Christy Jeffries - The Firefighter's Christmas Reunion

“Why are you making them so fat?” her son asked as Isaac poured the last of the batter onto the griddle.

“What do you mean, big guy?” Isaac asked, and Hannah tried to steel her heart against the sweet tone of his voice. Sammy was a few inches shorter and much thinner than the other six-year-olds in his den. So his smile lit up even more at being referred to as big guy .

“In Ghana, our pancakes are real skinny. Like pieces of paper.”

Isaac knelt down to speak to the boy and Hannah strained to hear his reply. “I’ll tell you what. If you get the recipe for me, next time we have a pancake breakfast, we’ll make them your way. I had some like that once when I lived in Morocco and I bet everyone in town will love ’em.”

Something tugged low in Hannah’s belly. Isaac hadn’t said that he’d make Sammy his own batch, which would only have made her son feel more different and out of place. Instead, he’d had the perfect response, offering to bring a piece of Sammy’s old life to share with everyone in his new life.

It was too bad Isaac Jones never kept his word.

Chapter Two

The strident bell pierced Hannah’s eardrums and she frantically looked around the classroom for her son, who’d been helping her staple the words Happy Halloween to the bulletin board that had belonged to Mrs. Fernandez before the teacher had gone on maternity leave. Sammy dropped the stapler and had his hands covering his own ears. His pupils were wide but, thankfully, not filled with terror.

“It’s just the fire alarm,” she told him, using her calmest teacher voice. “Come on. I’ll show you where we line up.”

She reached for his hand and, though his expression was filled with a mix of curiosity and tension, he immediately latched onto Hannah and followed her out to the nearly empty hallway lined with student artwork from earlier this year. His head pivoted in every possible direction and he asked, “Where is the fire?”

“There probably isn’t a fire, sweetie. Otherwise, we’d smell the smoke. My bet is they’re just testing the alarm to make sure it works.” A few other teachers—who, like her, must’ve come in on a Sunday to catch up on lesson plans and grading—trickled out of various rooms and toward the front door. Some of the tension left Sammy’s fingers as he saw that nobody else was concerned about the constant peal of the bell. Hannah raised her voice to be heard over it, as well as the siren on the fire engine pulling into the drop-off lane. “At the beginning of the school year, the teachers show all the kids what we do during a fire drill. But since we’re both coming in a little late this semester, we’ll get to figure it out together.”

It might’ve sounded like a grand adventure, except Hannah was pretty sure she hadn’t yet explained about fire drills to Sammy. Actually, there was a lot she hadn’t explained to the boy, but she hadn’t wanted to overwhelm him with information. There’d been classrooms at the children’s home where he’d lived and he was excited about attending school. Although he had an accent from growing up in the Western region of Ghana, the orphanage had been founded by British missionaries. There wouldn’t be much of a language barrier, just a cultural one. Besides, he was a smart child. Not everything was new and different, so there was no need to be patronizing. Her plan was to stick close to him and try to explain things as he experienced them for the first time.

Hannah basked in the sheer awe on her son’s face as she realized that this was the first time Sammy had seen an American fire engine up close. But that shared excitement gave way to an unexpected wobble in Hannah’s stomach.

Speaking of firsts, she’d also never before witnessed the sight of Isaac Jones in turnout gear. Well, at least, in the yellow pants and red suspenders. It was still unseasonably warm and neither he nor the other three people exiting the huge red truck wore their jackets.

Whoa. It was bad enough that he’d broken his vow to never visit Sugar Falls again, but since when did the city allow tourists to ride around in the fire engine? Not that he was a typical tourist.

Still. Isaac had been a summer kid, like her, and since it was now closing in on November, it should be well past time for him to be going back to...where? Where did he live now?

Mrs. Dunn, the school nurse, bustled past a stunned Hannah and greeted the firefighters. “Sorry you guys had to come out again, Chief. I thought the alarm company had fixed everything yesterday.”

Who was she calling chief ? Certainly not Isaac. Grabbing onto the metal handrail on the stairs in front of the school, Hannah racked her brain for the slightest scrap of recollection about their brief, and extremely awkward, conversation yesterday morning in the Grange Hall kitchen. Last night, she’d gone over every word, facial expression and movement he’d made that day. Had she missed something?

The blue T-shirt he was wearing was very similar to the one he’d had on at the pancake breakfast. The one she’d assumed he’d gotten from his uncle who led the volunteer crew. Although, this time, Hannah’s eyes zeroed in on the words Chief Jones stenciled in white letters over one of his well-formed pectoral muscles.

Oh. No.

Isaac paused only for a second when his gaze landed on her. If Hannah hadn’t already been gawking at him, she would’ve missed it. But he was quick to recover and turned all of his attention toward Nurse Dunn. “You might want to call them out again. In the meantime, have everyone stay here while we go make sure the building is clear.”

Hannah’s palms were cool and clammy, which must’ve made it easy for Sammy’s fingers to slip out of her hand. Before she could pry her stunned mouth open and stop him, he was bounding down the stairs and sprinting toward Isaac.

She should’ve expected it. Her son loved big trucks and he loved running every time he got the chance. But she was still in a state of shock.

“Can I come with you?” Sammy asked, further surprising Hannah. Her son normally didn’t warm up to people very quickly and he was always way too shy to ask for what he wanted.

Isaac smiled at the boy and bent down. “Not right this second, big guy. But as soon as we make sure that there isn’t a fire inside, I can let you climb up into the engine and pull the switch for the siren.” The man’s hazel gaze flickered over Hannah and he amended, “If you’re still here when we come out.”

She sucked air through her clenched teeth. What was that supposed to mean? Did Isaac think she was just going to run off at the mere sight of him? If so, he had another thought coming. She marched down the steps and recaptured Sammy’s hand, forcing a tense smile at her son, but refusing to make eye contact with Isaac. “We can wait.”

The truth was, she couldn’t leave, even if she wanted to. Her purse and car keys were still inside her classroom. Two teachers she’d known from her previous years at the elementary school were huddled with the nurse on the front sidewalk. However, their whispering stopped when Hannah looked their way. Not that she could blame them for their curiosity at seeing one of their recently returned coworkers suddenly confronted with the reappearance of an old flame. But it still made Hannah’s nerves twist.

She let out a sigh when Sammy tugged on her hand, pulling her closer to check out the fire engine. While she definitely did not share her son’s enthusiasm for the monstrous vehicle that had brought her ex-boyfriend literally screeching back into her life, at least Hannah now had an excuse to avoid any conversations where she might be asked about why her skin had gone as red as the truck the second Isaac appeared.

Unfortunately, her relief was short-lived because the incessantly loud ringing came to a sudden halt. In fact, in the echo of the fire alarm’s silence, she could hear her pulse picking up tempo. That meant Isaac was coming back this way and now it was Hannah’s internal alarm bells going off.