First

‘No. I’ll manage.’

I step away, but the soft call of my name has me turning. ‘You say something?’

It’s rare to catch Maya off guard. She looks younger, unsure, her fingers tapping against the basket’s handle. ‘Umm

… thanks. You know, for keeping me from getting hit with the jar. That’s all.’

‘Sure. Glad I could help.’ I edge toward the end of the aisle. ‘See you later.’

Nelson’s still hanging out in the cheese section when I find him. He looks up from his phone, expression serious.

‘What?’ I ask.

‘She’s hot.’

‘So?’

‘Like, seriously hot. And kind of scary.’

‘No shit,’ I mutter. I drag the cart from his grasp and continue on toward the produce aisle, leaving him trailing in my wake. He follows me, still tapping out something on his phone. We round the corner and are greeted by a young family. The youngest boy glances up at us, eyes going wide.

‘Mom,’ he yells. ‘Firefighters!’

Nelson’s phone vanishes and I take a deep breath before plastering a friendly smile on my face. It doesn’t matter if my mind’s distracted from my run-in with Maya. Right now, in this moment, the kid’s excited face is the only thing that should matter.

***

The magazines on the racks around me don’t have any headlines distracting enough to shift my attention from Jake a check-out lane over. I really wish I hadn’t seen him and his buddy stopped in the produce section, talking to a young boy about firefighting. Nelson was polite, but Jake was totally into it. He’d crouched down, explaining stuff to the kid, laughing and joking around.

I’ve never seen him grin like that before. It did weird things to my knees. Things that weren’t lust-related.

I shake my head and eye the chocolate bars. Come on. Focus on something else, anything else …

There are still two people ahead of me in this line. Jake’s line is open, but I’m not sure I’m brave enough to switch. I’m debating the merits of swapping when their pagers go off. Unfortunately, I recognise the sound. In my mind, it’s linked to a look of shuttered disappointment on Catherine’s face and Jake’s abrupt departures.

Nelson heads for the door, leaving Jake with their groceries. Without meaning to, I find myself creeping closer to the lane. Jake apologises to the clerk as he squeezes past the cart. The clerk, a sweet middle-aged woman, doesn’t seem to mind. My basket’s on the conveyor belt out of habit as I watch his perfect ass disappear through the doors.

I don’t know why, but watching him leave reminds me of that morning-after. I may never admit it to him, but I hadn’t liked watching him leave then either.

‘Give me just a second,’ the woman tells me, helping me snap back to reality.

‘They got a call?’ I ask, watching her look over the partially checked-out cart full of groceries they had to abandon.

‘Guess so. Poor boys.’ I must look bummed because she smiles and says, ‘This happens sometimes. They’re always so sorry about leaving it behind for us to clean up.’

Outside the store, the fire station’s pick-up zips out of the lot. I know Jake said that they were picking up food for dinner, but judging by the quantity of goods left behind, the meal was going to be for the entire shift, not just him and Nelson.

The cashier’s turning to clear out the transaction when I point at the bags. ‘Go ahead and finishing ringing them up. I’ll pay for it.’

She gives me a funny look.

‘I know them,’ I explain. ‘Just add my basket and I’ll make sure to drop their bags off at the station.’

‘That’s awfully sweet of you,’ she says, slowly continuing to scan their cart’s contents. ‘How do you know them?’

‘Jake, the blond guy, is my best friend’s brother.’

The woman glances up a little at that and gives me a knowing smile. ‘He seemed like quite a gentleman.’