Read Online Through Fire (Portland, ME #3) by Freya Barker - Free Book Online

able to, there’s a half-empty box of tissues in the middle of the kitchen table. But a tiny seed of hope for redemption has been planted.
    Dino walks in, with Gunnar right behind him holding Caden, effectively shutting down any lingering conversation.
    “Sorry,” Dino rumbles. “If I don’t get prepping now, I won’t be able to keep up with the dinner crowd.” Without looking at any of us, he walks into the cold storage.
    Gunnar walks up behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “You good to work?” he asks when I twist around to look at him.
    “I think so. Do you mind if I give Dino a hand first?” The request surprises me as much as  it does Gunnar, but I feel empowered. No time like the present to learn the workings of a kitchen. I messed up my last opportunity.
    “Fine by me. Viv?”
    “No problem,” she agrees with Gunnar before turning to me. “I’ll holler when we need you up front?”
    “Thank you,” I say to her, for more than just that.
    “We’d better be off. This little one will be wanting to nurse soon.” Gunnar looks adoringly at the little sleeping face in the crook of his arm. “And the other two are likely raiding the fridge, as we speak. I just popped in to pick up some paperwork to do at home.”
    Syd gets up, rounds the table, and surprises me by opening her arms and wrapping them around me. I feel awkward in her embrace and clumsily pat her on the back a few times, telling her thanks . “Anytime, Ruby,” she offers, before following Gunnar out the door.
    Next is Viv, who just grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. “That took guts,” she mumbles under her voice, making sure only I can hear. “We can talk more anytime you like.” With a wink, she’s gone too.
    “You gonna stand there, or give me a hand?” Dino’s gruff voice spurs me into action and until the first orders start coming in, I learn how to slice and dice like a chef. When I finally show my face in the pub, I do it smiling.
    That little seed of hope is sprouting.

    T im
    “What are you up to?”
    My brother’s standard question has me roll my eyes. “I’m pulling on my boots to go out. At least I was until you called. What are you up to?”
    “I need a drink,” he says, sounding beat.
    “You’re in luck, I’m heading out to The Skipper just for that reason. Meet me there?”
    I’m not kidding. I need a drink myself after the fabulous start to the week I’ve had. Brenda was obviously still pissed I ditched her last week. She’s been busy these past few days, making my life difficult. My own damn fault. I knew it was a bad idea to begin with and took her out anyway. This morning one of our engineers, Brad, nudged me when we were leaving the boardroom after a project meeting. One in which Brenda had made it blatantly clear to everyone present, with batting eyelashes and overly familiar gestures, that we have a relationship that goes beyond professional. I tried to ignore her, but it had obviously not been missed by Brad.
    “You tap that?” was what he said to me. Son of a bitch. I told him, “Absolutely not,” but I could tell from the smirk on his face he wasn’t buying. To add insult to injury, my boss was standing six feet away and had obviously heard the exchange, raising his eyebrow at me. Great .
    I’d holed up in my office the rest of the day, trying to keep my head down, wondering if I should confront her or whether that would just fuel the fire.
    “I can be there in an hour,” Mark says. “I’ve got some paperwork to finish up and need to stuff something in my mouth. Haven’t eaten since fucking breakfast.”
    “Grab something at the pub,” I suggest.
    “I can do that. See you in a bit.” He hangs up before I have a chance to answer.
    Maybe I should get his opinion. Mark’s got a good head on his shoulders, he may have some thoughts on how I should handle this.
    -
    I spot Ruby behind the bar the moment I walk in. There’s a decent crowd for this time of year, and it looks like