5

“Why do you say that?”

I waved off my assistant as she popped her head in, and I swiveled the chair around to face the wall of windows. “Most people send a text the next day, two days max. Or they scrub off the ink with no intention of ever calling. But they don’t usually keep the number and wait three weeks to use it.”

“I was moving. That’s why I didn’t phone you sooner.”

I grabbed a stress ball off my desk. I threw it into the air, caught it, and tossed it right back up. “My best friend owns a moving company. I could have had you relocated and unpacked within a few hours.”

“I wouldn’t have accepted your offer, Dylan. My roommates and I are more than capable of handling it.”

I shifted in my seat as the ball went wide to the left, and I threw it high. “It sounds like you have more than one.”

“I have three.”

“Three?” I said, laughing.

I hadn’t lived with that many people since college, and that was ten years ago.

I wasn’t sure how old Alix was. I guessed mid-twenties, which meant she should be well past the sorority stage of her life.

“Two of the guys at the station were looking for roommates. Rose and I were, too, so we moved in with them.”

“Rose is?”

“The girl I was eating dinner with the night I met you.”

Now, I was just intrigued.

“And what station are you referring to?”

“Engine thirty-three, ladder fifteen—the firehouse on Boylston Street.”

Since I hadn’t known her name until a few seconds ago, I hadn’t been able to look Alix up, so I didn’t know anything about her.

Now that I was getting a taste, I wanted more.

“Do you work there?”

“Yes, I’m a paramedic.”

A marketing executive, a real estate agent, the owner of an art gallery, I could picture. But Alix dressed in a uniform, straddling someone on a gurney while performing CPR, I could not.

That didn’t mean I hated the image in my mind.

I liked it.

A hell of a lot.

She was a first responder, and there wasn’t anything more honorable than that.

Especially in a city as challenging as Boston.

“I’m impressed,” I said.

“Thank you.”

“Tell me something, Alix. Why would a woman like yourself have three roommates?”

“Like myself?”

I rolled the ball over the armrest of the chair. “Strong, independent. Fearless.”

She stayed quiet for a few seconds before she said, “My parents feel more comfortable when I live in a building that has a doorman. They’ve spent their whole lives in innocent ole Maine. The thought of me being in this big city terrifies them. And that’s where my place has to be located because it’s one of my job requirements. With those two expensive necessities, I’d be rent poor if I didn’t have roommates.”

I knew what city employees made.

My mother was one.

So, I understood Alix’s situation.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“You mean, right this second?”

“Yes.”

“I’m walking out of the firehouse, heading home.”

I’d lived in Boston my entire life, so I knew the general area of where that firehouse was located. I just didn’t know the cross street. “How far are you from Back Bay Station?”

“Maybe seven blocks or so.”

“When you get there, take the orange line to Downtown Crossing. I’ll be there when you walk outside.”

“Wait. You want me to get on the train to meet you? Now?”

I looked at my computer, clicking on the calendar to bring up my schedule. It showed I had four more meetings today, one that started in fifteen minutes. Two of them were conference calls with the West Coast office, and in an hour, one was with the pilot who had received a one-month suspension for showing up drunk to the airport.

“Do it on a whim, Alix.”

Several seconds passed before she said, “Okay, I’ll see you there.”

Six

Alix

Present Day

Madison’s, the restaurant where I was meeting Peter, was only a few blocks from my townhouse, making it easy to walk there. As I put on my jacket, I wondered what Rose had told him about me and if he’d chosen to eat there because of how close it was to my place.

I had to ask her.

We were overdue for a chat anyway. I was supposed to call her when I got home from work today, but I had been too busy, getting ready.

So, once I shut the front door behind me, carefully walking down the steps, I took out my cell and pressed her name in my Contacts.

She answered after the first ring and said, “Girl, I was giving you five more minutes before I called you and chewed your ass out. You’re going on a date tonight. How can we not talk first?”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“You’re forgiven.”

I laughed. “I need to clarify something really quick. This is not a date.”

“What is it then?”

I thought about her question, trying to come up with the answer that had caused me to put on several different outfits before I settled on this one and spent a little extra time doing my makeup.

The truth was, “I honestly don’t know.”

“It doesn’t need a label. You’re going out; let’s leave it at that. Tell me what you’re wearing.”

Even though I knew what was covering my body, I looked down as I passed a large group of men. “Skinny jeans, a lightweight sweater, and knee-high boots.”

“Did you have a glass of wine before you left?”

I wondered if I would ever reach a point in my life when she stopped asking that question. “A half of a glass.”

“Good,” she responded. “I hoped you would celebrate even if I wasn’t there to force you to.”

This was another moment.

At least she believed it was one.

I didn’t want to think too much about it, so I changed topics and said, “What are you and Terry doing tonight?”

Terry was Rose’s fiancé. They’d started dating shortly after we all moved in together, which was about the same time I’d met Dylan. When things turned serious between Terry and Rose, they got their own place, and two firemen from a different station moved in with me.