Fighting the Flames (Firefighter Romance #1)(8)

Walking through the door, Jessie placed the gallon of Rocky Road on the table. Lisa immediately knew something wasn’t right and blocked her path to the spoons.

“Before we get started on the ice cream, what happened with the ‘meeting’ this morning?” Seems I’m not the only one specializing in air quotes this morning, Jessie thought.

Shit, caught in the act. There was no way out of this one except the truth—as bad as it will hurt her ego. She still didn’t really care that she’d caught Derrick red-handed. No, she was more pissed off that my sister was right, again.

“Okay, you know as well as I do, I went to Derricks. I didn’t really want to hear your shit this morning, so I made up that little story so you wouldn’t question me.”

She gives me a ‘no-shit’ look and raises her eyebrow. “Well?”

“Well what? Things aren’t quite settled yet. There was a little complication.”

“Like what? Let me guess. A. You found another woman in his bed. B. You found another man in his bed. C. You found a dog in his bed. D…”

“Lisa!” Jessie interrupted her, not wanting to know what else she would say. Jessie knew Lisa despised Derrick and wouldn’t piss on him if he were on fire, but geez.

“Well, what is it then? You got here yesterday and are already diving into a gallon of ice cream. What did he do? Pre-emptively dump your ass?”

“No Lisa. I wish it were as simple as that. You were sort of correct the first time. I’m not sure it was a girlfriend, but there is another girl.”

“That mother f*cker! I’m going to go over to his house and cut his balls off. The nerve of that piece of shit.”

“Lisa, calm down.” Jessie looked around and realized she didn’t hear the twins anywhere. “Where’s my little twinsters?”

A cloud washed over Lisa’s eyes. “Their dad picked them up, he’s keeping them until tomorrow night.” Jessie looked at her sister, filled with sympathy. She’d been so caught up in her own drama, she hadn’t even asked Lisa about hers.

Jessie felt like a dork and walked back to the silverware drawer to grab another spoon.

“Here, I think we both need to float into an ice cream coma.”

Lisa took it gratefully and spooned a huge scoop into her mouth. Seconds later, she grabbed her head, moaning at the brain freeze that had taken over. Jessie doesn’t dare laugh, knowing brain-freeze karma could bite her ass just as quickly. When Lisa recovered, Jessie told her the entire story.

“So,” she finished, “I’m going to meet him tomorrow for lunch, after the shock has worn off for both of us.”

Lisa took another, much smaller, bite of the ice cream. They’d devoured half of the carton already.

“I’m going to go with you. You need a chaperone and I am going to make sure you don’t fall for his gilded tongue and big cock.”

Jessie laughed. It really wasn’t that big, not compared to Ryan… she shook her head, pushing that memory from her mind.

“You absolutely will not be going with me, Lisa Elizabeth. I am not your little sixteen-year-old sister anymore. I can deal with this myself. You may not like Derrick, but he isn’t a serial killer or anything. In fact, if you could see past your all-men-are-pigs mentality, you’d have to admit he’s a pretty good guy.”

“Yeah,” she grunted. “When he’s not bopping someone who’s not my sister.”

Jessed had no clever retort to that one. She just dipped her spoon back into the carton, in a mental competition with her sister to see who can eat the most.





Chapter 5


Jessie loved ice cream, but much like the hundredth time she “quit” drinking, she kept wandering back to the forbidden fruit. Last night, she knew she would be pissed off at herself for eating so much. Quite honestly though, it’s cheaper than a therapist and healthier than Xanax. The bloated lethargy she felt would be gone by midday, just in time to meet Derrick for lunch. If only they made chardonnay ice cream, she could quit two vices at one time.

The rich earthy smell of coffee and the smell of bacon perked up what little appetite Jessie had, so she wandered into the kitchen. Not wanting to discuss last night, she was glad to see Lisa dressed and ready to go, and apparently not in a mood for a lecture.

As Jessie watched Lisa break eggs into hot bacon grease, she wondered why her sister was being so nice. Breakfast, eggs sunny side up, just the way she liked them.


“I’m going shopping in about an hour; want to go?”

“Sorry, I’m meeting Derrick for lunch, remember?”

“You aren’t really going are you? I thought we discussed it last night.”

“Yeah we did, but I need to get this cleared up. I’m not going to dump him by text.”

Speaking of texts, Jessie’s phone vibrated and Ryan’s name popped up… again. She felt another stab of guilt, but pushed it away as she read: This is my last message, it’s clear you want to be left alone. I don’t know whether to say f*ck you or I love you. So instead I’ll just say goodbye.

She deleted the message quickly, before she was tempted to respond. It was for the best, she reminded herself… again. Ryan deserves a woman less f*cked up than her. Lisa eyed Jessie curiously, but doesn’t ask any questions. One day, Jessie knew she would tell Lisa about her summer with Ryan and knew her sister would be pissed. But not on this morning. Not tonight or any day soon. She wasn’t ready for another night of ice cream mayhem.