Benji nodded. “We’re just that close, bro.”
“Benji’s a dumbass. We carpool on our way in for our shifts most of the time,” Garrett said. He looked down at his watch. “We still have about forty-five minutes until we need to be there.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked. I caught myself sounding disappointed at their presence, so I smiled and pointed at the piles of wood and the disaster area Ethan and I created. “You can help me build some furniture.”
Fortunately, they both shook their head and declined. I did better when I built the furniture alone. My perfectionism ensured that I did everything as I envisioned it, and once they started helping, they would settle for good enough. “Sorry, but we’re here to talk business,” Garrett responded.
“Who’s full of shit now?” Benji mumbled. It was quickly followed by Ethan and Garrett telling him to shut up. Benji was clearly the one who took the most shit out of the group, but I could tell that everyone loved him like a brother.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll just get to work while you guys talk,” I told them with a smile. Ethan looked apologetic, but I smiled.
They stood on the other end of the dining room, so it was easy to hear each word spoken. I plugged in my drill and replaced the bit. The first project I had was a custom wooden coffee table for the living room, so I situated the pieces and ensured they were all measured correctly. It was difficult to tune out the conversation, and my need to eavesdrop didn’t help matters.
I finished situating my wood and started on the lower base. I refrained from starting the drill, knowing it would mask what they were saying, so I busied myself with wiping excess stain from the boards. They were still damp, but I was on a strict, self-imposed timeline, and screwing together a few boards wouldn’t affect the staining process.
“We can’t do anything about the increase in fires,” Benji said.
“We’ll need to increase the people on each shift. It’s dangerous keeping a light staff when the fires and calls have been off the hook for the last two weeks,” Ethan said.
I finished wiping all my boards and screwed the first two strips of wood together, using my body weight to put the screw in place. “I hate to admit that you’re right,” Garrett admitted. “But you are. We’re going to need you for the night shifts.”
“What about you?” Ethan argued.
“We can split the nights, but everybody else has a normal eight to five jobs outside the fire department. Other than a few meetings, we don’t have to be anywhere, so I told Scott we’d take the extra nights,” Garrett said.
I only caught a brief agreement as I continued drilling the boards into place. My task sufficiently distracted me. By the time I tuned back into their conversation twenty minutes later, the shop talk was a dying ember of thought as they joked with one another. Ethan was catching a lot of shit for being covered in stain, and I didn’t miss the glances at the stain covering my face. I wondered if it was obvious what we had done?
I turned my head just in time to see Benji attacking Ethan in a fake wrestling maneuver. What did I miss in their conversation? Garrett joined in quickly, and it became a full brawl against Ethan. At first, I found myself laughing wildly as Ethan threw Benji to the ground and continued rough housing with his brother, but as Benji jumped back in, he grabbed Ethan’s shirt and it twisted to his chest, exposing the bare skin.
I noticed Ethan’s wild, terrified expression as his skin was exposed. His wrestling grew frantic, but they didn’t notice the difference in his antics. A glimpse of the wrinkled and melted skin there was all it took for me to act instinctively. I grabbed one of my boards and slammed it to the ground. It narrowly missed my foot, but I bent and grabbed the foot anyways. “Shit,” I shouted.
Everyone turned and looked at me as I held my feigned injury. Ethan immediately lowered his shirt and tucked a corner of it into his pants. His suspicious expression told me that he saw exactly what I had done. I didn’t give myself a moment to question why I did it. “You okay?” Garrett asked, looking between the board and my foot.
“Fine,” I ground through my teeth. Somebody needed to give me an Oscar. “Just leave me to finish my work, please.”
Nobody argued as they all walked through the doorway and into another room. The only one who paused was Ethan. He turned and glanced back at me as I released my foot. He smiled and mouthed two words that made my performance worth it: “Thank you.”
I knew why I had done it once they all left. I knew how I felt about the man, and I knew how he felt about the scars. Something about our relationship changed. I didn’t know when it was or how it happened, but I knew I couldn’t keep away from Ethan no matter how hard I tried.
I paused while assembling the wood and looked down at my hands—at the wedding ring I still hadn’t taken off. There was somewhere I had to go before taking things any further with Ethan.
Chapter Eight
I couldn’t get the stain off my face or arms, and my clothes were destroyed, but I couldn’t wait. After I finished assembling the furniture at Ethan’s house and attempting to clean the mess he
