As soon as she’d finished the room emptied quickly. Her heart started to thud. Would Callum leave without speaking to her? Maybe he had to network with some of his colleagues and wouldn’t have time.
‘Hey, Jess. That was a nice surprise.’ She started at his voice and turned around quickly as someone jostled him from behind and pushed them even closer together. It looked as if it was a stampede towards the strong smell of coffee.
Her hand went up automatically and rested on his chest. She could feel the heat of his body through his thin black shirt. ‘Hey, you too. I didn’t expect to be here. Just filling in for a friend.’
‘What happened?’
‘Mark Shepherd’s wife has cancer. She had a bad reaction to her chemo, so he wanted to stay home with her.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that. How are the kids from the accident doing?’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘You mean you haven’t already phoned today?’
He squirmed. ‘Okay, I admit it. I’m a bit of a stalker.’
She laid her hand on his arm. ‘But only in a good way. We’ve got four still in, but they’re all improving. With kids we just take things one day at a time.’
Callum nodded slowly. He held his elbow out towards her. ‘Have you time for some refreshments before you leave?’
‘Hmm, firefighter coffee. Is it as bad as I think it will be?’
‘Scandalous! We’re very serious about our coffee, and we’re even more serious about our cakes. I can guarantee you a fruit scone.’
‘Something does smell pretty good around here.’ She put her hand through his crooked elbow. ‘Why do I get the impression that you’re trying to fatten me up, Callum?’
He rolled his eyes and pressed his other hand to his chest. ‘Tragedy, you’ve caught me out.’ His face broke into a wide grin. ‘Let’s call it looking out for a friend.’
Her heart gave a little flutter. ‘Friends? Is that what we are again, Callum?’
‘I certainly hope so.’ There was something so nice about the way he’d said those words. Not a moment’s hesitation. He didn’t even need to think about it for a second.
Friends. She liked that word. It felt safe.
They walked across the corridor to the coffee room. The queue had died down a little and she had a little time to peruse the cakes in the glass cabinet. The firefighters certainly did take their coffee seriously. This was an outlet of a popular coffee house, with all their famous tempting products on display.
He placed his arm on the counter and slid a tray in front of her. ‘What can I tempt you with?’
Now, there was a question.
The thoughts that flooded her mind almost made her blush.
‘I’ll have a light caramel latte with two shots and a piece of the banana and nut loaf, please.’ The words were automatic. She was used to ordering in one of these coffee shops—she didn’t need to think twice.
He seemed pleased. Pleased that she didn’t spend forever fretting over what to eat and drink. Patience had never been Callum’s strong point.
They waited a few minutes while the barista made their coffee. ‘How did you manage to wangle a franchise in here?’ she said. ‘I didn’t think it would be allowed.’
He pointed to a sign near the door. ‘Neither did we, but the coffee was getting worse and worse and tempers were fraying. They asked what we wanted and we told them. The profits from this franchise don’t go back into the overall company. We have a ballot every year to decide which charity to support.’
He gave a little shrug. ‘It works in our favour and in theirs. We get to support the charity of our choice, and they get to put us on their website talking about their contributions to charity. It’s good publicity for them.’ She smiled at the poster supporting research into Alzheimer’s disease. ‘Why did you pick that one?’
He picked up the tray and carried it over to a vacant table. ‘We get lots of accidental house fires started by older people with memory problems—putting things in the oven or on the hob and forgetting about them. Some have early signs of Alzheimer’s. We often go out and do community safety visits and fit fire alarms for anyone referred to us. It seemed a natural pick.’ His voice lowered and she could sense the sadness in it. ‘It caused us three fatalities last year.’
They sat down and Jess sipped her coffee. It was just as good as it was in every shop in the country. ‘I think it’s a great idea. I wonder if the hospital would consider it? The hospital kitchens are great, but the staff canteen is run by an outside firm. It’s nowhere near as good as this.’
‘I can give you some details if you want.’
‘That would be perfect.’ She leaned back in her chair. ‘You could quickly make me the most popular woman in the hospital.’
‘I’m sure you’re that already.’ His voice was low and he was looking up at her from over the top of his steaming cup of coffee.
She couldn’t help the little upturn at the corners of her lips. When had the last time been that she’d had a man flatter her? It had been so long ago she couldn’t remember.
Sure, there had been the odd unwanted leering comment, the kind that made your stomach turn—and not in a good way.
But this was different. It hadn’t been invited. Or expected.
It was just—well, a nice comment. The kind that sent a little rosy glow all through you. Something she hadn’t felt in a very long time.
It was kind of weird how she felt about all this. That first glimpse of Callum on the riverbank had been a total shock. And the way her body had reacted—her natural instinct—had been even more of a shock.
Because her natural instinctive response to Callum had been very physical. It hadn’t helped that they’d been thrust together—in more ways than one—and parts of her body that had seemed dead had suddenly sparked into life.
It was taking time to get her head around all this.
And, to be frank, she was struggling.
In a way she wished she could be that naïve seventeen-year-old again, thinking that her heart was breaking as she left her first love behind.
If only she’d known then what she knew now.
That wasn’t the thing that broke your heart. Not even close.
But all her memories of Callum were good. They were safe. Even if they came with a heavy dose of passion and teenage angst.
She didn’t feel afraid around Callum. And she liked the way he was looking at her. It made her feel as if she was finally worth looking at again.
Pauline’s words echoed around her head. A world of possibilities.
‘Callum, I need to speak to you about something.’
The words jerked Jess out of her daydream. A well-stacked blonde was directly in her line of vision, her boobs inches from Callum’s nose. Were those real?
‘We need to talk about the meeting tomorrow at city headquarters. I need to give you a report to review before you go.’
Strange things were happening to Jess. The hackles had just gone up at the back of her neck and she felt an intense dislike for this extremely pretty and apparently efficient blonde. What on earth was wrong with her? She was never like this.
‘Hi, Lynn. I’m actually in the middle of something right now.’
‘What?’ She glanced over at Jessica—whom she’d completely ignored—with renewed interest. ‘Well, I’ll let you finish