Page 18 of Not How I Saw That Going

This can’t be the same man from the store. That man extending a bag of Swedish Fish to me had a warm gooey center and wore humility like a crown. I can’t help myself. “Do you have a twin brother?”

His eyes narrow to slits. “No.”

My high hopes are dashed. Crew pulls away from me and I let him go, determined to have this conversation.

“Anyway,” I backtrack. “I wanted to—”

“You didn’t need to come all the way down here to apologize,” he interrupts me, his voice sounding irritated.

My lips part, but nothing comes out. Why would it be so awful if I came to apologize? Unless he’s too tough and macho to accept an apology. It must be embarrassing to pass out on the person you thought you were saving.

The poor guy’s ego must be crushed.

“I didn’t get a concussion.” He stands up straighter. “Just got my bell rung is all.”

Oh. That’s…good.

“Well, I didn’t come here to apologize, I just…” My eyes scan the bulletin board behind his head. “I came here to… find my cat.”Wait no.“I mean volunteer.”

His eyebrows tug together. “Volunteer?” He eyes the pink box in my hand.

“Yep.” I shift my weight to the right so I can read around his head. “For the uh, maintenance staff.”

He folds his arms and I’m not at all distracted by his bulging biceps. “That’s a paid position.”

I flick my free hand in the air. “Even better.”

His eyebrows rise until they nearly touch the strand of dark hair falling across his forehead. “Maintenance, huh?”

I nod my head, a little too enthusiastically. “For sure. I know all the… things.” Like how to change a lightbulb, and… well, that might be the extent of my expertise.

“Well, go ahead. The chief is in there.” He doesn’t smile, but there’s an eager glint in his dark eyes, ready to call my bluff.

My head swivels to the office where a big burly man sits hunched over the computer.

He sure is.

I rock back on my feet. “He, uh, looks busy. Maybe I should come back at a better time.”

“Nah.” Ward has the gall to smile. Well, it’s an attempt at a smile, and it floors me. I’m so startled by the pure beauty of it that my feet miss the signal from my brain telling them to run before he catches me in my lie. “He’s always got time forvolunteers.”

He’s baiting me, but I’m not backing down. I was in labor for two days, then pushed for nearly three hours—all without an epidural. I can go talk to a fire chief about… something.

“Come on, Crew.” I stand straighter, my spine made of steel. I will not be intimidated. I glance around the station until I find my child. I mentally slap myself. “Crew, get off the pole!”

On the list of things I’d never thought I’d say to my kid, that one is right up there with “stop growling at people.”

Ward’s smug expression follows me while I grab Crew’s hand and walk to the chief’s office. At the last moment before knocking, I look back to see if Ward is still watching.

He is.

Shoot. I’m going to have to go through with it. Crew rams his fists on the door, as patience isn’t his strong suit. He got that from me. The chief looks up from his computer and motions us in.

Here goes nothing.I pull open the door.

“Well, hello there,” the chief says with a grin. “What can I do for you?”

I step inside and close the door firmly behind me. I hope this room is soundproof.