Chapter 2
Six years later
Noah Cutler locked his car and paused at the entrance to Jimbo’s. The last time he’d been here he’d been at a party with Randi Alexander. Six years later he was here for another party, aware she would again be here, and more nervous than he’d been since tracking a Great White off the coast of Australia.
If he had a lick of sense he’d have turned down Jeff Nagle’s invitation to the party, begging off with an overload of work. But the man was still his best friend, despite the fact that they saw each other so infrequently now and that friendship was relegated to phone calls and texts. Luckily his current assignment had brought him back to San Antonio in time to celebrate his friend’s birthday with him. Living in New York and traveling the world hadn’t given him much chance of that up until now. Or, if he was honest, as much pleasure as he’d thought it would.
But Randi would be there tonight. Randi, with the lush body, the sun-streaked honey colored hair and eyes the color of rich bourbon. The woman he had once thought he’d be spending the rest of his life with. The woman he’d loved. He had replayed their last night together over in his mind so many times he was no longer even sure how much of what he remembered was truth and how much was his imagination.
What he did know was he had made two major mistakes. The first was expecting her to chuck everything and follow him to New York on what could turn out to be a disastrous career choice. One where she had only uncertain options. The second was not believing in her and her ability to handle herself in the career she wanted. Badly.
He’d just been so terrified of her putting herself in life-threatening situations he couldn’t see past that fear. No matter how many times she assured him she would get appropriate training. No matter how many times she told him firefighters always worked as a team and had each other’s backs. No matter what she’d said, he hadn’t been able to get past that fear.
They had left things between them so bad, so destroyed, he wondered if they even had a chance to get past all the residual pain. Both of them had been angry, neither one giving an inch. He might have hotfooted it out of San Antonio but he had still kept track of her all this time. Quietly, through Jeff who wisely never asked any questions. He knew she had excelled in her training and in her work. He would have expected nothing less of her. Now she was a proud, newly minted arson investigator and the buzz was she was sharp, insightful and on top of things. It seemed everyone asked for her when an investigation was needed.
He’d never stopped loving her, or missing her, or wanting her. He hated the way they’d left things but he hadn’t come up with a way to fix it. Every time he decided he’d suck it up and fly back to San Antonio to see if they could still repair things, another assignment came up for him. More and more time passed, until it seemed all he had in his life was the job he’d given up so much for and a hole in his heart he couldn’t seem to fill.
Okay, he’d say hello, congratulate her on her success and take the temperature of the situation. Maybe there was a way they could pick up all the broken pieces and put them back together. One problem, though. He still hadn’t changed his mind about her and firefighting. Maybe investigators didn’t rush into burning buildings but they still stepped into a lot of dangerous situation. So exactly how did he expect to fix this? Could he ever get himself past what he’d done and how he felt about her job?
If you want her in your life you will, asshole. Suck it up.
Maybe he should just say hello, congratulate her and move along.
Oh, right. Who was he kidding here? Since he boarded the plane from New York to San Antonio he hadn’t thought of anything except her. He wondered if the current story he was working on hadn’t brought him back to San Antonio would he ever have made the trip to see her again?
No, because I’m a coward. Besides, she’s probably moved on with her life. I’m not even a blip on her memory chart.
A knocking on his car window startled him out of his reverie. He looked out to see Chaz Krieger staring into the car. The man made a rolling motion with his hand so Noah obligingly lowered his window.
“Hey, guy. Long time no see.” Chaz stuck his hand through the open window
Noah shook it and nodded. “Sure has been.”
“You’re looking damn good. Must be all that world traveling.”
Noah laughed. “It does spice up one’s life.”
“So,” Chaz drawled, “You planning to sit out here all night? Because in case no one told you, the party is inside.” He took a step back. “Come on. I’ll even pop for a drink.”
“Best offer I’ve had yet.” He raised the window and climbed out of the car. “Let’s do it.”
The moment he pushed open the door to the bar he was assaulted by the intensity of the noise. The bar was jammed wall to wall with people, a hundred conversations crowding the air. Someone had apparently put some money in the old-fashioned jukebox because a melody was trying its best to make its way through the babble. Three bartenders were working as fast as they could to fill the orders of the people lined up four deep.
Jeff knew a lot of people and
