Page 19 of Between Hello and Goodbye

“Were you a fireman there too?”

“Nope.”

She raised her brow, waiting for me to elaborate, but my business was my own and it was going to stay that way.

“You’re quite the conversationalist,” she mused. “I could never leave my city for a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific. The upheaval…” She shook her head as if she couldn’t imagine it. “Kauai is pretty but so far away from literally everything.”

“That’s exactly why I like it.”

“I didn’t take you for a recluse.”

“You gotta be a recluse to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth?”

“No, but to give up what you’ve given up…that doesn’t happen overnight, does it?”

She was sharp, this one, and if I let her, she’d come close to touching something I didn’t want anyone poking at.

“Sometimes it does.” I got to my feet. “Water. You need to stay hydrated.”

“Aren’t you sweet.”

“Not especially,” I said, filling a glass at the sink.

“If you weren’t fighting fires, what did you do in New York?”

“You ask a lot of questions.” I returned with a glass of water.

“You’re a mysterious person, Asher Mackey.”

And you’re making it difficult to dislike you, Faith Benson.

“What doyoudo for a living?” I asked. “Let me guess: fashion blogger. No, you’re an Instagram…what do you call it? Influencer.”

It wasn’t exactly a compliment, but Faith’s hand flew to her heart.

“Oh my God, thank you! But no, I’m in advertising.” She rolled her eyes at my grimace. “So, I’m not saving lives—”

“No, you’re keeping the capitalist machine rolling, selling people crap they don’t need, want, or can afford.”

“Hey, Judgy McJudgerton, there’s a tad more to it than that.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t sell anything,” she said. “A salesperson is there for the sale. My job is to grab someone’s attention first. To key into their desire. To make themwant.”

Fucking hell, job well done…

Faith sighed and turned her gaze to the ocean. “It’s ironic. I work for an ad agency but mostly just on paper. I take a lot of time off because I can. Because my salary is like a bonus. Because I find guys who want to take care of me. They bankroll my life of leisure, and I take full advantage. Unapologetically. I hit the jackpot with one guy. That was a wild ride, but…”

Faith caught my dark look and tilted her chin defiantly.

“I know, I’m a shallow gold-digger, right? But that’s why I’m here. Silas—the jackpot—he and I are best friends now, and I’m done taking his or anyone else’s money. Now I’m just trying to figure out who I am without allthat.” She flapped her hand in Seattle’s general direction. “But alas, my voyage of self-discovery is over.”

I said nothing aloud while thoughts warred in my mind.Don’t let her gofought the hardest. But nothing was going to come of this. Not even sex, given Faith’s injury, though I realized with some alarm that I’d be happy just to sit on the couch with her and talk.

This is ridiculous. Get out of here before you lose your damn mind.

I got to my feet and snatched my phone out of my uniform back pocket. “You need to get cleaned up. I’ll call Paula, my nurse friend.”