CHAPTER 15

“Oh, by the way, I need you guys out of the house tonight.”

Jackson and Kal looked up from the backyard of their parents’ house. They had spent the day there trimming trees and sweating their asses off clearing the backyard, trying to get the house finished up so their parents could sell it.

“You got a hot date?” Jackson asked.

“I invited Carmen over.”

Kal arched a brow. “Next-door neighbor Carmen?”

“Do we know another one?”

“Hell if I know,” Kal said. “I can’t keep track of all the names of the women you date.”

Rafe lifted his chin. He didn’t date that many women. Or maybe he had. But that was before. “Yeah, it’s next-door neighbor Carmen.”

“I didn’t know you two were dating,” Jackson said.

“We are. Or we just started. I don’t know. Anyway, I want some time alone with her, so if you two wouldn’t mind . . .”

“I’ll take Becks out after she gets off work,” Jackson said. “She’ll like that.”

Kal nodded. “Consider me gone.”

He knew he could count on his brothers. “Thanks, guys.”

“Now let’s get this landscaping done before I die of heatstroke out here,” Jackson said.

“See, this is what happens when you get old,” Kal said.

Jackson frowned. “Fuck you, little brother. I can outwork you any day of the week.”

Kal shook his head. “You poor old man. Need a cold glass of ice water?”

“Actually, that sounds pretty good,” Rafe said. “Would you mind, Kal?”

“Yeah, since you’re the youngest, and since you just insulted me, you can go grab us all some ice water.”

“Normally, I’d tell you both to go fuck yourselves, but since I can go inside and cool off, I’ll go make us drinks.”

Kal put his shovel down and pulled his gloves off, then went inside.

“I think he baited me on purpose,” Jackson said.

Rafe laughed. “Probably. But at least he’s getting us a cold drink.”

“True enough.” Jackson shoved his booted foot on the shovel and into the dirt against the fence line where they’d be putting in new shrubs.

“Hey, speaking of Kal, did he talk to you at work yesterday?”

“About?”

It wasn’t Rafe’s place to give Jackson a heads-up about what Kal talked to him about, so he knew he’d have to keep it vague. “Work stuff.”

Jackson slanted Rafe a warning look. “You know I can’t talk about personnel issues with you, Rafe. Even if it’s about your brother.”

If Kal hadn’t talked to him, Jackson would have said no. The shutdown meant he had. “Sure, I understand.”

They went back to work for a few minutes. Then Jackson stopped and leaned against the top of the shovel. “Did Kal talk to you?”

Rafe smiled at him. “You know I can’t talk about brother-to-brother conversations. Sworn to secrecy.”

Jackson grinned and shook his head. “Asshole.”

Rafe laughed, and they went back to shoveling.

Kal came out and handed each of them a tall glass of ice water.

“What did you do in there?” Jackson asked. “Take a nap?”

“Maybe.”

Rafe downed two gulps right away, cooling his parched throat. Cold water had never tasted so good.

“What were you two laughing about?” Kal asked. “I heard you inside.”

“Family and work secrets,” Rafe said.

“Nah. He was talking shit about you,” Jackson said.

Kal looked over at Rafe, who shook his head. “It’s all lies.”

“And I made lunch while I was in there. Now I’m going to eat it myself.”

At the mention of food, Rafe’s stomach grumbled. “You made lunch? What did you fix?”

“Does it make a difference?”

“No,” Jackson said. “You know we’ll eat anything. But what did you make?”

“Turkey sandwiches with avocado and chipotle aioli, and a watermelon salsa.”

Rafe dropped his shovel on the ground. “And we’re breaking.”

Kal laughed. “Thought you might say that.”

They went inside and washed up, then sat at the kitchen table where they’d grown up. It still bore the scars from elbows and forks and fights at the dinner table.

“You think Mom will want a new kitchen table at the new house?” Rafe asked.

Jackson looked down at the table. “Probably. This one’s pretty scarred up.”

“You’re the one who stabbed the steak knife in the wood when we argued over whether we were gonna stay here or not.”

Jackson shrugged. “I was fourteen, Kal. And I didn’t stab you, did I?”

“No, but it was a heated argument that night.”

“And as usual,” Rafe said, “I had to play the peacemaker.”

They both looked over at Rafe.

“I don’t remember it exactly like that,” Jackson said.

“I remember,” Kal said. “Rafe, you were on my side, arguing with Jackson that if he wanted to leave, he could go by himself, because you liked it here and you and me were staying.”

Jackson cracked a smile. “And I said I wasn’t going without the two of you. That’s when I got mad and stabbed my knife into the table.”

“Right when Mom walked back into the room,” Kal said.

Rafe nodded. “I give her credit for not flipping out. She just pulled up a chair next to you and asked if you were planning to stab one of us, or if there was something else making you mad.”

“Yeah,” Jackson said, his lips curving into a smile. “She was always so calm. It’s one of the things I love most about her. Her feathers are never ruffled.”

“Whose feathers?”

Rafe looked up to see their mother walking into the kitchen. Kal got up and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Hey, Mom. We were just reminiscing about the kitchen table. And Jackson’s knife mark in it.”

“Oh, that.” She laid her stuff on the table by the doorway. “And you think that didn’t upset me?”

“You seemed so calm about it,” Jackson said.

She slid in the chair next to Jackson. “To you, yes. I cried in my room that night, I was so afraid you were going to leave us.”

“Aww, Mom.” Jackson put his arm around her and tugged her against him. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

“You’re home early today,” Kal said.

“Yes. We’re closing on the new house this afternoon, so I took half a day off.”

Rafe grinned. “Yeah? That’s exciting. This place should be ready to go within a week.”

“No worries. We actually have someone interested in buying the house already.”

“Really?” Jackson asked. “Who?”

“Glen and Paula English’s son, Tim.”

“I remember Tim from school,” Rafe said. “Didn’t he move to Orlando after college?”

Mom nodded. “But he just got a new position here. Tim’s wife, Stacy, landed a job already as well.”

“That’s great,” Kal said.

“Yes, it is,” their mom said. “They’re looking for a place near Tim’s parents because Paula is going to watch their twins. They know we’ve been fixing our house up to sell, so Paula asked me how soon it would be ready.”

“Not putting it on the market would be ideal,” Jackson said.

“I agree,” Mom said. “Tim and Stacy will be flying in this weekend, so they’re going to come by and look at the house. But it being just around the corner from Paula and Glen’s, if it works out and if they like our house, I’m hoping we can work out a deal.”

“We’ll make sure to have the backyard landscaping finished by then,” Kal said.

Rafe nodded. “Not a problem at all, Mom.”

“You all have been so good at pitching in to help us make this place beautiful again. I’m almost sad to leave.”

Jackson laughed. “No, you’re not. You have that big, beautiful house to move into that has everything you’ve always wanted. The office, the pool, that fancy bathroom.”

“You’re right. I’m excited about the new house. But I’ll still be sad to leave this place.”

Rafe figured she’d be sad to leave until she moved all of her favorite pieces of furniture into the new house and had a chance to decorate. Then she’d forget all about this place.

They finished up the yard work around five. Mom asked them if they wanted to stay for dinner. Kal stayed behind, but Jackson and Rafe went home.

The two of them kicked back for a while and played video games. After their team dominated one of the war games, Jackson laid his controller on the table.

“I need to go take a shower. Becks and I are going to eat and see a movie. Then there’s a club one of her clients told her about that we’re gonna check out tonight.”

He appreciated his brother making plans out of the house tonight. “Sounds fun. Have a great time.”

Kal had already texted that he was probably going to crash at Mom and Dad’s tonight because he and Dad were packing up some things in the garage.

So if Kal had already talked to Jackson about wanting to move out of Station 6, Kal might have a conversation one-on-one with Dad tonight about it. Or maybe he’d wait and go through official channels.

As Kal’s lieutenant, it was Jackson’s job to mention it to their captain when one of their firefighters was interested in transferring. Then Captain Mathias would bring it to the battalion chief—Dad—who would move things up the chain if they felt that particular firefighter was qualified for a new position.

Rafe was curious as hell about Kal’s situation. He wanted his brother to be happy. And if he wasn’t content on Ladder 6, it wasn’t good for the rest of the ladder team.

Not that there was anything Rafe could do about it other than wait and hope for the best.

Besides, tonight he had a date, and that was what was first and foremost on his mind.