Blaze (The Firefighters of Darling Bay Book 1) by Rachael Herron Page A

of the gluten in the bun, the fat in the burger, and that’s not even to mention how processed the bacon is. And this cheese! This isn’t cheese. It’s melted plastic.” She glared at it. Then her face softened. “Delicious, delightful, addictive melted plastic.” 
    “That’s what I’m talking about. And hey, this is a step up for me. You know how times a week I eat McDonalds?
    “Don’t tell me.” She meant it. 
    “I throw some Carls Jr. in there if I’m feeling like I need a little something better. This, this is highbrow cuisine. Lettuce and everything. Have a fry.” 
    “No, thanks,” she said, but her fingers lingered near his fry basket. “I’m happy with my salad on the side.” 
    “Which you haven’t touched yet.” 
    “I will.” 
    “No, you won’t.” Tox nudged the fries closer to her. “Because you want some of these.” 
    “No way. I want to live to be a hundred.” 
    “Potatoes. They’re a vegetable.” 
    Her hand skittered toward the fries and then away. “No.” 
    “I won’t tell anyone.” 
    “That’s not the point.” She had a tiny dab of mustard just below her lip, and he wanted to lick it off. 
    “What’s the point, then?” 
    She put down the French fry she’d picked up and placed it squarely back in its paper basket. Next to the table the seagulls, squabbling like bored housewives, fought over half a dropped corn dog.
    “This isn’t real food.” She didn’t sound convinced.
    “Look.” Tox opened his burger bun again. “Meat. Vegetables. Wheat. Pretty straightforward food to me. You’re sad it’s not a tofu burger? Because we can go get you one of those. They have ’em down the block.” 
    “No!” She gripped her burger tighter and took another bite. 
    “I didn’t think so.” 
    Grace chewed and watched the waves. She was so all-fired cute, with that ponytail and that earnest expression. She’d gone somewhere, far away, and he wasn’t sure how to get her back. 
    “Give yourself a break, huh?” 
    She jumped. “What?” 
    “I know when someone’s beating themselves up, and that’s what you’re doing. Just enjoy your burger, huh?” 
    She bit her bottom lip, then licked away the mustard. He missed it as soon as it was gone. “I’m fine.” 
    Sure. She could play it that way. Tox wasn’t that big on pushing anyone, anyway. 
    A little boy wandered past the table, his mother right behind him. She was on her cell phone, looking into the parking lot, and didn’t notice the little boy had let go of the string of his yellow balloon. Tox lunged sideways, grabbing it while it was still a few feet over his head. “Hey! Here you go, kid.” 
    The mother thanked him as she tied the string around the child’s wrist. 
    When he sat back down, Grace said, “That was nice.” 
    “All in a day’s work. Helium’s deadly, you know.” 
    She laughed again. “Yeah. That’s why every kid in America sucks it as often as possible.” 
    Tox smiled gamely. Helium was actually a great way to kill yourself, too, and he’d been on enough of those calls over the years that he had a hard time forgetting that. 
    “Whoa,” Grace said. “Where did you go?”
    “Sorry. It’s just…” Normal people didn’t think things like that. He always forgot. 
    “Just what?” 
    Tox met Grace’s eyes. She looked at him like she really wanted to know what he was thinking. Like it meant something, the next thing he said. And instead of saying what he was thinking—that nothing mattered anyway, that nothing good lasted—he said, “It’s just that you should really have one of these fries. They’re the best on the coast.” 
    “Well, okay, then.” Grace’s voice was happy, and the look on her face as she closed her eyes matched. 
    He didn’t want to be anywhere else. 
    A flash of motion behind Grace, on the far side of her. Noise. 
    A small black car—expensive-looking with custom rims, the kind rich tourists drove through town—broke