Page 49 of Rescued Dreams

“Hi.” Amelia sounded choked, but she waved like this might be close to normal. Which it wasn’t for her. She had no idea if their finding Ridge kissing a woman in his kitchen was a run-of-the-mill occurrence.

She looked at him.

Ridge still had pink cheeks. “Um, guys, this is Amelia.” He cleared his throat and indicated one twin, then the other. “This is Maddie. And that’s Ella.”

Maddie swept over, her hand out, and shook Amelia’s. “Nice to meet you,Amelia.” As if her name meant something to them. Which meant he’d talked to them about her.

“Ella?” Ridge said. “Wanna come say hi?”

She didn’t look happy. Amelia had no idea why that could be. The list of possible reasons was way too long, and she didn’t know this girl.

She tried to smile and look approachable while her cheeks flamed.

Ella said, “I have a lot of homework.” She walked through the living area and disappeared down a hallway.

“So…” Maddie drew the word out. “You’re…her.”

“What does that mean?” Amelia glanced between Ridge and the teen. “Her?”

The girl gasped. “Did you make chicken and rice? Yes!” She whirled around and did a circuit of the breakfast bar to the pan, drawing down two bowls from a cupboard.

Ridge said, “Don’t worry about what it means.” He squeezed Amelia’s shoulder, looking like he wanted to explain more. “Teenage girls have wild imaginations.”

“And homework!” Maddie’s eyes were wide and full of something that looked like excitement mixed with embarrassment. “We’ll be upstairs, and wewon’tbother you guys.”

What on earth did that mean?

Amelia had no idea what to say. It wasn’t like she hung out with teens…at all. Or ever.

Maddie took two bowls down the hall in the same direction her sister had gone.

“I should leave you to…deal with that, or whatever you need to do.” Amelia slid off the stool, which brought her closer to Ridge, who hadn’t moved.

“They have homework.” He didn’t step back. “That wasn’t so bad. Now you’ve met them, and no one is in tears. It could even be called successful.”

“Tears? Is it me who is supposed to be crying, or one of them? And why would they cry, unless there’s something to the fact that I’mher?”

Ridge reached for her, but she stepped out of the way. “Amelia?—”

“I’m not leaving because I’m mad at you, but I would like to know what you’ve told them about me. Unless that was about someone else.” She didn’t like either option.

“It wasn’t…” He ran a hand through his hair. “They know you broke it off with me before.”

“So it isn’t about some other woman?”

Ridge shook his head. “There hasn’t been anyone else.”

That was something, at least. But with her being so settled on never getting into a relationship, it was also a little sad. He’d resigned himself to…what? Waiting for her? She didn’t know what that said about them. If she didn’t let this continue to see where it would go, she was consigning him to being alone.

Lonely.

Until he gave up on her and moved on.

The man was so stubborn, who knew how long that would take?

But saving Ridge from being alone wasn’t a good reason to get into a relationship with him. Which, technically, they weren’t supposed to do right now anyway. There was nothing about him that constituted a red flag, but that wasn’t the way others would see it. Or the higher-ups at the fire department.

Right now he was a lieutenant—and her superior.