“It was nice to get some fresh air,” Jordan said. “The lake’s beautiful.”
Hailey nodded. “It is. Most of the property’s been snatched up as vacation homes for people from the bigger cities, but a couple locals have done well for themselves. Luke actually lives there.”
“Ah, yeah,” Jordan said, taking a sip of wine. “We crossed paths during our morning run.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Hailey said, stuffing the rest of the carrot in her mouth and reaching for a chip next, as though her vegetable quota was now fulfilled. “I always forget that he was the only guy on the high school football team who even pretended to stay in shape after graduation.”
“Well, the rest of the firefighters are fit,” Jordan pointed out.
“Sure.” Hailey waved her chip. “They have to be. But not like Luke.”
“Which is lucky for you,” Bree said, bumping her hip against Jordan’s and joining the conversation. “It means that he won’t be a complete eyesore in all those hot-tub episodes, right?”
Jordan couldn’t resist the grumpy grunt. “Let’s just say it’s less and less likely that that’s going to happen.”
“Oh, don’t give up on him!” Bree said, touching Jordan’s arm.
Jordan gave the two women a steady look. “Be perfectly honest. Can either of you really see him going along with this?”
Hailey pursed her lips and rolled her eyes upward, and Bree bit into a buffalo wing and glanced away.
Jordan laughed. “It’s like I thought. You ladies may be right about him needing to snap out of his post-Gil, post-wedding funk, but I don’t think it’s going to be on national television.”
The other women exchanged a look. “You know about Gil?”
“He mentioned it,” Jordan said carefully. “Not the details, just that they were best friends and that Gil died in a fire.”
“Saddest thing,” Hailey said quietly. “The LHFD hadn’t lost a man in decades, and Gil was so young.”
“And the nicest,” Bree said with a sigh. “Just that guy that everyone liked.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jordan said. “It sounds like he was a friend.”
“Gil was everyone’s friend, but…he and Luke were like brothers. They grew up next door to each other. Gil was an only child, and Luke only had a sister—”
“Um, who’s awesome!” Tawny said from across the room, lifting her white zinfandel to indicate she was hearing every word.
Bree waved a hand as though to say, yeah, yeah, and turned her attention back to Jordan. “Anyway. It was a crappy time for all of us. Worse for Luke, though. Bad enough to lose a best friend, but to be there—”
Jordan’s head whipped around. “Luke was there?”
Bree winced, realizing she’d perhaps said too much. “He didn’t mention it?”
Jordan shook her head. No wonder he looked so closed off when Gil’s name had come up.
“He never talks about it,” Bree said, lowering her voice. “I only know the details of what happened because Ryan was there. It was a three-alarm fire. Nothing they hadn’t handled hundreds of times before, but the roof collapse caught everyone off guard.”
Jordan swallowed.
Bree was silent for a moment. “Luke and Gil were the only ones who hadn’t gotten out when it happened. The others tried to get to them, but the frame of the front door was crushed; the whole thing was just…unstable.” She sucked in a long breath. “Luke came out with Gil on his back, but it was too late.”
Jordan felt a prickle of tears in the corners of her eyes and wiped at them, as did Hailey and Bree.
“Okay, enough of that,” Hailey said, inhaling and fanning her face. “Shall we talk about the terrible book?”
“You picked the book,” Stacey said, coming around with a bottle of wine and doing top-offs.
“Which is why I’m allowed to say it was terrible,” Hailey pointed out. “The rest of you have to be polite.”