Bethany
Ever since my little sister was born, I’ve been taking care of her. My mom tried. She really did, but she had an addiction that she couldn’t fight. Her addiction became mine until she died and I panicked. I couldn’t deal with the idea that Astrid might be ripped away from me, sent to live with some stranger. She was only four. So we ran. That was the last time I used.
We struggled for three years but we made it, and we had each other. Until the day I realized this wasn’t fair to her. She needed stability. She needed to be in school. I couldn’t give her that. I knew if we got caught, I’d end up in jail and she’d end up in the foster care system I had worked so hard to avoid.
So, I tracked him down. Astrid’s father. He was a weekend fling our mom had with a guy who was visiting town for a conference. Neither of us had ever met him, he didn’t even know she existed, but I had enough information from my mom to be able to find him on social media. He was a Fire Chief in a small town. Someone who could give Astrid a good home. Take care of her. I would get a job in the town he lived, and do my best to see Astrid as much as I could. I could still be part of her life.
Caleb
I had a daughter. A two-night stand I had with a woman I met at a club almost eight years ago had resulted in the adorable seven year old who showed up at my fire station saying she had nowhere else to go. I wanted to be pissed at her mom for not telling me about her, but I couldn’t exactly be mad at a dead woman could I? I lived in a firehouse though, and now I had a little girl to care for. Even though there were three of us who lived here, we couldn’t do this on our own. I needed someone to care for Astrid when we got a call, no matter what time of day it was. Then Astrid interrogates the beautiful young woman at the café, and I knew by the way Astrid lit up when the young woman was around that she was perfect for the job.
Ty
We went from three guys in our late twenties and early thirties living the bachelor life to now co-habituating with a twenty year old woman and a seven year old girl. I should be annoyed by having what little privacy I had disrupted, but honestly, I loved having them both here. Astrid was sassy and so full of energy, and Beth… well, Beth was hot, and as a firefighter I knew hot. I wondered if she would be willing to heat things up in the bedroom.
Evan
Having a little girl invade our space was hard. Not that there was much I could do about it, she was Caleb’s kid. Her laugh tugged on memories I had tried long to bury. Memories of why I became a firefighter in the first place, and Beth? Beth’s smile stabbed into the stone I had constructed around my heart, threatening to crack it.
This is an age-gap why-choose romance, with the FMC being 20 and the men being 28, 30, and 32. One of the men is the estranged father of the FMC’s half-sister. They had never met before, and he didn’t know they existed. They are not related. Everyone gets a HEA together.
CW for discussion of death, and discussion of previous drug use.