his soul. She’d reminded him that they didn’t win every time, and not everyone could be saved. But they both saved lives every day on the job, and that’s what he needed to focus on.
“Your mood has improved, too,” Jackson said, coming over to lay his hand on Rafe’s shoulder. “You feeling better now?”
Rafe nodded. “Yeah. I was dealing with some shit about the fire the other day. Carmen came over and helped me deal with it.”
“I’m glad to hear it. But you know, you can always talk to me or to Kal if something about a fire gets to you.”
“I know. I just wasn’t ready to face it yet. Losing that woman hit me harder than I realized.”
Kal sat down next to him at the kitchen table. “I’m sorry you had to be the one to see that. It has to be one of the worst things to ever go through.”
Rafe hadn’t opened up before because he hadn’t wanted to talk about it. Not until he’d talked it out with Carmen. Now he did. “It was bad. I kept thinking if we had gotten there sooner we might have been able to save her.”
Jackson pulled out the chair on the other side of Rafe. “You know that’s not possible. She was gone before we ever got up to her floor.”
“Yeah, I know that now. Carmen made me see that I need to focus more on the lives we do save, not the ones we lose.”
Jackson nodded. “That’s some damn good advice.”
“Working where she does, I’m sure she knows that better than anyone,” Kal said.
“She does. And thanks, guys. I know I can always count on you to be here for me. And the same goes for both of you. If you need me, I’m here.”
“Does that mean you’ll buy me flowers?” Kal asked.
Rafe gave a side-eye look at Kal. “Do you want flowers?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Those are pretty.”
Rafe shook his head. “Dickhead.”
“Prick.”
Jackson laughed, then started walking away. “Good to see everything’s back to normal now. I gotta go get ready for my date.”
“Maybe you should pick up some flowers,” Kal suggested.
“Huh. Maybe I should.” He pointed at Kal. “You’re smart. I never knew that.”
“Fuck you.”
“Love you, too, bro.” Jackson disappeared upstairs.
Rafe stood. “What have you got going on tonight?”
“I’m beat after that training class today. I’m just gonna hang out, fix myself some food and crash.”
“How did it go?”
“It was intense. TRT is gonna kick my ass.”
“You’re gonna love doing this, aren’t you?”
Kal leaned back in the chair. “It’s like this is what I was meant to do all along. I could tell as soon as we started the training that it was a perfect fit. It’s hard, yeah, but I need that challenge.”
He could tell from the expression on Kal’s face that the Technical Rescue Team was exactly where his brother belonged. “That’s great, Kal. When will you make the move from Station 6?”
“I have to go through the full training class and qualification. Then if I get accepted, I’ll move.”
Rafe already knew that Kal would ace everything once he was committed to something. And Kal was definitely committed to this. “You know I’m gonna miss you.”
“Same.”
“But I’m damn happy you’re gonna do something you love.”
Kal grinned. “Thanks. Me, too.”
Rafe picked up his phone to check the time. “Okay, I gotta go.”
“Have fun. Don’t forget the flowers. Unless you wanna give those to me.”
“Funny.”
He grabbed the bouquet and walked next door, rang the bell and waited. The door opened and an older, very attractive woman answered.
She smiled at him. “You must be Rafe Donovan. I’m Felice Sheffield.”
He held out his hand. “Very nice to meet you, Felice.”
She looked at the flowers. “Carmen is going to love those. Come on in.”
He followed Felice inside. She wore orange-and-white capris, bright orange sandals, and an orange button-down shirt. She had shocking white, curly hair that she wore cropped short.
“How convenient that you live next door,” she said as they walked past the living room toward the kitchen. “Jimmy tells me you and your brothers are firefighters.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“That’s so nice. My uncle was a firefighter and used to tell me so many amazing stories. I admire what you do.”
“Thank you.”
“I was a mechanic in the army.”
He blinked. “Is that right?”
They entered the kitchen. Carmen was at the stove, and Jimmy sat at the kitchen table.
“Hey, Rafe,” Jimmy said.
“Hey, Jimmy.” He walked over to Carmen with the flowers. “I brought these for you.”
She looked at the bouquet of mixed flowers. He didn’t