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actually been a fight.
    And she was already on the scene. She pulled her notebook out of her purse along with her Herald ID and headed for the police car. It wouldn’t make the front page, not with the overturned tractor-trailer, but it might put her one step closer to the career she’d been dreaming about.

Chapter Six
     
     
    “Explain to me again why you haven’t called him yet.” Bailey panted between words as she jogged beside Evie the next morning in the park.
    “Besides the fact that it’s only eight a.m.?” Next to Bailey, Evie struggled to maintain her pace. Her friend was taller than she was, so her strides were a lot longer. Evie relished the challenge, but talking while running made keeping up even more difficult.
    “He said call him anytime. That means Any. Time .” Bailey effortlessly slowed to a walk, and Evie downshifted, gulping in cool morning air. She needed some shorter friends to work out with. Between statuesque, brunette Emerson and willowy, redheaded Bailey, Evie looked like a mousy fourth-grader with her shorter legs and compact curves. Running with either one of her best friends always left her exhausted.
    Still panting, Evie liberated her water bottle from the pouch at her hip and took a long sip before she was able to speak again. “I’m not sure what to say.”
    “This must be serious. You’re never at a loss for words.” Bailey sipped from her own bottle and stopped to stretch her legs for a moment.
    “It’s not serious. I mean—” She shivered at the thought of the kiss they’d shared. She’d spend half the night wondering how he’d faired at the accident scene and talking herself out of calling him. Chad’s coverage splashed across the front page of the Saturday edition, complete with Max’s dramatic photo of a flaming car. There was no mention of any EMTs being injured, so she assumed he was fine, but was he really waiting for her call as anxiously as he’d made it seem last night? “We kissed. That was all— Oh, and we talked about maybe double dating, if you feel like seeing Taylor again.”
    “You’re already up to double dating?”
    “It was just small talk really.” Evie’s fingers itched to pull out her phone and call him. It bothered her that she felt like she needed an excuse.
    “I’ll go out with Taylor. He was nice.” Bailey raised a brow. “Do you think you can handle an evening with Tanner?”
    “I’m not sure. He makes me…wobbly.”
    “That’s a good thing. Easier for him to sweep you off your feet.”
    “I don’t want to be swept,” Evie replied, ignoring the memories of his comments at the self-defense class. “I want to keep my feet firmly on the ground, thanks. I don’t like feeling out of control, and he…”
    “Makes you want to lose control?”
    God, yes. With her back pressed against the chilly bricks of the building and her front pressed against his chest, she’d felt like a kite in the wind and someone had cut the string that anchored her to earth. Tanner Croft made her angry and jealous and hot and jittery and reckless…and none of those things were good. “He’s not really my type.”
    “Oh, please.”
    “No, I’m serious. You and Taylor—that makes a little more sense. Tanner said he’s very focused and serious. He’s dedicated to his work, and he’s looking to settle down. He’s like the male version of you. I bet you two would be great together. But me and Tanner—”
    “Oil and water?”
    “Oil and a lit match. Ever since last night, I feel like I touched a live wire, and I don’t like that feeling.”
    Bailey sipped her water again. “Then get over it.”
    “How do I do that?”
    “Hang on tight and wait for the shock to pass.”
    “That’s very philosophical, but in reality, if you hang on to something that heats you up like that, all you do is get burned. I don’t want to get burned.”
    “Now you sound like me. You’re the adventurous one. Take a chance.”
    “And you sound like me. What