Light up the Night (Firehouse Three #2)(34)

It was kind of a relief to be back at work for his regular shift. There wasn’t the constant reminder of Everly’s presence—or absence—to contend with.

Drake climbed out of his truck and stretched, glad that his morning workout had been extra gratifying. The happy burn in his muscles meant there was something else he could focus on.

It was almost annoying how much of his brain was occupied with this girl he’d only known for a week.

The gray fingers of night were finally fading, and as Drake walked into the building, a yawn escaped him. It was good to be at work. He knew what to do at work. Problems had solutions, and he was good at matching the two of them up. At least, he was when they didn’t involve beautiful, nervous women named Everly Pitts.

It was still early, and the firehouse was as quiet as it ever was. There were polite nods and grunts from a few of his coworkers, but no sign of Hunter. Drake had given up on talking to his best friend about his issues. Hunter had made no bones about his distaste for Belinda. Not that Drake could blame him. Belinda wasn’t exactly a member of Hunter’s fan club either, and the two of them in the same room had been a recipe for disaster. But as much as Drake trusted his best friend’s opinion, he couldn’t help but worry that Hunter’s opinion of Everly might be unfairly colored by Drake’s past relationship mistakes. It was stupid, but Drake didn’t want Everly painted with the same brush as Belinda.

The two couldn’t be more different.

Drake dropped his bag in his locker, then headed toward the kitchen. He needed some coffee. The only person there was a girl with long, reddish hair, glasses, and a big frown as she yanked at a snarl of colorful yarn on the big dining table.

“Hey,” Drake said a she glanced up at him. “Sorry, didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“Not a problem,” she said, giving him a warm smile as she pulled a long tail from the yarn…thing…she was holding. Oh, she was knitting. The pointed needles in her lap had been covered by the red, orange, and purple strands. “I was just frogging this project. I need this yarn for something else.” Her sniffles acted like punctuation to her sentence.

“Frog, what?” Drake shook his head. “Oh, yeah, sorry. I think Hunter told me, you’re a reptile fan, right? You’re making something for a frog?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Well, as I’m sure you know, frogs aren’t reptiles, but yeah, I am. Frogging is the term for unraveling a knitting project.”

“Huh, today I learned,” Drake said as he sat across from her. “I’m Drake, by the way.”

“Abby,” she said, sticking her hand out. He shook it. “Abby Winters.”

She went back to her frogging, and for a long minute, Drake just watched her. It was kind of soothing, actually. She’d pull a section free, then wind it into the ball of yarn in her lap. Pull, then wind, pull, then wind. Rhythmic and colorful, it was just the kind of thing his brain was happy to watch, because it gave him plenty of space to think about Everly. Again.

Not that he’d spent all night thinking about her, but he’d spent all night thinking about her. Wondering if space and time were the right things to give her, or if presence and reassurance would be better. She’d wanted him. That was clear. And when she’d put the brakes on, it wasn’t because of anything he’d done that he could figure out. It was just—a thing. An unnamed, uncertain thing, and that made it all the more frustrating.

He must have sighed aloud, because Abby looked up at him, one reddish brow cocked. When she did that, she looked an awful lot like someone else. He couldn’t place who at the moment, though.

“Whatcha thinkin’ ‘bout?”

“Not much,” Drake said, leaning against the arm of the couch.

“About a girl?”

“How’d you know?”

She stopped winding to pick a small knot out of her yarn, a small cough escaping her. “You’ve got that look on your face. That ‘bitches be crazy’ kind of look that Kyle gets.”

That startled a laugh out of him. “Yeah, I guess. Not crazy, but confusing. I’m into her, and she seems to be into me, but she’s giving me these mixed signals that I just can’t interpret.”

“How long have you known her?”

“Not that long. She bought me at the bachelor auction the other night, and it went well. But since then…” he trailed off and shrugged one shoulder. “It’s been hot and cold.”

“That is pretty fast,” Abby said, looking at him in a cryptic way. Her eyes were a little bloodshot as she stared him down. “Is she the kind of girl that wants to jump into things quickly? Or is she a, ‘one toe in the pool at a time’ kind of person?”

Drake blinked, and blinked again. Damn. This girl was right. He’d been expecting Everly to jump into the deep end with him, because he’d just cannonballed there himself, but she wasn’t that kind of person.

“One toe. Definitely one toe.”

“So give her some time. Let’s be honest, people like us, who run into burning buildings for a living, we’re deep divers. Not everyone else is. Be there, be close to her, and encourage her, and maybe splash her a little if she looks like she’s into that, but you can’t drag someone in the pool against their will. At least, you can’t if you’re not a dick. And you don’t look like you’re a dick, even if you are friends with Hunter.” She winked at him, and Drake laughed.