Hero Worship

**Rowley Ford, my brother's best friend, is easy to worship and impossible to forget. *Believe me, I've tried.** *

He was once my protector and hero, but after Kat, his longtime girlfriend, played a humiliating trick on me I decided it was time to quit fan-girling over him.

As it turned out, it wasn't that hard to avoid someone once they'd gone off to college.

And when Rowley finally returned to town, he pursued a career as a firefighter. (Of course, he would choose a heroic profession.) Fighting fires in California can keep you pretty damn busy.

But keeping my distance never stopped me from pricking up my ears anytime Rowley's name was mentioned. I know that he's already been promoted to fire captain and that Kat left him because he wouldn't commit to marriage. According to my source, it's a gambit. Kat's sure that in the end she'll get that engagement ring.

I could tell her from experience that marriage isn't worth the trouble.

I recently married a singer from a locally famous rock band.

And even more recently, I divorced him.

Now I've made the mistake of doing something a little reckless, which puts me back into Rowley's orbit. When he catches me skinny dipping, he's the figure of authority in his firefighter's uniform while I'm naked and vulnerable.

The cherry on the top of this embarrassing reunion is the fact that he doesn't even recognize me. I guess he never considered that his best friend's little sister would grow up some day. But the biggest change, the one he doesn't care for--it's that I'm no longer the compliant, adoring girl who tagged along and obeyed him without question. *That silly girl, the one who fantasized about a future with him, is long gone.*