The next morning, Brenna found herself walking around the house with a smile on her face. Although she had insisted to Molly and herself the last thing she needed right now was a man, she was finding that not to be true at all. A good man was never a bad thing, now was it? She tried to look at things logically. The only pitfalls she could think of were #1-how interested and stable was he and #2-how stable was she? Oh, and #3-could she handle being involved with someone in medicine? Then she remembered his smile and dancing in his arms and grinned. She finally threw up her hands and called Molly.
"Yeah?" Molly grumbled.
"I'm sorry. I woke you up, didn't I?" Brenna looked at her watch, 10:00. She should have looked at the time first. Molly usually slept in on her day off which would be...today.
"Yes, but I'll live through it. You must have a good reason for calling at this godawful hour."
Brenna smiled. "Guess."
"Guess? Are you crazy? I haven't had my coffee yet." Molly gasped. "He asked you out. I'm right, aren't I?"
"We went to dinner last night. He took me to 'Ivan's', that restaurant we saw on the highway. We had prime rib and talked and danced. It was a lot of fun."
"Fun? Did you have him in for coffee, a nightcap, you know?"
"No, he kissed me very nicely on the back porch and left," Brenna replied.
Molly sighed. "Girl, you're hopeless. I would've been all over that man by now."
Brenna had to laugh. "Yes, I'm sure you would've. But you and I both know I'm not you."
"Yeah, I'm just too good to replicate," Molly laughed on the other end. Brenna could picture her twisting her curls around her finger as she talked, and felt the now familiar pang of homesickness.
They talked a little longer and then Brenna hung up so Molly could go back to sleep.
The phone rang and Brenna jumped, still sitting right next to it.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Brenna, this is Adam.”
“You sound tired or something, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I am actually. Tired, I mean. About an hour after I got home last night, we got a fire call. It was a house fire and I just got home. I've got to get a shower and get to work. I'm late for my shift, but we didn't have enough firemen for me to leave earlier."
“You’re going to work today, after all that?” Brenna asked.
"It's no different than if we had a fire in Port Evan and then I finished the rest of my shift. I just wanted to check in and say hi."
“Hi. Now go take care of yourself. I'll talk to you later."
Brenna put down the receiver and shook her head. Was he crazy, a workaholic or what? Why would someone go work for hours for no pay only to go to his own job? Then, somewhat shamefacedly, she answered her own question. Adam hadn’t been out 'working for free', he’d been trying to save someone’s home and, maybe, their lives. And how he could do emergency work outside a hospital was beyond her. No doctors, no back-up, just you with someone's life in your hands. She smiled. There was always something to admire in him.