Read Online The Firefighter's Match by Allie Pleiter - Free Book Online
Authors: Allie Pleiter
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them all together the more they’d fractured apart. Alex was a problem solver, all right, but he’d learned not to get too close or too invested in those problems. His best solutions came from the mile-high view—using distance to gain perspective. So why was he down in the thick of it now?
JJ shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
Her words startled Alex. “Wait a minute—your brother’s been injured by my equipment and your mom takes it out on me and you’re apologizing? What’s wrong with this picture?”
JJ’s gaze snapped to him, her face going pale. “So you know for certain? It was a failure of your equipment?”
Alex wanted to punch himself in the nose. He hadn’t meant to say that. No one really knew if that was true, at least not yet. Her unearned apology had shocked it out of him. Now there wasn’t a way to back down from the admission, even though he was sure JJ and her family would jump on anything that didn’t make this Max’s fault. “We don’t actually know yet. I shouldn’t have said something like that.” Even as he said the words, he knew they’d have no effect.
“But the show told us it was probably equipment failure. Your equipment? Is that why you’re staying so close and being so friendly? You keep saying how badly you feel about the whole thing.”
“JJ, it’s just not that simple. SpiderSilk was an experimental product, yes, but it had been tested to thousands of pounds of force so we don’t yet know what happened. My brother, Sam, approved the use because he believed he was giving WWW a solid prototype.” The words tasted bitter and hollow in his mouth. It was Sam’s style to offer up convenient half-truths, not his.
Her eyes narrowed. “You are the worst kind of liar.”
She’d seen right through his doubts. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“But not all of it.” She stood up. “Really, I was hoping for better out of you. Or was all that on the dock just another sales job?”
Alex planted himself between JJ and the chapel door. “Hey, look, the truth—the full truth—is that I don’t know enough yet to be able to tell you for certain. Sam was using SpiderSilk, and that’s not a retail product yet. We didn’t give it to the show to use. They were supposed to be examining it for the next season once we were a hundred percent sure it was market ready. But it has been tested extensively. It shouldn’t have failed under the conditions WWW used it. We’re not even sure the SpiderSilk is what failed. I can’t give you a definitive explanation right now, even though I know you want one. But I’m not here because of that. I’m here because I want to help you. And part of that means giving you the most accurate facts I can. Seems to me the last thing you need right now is wrong information.”
“Oh, and you’re an expert on what I need.” She turned and picked up her sweater off the pew.
“I’m not claiming to be an expert. I’m just trying to do what I can. Your focus is exactly where it should be—on Max’s treatment and his recovery process. Anything else can wait until we’ve had a chance to figure out exactly what happened.” He sighed. “It’s not as simple as bad ropes—we hadn’t trained any of the techs at WWW on how to use SpiderSilk. They didn’t have the recommended belay devices. They undid the rigging so we can’t see what knots they used. So we honestly don’t know whether it was a failure of SpiderSilk that caused Max’s fall. At least not yet.”
“I don’t think Max much cares about that right now.” Her eyes filled with hurt. “How long have you known it could have been the...” She waved her hands in the air, reaching for the brand name Alex had always found so unforgettable.
“SpiderSilk?”
“Yes. How long have you known he fell using that? Have you known this whole time? ” Her tone on those last three words just about broke Alex’s heart.
“I meant what I said—I don’t know anything for certain yet.
JJ shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
Her words startled Alex. “Wait a minute—your brother’s been injured by my equipment and your mom takes it out on me and you’re apologizing? What’s wrong with this picture?”
JJ’s gaze snapped to him, her face going pale. “So you know for certain? It was a failure of your equipment?”
Alex wanted to punch himself in the nose. He hadn’t meant to say that. No one really knew if that was true, at least not yet. Her unearned apology had shocked it out of him. Now there wasn’t a way to back down from the admission, even though he was sure JJ and her family would jump on anything that didn’t make this Max’s fault. “We don’t actually know yet. I shouldn’t have said something like that.” Even as he said the words, he knew they’d have no effect.
“But the show told us it was probably equipment failure. Your equipment? Is that why you’re staying so close and being so friendly? You keep saying how badly you feel about the whole thing.”
“JJ, it’s just not that simple. SpiderSilk was an experimental product, yes, but it had been tested to thousands of pounds of force so we don’t yet know what happened. My brother, Sam, approved the use because he believed he was giving WWW a solid prototype.” The words tasted bitter and hollow in his mouth. It was Sam’s style to offer up convenient half-truths, not his.
Her eyes narrowed. “You are the worst kind of liar.”
She’d seen right through his doubts. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“But not all of it.” She stood up. “Really, I was hoping for better out of you. Or was all that on the dock just another sales job?”
Alex planted himself between JJ and the chapel door. “Hey, look, the truth—the full truth—is that I don’t know enough yet to be able to tell you for certain. Sam was using SpiderSilk, and that’s not a retail product yet. We didn’t give it to the show to use. They were supposed to be examining it for the next season once we were a hundred percent sure it was market ready. But it has been tested extensively. It shouldn’t have failed under the conditions WWW used it. We’re not even sure the SpiderSilk is what failed. I can’t give you a definitive explanation right now, even though I know you want one. But I’m not here because of that. I’m here because I want to help you. And part of that means giving you the most accurate facts I can. Seems to me the last thing you need right now is wrong information.”
“Oh, and you’re an expert on what I need.” She turned and picked up her sweater off the pew.
“I’m not claiming to be an expert. I’m just trying to do what I can. Your focus is exactly where it should be—on Max’s treatment and his recovery process. Anything else can wait until we’ve had a chance to figure out exactly what happened.” He sighed. “It’s not as simple as bad ropes—we hadn’t trained any of the techs at WWW on how to use SpiderSilk. They didn’t have the recommended belay devices. They undid the rigging so we can’t see what knots they used. So we honestly don’t know whether it was a failure of SpiderSilk that caused Max’s fall. At least not yet.”
“I don’t think Max much cares about that right now.” Her eyes filled with hurt. “How long have you known it could have been the...” She waved her hands in the air, reaching for the brand name Alex had always found so unforgettable.
“SpiderSilk?”
“Yes. How long have you known he fell using that? Have you known this whole time? ” Her tone on those last three words just about broke Alex’s heart.
“I meant what I said—I don’t know anything for certain yet.
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