Page 9 of Rescued Dreams
“I might as well quit.” She lifted her hands, then let them fall back to her sides. “What’s the point pretending I’m not an impostor?”
“You’re a fire department lieutenant.”
Amelia stopped pacing. “One who bribed the old fire chief to let me have the job because of what we knew he used to do for Steven Hilden…” She couldn’t say “my father.” Not out loud. She had to pause just to breathe. “I coerced him to hire me as lieutenant when I have no official standing for this job.”
“You passed that test fair and square. It was just that…” Her words descended into muttering. “He?—”
“I know what he did. I was there.”
Meg leaned forward in her seat. “Maybe you should say it out loud for once instead of burying it or pretending you’ve forgotten. What did he do to you, Amelia?”
“He—”
“Use his name.”
Amelia let out a sound of frustration. “Nicholas Danielson, Benson FD captain. ” She shot Meg a look and saw her friend nod. “He wore me down until I agreed to date him, using his position as my superior to get me to cave. Then when things didn’t go his way?—”
“Or when you succeeded atanything.”
Amelia continued, “—he was vindictive, abusive, and undermined me.”
“And convinced all your coworkers that you were unhinged because he wasdrugging your coffee.”
Amelia closed her eyes. “There’s no paperwork. He destroyed it.”
“You earned that rank fair and square.”
She opened her eyes. “Doesn’t matter now. I’m done. My career is over.”
Meg held her gaze with a steady stare. “It’s only over when you say it is.”
FOUR
Ridge parked his Jeep in the numbered spot for his town house, and a glance over at the guest spot told him the twins were home. He grabbed the bag of food he’d picked up from Backdraft off the front seat and his duffel from the back.
He’d been thinking about what had happened today the whole way home. The fact that it seemed like firefighters had been the target of a deliberate attack. The cops hadn’t had enough time to ascertain anything, so there was no new information.
Okay, fine, he’d been thinking about the look on Amelia’s face when she left.
Whatever she’d talked to the chief about had upset her, but Ridge had no idea what it could be, and with a whole forty-eight blissful hours off work to look forward to, he wasn’t going to get an answer on that anytime soon either. Not unless he tracked her down outside work—which he’d never done.
They’d gone on exactly four dates. She’d always gone with him from the firehouse or met him at a restaurant or movie theater. He’d never picked her up from her house and had no idea where she lived. Then again, no one from the firehouse had been to his town house since he’d moved in.
Rescue squad used to come over sometimes to watch a basketball game, or they’d all go to Bryce’s to watch football. But with the guys getting into relationships, that happened less now.
He and Amelia were just private people, and he didn’t want the twins all aflutter because of a bunch of firefighter guys and gals in his house.
He doubted Amelia would answer the phone if he called.
The door opened before he even reached it, and one of the twins appeared in the doorway. Maddie always tracked his phone, and when the app said he’d arrived, his sister always met him at the door. “Take this bag, will you? Dish up and I’ll go shower real quick.”
Now that she was seventeen and on the cusp of being a gorgeous woman, keeping her out of line of sight of firefighters was a good plan. They had enough drama with boys at school. Even if he trusted his friends implicitly, he didn’t like the idea of personal tangling with professional—unless it came to Amelia.
Maddison had long brown hair with a wave that came nearly to the small of her back. She wore wide-leg jeans low on her hips and a shirt that didn’t touch the waistband. As long as there wasn’t a belly-button ring in her navel. At least, not one he hadn’t been informed about before she got it. He was going to keep his mouth shut and pick his battles.
“You should put your laundry on. Your duffel smells like Josh’s car.” She took the bag and wandered to the kitchen counter. “He’s on the football team.”
A person could stand in the middle of the kitchen, reach out and touch all the counters plus the fridge without stretching too far. The little square space was barely big enough for two people, let alone all three of them at once.
