Page 63 of Rescued Dreams

They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. She was eyeing the pudding cups, wondering what flavor they were, when he said, “Can we talk about yesterday?”

Amelia didn’t want to. At least, the Amelia she’d been the past few years anyway. The person she seemed to be now, the woman she wanted to be—who was open and relied on her friends—might be willing to share.

“I really did have things to do,” she said. “I had to do three loads of laundry to catch up on everything, and I cleaned my whole cabin. Plus I went for a run.”

The edge of a smile pulled at his lips. “Maria said she had a hard time keeping up at a couple of points.”

“I need to stay in shape if I’m going to pass the lieutenant’s qualifier. The written test is one thing, but the training exercise as well? Bryce told me I have to show up like someone who’s been training for months.”

Ridge had to concede that, right? He’d just taken it.

“How long did you prep for?”

He smiled. “Months. The girls helped me study, getting me on this app that has flashcards.”

“Because heaven forbid we use paper for anything these days.” She rolled her eyes. “Why is there an app for everything?”

He chuckled. “I do better writing it out on paper. But they wanted to help me, so they showed me all their tricks.”

“That’s really nice.”

He patted her knee.

“I’m glad you made it.” Amelia really was happy for him.

“You’ll make it back there as well. Of course you will.”

“And then we’ll be allowed to date officially.” She froze.

His brows rose again. But was it really so surprising?

Amelia said, “If I pass the test, we’ll be the same rank. Truck 14 or rescue squad, we’ll be back on equal footing.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, when actually it waseverythingright now. “It’s why I…blew you off yesterday. So I could focus and get there faster.”

“So we can date.”

Amelia shrugged, but the answer was yes.

Ridge said, “Why don’t I help you study?”

“Too distracting.” She shook her head. “I’ll have a couple of days off after this?—”

“More like a whole week.”

“I can lie in bed and study. Then get back to the gym.”

“Stay at the town house.” He seemed to have surprised himself saying that.

“I don’t need to.”

“You’ll be alone at the cabin. I’ll worry.” Ridge cleared his throat. “Stay at the town house, and I’ll sleep on the couch. The girls can take care of you on evenings I’m on shift. Kane and Maria can watch your place and the town house since there’s two of them. Or we can all move to the mansion.”

“That monstrosity.” She made a face. “We should, just to stick it to my father. I hope he rolls over in his grave with all the trouble he’s causing me. We should throw a party in the house and invite a bunch of church people to come by and do their thing. Cleanse it from evil or something.”

He grinned. “Or something.”

“I thought it was a good idea.”

He stood up and came over, hands on either side of her on the bed. He lowered down in a kind of push-up until his face was close to hers. “It was an adorable idea.”