“In trouble?” She frowned. “Why would you be in trouble? And why would I have any authority over you to say you were?”
“You’re Alvin Carter’s daughter, and no one wants to disappoint Alvin,” he explained. “Especially not me.”
“Why especially not you?”
“He lets me play trombone in his jam sessions in Braddock. I’m always sure he’s going to boot me out.”
“Look at you, Jaybone. Still with the trombone.”
“Go ahead and tease. I’m all grown up now and comfortable with my instrument.”
She wrinkled her forehead at his ridiculous double-entendre. He took in her perfectly cut cheekbones and perky nose. On someone else, those features might add up to “temptress.” But Kendra wasn’t about collecting men’s hearts. She’d always wanted to make her own mark on the world.
He pushed a pitcher of beer toward her. “Have a drink and tell me what’s up.”
She shifted in the chair, which drew his attention to the tight red jacket she wore. Kendra always looked put-together in her own particular hot-girl way. He took the stack of cups from his pocket and plopped one on the table before her. She splashed some beer into it, then drank it down.
“Have you decided about the fire chief position?”
Damn. And here he’d thought maybe she’d been flirting with him. Kendra Carter was all business. “I’m still thinking about it.”
“Have you looked into the hiring process? I know it involves the board of aldermen, right?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Yeah. I have all the paperwork. I know what I have to do, if that’s what you’re wondering. I don’t need any tutoring.”
She poured herself some more beer. “I’m not offering help, I’m asking for it. This is top secret information I’m about to share. I know I can trust you because…” Her gaze dropped to the scar on his upper lip. It tingled under her gaze. “Well, you know.”
“Sure, you can trust me. Does this involve pool?”
She snorted, then leaned forward on her elbows and dropped her voice. Her scent floated toward him, fresh and crisp, like apples in the snow. “I’m thinking about applying for the town manager job.”
He digested that. If he got the fire chief position, they’d be working together, sort of. Or at least they’d attend the same meetings together. He wouldn’t mind that. Seeing Kendra always sent a buzz through his system. “Cool,” he told her. “Good luck.”
“Wait. The thing is…” She hesitated. “I need to know if it’s a waste of time to apply. The board of aldermen hated Gault, absolutely despised him. They did everything they could to shut down the Blue Drake. My dad was Gault’s best friend. They might laugh me right out of the interview room.”
“Well, if they do, that’s their loss.”
She shook her head. “You don’t get it. I’m not going to put myself in a position where some old white men get to decide my future if they aren’t even going to give me a fair shot. I don’t mind taking my chances if I actually have a chance. But if I don’t…” She shrugged. “Then screw them.”
He gazed at her for a long, thoughtful moment. “You’ve never been turned down for anything, have you?”
“No,” she said after a pause. “Not exactly.”
“You can learn a lot from failure.”
“I don’t fail,” she snapped. But then something darker shadowed her face. A painful memory? A regret? “I mean, I don’t usually fail. But that’s partly because I do my research. So I’m doing my research now. Thomas Cooper’s on the board of aldermen now. You’re firehouse friends with him. That kind of bond goes deep. Can you get the lay of the land for me?”
“Isn’t your best friend Carly married to him?”
“Yes, but she just had her baby and I don’t want to put her in the middle.”
“I know she did, I’m the one who got her to the hospital. I nearly delivered him in the paramedic van.” He lifted his glass. “To baby Teddy.”
“To Teddy.” They clinked glasses and each took a sip.
“So you don’t mind putting me in the middle?” he asked curiously. It was…different, Kendra asking him for help. The reverse of high school.
“No, I don’t mind, because everyone likes you and they tell you stuff.”
“Is that flattery?” He wrinkled his forehead. “Because I feel like it could be a little better.”
“You’re insulting my flattery?”
“Absolutely not. Best flattery ever. How do you do it?”
She laughed at him and he felt giddy for a moment. Making Kendra laugh wasn’t like making other people laugh. It gave him a charge, like he could do anything in the whole goddamn world. “I’ll do it. I’ll be your spy.”
“Thanks, Jason. I really appreciate it.” She started to get up, but he touched her hand. She looked back at him curiously.
The contact—eye and hand—was like a punch to the gut, or a shot of adrenaline. Like that moment when a call came in and he ran to don his gear.
“I’m curious about something. You said you don’t usually fail. What do you mean by that?”
Four
Kendra hadn’t intended to tell Jason about the fiasco with Dominic. She hadn’t planned to tell anyone. It was too humiliating on every level. But there was something about Jason that, quietly and steadily, drew the story from her.
She began with the short version. “Long story short, my boyfriend of two years broke up with me. Since he was also my business partner, he left me hanging professionally too.”
“Damn.” He waited for her to say more. She didn’t want to, but those steady eyes of his refused to turn away, and somehow the words kept coming.
“We met in Minneapolis, in business school. I’ve always wanted to run my own business. I don’t have the personality to be an employee, I want to be the boss.”
“Fair enough. Was that a problem for your ex?”
“No. Maybe.” She frowned, thinking it over. “Probably,” she admitted. “Remember how furious I was in our environmental sciences class when I learned that hardly any plastic actually gets recycled? I’m not a scientist, but I can help get the information out. I came up with this idea for an app that would let people know about all recycling options in their area, along with facts about what local businesses were doing in that space, simple steps to use less plastic, alternative plastic-free products, petitions to sign, just everything related to plastic recycling.”
“Great idea. What’s the name, I’ll download it.”
“It’s still in beta form. We hadn’t even named the app, but the company name is Explastica. Dominic—that’s my ex—came up with it. He had more experience with app launches, so I met with him to pick his brain. We had dinner and by the end he wanted in. We became partners.”
That night had been magical. She’d seen the rest of her life unfurl before her. Kendra and Dominic, conquering the world, together forever. She’d believed in that vision with every cell in her body.