Page 9 of Hold Your Breath

“You’ve made it into aday?” he asked. “Nice. Can we get it off of work?”

She recoiled the rope. “No day off, but there is one good thing about HDGD day. Callum was civil, actually civil, for about six minutes. Straight.”

“Really? That’s impressive. I think the previous record was twelve seconds. Nice subject change, by the way.”

“What?”

“I saw you checking out Deputy Chris.” He grinned. “Your eyes were firmly on that cop’s ass. Don’t deny it.”

She gave him a lofty and glacial stare. “I was thinking.”

“About what? Deputy Chris’s bitable backside?”

“You know, I’m telling Artie you’ve been ogling deputies behind her back,” Lou teased. Derek got the same sappy smile he always did whenever Artie was mentioned. The two were sickeningly and adorably devoted to each other. Lou tucked the coils of rope over her shoulder. “Actually, I was thinking about statistics.”

“Boring. And doubtful.”

“But true.” She gave a final glance at the remaining objects and headed for the shore, although not before getting a good look at the evidence lined up next to her. “I was considering the likelihood of having such a high number of improbably attractive people in the Field County Emergency Services.”

“Iknewyou were thinking about his ass!” Derek puffed out his chest. “And thank you. I agree.”

“Yeah…” She drew out the word, looking him up and down. “I’m thinking you’re an outlier.”

“Hey!”

Ignoring his protests, she headed toward the ambulance to collect the newly emptied Stokes basket from the EMTs.

* * *

Headless-dead-guy-discovery day just kept getting better and better.

Lou stared at the flat tire on her Chevy pickup—her second flat in the past week—and felt her shoulders droop.

“Haven’t you gotten ten-ply tires yet?”

She didn’t look at Callum but continued glaring at the deflated tire, as if she could fix it with the power of her sullen gaze. “No. It’s on the wrong list.”

“Wrong list?”

She sighed. “I have my must-have list and my want-to-have list. Load E tires are on my want-to-have list.”

“What’s on your must-have list?”

“Food. Propane. Firewood.” She resisted the urge to kick the flat tire. “Tire patch kit.”

“Did you get your tire patched after last time?”

“Of course,” she huffed. After a long moment of silence, she gave in and kicked the deflated rubber after all. It didn’t make her feel better. In fact, it hurt her toes. “I just haven’t picked it up from Donnie’s yet.”

“So no spare.”

She flexed her aching toes. “Yes, just…not here. I’ll, uh, figure something out. No problem.”

Callum stalked toward his own truck. Biting her lip, she watched him open the driver’s side door, wishing she had the courage to ask for help. The other guys had scattered as soon as they’d arrived at Fire Station One, where the dive team was based. She and Callum had rinsed the dive suits and equipment, then hung them to dry before coming out to the parking lot and discovering her flat.

After climbing into his truck, he didn’t shut the door. Instead, he shot her an expectant look. “You coming?”

“Oh, thank you, baby Jesus.” She hurried over to climb in the passenger side. “Can you give me a ride home?”