Page 54 of Rescued Dreams

“Alexis.”

“Charlie’s daughter?”

Maddie frowned. “I don’t know. She was on the cheerleading team when I was a freshman, and we still talk. She’s an EMT now, but she spent the summer in Montana last year. She said it was amazing.”

Ridge turned to her sister. “Ella, how do you feel about Maddie going to learn how to fight wildfires?”

Ella hadn’t completely snapped out of her funk, but she seemed a little more animated now. And a little less irritated at finding Ridge in the kitchen kissing Amelia. Then again, he’d been as surprised as anyone else that his evening had turned out like that.

She brushed hair back from her face. “We need to know what we’re capable of. That we can be strong and do something that means we’ve gotta be tough. Or smarter than someone else.”

“You don’t have to prove anything to anyone.”

Ella said, “But if we don’t see what we’re made of, then we never know what we can do.”

Ridge frowned at her. “When did you get to be so wise?”

Ella’s eyes smiled and her cheeks pinked.

“It’s not for months yet,” Maddie said. “I can’t even apply until spring. But if I don’t know what I want to do, maybe I can try some different things. See what I like. Do I have to go to college?”

Ridge wanted to say yes, unequivocally. But this wasn’t about what he wanted. “Not right away. There isn’t a rush.”

Maddie said, “Uncle Kane told me to pray about it. To ask God what He wanted me to do.”

“I guess we’re all getting wiser and wiser.”

Maddie smiled.

Ridge blew out a breath. “And old people get tired.” They thought he was ancient because he was older than thirty—and sometimes he felt it. Especially after a long shift followed by a long evening.

Ella said, “And they have to do their chores.”

He laughed on his way to the door. “Touché.”

Ridge glanced back before he shut it, pretty sure he was going to get Ella a kitten this Christmas. Maddie probably needed a new phone. Ridge knew what he wanted, but only Amelia could give him a chance to prove to her that a relationship could work.

He headed to his room and flopped on the bed. Deep down he was a little boy with a flighty mom and no father, a boy who’d lost his anchor after Grandpa had died. Kane had been his brother and best friend, because Kane’s mom wasn’t so different from her sister.

Ridge had always avoided risk so he could do what he knew he’d succeed at. Even firefighting, and with rescue squad. He’d taken far longer than anyone had expected to finally go for lieutenant. He’d only gone after it once it was a sure thing.

The first time he and Amelia had dated, he’d played it safe. This time there was nothing for him to prove to himself. What he needed to do was show her that he was worth taking a risk.

Not just because being together made sense every way he looked at it—at least, it would once he wasn’t her boss anymore. But also because he wanted, with everything in him, to make her life as happy as it could be.

Because it was what she deserved.

NINETEEN

“Go.” Bryce clicked the button on the stopwatch.

Amelia grabbed her gear, piece by piece, and pulled it on. Rain drizzled from the sky, dampening everything. She was soaked from standing out here for so long in the afternoon precipitation.

Turnout coat.

Air tank.

Thankfully it wasn’t also freezing, or this would be miserable. But she had to be able to do her job in any weather, and if the department needed her to prove she could be who she knew she was…