“Was Gil right about you? Are you leaving?”
“Not for the foreseeable future, Oz. I’ve made a commitment, and as long as I have my contract, I expect to stick to it.” And he expected the mayor to hold up his end of that contract, as well. “I suppose I don’t have to ask how Frankie took the news.”
“About you leaving or about closing the station?”
Both. “The station.”
“She’s taking up arms. Well, the town is, but Frankie’s leading the charge. All that’s missing is the horse and sword.”
For now, Roman thought.
“Did they tell you how long you’re going to be in that cast?” Ozzy glanced over to Roman’s right leg, protected from toe to knee.
“Six to eight weeks.” If he was lucky.
“Boy, this is making for one crappy Christmas.” Ozzy shook his head. “First, your broken leg, now this threat to close the department.”
“We’ll figure it out, Oz.”
“I hope you’re right.” But the deputy didn’t look convinced as he pulled the cruiser into the spot in front of the firehouse. “I’ll get your crutches out of the back seat.”
“Thanks.” Roman shoved open the door and planted his good leg on the ground, grateful for the extra moment of quiet and fresh air. Two days in the hospital was enough to drive him slightly around the bend. Finally, he could get his bearings again, figure out how to do his job with one leg holding him back and unravel the knots Gil Hamilton had tied the town into. The Butterfly Harbor fire station had never looked so good.
Roman accepted the crutches and hobbled away from the car door.
“Roman Kenneth Salazar!”
His name snapped through the air, and the blood drained from his face. That voice.
He knew that voice.
Roman might have tripped Ozzy, had the deputy not darted out of the way.
“Mom?” Roman stood there, hands white-knuckled around the crutches, and stared. Could this day get any worse?
Esmeralda “Ezzie” Salazar, all five feet of her, stood in front of the open garage door, the company’s shiny engine behind her, jet-black hair piled on top of her head in its usual knot. “Mom, what are you—?”
“What did you think I was going to do when I found out you were hurt? Stay in Boston and fret it out?”
“Perish the thought.” Why was he being punished? “Mom, stop. Stop! Okay, Mom. Don’t make me use this!” He jumped back two steps as his mother approached, crutch held hip high to ward her off. “I am fine. It’s a simple break and—”
“And a broken nose and concussion. You bruised your brain!” She pushed the crutch aside and stood before him, her hands on either side of his no doubt red face as she looked him over more closely than the MRI. “You silly, silly boy.” She patted his cheek. “Why didn’t you call me? Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
He saw it then, glistening in the gaze he saw in the mirror every day. The worry. The anger. The fear. The same fear he’d seen when he’d announced his intention to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a fireman. The same fear he’d seen in Shirley Desmond’s eyes when Amelia had been trapped. The fear he’d pretended not to see on the faces of hundreds of people he’d been called on to help.
“I’m fine, Mom.” He gentled his tone. “Comes with the job, remember?” Balancing on one leg, he settled both the crutches in his other hand and drew her close. For a moment, he was a five-year-old boy being tended to by his mother for a scraped knee and busted lip. “You didn’t have to come all the way out here.” But as she wrapped her arms around him, he was glad she had. She might frustrate him from time to time, but it had been far too long since they’d seen each other. It did raise the question... “How did you know what happened?”
“Oh, Frankie told me.” Her eyes narrowed when she pulled back to look at him. “She finally answered when I called your phone. I find it interesting you neglected to inform me Frankie is a woman.”
Yes, yes, she was. A woman he’d had a hard time putting out of his mind the past couple of days. Who was he kidding? He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her from the moment they’d first met. Roman looked over the top of his mother’s head and found Frankie watching them, an amused smile on her stunningly pretty face. He’d missed her. How had that happened? He’d actually missed her. But he didn’t like the disappointed note in her stunning green eyes before she turned and walked back into the station. “Does it matter?”