Page 47 of Rescued Dreams
“Actually we’ve never met until today. She sought me out because…the father of her baby is my ex.”
Amelia had dated someone?
“Calm down, it was back in Benson.”
“What?” Had he reacted in some way?
She rolled her eyes. “Me dating. It was years ago, okay? And it wasn’t good. That’s putting it mildly, because it was a disaster that nearly cost me my job and my sanity, and it still might, since I got demoted.”
Ridge finished the last bite of his meal and turned to her again, his knees either side of her stool. He wanted to touch her in a way that would be reassuring. Problem was, she held herself stiff on the stool. As if with the slightest pressure, she might shatter.
“I’d like to hear about it.”
Amelia left her fork in the bowl and drank some of her water. “His name is Nicholas Danielson. He was my captain in Benson, at the fire department. He doesn’t work there anymore. I haven’t seen him since I left, but someone told me they did an investigation into his conduct about other things and he was dismissed.”
“Your boss?”
She nodded. “My truck lieutenant’s superior. Then he transferred out, and I got the spot after I passed the test.” She said that emphatically, as if she needed him to believe she spoke the truth. “But Nicholas destroyed the paperwork, or he never even filed it. Everything was about earning favors from him. His entire existence is about making everyone do what he wants them to do.”
“How long were you…together?”
“Too long.” She took another sip of her drink. “Eight months. I started to push back against his demands, and he retaliated by putting something in my coffee until others I worked with told me to get checked out by a psychologist. I didn’t know I was acting erratic and paranoid. I was convinced I was fine and everyone else was crazy. Until my chief sat me down, and I dissolved into tears about the entire relationship and what was going on, and he told me to leave town. Clean slate. Try something else. He didn’t think I was cut out to be a firefighter.”
“Because this Nicholas guy used his superior to undermine you, it sounds like. I’m guessing he’s the kind of guy who told everyone what a terrible job you were doing and that everything that went wrong was your fault.” Ridge wanted to find the guy and pummel him. Kane would probably help.
She nodded. “So I came back to Last Chance County. I had nothing, but I’d qualified as a firefighter here, so I got a job and convinced the chief over our house at the time to make me lieutenant.” She winced. “Maybe it wasn’t right, but I earned that spot fair and square. Now I have to do it again.”
He leaned his elbow on the counter. “How does Cherry tie in?”
“Nicholas is the father of her baby. She left him like I did, and she was going south.”
“She looked you up?”
Amelia nodded. “Apparently he told her about me, but only to undermine her. I guess he hasn’t changed at all. He’s still only interested in women who are subservient because he’s stripped away their self-worth and self-respect until they’re so twisted around in knots they just do what he tells them to do.”
Ridge eased his fingers under her tight fist and took the now-squashed napkin. “I’m sorry you went through something like that.”
“The worst part is that the people I worked with saw me lose my cool, acting crazy, too many times. It’s why I can’t let anyone at the firehouse lose respect for me. I need to get back my rank.”
“I’ll help you,” he said. “Whatever you need.”
Now that he knew what drove her, Ridge was more determined than ever to help her.
He took their bowls to the sink and removed an old yellowed photo from the fridge. He set it on the counter by her. The old man in the picture was flanked by two boys, six and eight. Ridge and Kane. “I always think what Grandpa would say about what I’m doing. It’s kept me out of trouble.”
Ridge rinsed the bowls and opened the dishwasher as he continued talking. “I think about what choices he would make. And I work so he’d have been proud of me.”
“How did he pass away?”
Ridge closed the dishwasher. “It was raining. The road was slick, and his heart was bad. We went off the road and lodged in the dirt in a ditch.” He touched his shoulder. “I broke my collarbone, but Kane broke his leg. It took time for rescue to come, both of us sitting there in the dark.”
His grandpa, dead in the front seat.
The windshield shattered.
Rain coming into the car.
“Then all of a sudden there were bright lights everywhere. We were loaded onto a helicopter, but neither of us could enjoy it with the pain and Grandpa just lying there. I was twelve, and Kane was fourteen. But even back then, I knew that was what I wanted to do. Help people on the worst day of their lives.”
