Embracing Today, a firefighter romance: (The Trading Yesterday Series, #3)

by Kahlen Aymes

  EMBRACING TODAY

  © 2021 KAHLEN AYMES

  First Edition

  Version: 2021.5.11

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. Scanning, uploading to, or downloading from, and/or distribution of this book via the Internet/email or via any other means without permission of the author/publisher are prohibited, illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Piracy is not a victimless crime.

  Cover Design and Formatting by R.A. Mizer of ShoutLines Design. For more information visit Shoutlinesdesign.com.

  Published by Kahlen Aymes Books, Inc.

  Amazon ISBN: 978-1-973358947

  Ebook ISBN: 978-0-9996713-7-5

  Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9996713-8-2

  DEDICATION

  One of my dear readers, Dawn Morrison Brady, lost her husband to colon cancer while I was writing this book and his story touched my heart so much that I decided that I must dedicate my firefighter book to the two of them.

  Dawn has been with me almost since the publication of my first book, The Future of Our Past, and over the years she has assisted with book signings, often driving hundreds of miles to do so, and has become a dear friend. I love her dearly and though I never met him, I learned a lot about her husband Barry Brady, a thirty-year fire-fighter and certified arson investigator for fifteen. He became a loving and devoted father to her 2 sons from a previous marriage, and they adored him. I know that he and Dawn shared a special love story.

  Brady, as he was called by all who knew him, was beloved in his community and had many friends, he won too many awards and accolades in his home state of Tennessee to mention them all, but enough that the state passed legislation that provides compensation to firefighters who acquire cancer because of their work. It covers four types of cancer and the only requirement is that firefighters get an annual screening. Dawn has said that she receives texts and emails often where firefighters tell her that because of the screening requirement their cancer was found much earlier than it might have been otherwise had it not been for this piece of legislation.

  When Brady was on hospice, during the last five weeks of his life, he found out that this legislation would be named after him, and he felt a great sense of honor. Unfortunately, he didn’t live to see it become law, but it was signed by Governor Bill Lee just one month after his death. Brady’s legacy will live on through The Barry Brady Act and hopefully save other firefighters from losing their lives, as he did.

  I love you, Dawn, and I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope this dedication comforts you just a little.

  You may notice that Ben’s last name in Embracing Today is Brady… by design.

  Rest in peace, Brady… Heaven is for heroes.

  ~Kahlen

  Xoxo

  * * *

  Since 2002, 2 out of 3 firefighters suffer some kind of side effects from their career as heroes, including cancer. It is my wish that all states and/or the federal government would introduce legislation similar to the Barry Brady Act for firefighters and other first responders who risk their lives for others every day. Please contact your local legislature and share Barry’s story.

  Click here to learn more about The Barry Brady Act

  Click here to read a news story was done 1 year after Barry’s death which explains why, and how, firefighters get cancer from their gear.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Special thanks to all of the members of my Dream Team, Review Team, and Kahlen’s Angels who help me so often with beta reading and promotion of my books, especially Justin Tevis who manages my reader group, Kathryn Voskuil, Sandra De Gouveia Archangel, Zoë Braycotton, Jaime Billam, and Donna Cooksley Sanderson, who have helped with editing, and the many bloggers who review, blast, post, talk up and feel so passionately about my books… I love you to Mars and back!

  To A.M. Hargrove, Samantha Christy, Tina Reber, Ilsa Madden-Mills, Kelly Elliott, Sandi Lynn, Julie Richman, April Wilson, SE Hall, AD Justice, and Lynn Jaxon; I adore you, your books, and your friendship! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

  My heartfelt thanks to the host of authors and bloggers who invite me into their groups to share my books and release events, who help to organize group promotions that give our readers the opportunity to find similar types of books, authors and reader groups!!

  To my special friends from the CATB group and the True-R group – I love you and know I can always count on you! You are TRUE and loyal friends!

  To my mother and daughter who offer unending support: I love you with my whole heart!

  And finally, to my readers… thank you for all of your support, love, tears, and amazing words that you send to me on a daily basis. I am humbled and honored beyond measure. I appreciate, and value, every single review, because you took time the time to not only read my work but share your opinions! I adore each and every one of you!

  I couldn’t make this incredible journey without any of you. I hope you know that!

  Love and Peace...

  ~Kahlen

  Xoxo

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgment

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  Epilogue

  Other Books by Kahlen

  About the Author

  MARIN

  “Stop, Carter! Don’t come near me!”

  My shrill scream split the air, but it didn’t keep him from advancing on me in his fury.

  Over the past two weeks I’d been slowly working up the courage to end things with my boyfriend of almost two years, and I’d decided tonight was the night. The relationship that had started out good turned to crap after my Uncle Leonard passed away a few months back.

  After stressing about it all day, I’d come home, gathered my courage, packed up his things and loaded them into my car. Carter didn’t have many belongings; just a few clothes, a couple of hats, a pair of New Balance athletic shoes and two pair of work boots. He’d been a bit of a drifter before he settled in Jackson Hole, and that should have been my first red flag.

  I was intent in my purpose to be rid of him and had planned to confront him at The Auto Shop, no matter how much I dreaded his response. I couldn’t stand to have him inside my home one more night; he’d become violent after I refused to marry him only weeks after losing my Uncle. It was as if he was a different person; mean, short-tempered and violent.

  My parents died in a car accident when I was only nine, so I came to live with my bachelor uncle in northwestern Wyoming. It had been rough at first; I was a scared kid who missed my parents and Uncle Leonard had no idea how to relate to, or raise, a young girl. But as I grew up, we became very close and now, I was lost without him. In the midst of my grief I shut d
own, and Carter hadn’t been even a little sensitive to my sorrow. He got drunk after I said no to his proposal and became violent. That was the first night he beat me and the night I knew I had to get him out of my life for good.

  I was terrified of what his reaction would be, but I couldn’t take one more night of the drunken abuse. I steeled myself against the onslaught of anger that I knew was inevitable.

  A lightning storm caused the electricity to short out at the ranch just before I got into my little car and drove the short distance to the family business sitting at the other end of the property. I was determined to tell Carter I wanted to end our relationship, but knew if I told him at the house, he wouldn’t leave and more than likely beat me or hurt my puppy just to spite me.

  In the aftermath of delivering the news, he wasn’t taking it well. My heart was pounding inside my chest, thumping with fear. I realized I probably should have waited until he was sober, but I’d been working myself up to it and wanted this chapter of my life closed. My heart felt like it would fly from my chest as I stood in front of the furious man. I could see him about to fly into a rage and turned to leave my uncle’s auto shop before things escalated. I wanted to get home and lock the doors to the house behind me.

  “You ungrateful little bitch! Don’t you walk away from me!” he shouted viciously as I dashed to the other side of the building. He stumbled. His eyes were glazed over from alcohol; the half-empty fifth of Jack Daniels sitting on his workbench was no doubt the culprit. “I’m talking to you! You can’t kick me out! I’ll kill you, first! All this should be mine!”

  Realization dawned: so that was why he wanted to marry me. It should have occurred to me earlier. I felt sick to my stomach.

  Carter charged at me, pushing aside a partially full barrel of waste oil that stood between us and knocking it over. It landed with a loud clang and the thick liquid inside oozed over the cement floor like black blood. He unknowingly walked right through the dirty gunk in his urgent quest to punish me, slipping which made him even angrier. The one thing that Carter was truly adept at was holding his liquor, and terror seized my heart as he charged toward me. He must have had more than usual.

  “Just stay away from me, Carter!”

  I frantically looked for something to protect myself, but the light was low, and the shop cluttered with a plethora of scrap metal, greasy rags and trash.

  My uncle’s automotive shop was a mess and to make matters worse, it was dark inside. The one kerosene lantern that sat on the work bench was the only light in the dim space, except when the lightening flashed outside illuminating the premises for a brief moment at a time.

  Since Uncle Leonard died six months ago Carter had let the place go to hell. Gone was the orderly and efficient business it had once been; gone were the five mechanics who used to work for us and the steady stream of customers. Carter was the only worker left because he’d run the others off due to his tyrannical ways. I couldn’t help but think it was all my fault because I hadn’t had the strength to be rid of him sooner.

  The shop was now littered with old tires and engine parts, dented bumpers, and other automotive body parts that had been salvaged or discarded. A disassembled motorcycle that was mid-way through an overhaul sat to one side of the garage, and two cars, one with an open hood and another up on blocks, were in various states of repair. Two others were outside the broken-down barn waiting their turn to be serviced. Just a year ago, the lot would be full of repaired vehicles waiting to be picked up, or those about to be repaired.

  The locals in Jackson Hole were loyal to my uncle had kept coming after he died because they knew that the shop supported me and the ranch. That alone, accounted for the work that was still in process. The familiar scent of grease and gasoline permeated the air.

  The blood rushing madly in my ears was so loud that I could barely hear the thunder booming outside as it rumbled through the northern Rockies; the result of nearby cracks of lightning from the brewing storm.

  I lunged away from Carter, narrowly making it out of his grasp as his hand swiped through the air at me. His fingers tangled in my long hair and pulled it painfully as he reached for me, trying to grasp at the back of my suit jacket. My scalp screamed as I pulled away with all my strength. His fist was probably full of my long blonde hair. “

  I said get over here!” he screamed, his efforts making the veins in his neck and eyes bulge with his wrath.

  I still had make-up covering the residual bruise on my cheek that had been left from the backhand that had landed there only three nights ago, and though it was cloudy today, I’d conspicuously hidden my black eye with large designer sunglasses. I’d come to the conclusion that the shop was a thing of the past and I had to find a new way to support myself. I’d spent the day in town filling out applications at the diner, the police station, and one of the real estate offices.

  “Get out!” I screamed at the mad man chasing me. “I hate you!”

  I’d never meant anything more. I hated him beyond anything, but I hated myself, too. I’d fallen for his flattery and succumbed to his lies for the past two years ever since he’d come to work at The Auto Shop. I’d just come back from attending Denver University and I was young and impressionable, vulnerable to the attention of a handsome man. Carter had been 26 and unmarried; unlike any of the other mechanics that worked for my uncle, and I’d swooned whenever he flirted with me. It didn’t take long until we started dating exclusively.

  When Uncle Leonard got sick, he relied more on Carter than the others to take care of the shop, even though they’d worked for him longer. I felt disgusted at the thought of it; guilt filling up my soul because I knew that it was only because he was my boyfriend. It wasn’t because he didn’t trust the others; Dave, Scott and the rest of them had been there longer and were better mechanics. It was only because Carter had convinced both of us that he loved me and would take care of me once my uncle was gone. But he had flushed my uncle’s entire life’s work down the toilet in a matter of months as drinking became his priority. He ran through the business’s working capital for stupid shit and booze; proving he couldn’t care less about me.

  There had been a method to Carter’s plan; I was just a way to get my uncle’s business, the ranch and the life insurance money. Except, I hadn’t married him on demand like he thought I would, and then he got mean. I felt like such a fool and completely and utterly alone. I had no friends to speak of, because since returning from college, I’d foolishly spent every waking minute with Carter.

  “Get! Ouuuuuuuut!” I screamed again, this time at the top of my lungs. “I want you gone! I want you out of the house and out of my life! Leave, or I’ll call the sheriff!” I threatened even as I backed away in utter terror. Undeterred, he advanced.

  Carter laughed; a wicked, devious sound. “You can’t sur-survive without me,” he accused. “Who will run the biz-biznus?”

  I scowled at him. “What business? You’ve run it into the ground!” It was sickening that what my uncle had built over a lifetime was now useless

  He lunged again; his arms swiping through the air in front of him, the wrench in his hand flying free and whizzing past my head, barely missing me. My breath stopped as I realized my life was in mortal danger. He was deranged and his anger, combined with the alcohol, could be a lethal combination.

  He was pushing aside tools and a floor jack; picking up a fender that had been removed from one of the automobiles and flung it across the room. I searched frantically for something to defend myself with. The fender landed with a loud clang, partially on the cement floor and partially against one of the work benches, and it made me flinch.

  There was a long broom on the hook on the wall closest to me, and though it might not do much beyond hold him at bay, it was better than nothing. I raced for it and yanked it down, and turning, I held it up in front of me as a barrier between us. “Stay back!”

  Carter stopped and laughed. “You think you can stab me with a broom?” he sneered mockingly.
“You really are a stupid little cunt!”

  I was used to his vulgarity by now; the face I used to find handsome now repulsed me. “I wish this was a sword, you lousy bastard! I want you to die!” I was crying and frantic, certain I meant every word.

  “Do you know what’s gonna happen to you when I get my hands on you? I’m going to kill you!” He said, calm as death and then pointed in my direction. “You’ll die, not me. I’m going to snap your scrawny neck!”

  Suddenly, Carter surged toward me again, but I launched into action, crouching down and pushing forward with the broom with all my might, poking him in hard in the chest. I managed to knock the wind from him, and he lost his balance. Stumbling backward, he fell into the work bench which caused the lantern to fall to the floor. Carter struggled to regain his balance but couldn’t, then crashed with a thud and loud grunt, onto the floor.

  As I watched the lantern clatter to the floor where the glass broke, it played out in slow motion. It was as if my mind were two steps ahead and I knew the shop would light up like flash paper. It was full of gas and grease, and now that dirty oil was all over the floor, there was no preventing the inedible.

  Whoosh!

  The sound of the oil igniting combined with the flash of light and an inferno of heat went up in front of me; engulfing Carter in its ferocity.

  My mouth fell open amid his horrific screams. He flailed, his arms slashing the air and for a split second I was frozen in shock. His shrieks of pain would mark my soul forever, but there was nothing I could do for him. Adrenaline made me dash outside to save myself. As I ran outside and away from the building as fast as my legs could carry me, a series of explosions behind me signaled the cars inside blowing up when their fuel tanks lit-up; the force of the first one flung me violently onto the ground.