“And I am glad to be here, too,” he said, smiling as he held open the door. The girl ran the rest of the way into the school, and Becker returned to the truck where Smith was waiting.
“Better watch your language in front of the kiddies,” Smith teased.
“Yeah, or they’ll figure out I’m an asshole, right?” he said.
Smith gave him a steady stare, turning serious. “What’s your deal, Beck? Never seen you so wound up before at one of these things. You usually keep your shit together. The warehouse get to you?”
“It’s nothing,” he muttered, staring out the window as Smith turned the key in the ignition. It had to be nothing. He’d opened his heart to her, and she hadn’t responded. She’d meant it then when she said being with him hurt too much. He’d hoped and wished that telling her how he felt, that laying his feelings on the line, would have sent her running back to his arms. But the issue had never been how they felt. The issue was whether she’d let herself feel for him. Her silence was her answer. She wouldn’t. Because of who he was.
“All righty. Well, that’s a whole lot of nothing that’s turning you into a whole lot of pissed off,” Smith said as they pulled away from the school to head back to the firehouse. He looked at Becker and screwed up his face in a pissy, annoyed imitation of what Becker must have looked like. “You’re all worked up about something, aren’t you?”
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and shook his head. Not what he wanted to get into right now. He had to start pushing the thoughts of her far away, tucking them into that trunk in the back of his mind.
“Let me guess. I’m gonna use my crazy powers of deduction. But I’m willing to bet that my little lady’s best chickadee is the one who’s got you out of sorts.”
Becker turned to Smith and narrowed his eyes. “What?”
Smith nodded knowingly. “Ah, so I’m right?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Aww, that’s cute.”
“What’s cute?” Becker muttered.
“That you think that shit will work with me. Let me refresh your memory. Remember the night of the Spring Festival when I was all out of sorts about Jamie and I asked for your advice? You saw right through me, and you knew I was talking about her.”
“Yes,” Becker admitted grudgingly, remembering how he of all people had urged Smith to be direct with Jamie about how he felt.
“Besides, I’ve seen the two of you together, and you’ve got it bad for each other. So what’s the problem?”
Becker heaved a sigh. Smith was relentless, but the truth was he was wound tight again, and he might as well stop keeping every single painful thought and feeling to himself. He’d done that for the last year and he hadn’t started to feel human again until he finally talked about it with Megan. “The problem is many problems. I’m crazy about her and want her back, but she’s leaving town,” he said, starting with the list of roadblocks. “And she’s afraid of being with me—”
Smith cut him off before he could voice Megan’s deeper fears.
“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere,” Smith said as he turned onto the street with the firehouse, ready and eager to dispense advice, it seemed. “All right, here’s my best channeling of Dr. Phil advice. Go with her.”
He scrunched his eyebrows. “Go with her?”
Smith nodded vigorously as he pulled into the station. “Yep. If you love her, if you’re crazy for her, and the only thing standing in the way is her leaving town, then go with her.”
It wasn’t that simple, he wanted to say.
But then, maybe it was.
Because thirty minutes later, Travis strolled into the firehouse and clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey man, we need to talk.”
“Yeah?” He raised an eyebrow, curiosity digging deep into him. The last time they’d talked here at the firehouse, Travis had made it patently clear that their friendship was history if he hurt Megan. He’d done just that, hadn’t he? Becker braced himself for the final nail in the coffin.
“Yeah, because I’m about to take over the rest of your shift. My sister is waiting for you at your house, and I really think you need to go see her right now. Because you’re the best man in the world for her, and there’s nothing I want more than for her to be happy.”
Becker didn’t move. He was sure his boots were stuck to the concrete floor, and that his ears were playing tricks on him. Because there was no way Travis had said that. No fucking way. “You didn’t just say what I think you said, did you?”