Kelly leaves and Evelyn closes the door before returning back to Max. He notices that her face is bright red.

'You like him.' Max states as she sits back.

'I do not!' Evelyn scoffs.

'Your face says otherwise.' Max laughs. 'And the way you squirmed in your seat when you brushed hands earlier.'

'Okay, so maybe I do like him.' Evelyn admits. 'I mean, look at him, how can anyone not like him?' She laughs.

'If you want to go for it, go for it.' Max states. 'You just have to tell him the truth about us and why. He seems trustworthy and I doubt he'd go telling people.' Evelyn looks down. 'Evie, you deserve to be happy. If he makes you happy, then what's stopping you.'

'He makes me feel things that I've never felt before. I feel things that I didn't feel with Marcus.' Evelyn says. 'I was practically groomed by Marcus into our relationship and once we were together he didn't want to let me to leave. Wouldn't let me leave.' Evelyn looks back up at him.

'You're a good friend.' She smiles lightly.

'I just want you to be happy.' Max tells her. 'I know being back here isn't what you wanted but you should this as an opportunity to reclaim what you lost when you were a teenager. Don't let Marcus control your life anymore.'

'Believe me. I'm not letting him take anymore from me than he already has.'

.

It has been a few days. Evelyn is walking through Chicago, a coffee in her hand. She's about to walk into her apartment building when her phone rings. She looks at the caller ID but it says "Private Number". She hesitates for a few moments before answering. 

'Hello?' 

'Is this Evelyn Ward?' The man on the other end of the call asks.

'That depends. Who's asking?' Evelyn replies, skeptical. 

'Sorry. My name is Wallace Boden. I'm the Chief of Firehouse 51. Kelly Severide passed your number over to me. He's our Squad Luitenant.' 

'Oh.'

'I hope you don't mind me calling.' 

'No, it's fine.' Evelyn shakes her head. 'What can I do for you?'

'Kelly mentioned that you were in interior design. Has he told you that we're looking to revamp our common room?' Boden says.

'He has, yeah.' Evelyn nods.

'I've spoken with the higher-ups and they've agreed to let me hire you to do it, if you can bring some proof of some work that you've done. I've seen some stuff on your website, but if you could bring some proof that isn't on your website, that'd be great.' Boden explains. Evelyn can't believe that Kelly stuck to what he said. 

'Erm, yeah. Of course.'

'When would work for you?' Boden asks.

'I'm really flexible with my schedule so whenever works for you.' Evelyn responds.

'Could you get here within the hour? We're out of rotation at the moment due to some issues with our engines so you don't need to worry about us being called out. You can also take a look at the common room yourself and see what you could do with it.' Boden tells her.

'Yeah, that'd be perfect. Thank you.' Evelyn tries to hide her excitement about potentially getting her first client.

'I'll see you in a bit then. Bye.' 

'Okay, bye.' Evelyn ends the call before heading up to her apartment. When she walks in, Max is sat on the sofa. He sees the massive smile on her face.

'What's got you smiling like that?' He asks. 'You see Kelly?' 

'Shut up.' Evelyn sticks her tongue out. 'I may have gotten my first client.' 

'What?!' Max stands up. 'That's great! Who is it?' 

'The firehouse Kelly works at has been looking to revamp their common area so he said he'd speak to his chief about it. I didn't think he would but I guess he did. His chief just called me asking if I could be there in an hour with my portfolio.' 

'Do you want me to drive you?' Max asks her.

'Nah, I'll get a cab.' Evelyn shakes her head. 

'You sure?' Max makes sure.

'Yep.' Evelyn nods. 'I'm just gonna go freshen up, grab my portfolio and go.' 

.

50 minutes later, Evelyn is arriving at Firehouse 51. She pays her cab driver, gets out and walks up the driveway with a bag on her shoulder. When she walks onto the apparatus floor, Cruz taps Kelly and points to her. Kelly turns around and smiles when he sees her.

'Evie!' He stands up and walks over to her. 'What brings you here?'

'Your chief called me.' Evelyn states. 'I didn't think you'd actually speak to him about hiring me.'

'I keep my word.' Kelly raises an eyebrow at her. 'Come on, I'll take you through to Boden. Kelly leads her through to the firehouse and to Boden's office. He knocks on the door and Boden waves them in. Kelly opens the door and they both walk in. Boden stands up. 'Chief, this is Evelyn Ward, the interior designer I told you about.'

'Please, call me Evie.' Evie smiles as she steps forward and shakes his hand. 

'Thank you, Kelly.' Boden nods at his Luitenant. Kelly nods and walks out, closing the door behind him. 'Please, sit.' Boden motions to an empty chair and they both sit down. 

'This is a folder with photos of my previous projects.' Evelyn takes a folder from her bag and hands it to him, he takes it and opens it. 

'Some of these headers are for a different business.' Boden points out. 

'Yes.' Evelyn sighs and nods. 'That was my previous business.' Boden flips through the folder and after a few moments, closes it and puts it down.

'What made you start a new business?' Boden queries.

'I'm running from my husband.' Evelyn states. 'Abusive husband.' She takes a brown folder from her bag. 'This will explain everything. You should know about what happened before and if you say yes.' She hands it over to him. 'But what I've said and what you read cannot leave this room.' Boden nods and reads through the file. They spend the next half an hour talking about the revamp and Boden confirms that he will be hiring her.

'I'd like to introduce you to everyone and explain what you'll be doing.' Boden tells her.

'That's fine.' Evelyn nods. They both stand up and Boden leads her to the conference room.

'I'll gather everyone together. I'll be right back.' Boden says. Evelyn nods and Boden walks out. He returns a few minutes later with everyone filing in behind him. Once they're all sat down, Boden addresses them. 'As you know, we've been looking at revamping and modernising our common area. This is Evelyn Ward, Evie, she's an interior designer. She'll be the one working on it.' Boden looks at Evelyn and she steps forward.

'I've heard that you guys are like family here. I'd like to incorporate that into the common area. Make it look like a home, of course keeping in with CFD regulations which Chief Boden has already bought me up to speed with.' Evelyn starts. 'I won't have an estimate on how long it will take to get everything done until I finalise the design and you guys approve it but I don't want to take your common area away from you so we will figure out a way so that you can use the area whilst the work is being done.' 

'Any questions?' Boden asks everyone.

'How soon can you start?' Herrmann asks jokingly and everyone laughs.

'I have the measurements already, so as soon as I've seen the common area and gathered your thoughts on what you'd want, I will get started on designing straight away.' Evelyn replies. She takes her IPad out of her bag, flips the cover open and brings up her notes app. She takes the apple pencil from the holder. 'So, what would you like to see in your common area?' For the next twenty minutes, they all give Evelyn their thoughts. 'Okay, so I think I have enough to go on.'

'Would you like to see the common room now?' Boden asks Evelyn.

'That'd be great.' Evelyn nods.

'Everyone, you're dismissed.' Boden dismisses everyone and they all leave. Boden leads Evelyn though to the common room. She looks around before turning to Boden. 

'Do you mind if I take a few pictures?' Evelyn questions.

'Go ahead.' Boden nods. Evelyn takes some pictures from various angles. 'What do you think, price-wise?'

'What's your budget?' Evelyn asks.

'We've been saving up for this for quite a while, so 20 grand.' Boden responds. 

'That's more than enough. I'd say you're looking at between 5 and 10 grand.' Evelyn replies. 'I'm not going to charge you guys at my usual rate which is $100 an hour. $50 an hour and then the furniture costs etc. Once everything is totaled up, I'll give you a proper estimate. I'll start putting the design together today.' 

'Thank you.' Boden smiles.

'Of course.' Evelyn nods. 'Do you mind if I start it here? I find it easier to start designing in the space I'll be working on, or at least close to it.' 

'Sure.' Boden nods. 'You can sit in here. Help yourself to a hot drink or some water.' Evelyn nods appreciatively and sits at the table. She places her IPad in front of her and starts sketching out the outline of the room using the dimensions Boden gave her. 15 minutes later and she has the basic outline done. Kelly sits next to her.

'How's it going?' He asks. 

'I've got the outline of the room done.' Evelyn tells him. 'It took me a bit longer than it used to because of the MS but I got there.' 

'Take your time.' Kelly says. 'What are you thinking?'

'You guys said that you wanted a fresh paint colour, but it might look a bit off, so I was thinking of just going a few shades darker than what it is already, maybe making the room a bit warmer. I looked at the department regs to see if you could have a TV mounted and you can, so that will create some extra space.' Evelyn explains. 'It's not going to be a big project. Mainly freshening everything up, bringing in new furniture, making the room warmer and cosy.'

'It's a good starting point though.' Kelly reminds her. 'Just think of it like that.' 

'Yeah.' Evelyn sighs and nods. Evelyn's phone, which is beside her, lights up with a message and Kelly catches sight of the screensaver. A picture of her and Ivy.

'Who's that?' He questions.

'Erm, that's my daughter, Ivy.' Evelyn tells him. 

'I didn't know you had a daughter.' Kelly states, shocked.

'It's a long story.' Evelyn shakes her head. 'She's living with Max's mom at the moment. I miss her, but I facetime her every day.' Kelly puts his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. 'I better get home.' She clears her throat as she packs her things up. 'Max will probably be wondering where I am.'

'I'll let Boden know.' Kelly nods.

'Thanks.' Evelyn smiles slightly. 'Just let him know I'll get the final design, timeline and prices by the end of next week.' 

'Will do.' Kelly nods. 

'Bye.' Evelyn smiles.

'Bye.' Kelly smiles back. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally an update! It's a bit of an abrupt ending but oh well.  I've been recovering from surgery so things have been slow recently, but hopefully, things will get back to normal soon.

If you want writing updates, sneak peeks or want to contact me about my books or be friends, you can follow me on my Wattpad insta - chloeogradyxo, the link is in my profile!

Let me know what you think of this chapter!

Much love