Hometown Fireman

by Lissa Manley

  “Yeah, I did.” She hesitated. “I’ve been on my own for a very long time.”

  Something fragile unfurled inside him, and he surprised himself by saying, “You wanna talk about it?”

  Ally blinked once, seemingly taken aback by his offer, and then Sadie came waddling back before Ally could reply. Ally petted Sadie’s furry head, murmuring, and in that moment, Drew’s brain started functioning properly again and he realized he shouldn’t be blithely offering support to Ally.

  He wanted to steer clear of ties, not form them. That was the plan. The plan he wasn’t following since he’d seen Ally standing there watching her home burn. Talk about dumb on his part.

  Just when he’d decided to let her—and himself—off the hook and make a break for the house, she straightened and swung toward him, precluding his response.

  “I guess I do,” she said, looking right at him, shrugging. “Want to talk, that is. If you don’t mind.”

  How could he say no? He’d opened the door and hadn’t slammed it shut fast enough.

  “Of course. I wouldn’t have offered if I minded.” The words rolled off his tongue automatically, and, belatedly, he realized that his statement was rock-solid true. And that hard, cold fact made him more nervous than entering a burning building. With no oxygen. No water. And no backup anywhere in sight.

  *

  Her heart skittering, Ally took a deep breath and looked at Drew standing there, the patio lights casting the angles of his face into shadow, offering one of his exceedingly broad, capable shoulders to her.

  Was she crazy for confiding in him? For even letting herself talk to him about love? Probably. But seeing the Sellers family interact had hit home how alone she felt right now—so overwhelmed, so ill-equipped to handle everything by herself. Was it such a crime to want to look to someone else for moral support, even though that wasn’t usually the way she handled things like this?

  She hoped not.

  Sadie wandered off to sniff the lawn, and Ally took that as her cue to speak. “I don’t know where to start,” she said. Truer words had never been spoken.

  “You said you’d been on your own for a long time?” he prompted, his voice soft and gentle. So compelling.

  She nodded. “The truth is, my parents were killed in a car accident when I was eleven,” she said slowly, haltingly. “Drunk driver.”

  Drew’s face twisted. “How awful. Did they catch the drunk?”

  His question made her throat tighten, and she could not for the life of her speak. Instead, she looked at the patio, her neck achingly taut, wishing Sadie would come back and interrupt. Why had Ally thought she could talk about what she’d been through, especially to Drew? The words biggest mistake ever! flashed in her brain like a neon sign.

  Drew moved closer. “I only ask because my uncle was killed years ago by a drunk driver in a hit-and-run, and my aunt was so relieved when they found the guy and put him away.”

  She looked up, her neck muscles relaxing some. “Really?”

  A solemn nod. “I wouldn’t make up something like that.”

  “Of course not.” She chewed her lip. Okay. Baby steps. First, he could relate. Second, she knew enough about him to know that he was truly trying to help. Maybe she needed some of that brand of therapy. But she could only be helped if she shared her own private agony.

  She pressed her quivering lips together. Drew waited patiently, his eyes never leaving her face.

  Finally, she shoved out, “My mom was the drunk driver.”

  To his credit, he didn’t gape in disgusted astonishment or blurt out any words of disbelief. He simply kept his unwavering attention on her, letting her tell the story in her own time.

  She went on. “They’d been to a party, she was plastered and she drove them into a concrete overpass.”

  Drew reached out and took her hand, his grip warm and strong and more comforting than she ever would have imagined. Well, maybe only in her wildest dreams.

  “I had no other family—both sets of grandparents were dead, no aunts or uncles still around—so I went into the foster care system.” Her voice had become monotone midway through that sentence. It was a coping mechanism she’d developed—make it seem blasé and maybe it would be. Yeah, right.

  “And?” he asked, squeezing her hand.

  And it was awful…

  “Ally?” a female voice called. “You out here?”

  Ally turned in unison with Drew, still holding on to his hand with a death grip.

  Phoebe stood in the open doorway leading into the house.

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “Drew, too?” Phoebe asked, her voice rife with what sounded like speculation, even though she could clearly see Drew from where she stood.

  “As you can see, I’m here, Phoebs.” He looked at Ally and gave a little eye roll, clearly on to his sister’s game. “What’s up?”

  “Carson has to go down to the station but he wants to talk to Ally before he leaves.”

  “Is she in some kind of trouble with the police?” Drew teased, pronouncing it po-lice.

  Ally giggled, grateful for the levity.

  “No, nothing like that, silly,” Phoebe said, waving a hand in the air. “I think he has a job offer for Ally.”

  Surprise bounced through Ally, along with a dose of excitement. Another job, to go along with cleaning Myra Snow’s house, which was definitely on. After an interview yesterday, Ally started tomorrow and would be cleaning Myra’s house every week for the foreseeable future. “He does?” Another prayer answered. Amazing.

  “Pretty sure,” Phoebe said, her gaze zeroing in on Ally and Drew’s clasped hands. Slowly the corners of her mouth turned up. “Although I hate to break up this little…conversation, you might want to come in and find out what he has in mind.” She spun around and was gone.

  Phoebe’s knowing gaze and word emphasis knocked some sense into Ally. She was standing in the dark, holding Drew’s hand, about to spill her guts.

  Her brain recoiled, and she dropped Drew’s hand quickly, as if it had instantly grown deadly spikes. “Um…guess I’ll go in and see what’s up.”

  He grabbed her hand. “Hey, hold up a sec.”

  Blinking, she silently regarded him, keeping her hand limp.

  “Go talk to Carson,” he said, his thumb gently rubbing the top of her hand. “But let’s make a point of finishing this conversation some other time, all right?”

  She chewed her lip. On the one hand, opening up to Drew beckoned like some forbidden, delicious treat hidden on a high shelf. But on the other hand, allowing herself to let someone else into her circle sent belated terror streaking through her. Her stomach knotted.

  She cleared her throat, not quite sure what to say. “Okeydokey,” she finally replied, trying to infuse a neutral, light tone into the expression. At the same time she pulled her hand away, remembering the pretend dangerous spikes.

  With a rueful shake of her head, Ally went back into the house, whistling for Sadie. What was it about Drew that made Ally want to open up to him? His kindness? Concern? Strength? Vulnerabilities?

  All of it, she decided. All of those traits combined into one fascinating, appealing man. One whom she had a feeling was going to be a challenge to keep at a distance.

  Chapter Eight

  Two days after Phoebe and Carson announced their engagement, Drew stopped by Mom and Dad’s after work to take a look at the cable TV box. Funny how all of the electronics in the house were on the fritz lately. Matchmaking? Probably. But getting Mom to stop was a losing battle Drew didn’t have the energy to fight.

  He sat in his car in the driveway for a moment. Well, actually, he was here because he also wanted to talk to Ally, although if anyone had asked him to confirm that fact, he would have pleaded the fifth.

  But he couldn’t hide the truth from himself; she’d been on his mind almost constantly lately, and their conversation on the patio had been running nagging circles in his head. He’d deliberately stayed away
for two days, not wanting to flip her—or himself—out by showing up every day.

  But now…now it was time for them to finish their discussion. Hopefully, once he heard her story, he’d be able to assuage his odd curiosity and banish her from his thoughts.

  He got out of the car, glad the rain had tapered off, and headed into the house, noting on the way to the front door that his mom’s annuals were finally showing some color. About time. Stuff always bloomed late in Moonlight Cove, and he was looking forward to the warmer weather in Atherton.

  As soon as he stepped into the house, he could tell Mom had dinner going. The smell of roasted chicken permeated the air, and his stomach growled. Okay, so maybe he was also visiting for a meal from the best cook around.

  The kitchen was empty. He snagged a few dog treats from the plastic container on the counter, keeping an eye out for Rex the Protector, and shoved them in his pocket for easy access. Couldn’t hurt to be prepared if Rex got his hackles up.

  Then Drew headed to the family room. Just as he moved past the doors leading to the patio, country music drifted to his ears—something about an aching, breaking heart? A few steps later, he determined the tunes were coming from outside. The back door had been left wide-open.

  He stepped through and was immediately greeted by the sight of his mom, Ally and Heidi standing in a staggered line, their backs to him, with Ally up front, dancing to the music playing on a portable boom box. Ally was calling cues, and Mom and Heidi were awkwardly following along. Line dancing at its finest…or…maybe not. Sadie lay on the patio in the shade, side-sleeping.

  Leaning against the doorframe, he stood unnoticed for a while, his eyes homing in on Ally. She moved with the ease and grace of a natural dancer, her body fluid and perfectly coordinated with the music. The song seemed to bring out a sassiness in her personality that he found completely fascinating.

  Suddenly she whirled around, wiggling her hips, calling out, “Turn to the left.” For a second, she seemed to lose herself in the dance moves, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. But then she lifted her gaze and caught sight of him. She immediately stilled, her hands frozen in midair, her mouth slack.

  “Drew!” she squeaked, her face turning pink.

  Mom and Heidi, behind on the choreography, turned late. They saw him, too, and Mom waved, then she and Heidi, seemingly unembarrassed to be caught boogying on the patio like country line-dancing queens, kept going with the steps. He waved back, gave them the thumbs-up and then winked at Ally and nodded, his teasing side coming out.

  “Hoo-boy, I wish I’d arrived sooner,” he called, loud enough to be heard over the music. “It’s not every day a guy shows up to find the patio turned into a country music dance hall.”

  She stared at him for a second and then turned off the music. “Are you making fun of our dance lesson?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.

  He held up his hands and backed off a bit. “No, ma’am.”

  “Oh, I think you are.” She darted a hand out and grabbed his elbow. “Teasers automatically have to dance,” she announced, her grip iron-tight.

  “No, they don’t,” he said, digging his heels in. He’d always been an embarrassingly awful dancer. No way was he going to let Ally see that. “I’ll just watch.”

  Just then, Rex came tearing across the yard, growling menacingly. Ally instantly stepped between Drew and Rex.

  Drew held a hand out to Ally. “Let me handle this.”

  Rex headed straight for Drew, barking, and Drew somehow managed to hastily fish one of the really smelly treats from his pocket. “Look what I have, boy,” he said, holding the treat out, expecting any moment to feel Rex’s teeth sink into his hand.

  Rex skidded to a stop, his nose in the air.

  “Yeah, looky here.” Drew waved the treat in the air. “Yummy.”

  Rex eyed him, then zeroed in on the treat, licking his chops.

  Instinctively, Drew placed the treat on his palm and held it out, preferring to keep all his fingers. Rex inched forward, closer, closer…and then he snatched the treat away, wolfing it down with gusto.

  “Here.” Ally held out one of the tennis balls Rex liked to chase. “Throw this for him.”

  Drew did so, and Rex took off like a shot across the yard and into the bushes in the far corner.

  She looked at Drew. “Wow. Good work. You’ve got him eating out of your hand.”

  “Maybe,” Drew replied. “He still doesn’t trust me.”

  “He will soon,” she replied. “Once he realizes what a good guy you are.”

  “That remains to be seen.” He shifted his attention to Ally, noticing that the sun turned her eyes to a really pretty shade of green. “Where’d you learn to line dance?”

  “High school gym class.” She curved her lips up into a decidedly sly smile. “We made a rule that anyone who came out here had to join the lesson.” She looked to Mom and Heidi. “Didn’t we, ladies?”

  “Sure did,” Mom said without missing a beat, nodding as she took off her navy blue sweater and laid it on the railing, revealing a pink short-sleeved shirt underneath. “If we can do it, so can you, dear.” She flicked the boom box off.

  Sensing an impromptu alliance forming for the sole purpose of getting him to dance, he looked to the youngest conspirator, and, hence, perhaps the weak link. “Is this true, Bo-bidy?”

  She blinked, then regarded Ally, who, to her credit, didn’t turn and give Heidi any signal about what to say.

  “Don’t you want to see your uncle Drew dance?” Mom asked Heidi, apparently having no qualms about taking sides. “Hard to believe such an athletic guy has two left feet, isn’t it?”

  After a blank-faced pause, a slow smile bloomed on Heidi’s face. “Yes, it’s true,” she said, nodding quickly, obviously on to the game. “That’s a really important rule that no one can break.”

  Ally quirked an eyebrow at him. “Told you.” She hitched her thumb to the patio/dance floor, and then quickly gestured to his feet with her fingers held in the shape of a pistol, as if she were shooting bullets at his feet. “It’s time to dance.”

  “Yeah,” Heidi said, mimicking Ally with her hands. “Dance.”

  They were ganging up on him, three determined females. Daunting. “What choice do I have with you three presenting such a united front?”

  “No choice at all,” Mom said wryly, her tone light as her finger hovered near the play button on the boom box. “So you might as well just agree right now.”

  He looked at Ally. “You’re really going to make me do this?”

  “You betcha,” she replied, her eyes glinting with a teasing, feisty light that both exasperated and fascinated him.

  He rolled a shoulder, then glanced at Heidi.

  “Please, Bo-boo.” She came over and grabbed his hand. “Dance with us. It’s fun!” she said, tugging.

  Great. He’d look like a grinch if he didn’t join in. Besides, how could he say no to Heidi? Or Ally? Or Mom? He couldn’t. He was caught.

  “Fine, fine,” he said, rolling up his sleeves. “I’ll dance.”

  Heidi clapped her hands, jumping up and down. “Yippee!” She took her place on the patio. “This’ll be so fun!”

  “I agree,” Ally said, her pink lips curling into a sly smile. “Especially for me.”

  “I can’t figure out how to get this thing to work,” Mom said. She jabbed at the buttons on the front of the boom box and gave a shrug. “I’m bad with electronics. You guys are going to have to handle this.”

  Drew followed Ally over to the table. He reached out for the boom box just as she did, their hands bumping. Shivers ran up his arm, and he pulled back with a muted intake of breath. His heart jumped.

  “Be my guest,” he shoved out, hoping his reaction wasn’t too obvious.

  “Thanks,” she said, quickly pushing the buttons on the boom box. Just as deftly as she’d pushed his….

  He liked it. A lot, even though he’d have to pay the price and dance in front of her. And he
wanted to push back with every flirtatious bone in his body. He leaned down so he was closer to her ear. “I’ll get you for this,” he whispered, careful to keep his voice light and witty so she’d get his drift.

  She turned, and her liquid-green eyes met his. “I’ll look forward to that.”

  “So will I,” he replied. Probably a little too much.

  *

  An hour and a half after Ally had “taught” Drew to line dance, she somehow found herself sitting at the dining room table alone with him after she, Grace, Heidi and he had eaten a delicious dinner.

  Carson had picked up Heidi to take her to soccer practice, and Grace had drifted off after the meal, saying Rex and Sadie looked like they needed a walk while the weather held.

  Yeah, right. Ally had the distinct impression Grace was matchmaking. Though Ally was sure Grace had the best of intentions, she needed to let Grace know that her scheming was futile. Ally didn’t want to be matched with anyone. Not even Grace’s immensely appealing two-left-feet son.

  Drew sipped the coffee he’d made. “Mom told me you started your job cleaning Myra Snow’s house yesterday morning.”

  “Yep,” Ally replied.

  “How did it go?”

  “Great. Her house isn’t that big, so it only took a couple of hours, and she’s paying me well and willing to give recommendations if it all works out, so I’m happy.” Ecstatic, actually. “With the housecleaning gig and the babysitting gig, things are definitely looking up in the employment department.”

  Drew regarded her over his coffee cup, his eyes sparkling. “Have you ever thought about teaching line dancing? Thanks for the lesson, by the way.” He put his coffee cup down, revealing a crooked smile. “It was…enlightening.” He picked up one cookie from a plate Grace had set on the table before she’d made her getaway.

  Ally took a big drink of her own coffee. “Really?” she asked, even though, yes, it had been very enlightening.

  As in she’d seen, up close and personal, how utterly appealing it was to watch Drew try to line dance. The cute furrows between his eyebrows. The awkward stumbles. The muttering under his breath when he couldn’t get a move. It had all been so…charming. So enthralling.