Lark (First & Forever 5)

I wrote: Not until tomorrow at 8 a.m. I’m a firefighter, and we work twenty-four-hour shifts. I’ll try to text you later this evening though, as long as I’m not out responding to a call.

Lark’s next text said: That’s awesome that you’re a firefighter! Text me any time, I’m always up late. That was followed by a bunch of smiley face emojis, ending in another eggplant. His last text said: Oops.

That put a huge smile on my face. I couldn’t help it. He was just really cute.

Of course, my coworkers had to comment on it. “Wow dude, you’re beaming,” Malone said.

“I regret ever telling you anything in my entire life,” I muttered, as I got up and returned the phone to my pocket.

“We would have figured out something was up anyway,” Heath said. “You never act like that.”

I frowned at him and asked, “Like what?”

“Like my fourteen-year-old daughter when she’s talking about a cute boy,” Malone said, which made our friends grin. I just sighed and went back to preparing dinner.

Mercifully, we made it through the meal without interruption. After we ate, a couple of crew members stepped in to clean up the kitchen and do the dishes, and Loretta turned to me and said, “Why don’t you take a break and call that guy? After the day we had, I’m obviously not going to assign any tasks for this evening. So, as long as we don’t get another call, you have the time.”

“I can wait.”

“I know that, but I’m trying to tell you that you don’t have to.” Loretta pinned me with a sharp stare. It felt like she was about five seconds from ordering me to call him. Not that she would, obviously, but she still gave that impression.

“Okay. I’ll be in the reception room if you need me,” I said.

The firehouse was in an eighty-year-old building, and the interior had been remodeled about ten years ago. In addition to the lobby and the large bay which held the trucks, there was a room on the ground floor which was mostly used to host VIPs. It had escaped the remodel, because the people in charge liked its vintage charm. That meant it looked a bit like a country club from a bygone era, with traditional furniture we all described as “fox hunt chic.” It was stuffy and uncomfortable, but I liked the photos on the walls. They were of the crews who’d worked at this station over the years, along with eight decades of fire trucks.

Another good thing about this room was that it provided a bit of privacy, unlike the rest of the building. I took a seat on the plaid sofa and sent Lark a text, which said: Hi. I have a few minutes, so would you maybe want to talk?

My phone rang a moment later, and I tapped the icon to accept the video call. Lark appeared on my screen, and a huge smile spread across his face as he exclaimed, “It’s you, my Cinderella man! What a wild coincidence that we live in the same place and were at the same party!”

“Small world.”

His smile got brighter. He was sitting on his bed, and he settled back against his giant, mismatched stack of pillows. “There’s that sexy voice. Now I know you and Hawk really are one and the same. My name’s Larkin Genardi, by the way. You told me your name, so you should know mine, too.”

“So that’s where ‘Lark’ comes from.”

“Yup. Most people think I made it up, but I would have picked a much cuter bird, like a finch or something.”

“Larks aren’t cute?”

“Not really. They’re pretty generic, except for the horned lark. It’s awesome. It always looks like it’s pissed off, and it has two tufts of feathers on top of its head, kind of like this.” The phone shifted, and he made a two-pronged crown on top of his head with his fingers. A moment later, the image blurred, then landed on Lark’s crotch. He was wearing pajama pants with round cartoon unicorns on them. “Oops! I was trying to hold the phone between my knees, but I dropped it,” he said, as his face appeared on-screen again.

“No worries.” I paused before saying, “So, um, I want to apologize for running off without a word last night. I can explain why I did that, but it’s complicated and probably best saved for when we have more time.”

“You don’t owe me an explanation.”

“Yes, I do. I guess the short version is that I got overwhelmed, but I shouldn’t have left like that. You deserved better, especially since we’d just—”

“Shared a panty-melting kiss?”

I grinned and said, “Yeah, that.”

After a slight pause, he asked where my fire station was located. When I told him the cross streets, he asked, “Can I come by and say hi?”

“Now?”

He nodded. “Would you be able to come outside and chat, just for five minutes?”

“I’m not sure. We’ve been on a lot of calls today, and we could get called out again at any moment.”