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‘They have to be fun to be with,’ Jason said seriously. ‘Adventurous. And at least reasonably intelligent. Maybe that’s why they never last,’ he added sadly. ‘Even the most promising ones get boring.’

‘What’s the longest relationship you’ve had, Jase?’

‘Twelve months. How ’bout you?’

‘I lived with someone for two years.’

‘Didn’t work out, then?’

‘No.’

‘Got boring, huh?’

‘You could say that. John just wanted someone to cook and clean and devote themselves to making him happy.’

Jason grinned. ‘Works for me.’

Laura aimed a punch at his upper arm.

‘I was joking,’ he protested, rubbing his arm.

‘It’s not funny,’ Laura told him primly. ‘And I’m never going to get trapped like that again. In my book, loving someone doesn’t mean you get to control or take advantage of them.’

Jason sat up. ‘Hey, I hope you don’t think I’m taking advantage of you. You did offer to help look after Megan, you know.’

‘I know,’ Laura confirmed.

‘Why did you?’ Jason rested his head on the back of the couch again. ‘All my other mates have done a very effective job of disappearing into the woodwork. I might just have a few words with them about that.’

‘Maybe I’m just a nice person,’ Laura said lightly. She yawned and closed her eyes. ‘Right now, I’m a very tired person. I haven’t had any sleep worth mentioning for rather a long time.’

Jason could sense the moment Laura fell asleep only seconds later. Very slowly, her head tipped sideways until it was resting on his shoulder. He turned his head, intending to suggest she wake up enough to go and lie down properly, but something stopped him.

Maybe it was the softness of her hair brushing his cheek or the fresh scent of some kind of flowery shampoo she had used. Or maybe it was just the good feeling it gave him that she trusted him enough to use his shoulder as a pillow. Or the fact that she had fallen asleep from exhaustion due to helping him with a task he’d have had no hope of managing on his own. He’d never done anything he could think of that might have inspired such a generous response on Laura’s part.

She had been telling the truth even if it had been intended as a joke. Laura Green was a nice person.

A very nice person indeed.

4

‘Three-ten Robbins Avenue. Three-one-zero.’

The elastic braces on Jason’s over-trousers were still dangling as he reached for his coat and helmet.

‘Smoke seen to be pouring from rear of house.’ The calm voice of the dispatch officer managed to override the insistent blare of the alarm sounding through the loudspeaker system of Inglewood station. ‘Multiple calls.’

Jason caught Stick’s gaze and grinned at the anticipation in his colleague’s face. Multiple calls to the emergency response control centre invariably meant that the job was genuine rather than a false alarm or prank call. He was feeling pretty excited himself. This was the first callout for Green Watch day shift and it had happened within minutes of arriving for work.

After four days of the nightmare his personal life had become, this felt like the clock was being wound back. This was his real life. He could forget about Megan and Laura and even the nebulous spectre of Shelley Bates and any upcoming confrontation.

Except that his Green Watch colleagues weren’t about to allow him any respite no matter how urgent the callout. Jason was on the back bench seat of the passenger compartment, sitting beside Stick. Cliff was navigating in the front passenger seat and Bruce was driving. Thirteen tons of fire appliance was soon gathering speed, siren on and beacons flashing. Jason pulled his braces into place and managed to shove his arms into his coat sleeves despite the limited space available to manoeuvre.

‘Put your safety belt on, Dad.’

‘Give it a rest, Stick.’ The ribbing had started well before the official shift change. Laura had taken it with good humour. In fact, Jason had the weird impression that she hadn’t even minded being addressed as ‘Mummy’. And Mrs McKendry might have pretended to be offended by Stick and Mitch deciding to call her ‘Granny M’ but it had been quite obvious she couldn’t wait to whisk the bassinet into a quiet corner of ‘her’ kitchen.

Jason clicked his lap belt into place just in time to prevent ending up on Stick’s lap as Bruce negotiated a sharp corner. ‘Unit Nine Six Two – are you responding?’