know.
Aaron helped himself to a slice from the wood-oven pizza sitting between them on the
wrought-iron table that she’d unearthed—literally—from a compost heap at the bottom
of the garden not long after moving into the house. She’d cleaned it up, added a pair
of chairs she’d found in an antique shop, and with grape vines trailing overhead,
she often sat out here and imagined she was in France.
Would he laugh at her if he knew that?
“It’s been a strange week, hasn’t it?” Aaron said before taking a bit of pizza.
After watching a trail of cheese all the way to his mouth, she gave herself a mental
slap. “I’ve had better weeks.” She huffed out a short laugh. “In fact, I’ve had better
dental surgery.”
In addition to what had happened on Saturday night after the wedding, then the tension
between her and Aaron at work, the job itself had been frustrating. That was what
being a firefighter was like—some days it was just sitting around, waiting, checking
equipment, cleaning the station; others, it wasn’t.
On Tuesday, they’d fought a factory fire. Two of the crew had been taken to hospital—one
had been treated for a knee injury and would take months to recover, while the other
had suffered heat stress—the building had been too badly damaged to save, and something
like that always left a hollow feeling. Not a sense of failure, exactly, but a definite
dissatisfaction that despite people being injured, there was no positive result to
show for their efforts.
Worse still, on Wednesday there’d been a bad road traffic accident, and it had taken
them a frustratingly long time to extract a young mother and her injured children
from the wreckage. Their teamwork had saved lives, no doubt about it. Even so, the
victims had suffered for longer than any of the team would have wished, making it
difficult to be satisfied with the overall outcome.
She let out a heavy sigh. “Something to do with the alignment of the planets, I guess.”
His eyebrows rose. “I’m surprised you believe in all that astrology stuff. Doesn’t
seem like your sort of thing at all.”
“No, it’s not, but Sasha believes in it, so I must be channeling her. She always has
a reason for what’s happening. One planet is going backward and two others are meeting
up. The way she talks about it, you’d think they’d need traffic lights up there with
planets whizzing around all over the place.”
He chuckled. After a moment, he said, “Talking of Sasha…Kane tells me he’s taking
her out again.”
“So I gather. They’re going out tonight. Did Kane say anything else?”
“Like what? Whether his intentions are honorable?” He grinned.
“Well, yes,” she said, refusing to feel stupid for being concerned about her friend.
He shook his head. “No, he hasn’t said anything, but I very much doubt it.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Look…he likes her, but he’s a young bloke taking out an attractive woman. Whatever
his intentions are, they’re completely natural, I’m sure.”
“Huh. He’d better not hurt her—”
“Or he’ll have you to deal with. I already told him so.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, I thought I’d better warn him. He’s quite attached to his various body parts.”
“Hmm. Well. Good.” She chewed on a mouthful of pizza.
As if it had been waiting for a quiet moment, Aaron’s mobile phone rang. He gave her
an apologetic glance before answering, and then Jasmine was forced to sit by, pretending
not to listen, while some woman tried to convince him to meet her. Although she could
only hear his end of the conversation, it was clear what was going on.
There was only so much to look at in her back garden. She’d studied the lemon tree,
the lawn, the birdbath, and the grapevine, so she went inside to fill a jug with iced
water. She returned in time to hear him gently but firmly turn the caller down and
end the call. She
Aaron helped himself to a slice from the wood-oven pizza sitting between them on the
wrought-iron table that she’d unearthed—literally—from a compost heap at the bottom
of the garden not long after moving into the house. She’d cleaned it up, added a pair
of chairs she’d found in an antique shop, and with grape vines trailing overhead,
she often sat out here and imagined she was in France.
Would he laugh at her if he knew that?
“It’s been a strange week, hasn’t it?” Aaron said before taking a bit of pizza.
After watching a trail of cheese all the way to his mouth, she gave herself a mental
slap. “I’ve had better weeks.” She huffed out a short laugh. “In fact, I’ve had better
dental surgery.”
In addition to what had happened on Saturday night after the wedding, then the tension
between her and Aaron at work, the job itself had been frustrating. That was what
being a firefighter was like—some days it was just sitting around, waiting, checking
equipment, cleaning the station; others, it wasn’t.
On Tuesday, they’d fought a factory fire. Two of the crew had been taken to hospital—one
had been treated for a knee injury and would take months to recover, while the other
had suffered heat stress—the building had been too badly damaged to save, and something
like that always left a hollow feeling. Not a sense of failure, exactly, but a definite
dissatisfaction that despite people being injured, there was no positive result to
show for their efforts.
Worse still, on Wednesday there’d been a bad road traffic accident, and it had taken
them a frustratingly long time to extract a young mother and her injured children
from the wreckage. Their teamwork had saved lives, no doubt about it. Even so, the
victims had suffered for longer than any of the team would have wished, making it
difficult to be satisfied with the overall outcome.
She let out a heavy sigh. “Something to do with the alignment of the planets, I guess.”
His eyebrows rose. “I’m surprised you believe in all that astrology stuff. Doesn’t
seem like your sort of thing at all.”
“No, it’s not, but Sasha believes in it, so I must be channeling her. She always has
a reason for what’s happening. One planet is going backward and two others are meeting
up. The way she talks about it, you’d think they’d need traffic lights up there with
planets whizzing around all over the place.”
He chuckled. After a moment, he said, “Talking of Sasha…Kane tells me he’s taking
her out again.”
“So I gather. They’re going out tonight. Did Kane say anything else?”
“Like what? Whether his intentions are honorable?” He grinned.
“Well, yes,” she said, refusing to feel stupid for being concerned about her friend.
He shook his head. “No, he hasn’t said anything, but I very much doubt it.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Look…he likes her, but he’s a young bloke taking out an attractive woman. Whatever
his intentions are, they’re completely natural, I’m sure.”
“Huh. He’d better not hurt her—”
“Or he’ll have you to deal with. I already told him so.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, I thought I’d better warn him. He’s quite attached to his various body parts.”
“Hmm. Well. Good.” She chewed on a mouthful of pizza.
As if it had been waiting for a quiet moment, Aaron’s mobile phone rang. He gave her
an apologetic glance before answering, and then Jasmine was forced to sit by, pretending
not to listen, while some woman tried to convince him to meet her. Although she could
only hear his end of the conversation, it was clear what was going on.
There was only so much to look at in her back garden. She’d studied the lemon tree,
the lawn, the birdbath, and the grapevine, so she went inside to fill a jug with iced
water. She returned in time to hear him gently but firmly turn the caller down and
end the call. She
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