Phoenix Feather (14 page)

“How’s work been?” Aidan asked.

He glanced at her. Her gaze still focused on the fire.

“Busy.” He was beginning to feel the cold of the night air.

“I haven’t been reading the papers,” she continued. “Have you caught the person who killed those three women?”

Bryan’s jaw tightened and he shoved his hands into his pockets. “No, and it’s four.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw her turn her head to look at him.

“You hate your job. So why do you do it?”

“Someone has to.” She ducked her gaze away, and he felt that guilt again at speaking so gruffly. “I didn’t always hate it,” he said in a softer tone.

“No,” she said in agreement. “You and Trent like to help people.”

“Is that what I’m doing?” he said dryly.

“You don’t think so?” She held his gaze, and the fire in her eyes mystified him. He told himself it was just the glow in the distance.

“I can’t stop a serial killer from hunting in my city. What kind of help is that?”

Aidan shrugged. “Those men out there couldn’t stop that fire from claiming that building. They’re not helping anyone?”

The muscle in Bryan’s jaw twitched. She had that cool and reasonable sense that Bryan found annoying in Trent. In a simple parallel, she had managed to rationally tear down his self-pitied moping. He smiled grimly to himself. No wonder Trent liked her so much.

“My friend is dying and I can’t stop that either,” Aidan said, a ring of sadness in her voice. “But when I sit with him and make him laugh, I believe I’m helping him.” She shivered and looked up with a tentative smile. “Do you have Thanksgiving off? Or will you be working like Trent?”

The switch looked as though it came so easy for her. One moment she could be indulging the sullen and depressing feelings of a crushing reality, and the next she could be smiling about holidays and turkey with dressing. What was the secret that everyone else seemed to know that he didn’t? Or was that the secret itself? Perhaps that’s what Jess meant earlier when she said she needed to keep thinking about Thanksgiving, because if she didn’t, she’d end up tangled in a web of dark thoughts that she couldn’t escape. He had let himself fall victim to such a trap. He needed to get out. He had been ignoring Trent, unwilling to bring the darkness of his job near him, because that’s all Bryan could think about.

Tonight though, that darkness could have touched his brother without Bryan needing to be the one to bring it. All his efforts to protect Trent were in vain, and he realized them for what they were: a shield to give himself the space and solitude to self-indulge in brooding. What a fool he was.

Bryan swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. “My partner’s sister invited me to have dinner with her family. They have two kids. I might go.”

Aidan’s smile relaxed. “I volunteered to make cookies for the firehouse. There are eight sheets of tin foil at home with cookies cooling on them. Unless Phoebe gets so nervous she eats one of the sheets.” Her smile curved wryly. “Trent was right: baking for a firehouse is a lot of work and a lot of cleanup.”

“You don’t spend Thanksgiving with your family?” Bryan asked.

“They’re in Colorado. They understand that I want to stay in town with Chris until…well, until the cancer’s over.”

Bryan frowned at the phrasing. “Trent hasn’t told me much,” he said, and then checked himself. “I haven’t been available for him to. There isn’t much chance of a remission?”

Aidan looked at the ground. “None. The doctors say he maybe has three months.”

“I’m sorry,” Bryan said, and realized how hollow it sounded, just like the first time he had said it to her:
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
Only that time he hadn’t really thought about the words—it was a rehearsed line.

“I should have realized it before tonight,” she said. “How important each day is. I’ve been doing things in light of that in regards to Chris, because I know each day is important with him. I didn’t realize the same for Trent, or for anybody else really. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Bryan felt the same pain in his own heart.
No
, he agreed,
neither will I
.

***

Trent shut down the nozzle and let out a big sigh of exhaustion. The fire was finally extinguished—live flame anyway. They would need to take power saws to the walls to make sure nothing had retreated into them where it could fester and wait for a revival. It had been a long and terrible battle, compounded by the fact that two firemen had been seriously injured. The knowledge of fellow men trapped inside a burning building hit everyone hard, added a sense of panic to an already intense job.

The stench of burnt plastic and chemicals assaulted Trent’s senses, and the heat from his coat and helmet left his skin burning. He and Sam carried the hose back to the engine truck, their boots sloshing through standing water. Trent took his helmet and gloves off, and the cold night air hit him like a fist. It was painfully refreshing.

Frank broke away from the ring of fire captains and lieutenants to talk with his own men.

“How’re Neil and Greg?” Trent asked.

“Neil’s got a broken leg and some second degree burns,” Frank said. “Greg’s got a few broken ribs and smoke inhalation.”

Trent grimaced. Aside from burns, those two injuries combined were a nightmare to weather. The accident shouldn’t have happened, but sometime in the past, one of the stores had done some remodeling and changed the structure of the roof in that spot. So when the trusses failed, the precautions the men had set up based on the building’s original blueprints didn’t hold. It was a grim, but common reality.

“Trent,” Frank said. “Your brother’s here.”

“Really?” Trent looked up in surprise.

Frank handed him a bottle of water. “Go reassure him before we get started on the overhaul.”

“Thanks.” Trent took his coat off to get a brief respite from its heat before he’d need to don it again for the work that still lay ahead. His muscles ached, and he walked stiffly across the parking lot to the edge of the police line. He smiled at the sight of Aidan there too. Had they come together?

“Were you worried about me?” Trent said in a light manner.

“We heard about the two firemen trapped,” Bryan replied.

Trent looked at Aidan. She seemed okay, waiting patiently behind the line.

“You smell like smoke.” A playful smile burst across her face. “Nice, real, strong smoke.”

Trent grinned, but his muscles pulled at the raw heat burns on his face and he winced.

“Are you okay?” Bryan asked.

“After a shower, a meal, and twelve hours of sleep, yeah, I’ll be okay.” Trent studied Bryan, and took note of his car several feet behind them. He didn’t see Aidan’s car, so he must have driven her here. That was thoughtful…did she ask him to? “I am very glad to see you both though,” he said. “You’re a refreshing sight in the middle of a hectic work day.”

Aidan reached over the police tape and interlaced her fingers with his. “I made the cookies.”

Trent grinned. “Did you bring any?”

“You have to wait for Thursday.”

He feigned disappointment. “I don’t get anything?”

“What would you like?” she asked coyly.

She was beautiful in the dark, the deep shade of her hair melting into the night, her eyes flickering with the hint of embers. He sighed. “A hug would be fantastic, but I will spare you the sweat and grime.”

She rubbed her thumb in his palm thoughtfully. Then she tugged him toward her and leaned over the police tape to kiss him. She was sweet and gentle, like the whisper of a wind brushing his lips. When she leaned back, he saw her try to bite back a smile. He didn’t bother to hide his.

“How’s that?” she asked.

“Much better.” He wanted to pull her back, intensify that kiss into something deeper, but he remembered that his brother was standing there. “I need to get back to work,” Trent said reluctantly.

“Okay. Call me after you’ve had that shower, food, and sleep.” Aidan squeezed his hand once more before releasing it.

He smiled. “Yeah.”

“Be careful,” Bryan said.

“You taking her home?”

Bryan nodded.

“Thanks.” He turned around and walked back to the building. They had hours of work ahead of them, salvaging, overhauling the roof to make sure nothing was hiding in it, and determining the cause of the fire. But Aidan’s kiss had given him something else to think about while he worked, and had definitely stirred an energy inside him that just might get him through the rest of the shift.

Chapter Twelve

Aidan rolled over and hugged her pillow. She had stretched out on her bed to study and had fallen asleep. And she had dreamed of fire—forest fires, hearth fires, battle fires. Dancing fires and roaring fires, weak candle flames and stealthy streams that snaked a path of destruction. Fire ran in her blood. She had felt a connection with the treacherous blaze the night before. She understood its power, like a vague memory of long ago. Sometimes she missed it, being able to live as she really was. She had grown so used to this form, this way of life.

The thought of Trent chased all those gloomy thoughts away like shadows before a flame. She had wanted to be there the moment he got off work, but she had a shift at the diner; plus, he would have been exhausted and in need of sleep. If she had learned anything over her centuries of chances and opportunities, it was patience.

She heard a rapping at her door and rolled off the bed. Phoebe was supposed to be in class right now. Aidan opened the door to a head of large flowers.

Trent looked around from behind the bouquet. “Hi.”

“Hi!” She opened the door wider to let him in. “What are those for?”

He lowered them so she could see his full face, which still looked red, but he at least seemed a bit rested. “A token to say I’m sorry I worried you last night. And because I thought it better not to put off doing nice things.”

Aidan beamed in delight. The arrangement was gorgeous: gerbera daisies in orange and pink with darkened shades near the center, and mini yellow rosebuds, all arranged in a square ceramic holder with painted stripes in different light shades of similar colors.

She took the arrangement from him and set it on the coffee table in her living room. They were lovely. “Are you sure you didn’t just want a sneak peek at the cookies?” she said with a sly grin.

“Would it get me one if I said yes?” His eyes danced with the playfulness he spoke with.

Before last night, she might have teased with him a bit more, but today she didn’t feel like that. He had done something sweet for her, and even though a cookie couldn’t match his elaborate gift, she could still give him one.

“I suppose so.” She went into the kitchen. Trent followed. “Did I make enough?” she asked.

He looked impressed as he surveyed the trays piled with cookies. “You will make the guys very happy.”

She lifted the saran wrap from one of the trays and put two cookies on a small paper plate for him. “Phoebe called them No-Bake Cookies.”

He popped a whole one in his mouth and nodded his approval. “These are really good,” he said after he had swallowed. He moved closer and slipped an arm around her waist. “Of course, I never had any doubts.”

Aidan grinned. It felt good to be close, to be held in an affectionate and protective embrace. “What are you going to do today?” she asked.

“Well, I was hoping I could entice you with a movie.”

She leaned back against his arm. “I would love to if you don’t mind it being an in-house one. I have to work on my dissertation.”

Trent’s face fell. “I should probably let you do that then.” He dropped his arm and took a step back.

Aidan grabbed his hand and pulled him toward her again. “I can write a paper while watching a movie. Provided it’s one I’ve already seen.”

Trent groaned with uncertainty. “I don’t want to distract you from your studies.”

“Don’t worry then. You’ll be helping me, because when I sat down to work on it earlier, I fell asleep. Besides,” she insisted. “I already know what I’m going to write, I just have to sit down and do it. So…” She put her arms around his neck and met his eyes. “Shall I make some popcorn and you go pick a movie?”

Trent relented, and Aidan gave him one more kiss. She put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and went to her room to get her books and laptop. She brought everything back out to the living room. Trent stood near the entertainment rack, surveying her collection of movies.

“See anything you like?” she asked. The microwave beeped and she went to get the popcorn. When she came back, Trent held up a DVD case with an intrigued look on his face.

“This one any good?”

Aidan laughed. He had found
Waking Ned Devine
. “It’s Irish. Put it in.” She pulled the sofa chair over so she could sit on the couch and lay her books out in front. Trent put the movie in the player and sat down next to her. She handed him the popcorn bowl. He glanced over all the books she had out and gave her a skeptical look.