he’s not a long term option for me.”

“Are you really going to tell me you put that much effort into the paint job for someone who means nothing?” Grace asked and I bit back a retort about how much landscaping she’d done down at the fire shed just so Trey could get a good look at her ass.

“I call it being professional and free advertising. Everyone who sees his ute will be reminded of what I can do.” I held my smile and hoped my childhood friends would believe the paint job was my way of breaking free of daddy’s legacy.

“If you say so.” Felicity’s smile had more understanding than judgment or pity. “But I don’t think Ethan sees it like that.”

“He just wants his ute back.”

“And you’re just scared that once he gets it back, he won’t have a reason to talk to you anymore.” Felicity’s tone had uncommon harshness that caught me by surprise. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ve known you since before we could walk. I know when you’ve got it bad for a guy and you never looked at Darin the way you look at Ethan.”

Damn. I hadn’t convinced Felicity, any more than I’d been able to convince my other friends. Sonia and Bec had dropped in this morning, just to assure me that Ethan had gone to the pub after training last night, had drank with the guys but definitely went home alone.

“And so you don’t have to ask,” Grace added, “I’ve seen Ethan most days at the gym. Yes, he gets a lot of attention but he treats all the women with professional courtesy, and ignores all the hair twirling and downward dogs.”

“What doesprofessional courtesyeven mean?“ I asked, not wanting to know the answer.

“It means he will show them how to use the machines, critique their posture if they’re doing weights, but if they aren’t training for one of the touch-football teams or the women’s rugby league team, he backs off real quick.”

I sighed, closed my eyes and asked my best friends the question, knowing they’d give it to me straight. “Do you think I should give Ethan another chance?”

Their answer was soft, but emphatic, “Yes.”

“Reece, Korbin, Bailey and Eric had all dropped by last week.” I admitted. “They didn’t exactly tell me to date their coach, but each one of them sang Ethan’s praises.”

“See,” Flick said. “Everyone sees something between you.”

“In other news …” I blinked away tears. “Who’s coming with me to the Hawks’ season launch? Because I’m not going on my own.

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