“I’m glad you approve. But there’s nothing to approve of. It’s not like that.”
“Not like that…” She nibbled on a thumbnail, then balled her hand into a fist, since she was trying to break that habit. “Hm…interesting. A girl you went to high school with, so fascinating she made you forget pizza, but not someone you’re hot for.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” he murmured.
She pounced. “Then you are hot for her, but you aren’t sure about her. I can’t stand it. You have to tell me! Who? Who, who?”
“Why is there an owl in here?” A yawning Chloe shuffled into the kitchen in her Adidas slides and neon orange knee socks, a crocheted blanket wrapped around her. Hadn’t he seen those knee socks on a different friend? They all seemed to exchange clothing all the time.
“I’m trying to get Jason to tell me who he just had dinner with,” Holly explained.
“I had dinner with Galen. We fried up our trout. Fun time, and you know the best part? We stayed out of each other’s business.”
Holly blinked at him. The two of them didn’t look much alike, other than the same dimple in their left cheek. She resembled their Irish father, while he took after their Argentinian mother. “Those words have no meaning to me.”
Chloe propped her elbows on the kitchen island. “You know you’re going to tell her eventually, so you might as well get it over with.”
“Love it when you all gang up on me. Is that what the intervention was like?” He reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “I’m truly sorry.”
“You have no idea.” Her heartfelt tone made him laugh a little.
Kayla wandered into the kitchen. She wore a black hoodie that she’d unintentionally decorated with green paw prints when her cat got into an open container of body paint. “What’s going on in here?”
“We’re trying to pry info out of my brother, this won’t take much longer. Just tell me what I want to know and we promise not to do an intervention on you.”
Jason looked desperately for an exit, but they were all blocked by teenagers. Was this some version of hell? He sighed and gave up. It wasn’t a secret anyway. Half of Lake Bittersweet had been at Mariano’s. “I should probably get that in writing, but fine. I was talking to Kendra Carter.”
Holly straightened up. So did Kayla and Chloe. They all exchanged alarmed glances, then simultaneously shook their heads. “No. Oh no. You can’t hook up with Kendra. If you even think about that, I will do an intervention,” said Holly.
“Excuse me?”
He wasn’t planning to hook up with Kendra. All they’d done was talk and, okay, maybe flirt a little. There had been chemistry, he wasn’t going to lie. But knowing Kendra, it would never go any further. She wanted more than an ordinary firefighter.
But the hell if he was going to let his little sister tell him who he could and couldn’t date. “Why not? Wait.” He flung up one hand. “If you say one word against Kendra—”
“Why would I do that? Kendra’s awesome. She comps us free burgers at the Blue Drake if we get an A on something.”
“Yeah, and she gave me some purple Fudge hair color for my birthday, right after I came out, and it was like, the nicest thing anyone ever did for me. I mean, grownups. Not you guys,” Kayla added quickly as Holly bristled.
“Kendra’s the bomb diggity, so you can’t go out with her right now,” Chloe explained.
“Right.” Jason nodded, hiding his hurt. They were just kids. No need to take it personally. “I’m not on her level is what you’re saying. I know that.”
“What? No, that’s absolutely not what we’re saying. You’re still grieving your relationship with Gretchen. If you’re going to have a rebound, it can’t be with someone as great as Kendra. That’s a waste!”
“A waste?” He was lost. Holly wasn’t making any sense. “A waste of what?”
“Of a potentially solid relationship. You have to wait until you’re ready, then you can date Kendra. There has to be a bridge relationship that leads you out of the depths of heartbreak back into a social life. But that person is just a springboard to the next relationship, the really good one.”
“Jesus, Holly, where do you get this stuff? You’ve never had a single serious relationship.” Bemused, he scratched at the back of his neck. All her theories seemed absurd to him.
“By choice. Which proves I take relationships seriously. You don’t, and that’s your problem. That’s probably why Gretchen ditched you.”
“Or it could have been because he’s the classic commitment-phobe,” said Chloe wisely.
“No, he’s okay with commitment.” Finally, his sister was actually defending him. “He’s the only pseudo-parental figure who’s still around. He just doesn’t take things seriously.”
“I take fires seriously.” He felt compelled to point that out.
“Do you though? Didn’t you just fill Brent’s boots with glow-in-the-dark worms? They say people could hear his screams all the way from the lake.”
“Pranks are a time-honored part of being a firefighter. They release tension, create unit cohesion, boost morale.”
Holly clapped her hands together. “You’ve been prepping for your fire chief interview! Yes! You’re going for it!”
“I still haven’t decided,” he said quickly. She’d been pushing him to apply ever since he first mentioned the possibility.
“See? If you really took things seriously, you’d already have that job. How do you expect someone like Kendra to want to date you—I mean, one girlfriend from now—if you don’t even apply for a job that’s perfect for you?”
“That’s easy. I don’t.” He shrugged. Dating Kendra wasn’t on his agenda. Or it hadn’t been, until tonight.
“Booo.” The three girls heckled him as he put his water glass in the sink and dodged around Kayla toward the stairs. “Scaredy-cat”… “cluck cluck”… “don’t be a pussy” … “Girl, pussy should be a compliment”…
He tuned them out as he hit the stairs.
But Holly had given him something to think about. If you want to date Kendra…
Did he?
Damn, he did. He really did. She was beautiful and brilliant and big-hearted and he found her absolutely fascinating. She thought he should apply for fire chief too. But would that really make a difference to her? He’d still be a small-town, simple-life guy. That wasn’t going to change. If he wasn’t good enough for her as he was…
Just do it. Push yourself. Take something seriously. Go for it. All the way. Prove to yourself you can do it.
Shocked, he stopped at the top of the staircase. That thought hadn’t come from his sister, or from Kendra. It was all him.
Damn. He was going to do it. He was going for fire chief.
On his next day off, Jason went to visit Thomas Cooper, the former fire chief. He’d lost his job in a confrontation with the board of aldermen, then turned around and run for an open seat on the board—and won. He knew all about Lake Bittersweet town politics.