Page 40 of Burn for Me
Straightening, she turned to look at him fully. She rounded the island counter and headed his way. He wasn’t sure the gleam in her eye meant anything good. Coming to stop in front of him, she smoothed her hands across his chest. The little humming sound she made at the back of her throat definitely didn’t help.
“How about we head back to the living room and see if we can make you a little more... comfortable?” The smile Kitty gave Gray was pure seduction.
Yep, there it was. What that gleam in her eye had meant. Moving past him, she sashayed her way to the living room door. Using the doorframe for support, he watched the show. At the other doorway, she turned and gave him another one of those smiles before disappearing into the room.
Grabbing his crutches, Gray made to follow. He’d taken no more than a few steps when the doorbell rang. He swore. Ripely, and with much enthusiasm.
“I’ll get it,” Kitty called out.
Making his way farther down the passage, he heard her talking to someone. As he reached the doorway, he saw it was Kyle. While Gray was genuinely fond of his friend, in that moment, he wasn’t feeling it.
* * *
Carryingmultiple bags of groceries into the kitchen from the garage, Kitty had to use her foot to close the dividing door. She spotted Kyle at the fridge, a beer and a soda in his hands. When Kyle spotted her, he put the items on the counter to give her a hand.
“Here, let me take those from you.”
“Thanks, Kyle. I didn’t realise that one bag was so heavy.”
“Why didn’t you rather make two trips?”
“Ha! Two trips? Never. No self-respecting shopper makes two trips unless there is absolutely no other option.”
“You nutter.” Laughing, he headed over to collect his and Gray’s drinks off the counter.
“What can I say? You’ve found me out,” Kitty quipped in response. “Will you be joining us for dinner this evening?”
“Like for a home-cooked meal?” Kyle appeared taken aback by the offer.
“Yes, like a home-cooked meal.”
“Hell yeah, I’m in,” he replied. “If it’s not an imposition.”
“Of course not, silly. I only asked because I don’t know what your plans are. And so I don’t make too little if you were staying.”
“Then I’m definitely in.”
“Okay, great. Now, I still need to pack these groceries away before I can get started with dinner, so scram. Go beat Gray at games or yell at a sports game or something.”
Laughing at her teasing, he offered her a bow and that smile that usually had the ladies swooning. “Yes, ma’am. Consider me gone.”
The meal over,Kyle refused to allow Kitty to do the dishes. He’d cleared the dining room table, rinsed off the plates, and loaded the dishwasher. The men had fallen on the simple meal of homemade chicken and mushroom pie, mashed potatoes, and gravy like they hadn’t seen food in weeks. So, while Kyle cleaned up, Kitty helped Gray get comfortable on the couch before heading to Gray’s study to call her mom.
Entering what was clearly his domain, she got distracted by the insight into a different Gray the room offered. She drifted from certificate to certificate, medal to trophy. Until she spotted a small display set apart from everything else. Upon closer inspection, Kitty saw a number of photos of men in uniform standing in front of a fire station. Engines proudly displayed, shiny in the sunlight.
Her eyes moved over the photos before coming to rest on a framed photo and nametag. The kind usually sewn on uniforms. And the nametag read “M James”. Picking up the frame, Kitty studied the photo. She could see a strong family resemblance. She wondered if it was Gray’s father.
Returning the frame to its place, she spotted a newspaper article clipping that had been laminated. Reaching for it, she started to read. The tears were running freely down her face by the time she reached the end of the article. The heartbreaking story of a local firefighter who’d become a hero saving a tourist’s life, only to lose his own in the process. A young father and husband.
Gray had been three when his father had gone into a burning building to rescue a tourist who’d passed out drunk with a cigarette in his mouth. While rescuing the inebriated visitor, he’d heard what he’d thought was banging coming from another room. Unloading the unconscious man on paramedics, he’d gone back to investigate the noise.
It was unclear exactly what had happened when Gray’s father had returned to the building, but he’d not come out again. Teammates had found him dead in the hallway to the bedrooms. The case had never been solved. But Merrick James had been cited a hero and honoured as such. And now that boy had grown to be a man just like his father.
Kitty’s heart ached for not only Gray but his mother too. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it must have been for his mom, but she’d made sure her boy had grown into a good man. A man his father could be proud of. More than ever, she needed to call her mom.
All it took to ease the band around her chest was hearing her mom’s voice. Not wanting to share what she’d just discovered with her mom yet, Kitty had kept her conversation light. They’d talked about familiar things, things that brought comfort, so that by the time they rang off, she was feeling much better.
Undecided on what she wanted to do with the rest of her evening, Kitty decided to go see what the men were up to. Making her way down the hall, she heard an animated conversation going on in the living room. Not wanting to interrupt if it was work related, she stopped to listen for a moment.
