Hot Mess

4. Ward

Chapter Four

Ward

“Here ya go,” Rex Masters said as he handed me a cup of coffee.

I took a quick sip, savoring the flavor. “Thank you,” I said with a nod.

Rex rounded his desk, gesturing towards the chair across from it as he sat down. I slipped into the chair, leaning back and shifting my shoulders to ease the tension that had been bundled there for the past month straight.

I’d buried my mother a week ago, and my younger brother had belatedly shown up for the funeral. I tried to remember the last time he had seen our mother before she died. I couldn’t because I had figured it was best not to dwell on the past.

After the pain of watching cancer steal my mother, I had to deal with Dwight’s resentment. To give him some credit, I think he felt badly he hadn’t bothered to come see our mother in hospice. I’d been close to my mother, but otherwise, my family wasn’t particularly close. One thing that bound us together was money and lots of it.

For that reason alone, I shouldn’t have been surprised at Dwight’s appearance. Dwight’s father had married my mother for her money and had been furious when he got none of it in the divorce. That detail had been a festering resentment for Dwight for years. Part of me would’ve been relieved if she’d left all of it to Dwight, if only to excise his resentment for once and for all. Yet, much as I didn’t need the responsibility of dealing with it, I didn’t care to watch Dwight blow through whatever he inherited.

She’d played it smart in her will. My mother wasn’t a vengeful person, which was why I’d been so pissed at how Dwight essentially ignored her for years. She left him one of the family homes and a massive chunk of land in Bozeman, Montana, along with a small fund to be overseen by an executor. The fact his actual cash assets were overseen by someone else pissed him off. I’d had to listen to him b***h about it for days.

Thank God she had the sense to keep my inheritance private. Dwight could only guess at what he thought I might have inherited, although he’d made plenty of cutting comments about how I wouldn’t have to work another day in my life. As if I had any desire to be that lazy.

I loved my job, and right now, I needed it. Being outdoors working would keep me focused on something other than the wheels spinning in my mind.

This past month had been rough. There was one memory I’d visited time and again when I wanted to banish everything I was facing—my last night with Susannah. I knew it was rational for me to keep a wall between us. But, dammit, I didn’t want to.

I forced my attention back to Rex, taking another sip of coffee. Rex Masters was the Police Chief for Willow Brook. Willow Brook Fire & Rescue shared the station with his small force, and Rex essentially ran the station. Stepping in as a superintendent for one of the three crews based out of here, it would behoove me to get to know him.

Rex was easy going with a ready grin, which he cast my way just now. “Good to see you. I’m sorry to hear about your mother,” he said, his gaze sobering.

I took a sip of coffee to buy myself a moment and managed a nod. “Thank you. She meant a lot to me. It wasn’t a surprise, although the timing was certainly bad.”

Rex nodded politely. I trusted Rex on sight based on nothing more than a feeling he gave me. While I wasn’t one to share much personally, I’d learned over the years if you kept too much to yourself, people had more questions. I’d learned to walk that line well, offering just enough.

“She was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. She fought it, but it was hard on her. We knew it was simply a matter of time. She was comfortable at the end, and that’s all that mattered to me.”

Rex was quiet, his gaze warm, before nodding slowly. “Well, that’s about the best you can hope for. Do you have any other family?”

“A brother,” was all I offered.

Rex didn’t push for more. Like Dwight’s father, my father had married my mother for her family’s money. Unlike Dwight’s father, my father got a tidy settlement in the divorce, and we never heard from him again. I had very few memories of him and that was perfectly fine with me.

I offered none of this to Rex, simply nodding again, thanking him for asking and deftly moving on. “So I understand you’re the nerve center here at the station,” I commented.

Rex chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “You could say that, although I would argue that’s Maisie. You met her when you were here before, right?”

“Of course. She’s the main dispatcher, right?”

“That she is. Her grandmother was our dispatcher for years. We have a few backups, but Maisie’s the only full-time dispatcher. The Anchorage station covers the line during night shifts and then we have a weekend person. If you didn’t catch it when you were here earlier, Maisie’s married to Beck Steele, one of the other firefighters here,” he explained.

“Oh right. Seems like a tight group here.” I was also aware one of the other superintendents, Cade Masters, was Rex’s son.

Rex leaned back in his chair, his gaze considering. “So it is. You signed on for a two year contract.”

His words were a statement, yet I could sense the question contained within them.

“That I did. I enjoy the work. I was up here one summer with a crew from Montana, and I loved the area. When I saw the position open up, I decided to jump on it.”

Rex eyed me thoughtfully. “Good. We requested the two years because this is a tightknit community, and relatively speaking, it’s isolated. We needed a leader committed to being here for a bit.”

“Absolutely understood. I didn’t question it.”

“I understand from Susannah Gilmore that you trained in California with her,” he commented.

Simply the mention of Susannah’s name sent a prickle of awareness through my body. If I were being honest with myself, I couldn’t wait to see her again. In fact, I’d already come up with a rationale for why we should keep having nights like the one we had before I left last month.

But I couldn’t exactly mention that to Rex. Instead, I nodded politely and took a sip of coffee.

“Susannah is an excellent crew member. You’ll be glad to have her on your team,” Rex said, setting his coffee down. He picked up a pen, twirling it idly in his fingers. “So I suppose I should fill you in on a few dynamics for the crew. One of the advantages I have being over here in the police part of the station is I have some separation from you guys. I usually know what’s up though. Anyway, Chad Meyer has been a problem lately. Frankly, since he was hired. He’s not what I’d call a team player. Honestly, he’s an a*s. He was a bit of a problem with Susannah at one point, on her about going out with him, but she kept her distance. When Al retired, Chad put in for the position. He’s too clueless about how the rest of the crew perceives him to realize he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell. I advised against even bothering with an interview,” Rex explained.

“So I’m guessing he’s not too thrilled I’m here,” I offered.

“Oh, it’s not you. It’s the position. It doesn’t matter who got the job, he was going to be an a*s about it. To be blunt, I thought Al should’ve fired him sooner, but I think he decided to put this one off because he was on his way out. Al’s a great guy. He got injured about a year ago and lost the spark for the work. I wanted to give you that heads up about Chad because my guess is you’re going to want to do something about him sooner rather than later. Aside from him, you’re walking into a solid crew.”

“Thanks for filling me in.” I finished my coffee and stood, catching Rex‘s eyes. “I appreciate you being direct with me. I’ll try to deal with it quickly. To be honest, I have zero patience with bullshit. Either you’re committed to the team and your role on it, or you’re not.”

Rex nodded. “Sounds good to me. I’ve got your back on this if he tries to pull any bullshit in the meantime.”

I nodded, although my thoughts were already drifting to Susannah. Hearing this guy had been on her case sent a wash of protectiveness rolling through me. It infuriated me to think the jerk tried to hit on Susannah. This train of thought should’ve been a wake up call for me, but it wasn’t. It barely registered for me that I could lump myself in the same category. Yet, Susannah kicked rational thought to the curb in my brain.

Only one word came to mind when I thought of her.

Mine.