Page 12 of Scorched Hearts
“And you, keep your eyes on the road, huh?” Ramirez snapped, and Elle shut her laugh down immediately.
Elle put two teaspoons of sugar in the steamy cup of coffee, then sat back down, facing Chief Ramirez. The two shared particularly amicable relations, being the only two Latinas in their department. From day one, Ramirez had taken special care of Elle, acting as a mentor figure throughout Elle’s career. She knew Elle’s mother had been rather absent, so she never hesitated to lift the young firefighter up.
“Hey, what’s with you?” Ramirez put down the newspaper she’d been pretending to read.
“What? Nothing.” Elle shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee.
“Oh don’t play tough with me, Rodriguez.”
Elle’s lips stretched in a little smile disguised by the cup. Whenever Ramirez used her surname, she could feel how close they’d grown. She could sense that particular tone people familiar to you use when they put on formal words, the beating flesh of affection hidden by the formal attire they dressed it up in.
“I swear I’m not,” Elle protested, but deep down she knew that Ramirez got her.
Her Chief only raised an eyebrow, waiting.
“Yes, something’s wrong with me,” Elle exhaled the air she didn’t know she’d been trapping in her lungs.
“Go on,” Rodriguez nodded.
“Someone I used to know is back in the city,” she began, unsure of how to put in words what lay heavy on her chest, but willing to try. “Someone I cared about deeply. She’s a doctor. I keep seeing her at incidents.”
Rodriguez nodded patiently. “So where is the problem?”
“We didn’t part on the best… terms. Actually, we parted on awful terms. We’d broken up before she moved away. Now she’s back.” Elle looked up at Rodriguez.
“And you don’t want to be near her now?”
“No! I really do, actually. See, I realized that she’s the only one I want.”
Ramirez burst out laughing uncontrollably, waving her arms in what seemed to be a simultaneous apology. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, but I find it very difficult to believe, Elle!”
Elle’s expression turned sour. “Now why’s that?”
“Why’s that? You go through women like plastic straws at a Malibu bar, sometimes three at a time.” Ramirez calmed down. “Are you serious? What makes this one so special?”
“See, she was with me before all that.” Elle’s expression remained serious. “She was the only one I’ve ever actually fallen for. Like, truly. We grew up together. We were together for years. First love and all that.”
Ramirez looked at Elle in disbelief. “Girl, you should have married her. I’ve never seen you like this.”
Elle sighed. “If only you knew. She’s all I want.”
“So what’s the problem? Why’d you break up?”
“
I…” Elle braced herself for the unavoidable reaction from Ramirez. “I cheated on her.”
Ramirez fell silent, nodding. “I see. Well, that is a mistake, for sure.”
“I have a feeling that due to my…reputation, I may have made it harder for her down the line.” Elle nodded ruefully.
“You very well might’ve.”
“So I don’t know what to do. She doesn’t want me back.” Elle looked at her superior, helpless.
“Girl, I wouldn’t want you back either, no offense.”
“Offense taken.”