Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,81
he said.
She looked into his eyes. “What’s that mean?”
“It started when Abigail was killed our senior year,” he said.
Avery nodded. Abigail and Dillon had dated all through high school. They were inseparable. They were a true love story.
“I was looking ahead to after graduation and considering what I wanted to do next. I was considering Chance and what I could do here. I was leaning toward the fire department.” He gave her a little smile.
She tried to return it, but her entire body felt too tense.
“I knew I wanted to be in the business of saving people,” he went on. “But, damn. Seeing Dillon, being there for him as he dealt with Abi’s death, trying to get him through that . . .” Jake took a deep breath. “I knew it couldn’t be that personal for me every day. I wanted to help people, but I knew it wouldn’t always work out, I wouldn’t always be able to save everyone, and I could not deal with that being friends and neighbors and family.”
Avery nodded. She understood. She really did. And she fell a little more for him. How could she not? He cared enough that he would put his heart on the line every day with the people here.
“The job sure sucks sometimes,” Jake said.
“It sure does.”
They sat quietly for a few seconds; then Jake said, “There was a family in a tornado in Oklahoma.”
Avery leaned in, making sure he knew she was listening. This more vulnerable, unsure side of Jake was interesting. And appealing. As if she needed more of that.
“The tornado hit their house. It was completely unstable, and we knew it was coming down. We got everyone out but the grandmother and her grandson. She wouldn’t leave without him. He was about eight, a quadriplegic, in a wheelchair, and couldn’t get himself out, and he was blocked in so that she couldn’t get to him. She was the closest, the easiest to remove, so I picked her up and carried her out, kicking and screaming all the way.” He was looking at their entwined hands rather than directly at Avery. “To get her to stay outside, I promised I’d go back in and bring the boy out. But . . .”
Avery felt a pang in her chest. “Jake.”
“The house collapsed before I could get back in. We dug down and found him, but he was gone.”
She reached up and rubbed his shoulder. “That wasn’t your fault.”
“The grandmother was screaming. She came up to me and pounded on my chest, told me it shouldn’t have been my decision. That she would have gladly given up her life for his. That she’d lived a long life, but his was just beginning.”
The woman had been grieving, in shock, blaming the easiest person to blame. But it was Jake, and he would take that all to heart and carry it around with him forever after.
Avery gave in to the temptation that had been nagging her ever since she’d shown up with the sandwich. She went up on her knees on the bench between them and wrapped her arms around Jake’s neck.
There wasn’t a second’s hesitation. He wrapped his arms around her, too, and pulled her into his lap and against his chest.
They just held each other like that, breathing deeply, not saying a word until a car pulled into the driveway.
Avery leaned back and looked into Jake’s eyes.
Again, there was a host of emotions difficult to name.
“Thanks,” he said simply.
“No problem.”
He smiled the smile she loved, and it even reached his eyes.
“By the way, the next time you’re up against me like this—it won’t be so sweet.”
She gave him a smile, too, and wiggled her butt against his crotch. “Feels pretty sweet to me.”
“A—”
“Jake!” Tim Hubert and his family had climbed from their car.
Avery pushed herself off Jake’s lap, but he gave her butt a quick pinch before rising and extending a hand to Tim.
“Thanks for looking for Cooper,” Tim said quietly.
“I promised Kayley.”
Tim nodded.
Kayley and her mom and brothers joined them. Kayley looked somber.
Jake crouched in front of her. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
“How was your grandma’s house?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Fine.”
Then a tear slipped down her cheek.
Avery felt her own eyes sting, and she wished she could grab Jake’s hand again. For his sake or hers, she wasn’t sure. Maybe both.
“You found Cooper, huh?” Kayley asked.
Jake nodded and cleared his throat. “Told you I’d keep looking.”
“And I was right. He was still at the house,” Kayley said.