Dustin came up to her and offered a plate of food. He waited until she’d taken a big bite of the burger. “Hungry, huh?”

She slid him a glance. “Yes.”

He nodded and said nothing else. Just stared a little glumly at the dance floor where Cristina was dirty dancing with someone Brooke had never seen before. “Why don’t you ask her to dance?” she asked.

“Because she’d think it was funny.”

“Funny that you have a crush on her?”

“I don’t have a crush on her.” He sighed. “Okay, I do. Shit.”

Sam and Eddie brought Brooke a drink. “To replenish the fluids,” Sam explained. Both men looked at her expectantly.

“What?”

“You tell us,” Eddie said.

Instead, she took another large bite of her burger.

“Don’t you have anything you want to share?” Sam looked hopeful. “With your two best friends?”

“We’re best friends?”

They both nodded eagerly. “So if something was on your chest,” Sam said. “And you just needed to, you know, get it off—”

“In detail,” Eddie added. “We’re all ears.”

Her burger congealed in her gut. “You know?”

“Oh, we know all.”

She looked at Dustin, who grimaced, then nodded. She handed him back the plate, and Eddie the drink, and then walked off. She stopped at the water’s edge.

“Stop sulking, will you?”

Brooke turned and faced Cristina. “I’m not sulking.”

“Pouting, then. Look, this is a fire station. We’re all walking God complexes who put our lives on the line every day, and yet socially? Immature as high school kids. Come on—” she snorted when Brooke scoffed “—we love to talk. You’ve given us something new to talk about. Deal with it.”

Brooke sighed. “How long will it last?”

“Until it’s over.”

“It is over.”

“Please.”

“It is. It was a one-time-only thing.”

“Okay, now I know you’re crazy.”

“Why?”

“Why would you sleep with that man only once? That’s just a waste of all that hotness.”

“I’m leaving in a few weeks. We agreed it was just a letting-loose thing.”

Cristina stared at her, then laughed. “And let me guess. You’re already regretting that stupid decision.”

Brooke looked away, into the bonfire. “No.” Yes.

Cristina just shook her head. “Well, lucky for me, your shortsightedness is another woman’s gain.” And she walked away in her sexy little top and shorts, heading directly toward Zach, stopping to hug Blake.

Zach stood at one of the barbecues, holding a long spatula, flipping burgers and laughing at something Aidan was saying to him. Just looking at him, something happened inside Brooke. A clutch. A quiver.

What would it be like if she wasn’t leaving? she wondered.

But she always left.

Always.