Her legs were trembling with a combination of embarrassment and annoyance as she walked toward the cab of the fire engine. Embarrassment that she’d just spilled her guts to a complete stranger who also happened to work for Isaac. And annoyance because Hannah hadn’t been better prepared to deal with suddenly having the man back in her life.
Watching the fire chief put his helmet on Sammy’s head as her son held on to the huge steering wheel, pretending to drive the truck, she felt a wave of tenderness battle against the rest of her raging emotions. Unfortunately, her irritation won out and she her rib cage expanded with each frustrated breath.
Hannah had never expected that the arrogant, rich teenager she’d once known would leave his perfectly mapped-out life on the East Coast and return to Sugar Falls, let alone move here permanently.
And who in the world had thought it would be a good idea to put someone like him in charge of the fire department, responsible for saving innocent people?
* * *
Indifference would have been Isaac’s first choice of reactions to seeing the woman who’d once held his teenage heart in her hands. Annoyance, or even anger, would also have been an expected response to seeing Hannah again, though, most of the aching bitterness he’d held on to throughout college had dissipated. Instead, Isaac found himself filled with a weird sort of curiosity about her and hadn’t stopped thinking about her since she’d showed up yesterday. And the last thing he wanted was for someone—especially her—to mistake that curiosity for renewed interest. He’d had ten years to grow wiser and thicken his skin. There was no way he’d fall under her spell a second time.
He looked over Sammy’s head at the woman standing on the opposite side of the cab of the fire engine, her lips twisted into a tight line while she eyeballed the two of them. Really, it wasn’t as if he was going toss her son into a raging inferno the second she took her eyes off him. Would it hurt Hannah to take a step back and maybe not frown quite so much?
Her blond hair was twisted into another messy bun secured to the top of her head with two pencils, and Isaac had to admit that her face was still as striking as ever, with strong, high cheekbones and aqua blue eyes that never used to be so guarded. So wary. Scanning past her faded flannel work shirt and down the length of her, he noticed that her legs were still long and lean, but her hips were just a little fuller. Everything about her was the same, except more. More mature, more compelling, more...arousing.
“Can I turn on the siren?” Sammy’s voice was soft and tentative, as though he was afraid to ask for what he wanted. Despite his reserved manner, amazement glowed out of the boy’s eyes and Isaac knew the kid was a goner. Just like Isaac had been the first time he’d visited his Uncle Jonesy and toured the old volunteer station.
Isaac stayed with his uncle the summer after his parents’ divorce and then returned every June through August after that. One would think that he and Hannah would’ve bonded over their status as “summer kids,” but she was more of a social activist than a socializer. It wasn’t until after they were sixteen that Little Miss Do-Gooder had come out of her shell and spoken more than a sentence to him at an impromptu car wash fund-raiser she’d organized to raise money for a local animal shelter.
It was also the first time that he’d ever seen her in a bathing suit and he would never forget the way she’d—
“Sammy, we should probably let the firefighters get back to work,” Hannah called through the open passenger door, interrupting Isaac’s steamy memory.
“Okay.” Her son’s shoulders slumped, but he didn’t let go of the steering wheel.
“Wait,” she said quickly. “Would you guys mind if I took a picture of him sitting there with the helmet on and everything?”
Isaac was used to kids and their fascination with fire engines and uniforms, so it was a pretty standard request from a doting parent. He attempted a casual shrug before replying, “No problem.”
She patted down her denim-clad hips before a blush stole up her cheeks. “I left my phone in the classroom.”
A flurry of emotions crossed Hannah’s face and Isaac could tell she was wrestling with whether to leave her precious son unattended with him or to forego the picture altogether. While Isaac hadn’t exactly been proud of the way he’d handled their breakup all those years ago, Hannah surely had to know that he wasn’t a complete monster. Even if he’d still been holding on to a ten-year-old grudge, which he clearly wasn’t, Isaac would never involve an innocent child in a petty dispute. Anyone who knew him would know that.
However, Hannah obviously hadn’t really known him back then and she certainly didn’t know him now. Otherwise, she wouldn’t always be expecting the worst from him. She wouldn’t have been so quick to move on after that night...
Taking pity on the kid, Isaac reached into his pocket and pulled out his own smartphone. He tapped on the camera icon before passing it through the cab of the truck. “Here, you can use mine.”
As her pupils darted down to the electronic device and back up to him, the changing expression on her face suggested she was struggling to make a decision. Isaac couldn’t help himself from adding, “Unless you have a better offer.”
Narrowing her eyes, she reached out so quickly, her fingers brushed across the back of his hand. Although the brief contact was only the result of him purposely goading her, it was the second time in the past forty-eight hours that the slightest touch from Hannah had sent his pulse skyrocketing.
But her words quickly brought him back down to earth. “As I recall, you were never hurting for any offers yourself.”
Isaac’s brow twisted in confusion. What in the hell was that supposed to mean? And was it his imagination, or did the phone tremble slightly as she held it up to frame the image?
Hannah moved the phone forward and backward, then immediately lowered the screen, revealing her sucked-in cheeks. Isaac flashed back to a memory of her doing the same thing whenever she’d been embarrassed. But the sweet memory was soon replaced with a less pleasant sensation when she finally said, “Would you mind backing up?”
He looked at the steel step he was standing on outside the driver’s side door. If he backed up any more, he’d be on the asphalt. His gaze returned to her and she gave him a tense nod, encouraging him to step down. “If you didn’t want me in the picture, you could’ve just said so.”
“I thought I did,” she mumbled, then she jerked her head toward Sammy with a pointed look that could only indicate that she was hoping to avoid any type of unpleasantness in front of her son.
She’d never been very good at confrontation, at least, not where Isaac had been concerned. And apparently she hadn’t gotten much better. Not that he’d come here looking for a fight; however, there was only so much professional courtesy he could extend. Community outreach was part of his job, rehashing the past was not. Keeping his mouth firmly shut, he jumped down off the rig and tried to pretend that he didn’t notice Hannah’s obvious change in tone when she sweetly told her son to count to three and say cheese.
Chapter Three
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that he was back in town,” Hannah said to her brother Luke as soon as Sammy ran out the back door to play with his older cousins.
“Who is he?” Carmen, her soon-to-be sister-in-law, asked as she set out a salad bowl full of mixed berries.
“Don’t ask,” her brother whispered to his fiancée.
“Isaac Jones!” Hannah might as well have shouted, her voice echoed so loudly inside the old Victorian home Luke’s family had just moved into. He turned to the pizza boxes she’d set on the counter, but not before she caught his eye roll.
“You mean the fire chief?” Carmen asked, then gave Luke a reprimanding look and closed the cardboard lid on his hand. “You get the boys washed up. I’ll set the table.”
“What table?” Luke asked, looking out of the kitchen and into the empty di
ning room. “Hannah kept everything when she moved back into our cabin.”
“First of all, you got Nana’s Oldsmobile and I got all of her outdated furniture, which I lovingly and painfully refurbished before I went to Ghana,” Hannah said slowly, as though she was explaining fairness to a first grader—for the eight hundredth time. “Secondly, it’s the Gregson family cabin, and I lived there first.”
“Ignore your brother.” Carmen gave a dismissive wave. “He’s wanted to live in town since he moved to Sugar Falls full time and when you got back, he finally had an excuse to buy this old fixer-upper. Anyway, do you and Chief Jones have history or something?”
“History? Ha!” Luke said around a mouthful of pepperoni he’d sneaked off one of the pizzas. “You guys were barely outta high school. Shouldn’t you be over that by now?”
Carmen’s eyes lit up. She was a cop, and Hannah had a feeling that she was dying to investigate something other than who was at fault for the latest fender bender in the Duncan’s Market parking lot.
“Of course I’m over him,” Hannah argued. Her head pounded and her arms ached from cutting out all of those pumpkin shapes from cardstock before stapling them to her new bulletin board. The first day back at school was always chaotic, but since she was coming into the classroom halfway through the semester, this year was already proving to be an uphill battle in concentration. She tried to remind herself that she’d been lucky to get this last-minute teaching assignment when she’d rushed home unexpectedly to be closer to her mom. Rubbing her temples, she added, “It’s just that it would’ve been nice to be forewarned that I’d have to see him on a regular basis. I didn’t even know that Sugar Falls had a real fire department now.”
Luke gestured at his wife’s blue uniform with a greasy thumb. “As soon as the residents of Sugar Falls voted to form their own police force, everyone knew that a fire station was going to be next. They’re even housed in the same building. On two separate sides, obviously.”
Hannah sighed. Before she’d left for Ghana, she’d attended every school board and city council meeting there was. She should’ve expected as much and normally would be the first to endorse the improvement of their town. But did they have to hire Isaac Jones?
“What are his qualifications, anyway?” she muttered to herself, but Carmen’s raised brow indicated she’d heard. “I mean, besides volunteering with his uncle and racing around town as if he had a siren permanently attached to anything he drove. Including that jet boat he used to drive way too fast on Rush Lake, showing off for all those girls from Sugar Falls High.”
“I remember that boat! That’s the one his dad bought him for his sixteenth birthday.” Luke smiled, then caught his bride-to-be’s eye and quickly cleared his throat. “I mean, I remember that it went fast. I don’t exactly recall the part about the girls...”
Carmen laughed at Luke’s flustered explanation. “Perhaps I should put on my bikini and grab a wakeboard to help jog your memory.”
Luke pulled his fiancée toward him and whispered something in her ear, causing her to squeal with laughter.
Hannah rolled her eyes at the smitten couple. “I lived in this town for five years after college and didn’t have so much as a blind date. I’m barely out of the country and you and Drew and every other single person in Sugar Falls are getting married off.”
“Technically,” Luke said, tapping his bare ring finger. “I’m still waiting for Carmen to make an honest man out of me.”
“Good luck with that,” Hannah said with a snort. Then she added, “How’re the wedding plans going?”
“Moving the date up to Thanksgiving week was a little tricky. We had to switch venues, make it more of a destination wedding so that Carmen’s family wouldn’t have so far to travel. But the sooner we have it, the easier it will be for Mom to...you know.”
The immediate silence grounded Hannah and reminded her that she had bigger issues to address in her life than the reappearance of Isaac Jones. Nobody had really brought up their mother’s recent diagnosis, as though to mention the cancer would cause it to spread more quickly.
The old house creaked and a shed door slammed shut outside, highlighting the uncomfortable quiet that had suddenly settled between the three of them. Finally, Carmen said, “I was hoping you’d be one of my bridesmaids.”
Hannah practically sighed, grateful to have the subject changed back to something more pleasant. “Wait. Would I have to walk down the aisle with Drew? Because nothing says ‘lonely spinster’ like having your brother as an escort.”
“You would only walk with him at the end,” Luke said, then smirked. “Unless you want me to ask Isaac Jones to be my best man?”
Hannah’s response was to pick up a plump strawberry from the fruit salad and throw it at his head.
“Is someone going to fill me in on whatever is going on between you and Isaac?” Carmen asked.
Luke shook his head at his fiancée. “Don’t ask or she might tell you.”
“Do you know what he had the gall to do earlier today?” Hannah continued as though she hadn’t heard them. “He tried to squeeze into a picture I was taking of Sammy.”
Her brother used his finger to wipe off the red juice dribbling down his cheek. “Where was this picture being taken?”
“Inside the fire truck.” Hannah looked down at one of her jagged thumbnails. Not that she was the type of woman who had time for manicures, but she also wasn’t normally a nail biter. Or, at least, she hadn’t been one in years. Just two sightings of Isaac and less than forty-eight hours later, her nails were bitten to the quick.
“Technically...” Carmen handed Luke a damp paper towel to wipe his face “...I believe it’s called a fire engine.”
“What did he do when you asked him to turn the taxpayers’ fire engine—” Luke winked at his fiancée “—into your personal portrait studio?”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t like I asked for special treatment or anything. In fact, if it’d been up to me, I would’ve kept as far away from him as possible. But you should’ve seen how Sammy’s eyes lit up when he put on that helmet. My son is obviously way more important to me than a meaningless grudge some arrogant firefighter still hasn’t gotten over ten years later.”
“Hello?” Carmen’s hand shot up into the air and she waved her fingers. “I’m still lost over here. What grudge? What’s going on between you and Isaac?”
“Nothing!” Hannah wailed, then she lowered her voice when she spotted the kids playing outside the window. “Nothing is going on between us and it never will again.”
“Again?”
“We dated briefly when we were teenagers.” Actually, they’d done a lot more than date, but Hannah wasn’t going to further humiliate herself by admitting to her brother and his fiancée how much more. Ten years ago, Hannah had been much more innocent—in more ways than one—and had thought Isaac was “the one.” Currently, though, both pride and hindsight forced her to downplay how foolish she’d once been. “It really wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“As you can see,” Luke grabbed for another slice of pepperoni, not even bothering to conceal his sneakiness this time. “Hannah’s totally over him. She’s only mentioned him about thirty-eight times since she got here tonight.”
“No I haven’t.” Hannah crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I didn’t even say a word about the video.”
“What video?” Carmen asked and Hannah’s jaw snapped shut.
“Somebody posted a breakup video on YouTube ten years ago,” Luke explained, as though it was perfectly normal to end a relationship in an online rant to the entire world. Then he looked at Hannah. “Did you ever find out who did it?”
But she kept her lips locked in place. Why hadn’t it ever occurred to her that Isaac wasn’t necessarily responsible for posting it? And did it even matter? All that mattered was that he’d said the words.
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“What do you mean, a breakup video?” Carmen asked.
When it became apparent that Hannah wasn’t going to speak, Luke continued. “I forget the exact words he used, but it went something like, ‘Hannah Gregson was done with me so she moved on to the next guy.’”
Actually, it was Hannah Gregson is the ultimate user. She plays all innocent until she gets what she wants and moves on to the next guy. Well, guess what, Gregson? It’s over and you’ll never see me in Sugar Falls again. Too bad you just lost out on the best guy you’ll get. Not that Hannah had replayed it in her mind a thousand times.
“Ouch.” Carmen frowned, not even knowing the worst part. Isaac’s unpleasant speech had come right after they’d spent the night together. “How old was he when he did this?”
“Eighteen,” Luke replied. “And, in his defense, his eyes were pretty watery at the time, as though he’d been drowning his sorrow in a case of cheap beer.”
“In his defense?” Hannah finally spoke up. A bit too loudly. “You’re supposed to be my brother, you know? Whatever happened to having each other’s back?”
“You want me drive over to the fire station and beat him up for you?” he asked, and Hannah tilted her head as she pondered his offer. “Geez, I was kidding, Hannah. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.”
“Because of your job?” She nibbled at the cuticle on her thumb. Her brother was a former SEAL who was now the officer in charge of Navy recruitment for the entire region.
“No, because of his.” Luke let out a deep breath when Hannah shot him a look of confusion. “Here’s the deal. I know this might surprise you, but your precious nephews got into a little trouble at the Fourth of July picnic.”
“Those angels?” Hannah looked out the window to where Aiden was tying each side of a kite to Caden’s shoulders as they directed Sammy to run a tape measure from the top of a ladder to an oak tree in the middle of the yard. Carmen groaned before dashing outside to get them.
The Firefighter's Christmas Reunion Page 3
