“No, sir,” Eric replied stiffly.
“Good, now I’ll show you where you can store your things. It’s not much, but we’ve got more guys here than usual with all the volunteers.” He held open the door for us as we all walked in. “There should be dinner, so grab a bite to eat, and we’ll have a meeting to brief you on the status of the fire along with where you’ll be going tomorrow morning. I suggest you get some good sleep because it might be the last time you get a full night.”
Taking a look around, it wasn’t much different from the station I’d been training at, but it felt different. The energy was electrified. Creating a buzz through my body, making me feel like, for the first time in years, I was right where I was supposed to be.
14
Stella
Unfortunately for me, Pen and Crimson Heat had already made their pass-through Spain a couple of months ago, so I wouldn’t be able to see if Remy was working on Seas the Day. Even if he was, it would have been awkward as hell for me to call and then show up out of the blue. If he was there, he’d probably be working, and it was possible he’d forgotten about me.
Since we weren’t going to hijack a yacht in Spain, I didn’t care where we went. The sooner, the better was what worked for Lexie. She had a big photoshoot in a week she needed to be back for, and then Ryder had one someplace I’d never heard of.
It wasn’t easy trying to get Pen’s boss, Christiano, to give me the information on what hotel they were staying at, but I assured him I wouldn’t do anything that would make Pen deviate away from her job. I knew he didn’t know me, but what did he think I’d do. Pen had never given him a reason to think she wouldn’t be one thousand percent professional. That was unless he thought she was doing the lead singer of the band. Still, Pen seeing me was no cause for concern, and after about thirty minutes, Christiano gave me the address of the hotel they’d be staying at tonight. He even threw in tickets with backstage passes.
“I can’t believe we’re going to Amsterdam,” I said a little too loudly, going by the looks I got from the rest of the people on the plane. “Have you ever been?”
Lexie’s brows furrowed as she thought about it. I wished I had the problem of not remembering all the places I’d gone. I’d never traveled since Brock’s going to medical school took precedence over everything else.
“Actually, I don’t think I have. I’ve been to quite a few countries around the Netherlands, but never there.” She leaned her seat back and closed her eyes. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to try and get a little shut-eye before we land. Ryder and I haven’t been apart for more than a day in three years, and he kept me up way past my bedtime.” One eye opened as she smirked at me and then promptly closed.
“I understand.” If I had a man, I’d have done the same thing. “I was up too late trying to plot out my next book but didn’t get much accomplished. I was too excited to surprise Pen.”
The corner of Lexie’s mouth kicked up. “She’s going to be so surprised.”
Hopefully, in a good way because I wasn’t going to wait any longer to meet this Walker guy who was taking all of my best friend’s time.
“She is. We’re lucky we’re to show up tonight since they won’t be heading to the next venue until tomorrow afternoon.”
Curling up onto my side, I closed my eyes in an attempt to fall asleep. I wasn’t sure if I’d be successful with how excited I was, but one minute I was thinking about the look that would surely be on Pen’s face when she saw us, and the next, I was woken up by the captain of the plane saying we’d be landing in forty minutes.
Lexie stretched beside me and let out a long yawn. “I can’t believe I slept the whole time. I’m sorry if you were bored. I thought it would only be for a couple of hours.”
“Seems like your husband wore you out more than you knew.” We both laughed like schoolgirls. “I slept the entire time as well, but even if I hadn’t, I could have been plotting or reading. I’m rarely bored. More often than not, I feel anti-social. I’m happy staying at home, ordering and having everything delivered to me, and catching up on reading books or TV when I’m not writing. It’s when I finally do something else that I realize what I’m missing out on not doing more with my days. That’s why I started to do that yoga class down on the beach. I thought it might help clear my mind and get me to socialize more. At least I’m doing more than sitting in front of my computer all day. Does that make any sense?”
“Perfectly. Ryder, Delilah, and I live in our own little world for the most part. We don’t do much that’s not work-related, but that’s fine with us since work takes us all over the world. We’re happy being at home enjoying our house, the pool, and the beach. We worked hard to get to where we are now. What’s the point in life if you can’t enjoy what you’ve attained?”
“There’s isn’t. You should enjoy what you have because your family and house are both beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she laid her hand on my arm and looked at me softly. “You’ll meet someone one day who will make you his world. Just don’t make the same mistake I did?”
Mistake? I had no idea what she was talking about. “What’s that?”
“When I first met Ryder, well, not the first time, but after some time apart and we
