She pulled back to look at me. “It’s worth it. I’d never give up the years with Max or the babies he gave me. I’d never give up the time with your mom to avoid the grief. Every precious second was worth it.”

God, I was going to bawl. “Emily…”

“How do you feel about Ro?”

“I wasn’t supposed to fall in love,” I whispered.

“Feelings aren’t so easy to control, my smart girl. You can’t plan love, Tessa. Have you told him how you feel?”

I stayed silent.

Emily pulled a face. “Tessa…”

“The rules were we would keep it temporary, casual. No expectations. He’s leaving.”

“He looks at you.”

My heart squeezed painfully. “So I hear.”

“Like he just stumbled out of the darkness. Like he can’t believe you’re real. Like he sees forever.”

No. Ro couldn’t look at me like that. “His parents are not good people, Emily. He grew up without anyone loving him or caring for him. His dad is horrible. His mom is absent.”

“So you need to be the first to tell him how you feel. Give him your love, darling girl.”

“What if he still leaves?”

She hugged me. “Then he’s an idiot. And you’ll still be my strong, amazing Tessa. We’ll all be here for you. But if you don’t tell him, you’ll never know how he truly feels.”

I nodded. “Did I tell you that I love you?”

She smiled.

The radio on my belt squawked. “Tessa, you’re needed in the restaurant.”

“I have to go.”

She ran a hand over my hair. “We’ll talk later.”

I kissed her cheek. “Bye.”

Wasting no time, I wiped my cheeks on my sleeve and hurried to the restaurant. It was empty at this time of the day. As I walked through the tables, I sniffed and frowned.

I smelled… Smoke.

That’s when I saw it curling under the door from the kitchen.

My heart kicked into higher gear. Oh, crap.

I broke into a run, just as the fire alarm started blaring.

Shit.

Quickly, I snatched a fire extinguisher off the wall and shoved the kitchen door open.

The smoke was thicker in the kitchen, and I saw people stumbling and coughing.

“Everyone out!” I grabbed one of the servers by the arm and shoved him toward the door. “Go.”

I coughed, trying to shield my mouth from the smoke. More people hurried out.

“Keep moving. Don’t stop.”

Then I saw the flames coming from one of the big, industrial, stainless-steel stoves. I lifted the extinguisher and started spraying it.

A second later, Chef Harvey staggered out of the smoke and went down on one knee. He let out a hacking cough. I grabbed him and helped him up. “Come on, Chef.”

“I don’t know what happened.”

“We need to go.”