Starlight Hill: Complete collection 1-8

by Heatherly Bell

  “You’re coming in, right?”

  “Not tired of me yet?”

  She smiled shyly and wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Never. But I also wanted to tell you something.”

  “Uh-oh.” It sounded serious. He tried to make light of it. “Am I going to get dumped?”

  She opened the front door and pulled him in by his shirt. “After tonight? You’re getting a medal maybe.”

  “Cool. Is it shiny?”

  She laughed, and went inside, turning on lights as she went. “It’s about my family.”

  “Mrs. Paulsen? What’s wrong?” He loved the old lady as much as everyone else in town did, and the thought that something could be wrong with her now after Diana had spent so much time with her—

  “No, Gran is fine.” She sat down on the couch with his blanket, settling it over her legs.

  “You’re still cold.” He sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.

  “That was a frigid lake.”

  Was she stalling? “Time to tell me.”

  “This summer my mother hired a consultant to help her take her business to the next level.”

  He listened as Diana told him the whole story of what looked like a case of clear cut embezzlement by the consultant, with Diana’s mother and sister now on their way to Starlight Hill to hide out from a bunch of crazy Bridezillas.

  He’d hide too. “When did all this happen?”

  “Last night. When you came by and told me about Sophia?”

  He swallowed. The night he’d been upset about Jake and only had the guts to tell her about Sophia and nothing more than that. It had seemed safer. Harmless.

  “You should have told me. Not let me go on and on about Sophia.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not that important.”

  “The hell it isn’t. This is a life-changing kind of thing. And besides, if it’s important to you, it’s important to me.”

  She smiled. “You know what? You’re a really good friend.”

  He couldn’t speak for a moment and his stomach dropped. He wanted to be a lot more than a good friend. But to be with her, to connect on more than this incredible physical level they had, he’d have to learn how to share the deepest parts of himself. The way she had just now with him. She’d given him everything, and he’d given her only what he considered to be safe. Because he was a chump.

  “Right back at you.”

  18

  Back on his shift by Monday, Scott hadn’t heard anything of significance from Sophia. She’d sent him short cryptic text messages, apologizing for her timing but assuring him she was okay and that she had no regrets. It was good to hear. Even if he had stayed in town to be supportive, and hadn’t been needed after all. That was okay by him, since he’d spent the last four days working his ass off for Wallace and his nights making Diana his captive audience.

  Or she’d made him his captive audience. Either way, it worked. He smiled now remembering just how good it worked.

  “What are you grinning about, Turlock?” Benny teased from the stool in the firehouse kitchen.

  It was Scott’s turn cooking and tonight dinner for the crew was his famous firehouse chili. He still had to sleep with these men and Julie (who might kill him for this) for the next few evenings, so he’d brought three cans of air freshener just to be on the safe side.

  “Just thinking about how good this is gonna be tonight. No one else cooks worth a damn around here.”

  “Yeah, well it helps to have a sister-in-law who gives free cooking lessons to anyone who asks. This such a good idea? You know what happened last time.” Benny nudged his chin in Rookie’s direction.

  He was a few feet over, staring intently at his phone.

  “Already thought of that.” Rookie had the worst farts any of them had ever been privy to judging by their Firehouse 54 scale. One to five was in the acceptable range and anything over five meant you were in danger of sleeping outside under the stars. Rookie regularly straddled the edge. The guy was young and agile and according to Julie a real ‘hunk’, but Scott didn’t know how he’d ever get a woman. Or keep her.

  “How’s it going with you and the Princess?” Benny teased. He’d also seen all the Internet videos, which, thanks to a talking dog who managed a fairly coherent “I love you” whine to his owner, weren’t getting as many hits these days.

  Scott slid Benny what he hoped was his most intimidating look. “We’re just friends.”

  “Right. You two looked real friendly when you came out of your brother’s apartment suite.”

  Scott froze. He was unaware anyone in his work circle had noticed.

  He kept stirring. “Just friends.”

  “Does she know that?” Benny pressed.

  Benny was only trying to help. Close to retirement, he was biding his time. Plus he was the fatherly type, handing out advice whether anyone asked for it or not.

  “Yeah. She knows.”

  Diana had her own agenda, taking care of her grandmother, her entire family, not to mention figuring out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. It was a tall order and she didn’t need him complicating her life.

  Even if he was ready as hell to complicate it to death.

  Like him, she cared deeply about family and was loyal to the core. She also no longer held a grudge against him. And whether or not anyone else wanted to notice, she cared about the people in this town and wanted them to change their minds about her, one cake and donut customer at a time. She was by far one of the strongest women he’d ever met next to his own mother, even if Diana didn’t even know that about herself.

  Yet.

  “Good, because I’d hate for you to mess around with Mrs. Paulsen’s granddaughter. That could earn you the kind of reputation you don’t want.”

  Scott snorted. As if he didn’t already have a reputation. “I’m. Not. Messing with her.”

  If anything, Diana was messing with him. But he’d sign up for her kind of messing any day of the year.

  So that’s how it is.” Benny grinned.

  Scott felt a scowl coming on. “That’s how what is?”

  Benny shook his head, laughed, and made his way over to the couch with Rookie.

  Yeah, Scott didn’t need any comments from the peanut gallery. He realized he had a huge grin on his face when his thoughts went to Diana simply because he’d probably never been quite so satisfied in his entire life. It wasn’t just physical, either. She made him feel comfortable, at home. He couldn’t recall when he’d voluntarily sought a woman out for four nights in a row.

  Gen had mentioned that Diana might stay if she had a reason to, and he wondered if it could be true. Wondered if he would be enough of a reason. If he meant to take this thing between them to the next level, at some point he should probably ask her to stay. Right after he told her about Jake.

  Maybe.

  For now, he had too much on his mind. Priorities, Scott. Priorities. He’d worry about whatever the hell he wanted in his life later. He wasn’t the one that mattered anyway. The wildfires were raging, and their squad still hadn’t been called up for backup. But judging by the general dryness of their state, they would soon all need to worry about their own backyard. A couple of hours later, Scott sat with the crew as they rated each other’s farts. As usual, Rookie was about to get sent outside. Scott brought out the air fresheners, but Julie had still left the building, only not before she called them all a bunch of ‘infantile frat boys and the bane of my existence.’

  Scott caught Rookie googling “bane” when the alarm sounded. As usual, everyone sprang into action. Julie ran back inside and joined everyone in suiting up.

  Ty carried the iPad that fed them the information from dispatch. “Another accident, this one right by 101. Car over the embankment, Shit, sounds bad. A truck and a car.”

  Benny hopped into the engine. Ty would drive the squad car as usual, and Scott hopped in with him. They arrived within short minutes to a chaotic scene. Even though traffic wasn’t
at its height at eight o’clock, there were already enough looky-loos to cause a serious backup.

  “Out of my way, fuckers,” Ty grumbled to the cars that couldn’t hear him.

  He expertly managed to get the squad car through the cars that pulled over where they could and he pushed and shoved his way through. The engine truck had arrived just ahead of them, and the firefighters were already securing the scene. In a situation like this one, the safety of others and their squad came first. It was in the rule book right after ‘don’t be an idiot’.

  A large diesel truck had sideswiped a car off the embankment. The EMTs had already arrived in the ambulance and were taking care of the truck driver. Scott helped to set up barrier cones with the others. Something in the pit of his stomach froze when he smelled the spillage from the truck.

  “Gasoline,” Ty said before Scott could. “Shit! Fuck! We gotta wait for hazmat to clear this up. No one’s going anywhere near that car.”

  Not what Scott wanted to hear, but he realized Ty was right. They couldn’t overlook scene safety, rule one. No point in risking the lives of their squad. Still, he walked to the guardrail and leaned over to get a better look. For the second time, he nearly lost his cookies. He recognized the car, none other than Timmy White, who’d already had two accidents. Either his parents were idiots who hadn’t taken his keys away or Timmy had taken off on a joyride. Probably hadn’t planned to meet the wrong end of a truck. No kid planned for that when they were testing out how fast their baby could fly.

  “You know who that is?” Scott said to Ty.

  “I don’t care if it’s Scarlett Johansen, we have to wait. I don’t like it any more than you do.”

  “It’s Timmy White.”

  “The idiot kid again?”

  “Yeah.” Idiot or not, he was still a person who needed their help. “He’s just a kid. A stupid kid.”

  “Hazmat is on its way,” Ty said gruffly and walked away.

  Scott realized as lieutenant jockeying in line for a promotion to captain, Ty wouldn’t take any chances. But Scott didn’t have that problem. If there was one thing he understood down to his core, it was a stupid selfish kid. If not for his older brothers, maybe Scott wouldn’t have made it out alive either. It only took one more moment of hesitation before Scott jumped over the guardrail and headed towards the kid.

  “Turlock! Get the fuck back up here.” Ty shouted.

  “No,” Scott said to himself more than to anyone else.

  No. he wasn’t failing again. No, he couldn’t wait. Minutes were precious. Time was being wasted. What if this damn car burst into flames? Was he supposed to watch the kid burn alive? Hell no. He scooted himself down the hill to the car. With any luck, they had a live one down here and he hadn’t just risked everything for a DOA.

  Scott approached the car cautiously, and heard sounds from inside before he had reached the driver’s side. Whimpering. Sobbing. Begging to the almighty. Beautiful sounds coming through the partially rolled down driver’s side window.

  Scott came up to the halfway rolled down passenger side window and tapped on the bottom once. “Hey, kid.”

  “Help me, please help me. Oh my God what are you guys waiting for?”

  “You hit a truck and there’s a toxic spill. We need to wait to get you out.”

  More whimpering. “Shit man, I’m scared.”

  “Yeah? Me too.”

  “You? Why are you scared?”

  “I’m probably going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble.”

  “That makes two of us.” More sobbing. Whimpering. “Get me out of here. I swear I’ll never speed again.”

  “Yeah? Could I get that in writing?”

  “What? Uh, yeah. Okay dude.”

  The short conversation had given Scott time to perform a quick triage. The kid looked pale and shocky but his alert scale was excellent. There were some abrasions on his face, and it looked like a cut over his eyebrow. He was damned lucky as far as Scott could tell.

  “Can you move?” Scott asked, partially ducking his head inside the car.

  “My leg’s stuck. Oh, shit.”

  “I agree. But don’t try to move, okay?”

  “Yeah, I can’t anyway.”

  “We’ll get you some help here in a minute. Hang tight.” Scott pulled back out the window.

  “Wait! Where are you going? Don’t leave me here, man.”

  He should get back up, and let the others know of the situation. But sometimes the correct thing to do wasn’t always the right thing. Right now, Timmy needed Scott to stay and remind him that he wasn’t alone in this jacked-up car. That he’d be okay.

  “No, kid. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Diana picked up Mom and Mandy at San Francisco airport on Monday night.

  “This is just temporary,” Mom kept saying on the drive back, but they both realized that in this case temporary could mean months until the situation was ironed out. Mandy explained they’d already hired a lawyer, and the police were trying to locate Florina. But Mandy believed the woman had probably already left the country.

  For now, their living arrangements were tenuous at best. “Gran insists you both stay with her.”

  “That’s impossible,” Mom said. “It’s too small for the three of us.”

  “Mom,” Mandy said from the back seat. “We’ll insult her if we don’t.”

  “You’re right. And it’s not like beggars can be choosers.” Mom sighed deeply.

  Diana smiled, because she had a surprise for them. “I think you’ll be fine there.”

  As they approached the valley exit to Starlight Hill, Diana noticed the fire trucks and ambulance off to the side of the highway on the southbound lanes.

  “That wasn’t there when I drove up.” The traffic was bumper to bumper for miles, cones blocking off the right lane.

  Scott was working tonight, having had the last four days and nights off. She happened to know this because he’d spent every night with her. Four wonderful and orgasmic nights when he’d come home to her every night.

  It had become increasingly difficult not to have her thoughts go to Scott, but seeing a fire truck and ambulance made it impossible. She worried about him, and not just because he made her physically feel things she never had before. He was such a good man, caring more for his family than he did for himself, wanting badly to rescue people, children and dogs simply because he had such a good heart.

  And as much as she had fought hard to keep Stupid Heart out of it, she’d failed. Miserably.

  No worries. We’ve had a good time. Thanks for that.

  “Oh dear,” Mom said, noticing the flashing lights. “I hope no one is too badly hurt.”

  “Me too,” Diana said, and didn’t mention Scott. Knowing him, he’d be grateful to be useful. And they’d be safe, she was sure of it. She’d heard Scott talk enough about their safety procedures the past few nights, probably in an attempt to reassure her.

  They pulled up to Gran’s little cottage home where the porch light was still on. When Diana had left for the airport, Gran had been baking cookies, something she swore she hadn’t done in ages.

  “Gran’s so excited about this,” Diana said, helping Mandy take the luggage to the door.

  “About me losing my livelihood?” Mom asked idiotically.

  “No, Mom,” Diana deadpanned. “She’s very sad about that. But try to think what this is like for her. She’s got all three of us here together for the first time in decades.”

  “Since before the divorce,” Mom said. “Too bad this is what it took to do it.”

  “So be nice, Mom.” Mandy ordered.

  “I can’t act like I’m happy about this, girls. I’m fifty-eight years old and taking refuge with my mother.”

  Diana wanted to add a few choice words about her maybe being grateful to have a mother to take refuge with, but decided to be nice also.

  Gran greeted them at the door. “Darlings!”

  To Diana’s surprise, her mother just fol
ded into Gran’s arms. “Oh, Mother.”

  “It’s going to be all right.” Gran patted Mom’s back.

  “Let’s get inside,” Diana said. “I want you to see the place.”

  Mom hadn’t taken two steps in the door when she stopped. “Oh my goodness.”

  Diana smiled. She felt pretty proud of what she’d done here. There were no more issues of Good Housekeeping littering the hallways or books and yarn on every available surface.

  Mandy ran into the spare bedroom. “Where’s my bed? And my posters of Justin Timberlake?”

  “I’m sorry, dear.” Gran followed her shouts. “It was just time to move on from the nineties. Diana said so. Doesn’t it look much nicer this way?”

  Amazing how much Diana had been able to do on a shoestring budget. But outside in Gran’s old shed, Diana had found a used chest of drawers which she’d cleaned and scrubbed. The thrift shop had a daybed on sale and Diana had managed to whittle the owner down to a reasonable price. She’d found a small blue area rug discounted at the department store and a set of irregular but perfectly workable bed covers.

  “I’d still like to paint in here. I’ll get around to it,” Diana said.

  “It all looks wonderful, Mother!” Mom said. “And to think I was worried about you.”

  “Well,” Gran said. “It was nice of you to worry, anyway. Diana did most of this.”

  “You helped, Gran.” Diana put an arm around Gran’s shoulders.

  “Helped? I just assisted.”

  “Where did you put everything?” Mom asked. “There had to be boxes and boxes of things.”

  “I took my bed back to my studio, and most everything is now boxed up and packed in the shed outside,” Diana explained.

  “You take the daybed in here, Mom. For now I’ll sleep on the couch,” Mandy said.

  “Maybe Mandy should stay with Diana.” Mom turned to Diana.

  Was it selfish that she didn’t want her sister around when she could have Scott instead? “Oh no. My place is way too small.”

  “It’s quaint,” Gran added.

  “But it will be just like old times, the two of you rooming together,” Mom said.