Broken Pieces (Cape Isle, #3): A Cape Isle Novel by Allie Able Read Free Book Online

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    I'm twenty-eight years old and I need to man the fuck up. I either try this with Lexie or move on. I just hope I don't freak her out when we finally do have that talk.
    I walk through the doors of the fire station and smile. God, I love this place. Before I was officially hired on, I would volunteer to help out with odd jobs around the station a few times a month. I think it actually helped me get hired when the opening became available, because I already knew my way around and I knew all of the guys. When you walk in, there is a main office to the right for any visitors that may come by. Straight ahead is the living room that holds several couches, a large television, and oddly enough, a treadmill. No one is in here this early, so I keep walking, knowing everyone is probably in the kitchen. I walk down the hallway that holds all of the bedrooms and bathrooms: there are about 8 bunkers and we each get our own, but they are about as small as a closet.
    I finally make it to the kitchen and I see most of the guys sitting around the table, drinking their coffee.
    “Morning,” I call out to everyone. I get a chorus of mumbled good mornings back as I make my way to the coffee pot.
    Brian, our resident chef, is standing at the stove flipping bacon. He's not the actual chef. He is a firefighter just like the rest of us, but he cooks the best out of everyone and he seems to enjoy it.
    “Hey, man. Need some help?” I ask, as I stir some sugar into my much needed cup of coffee.
    He glances up at me and shakes his head. “Nah, I'm good, thanks though.”
    I nod my head and make my way towards the huge dining table that's placed in the middle of the room. Have you ever seen a table that seats twelve large men? Me neither, until I started working here.
    Everyone is pretty quiet as we sip our coffee and wake up a little more. Most of these guys are either coming off a twenty-four or forty-eight hour shift and most of them have a second job to go to. I'm keeping my job at the construction company. My buddy Grant is allowing me to work around my fire-station schedule and I plan to just fill in whenever he needs me.
    “What's on the schedule today?” I ask.
    Every day of the week we have different chores to do around the station. We treat this place as it were our home. We keep up with all of the maintenance and cleaning.
    “Shit. It's lawn day,” T.J. says from the head of the table. I don't know him as well as I know the other guys. He's new to town and just transferred from another station about three months ago.
    “Fuck, it's going to be hot,” Ryan grumbles.
    We all nod our heads in agreement. During the summer months, it can get up to 105 degrees in Cape Isle.
    Chief comes walking into the kitchen and heads towards the coffee pot. “Quit your bitching. If we get out there soon, it won't be too bad.”
    He's lying. It's going to be hot as hell no matter what time we start, but we all nod our heads and keep quiet, as we finish our coffee. I love being a fireman, but I really wish I was still in bed with Lexie.
    * * *
    After a long day of yard work and cleaning the trucks at the fire station, I'm finally off. Freshly showered, I hop in my truck and crank up the air before putting it in drive. I had a lot of time to think today, and I know I need to talk to Lexie. We need to figure this shit out and I need to tell her how I feel before I go fucking insane.
    Making my way through town I pull up in front of the bakery. She should be getting off in about thirty minutes, so I figure I'll just wait on her and we can grab a bite to eat when she's done.
    When I walk in, I see she has a line of customers at the register. I sit down at one of the tables by the front window and watch as she smiles at each person, while taking their orders. I know this is probably not what Lexie had in mind for her dream job, but she's good at it. She's a people person and I don't think she's ever met someone that didn't instantly like her.
    “Hey,