Page 35 of Built of Flames

“Absolutely.”

Mitch parked in front of the garage that had once housed Bella’s apartment.

She’d grown quiet over the last part of the trip and he wondered if he’d pushed too hard for her to come home. It had only been a week, even though it felt as if they’d been together for years. Time was weird.

“I’m sorry if I pushed you to go too fast. You can take the car and head back to Midnight Lake. I just didn’t want to be that far from you, and I thought you might want to come back. You can stay and work here if you like. You don’t have to go anywhere. And I’m babbling.”

Bella, he was trying to think of her as Bella all the time now, turned and smiled at him. It was a little shaky, but the smile reached her eyes. “Don’t be sorry. I need to be here. I’m just girding my loins or whatever it is that brave people are supposed to do.”

She could always make him laugh. “I can think of better things to do with your loins.” He leered at her until she laughed as well.

He reached across the car and tangled his fingers in her hair and then tugged her in for a quiet kiss. “You’re brave when it counts. Always have been. Always will be. Whatever you want to do, I’ve got your back.” This time.

“Thanks.”

Then she blew out a big breath and stepped out of the car. “Is there anyone living in my old apartment?”

Mitch moved around the car to stand beside her. “No. We kept hoping you’d come back.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. And stop feeling guilty. We all have things we regret about that day. I have a million. But we can’t keep letting it bring us down. We’re here now. Together. And stronger. Christo, too. Let’s keep moving forward, okay?”

Bella’s eyes shone when she looked up at him, but she rolled her lips and nodded. “Okay. I’ll try. Maybe it’ll be easier after I talk to the Chief. Can you check the schedule for me and see when he’s on shift?”

“Come on in and I’ll check on my laptop.” It had only been a week since he’d locked the door behind him and driven away to meet his buddy Marcus for a week. So much had changed.

He unlocked the door and hoped he hadn’t left a mess that day. Being a firefighter, he was used to being tidy, keeping everything in its place. On the job, it could mean life and death.

In his regular life, it made things run smoothly, and he was grateful for the habit now. The kitchen was clean with no dishes in the sink and no horrible smells emanating from the garbage. A good first impression at least.

His side of the duplex was a mirror image of Christo’s. Because Bella had lived over the garage for a few years, she knew the layout. Had been in both houses multiple times.

This felt different. Important.

He wanted everything to go well. He wanted Izzy—Bella—to feel comfortable in his space. To treat it like hers. He also wanted her to feel comfortable in town. And she wouldn’t be able to do that until she’d spoken with her father.

Mitch had no idea how that would go. The Chief was a hard ass and didn’t like being wrong. He’d never admitted it to the team, although he’d briefed the team about the real cause of the fire based on Roberto’s information.

Not a word about his daughter.

Mitch knew Christo had had words with his father over it. More than once. At least when Mitch and Christo had approached the Chief about adding more women to the staff, he hadn’t balked like he had over hiring Bella.

Mitch wasn’t at all sure how the man would feel when Bella spoke with him. Would he be pissed she was back to remind him of his mistake? Or would he want to make reparations with her?

Mitch powered up his laptop and logged into the firehall’s site, then checked out the schedule.

The Chief almost always worked straight days with weekends off, but occasionally changed it up for different events. His role was more administrative than anything else, so he didn’t follow the twelve or twenty-four-hour shifts like the rest of them.

“According to the schedule, you dad is working the eight-hour shifts this week.”

Bella sighed. “So he’s off now?”

Mitch nodded and then took her hand when she just closed her eyes. “You don’t have to make any decisions tonight. Think about it and then you can decide tomorrow.”

She gazed at him. “If I do that, I won’t sleep at all. I’ll just worry about it until it drives me batty. I think I’ll go over and see if he’s home. If I do it now, it’ll be over, and that’s what I really want.”

Mitch grinned at her. “See. Brave and kickass.”