Page 16 of Christmas Romance Galore!
Nicola’s colleague interrupted us — he was sporting a bushy moustache which was either a hangover from Movember or an ill-advised fashion statement.
“We can take one rig back to the station now and the other can follow — you okay with that, boss?”
“Yep, sounds like a plan.”
I opened my eyes wider. Nicola was the boss. A fire chief. How incredibly sexy.
“Good to see you,” Nicola said. “But next time, let’s do it without a fire in tow?” She raised a delicious eyebrow in my direction.
“We can certainly try,” I replied.
Nicola turned to her colleague and they strode back towards their bright red vehicle. I watched her retreating figure all the way, before she turned around and jogged back to me, fishing her phone from her pocket.
“Should we... exchange numbers or something? So we can get in touch?” She waved her phone in the air in front of me.
I nodded, fishing in my bag for mine. “Sure, good idea.”
“You know, you’re not supposed to grab personal items when there’s a fire alarm,” she added.
“When you’re the firestarter, I think different rules apply.”
She held me with her gaze as I took the phone from her hands and began to punch in my number. Only a highly-trained eye would be able to tell my hands were shaking slightly. It only took a few seconds, and when I looked back up, her gaze was still on me, all-encompassing, total.
I wanted to tip-toe across the thread that was drawing us back together, to try and unravel what this all meant. Did Nicola turning up here mean anything? Or was it just pure coincidence? Whatever, Nicola’s intense stare told me she was trying to figure it out too.
Neither one of us spoke.
Then Nicola broke the silence. “It’s good to see you again, Victoria.”
Victoria. Nobody called me that apart from my mum. And of course, Nicola. She’d once told me she loved the name and to shorten it would be a crime, so Victoria it was. When it came out of my mum’s mouth, I hated it. But when it came out of her mouth — it still made me wilt. It had back then, and it did now. She was smiling at me again now, but I couldn’t read her expression. Did Nicola have any regrets? I would love to have known.
I pressed the green button so that Nicola had my number, then when the call connected, I handed back her phone.
She gave me a small salute. “See you soon.”
Then she sprinted back to her vehicle, cracked the engine and ploughed back into the London morning traffic.
I watched her go and managed not to wave in a pathetic fashion.
I tried not to believe in fate and destiny, but sometimes, it had a way of making you sit up and take notice.
“Nicola Sheen is a firefighter? You’re kidding me!”
Holly was cooking dinner for us — fish tacos, which was one of my favourites from her repertoire. She was hunched over the frying pan as usual, her long, lean frame dealing with life from a high vantage point.
I drummed my fingers on the kitchen counter as I grinned at her. “I was as surprised as you when she jumped off the fire engine, believe me.” I paused. “Meanwhile, Maureen was less than pleased with me.”
Holly cleared her throat. “I can’t say I blame her.” She moved the cod around the pan, before adding the seasoning mix. “So I take it you were cool, calm and collected and didn’t blush like a school girl?” She didn’t look over to see my reaction.
“I was as a matter of fact, cool as a cucumber. She told me off, we had a chat about how I should eat porridge and then she went on her way. End of story.” Holly didn’t need to know all the facts, she’d just disapprove. She’s not so hot on fate or destiny.
Holly turned her head. “Really? You didn’t ask her if she still loves you like you love her?”
I wafted a hand nonchalantly through the air. “Nope. I was the picture of maturity. Well, as mature as you can be after you’ve burnt toast and managed to evacuate your building.”
Holly glanced my way as she cooked, and I could see she was wondering whether to believe me, and also how far she should probe.
“Well good, if that’s the case,” she said, slotting the tacos in the hot oven. “I’m proud of you.” She turned and looked me in the eye, a hint of something I couldn’t quite place held in her gaze. “Maybe you were listening to me the other day.” She paused. “Although, I can’t see how you managed to contain yourself. Especially if she was in her fire gear — you’re gaga for a woman in uniform at the best of times.”
