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“Weren’t you?” Pain slices through my chest. “I mean, honestly, what else would a guy like you be doing with a girl like me?”
“What?” He looks aghast. “Blaze, I told you. I love—”
“Get out of the way,” I say in a calm, no-nonsense voice that is very hard to maintain, even for a few words. “I don’t want to run you over.”
I kind of do, but I doubt it would be worth the trouble.
He swears again and thumps the roof of my car in frustration but he straightens up and steps back. “We need to talk about this, Blaze. I’ve got to be at the station tonight, but maybe we could talk tomorrow. Are you going to be home?”
“No. I’m done.”
I step on the gas and peel out into the street.
31
JEREMY
Blaze drives away and I’m left standing in the street.
Fuck.
I pull out my phone and check the email I sent Walden. It was the right address, it didn’t bounce back, I cc’d all the town council members on it…
In retrospect, maybe it was a little weird that I didn’t hear back from any of them. I probably should have expected some kind of confirmation.
I stand on the sidewalk, torn between heading home to confront Blaze and the need to do my job.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Scarlett drop her cigarette on the ground and rub it out with her shoe before slinking away. I grit my teeth as I watch her go, wondering if things would have gone differently if she’d never gotten involved.
Then I become aware that Walden is standing beside me.
“What the hell?” I growl out of the side of my mouth, not looking at him. “Didn’t you get my withdrawal notice?”
He sighs and puts his hands in his pockets. “Didn’t matter. The fire station is more important, and it needs to expand. Who knows what would’ve happened if you all hadn’t put out that forest fire last week.” He lets out a long breath. “And if it had come down to Blaze versus Scarlett, well, George Shumaker was pushing hard for Scarlett, and he’s got a lot of influence. So I pushed for you.”
I repress the urge to swear. “What is wrong with you guys? What do you have against the library?”
Walden shrugs. “We don’t have anything against it. It’s great. Every town should have a library. But there are only so many resources to go around, and we need new businesses, not just books.”
I think of the elevator. “But the library provides a lot of services for the town, and it’s an accident waiting to happen. It shouldn’t have to be either-or. It’s amazing your sister has kept it going as long as she has.”
“Agreed.”
The calm in his voice ratchets up my frustration. “The hell, man! She’s your sister.”
“Nepotism has no place in town politics,” Walden says, sagely.
If I thought it was hard to repress the urge to swear, it’s even harder to not grab him by his expensive collared shirt and give him a shake. “Even if she weren’t your sister, your job is to find funding for services like the library! She’s doing everything she can to keep it going, and the town council just keeps cutting her budget!”
Walden sighs. “Welkins Ridge is better off than it was a few years ago, but it is not a wealthy town. We just can’t afford to cover everything we’d like to. In the grand scheme of things, the fire department’s needs are more immediate, and the library should be part of the county, not the town, anyway.”
“But the county can’t afford to take on the library as it is now. You’ve cut off every opportunity Blaze has to fix the building!” I remind him.
I’m having a hard time controlling my temper now. From what I can tell, Blaze has been stuck between a rock and a hard place for years now, and Walden won’t let her out of the vicious circle he’s put her in.
Walden won’t meet my eyes. He stares into the parking lot and bounces lightly on his heels without replying.
“This is something personal, isn’t it?” I ask him. “Something between you and your sister.”
