Christy Jeffries - The Firefighter's Christmas Reunion

“All clear,” one of the other firefighters—the driver—announced and Hannah was surprised to see that Nurse Dunn and the other two teachers had already left. Hannah’s car was the only one remaining in the lot and she again silently cursed herself for not bringing her purse and keys with her. The female firefighter came out next and Hannah found herself hoping that one of them could quickly show Sammy the fire engine so they could sneak back to her classroom before Isaac arrived.

But there was no such luck. Isaac, looking way more confident and smug than he had a right to, came loping down the steps. He passed a clipboard to the fourth firefighter and said, “Write up the report, Rook. I have a junior officer here who needs to learn how to drive the engine.”

Isaac gave Sammy a high five and then the boy sprinted after him toward the driver’s side of the big red truck.

“No problem, Chief,” the baby-faced young man said before smiling at Hannah. She looked at his nametag. Clausson. He didn’t look familiar to her. In fact, she realized as she scanned the other firefighters’ faces, she didn’t know any of them.

“Apparently, the volunteer fire department is finally recruiting people under the age of fifty-five.” Hannah’s forced chuckle sounded more like a nervous giggle and the younger man lifted one dark eyebrow at her.

“Don’t worry. Jonesy and Scooter and the rest of the elders are still around picking up volunteer shifts. But now that the city also has a paid department, our full-time crews are a bit...oh, shall we say...less seasoned.” Clausson gave her a wink, but her heart was already rioting inside her chest, so it didn’t have the flirtatious effect he might’ve intended.

“You mean you’re not a volunteer?” she asked, though she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

“None of us are today, miss.”

So if Isaac wasn’t a volunteer, this wasn’t just some short-term gig for him. Which meant that he wasn’t here temporarily. Hannah forced herself to breathe deeply. She was seriously going to throttle her older brothers for not warning her.

Young Clausson leaned closer and lowered his voice. “If you want to come by the brand-new station, I can arrange to give you, uh...a private tour.”

“Hey, Rook.” The female firefighter walked between them and tapped on Clausson’s clipboard. “If the chief catches you putting the moves on his ex-girlfriend instead of writing that report, you’re going to be on laundry detail indefinitely.”

Clausson’s whiskerless cheeks turned a shade of pink as he muttered a four-letter word and scrambled away so quickly that Hannah choked on the sudden cloud of overpowering cologne left in his wake.

Well, she was either choking on the scent, or on the female firefighter’s unexpected statement. Hannah looked down at the woman’s nametag—Rodriguez—then cleared her throat. “I’m not really Isaac’s ex-girlfriend, you know.”

“Sorry about that.” Rodriguez transferred her helmet from one arm to the other and gave a sheepish grimace before extending her hand. “I’m Olivia. I’ve only lived here for eighteen months and I’m still learning how to navigate small-town gossip.”

“Hannah Gregson.” She swallowed, returning the handshake. “There’s...uh...gossip? I mean, obviously there’s gossip, but I just hadn’t expected it already.”

She was dying to ask what people were saying, but she closed her eyes and gave a brief shake of her head. Nope. Hannah didn’t care back then what people thought and she certainly didn’t care now.

“The talk is why I assumed something was going on between you two,” Olivia explained and Hannah’s fingers curled into her hipbones as she twisted the fabric inside her jeans’ pockets.

“I guess, technically, we’re exes, but it was more of a summer fling when we were in high school.” She attempted a casual shrug but her shoulders were too stiff to properly execute it. “Maybe two summer flings. But it wasn’t like we had an ongoing official status or anything since it was strictly only a part-time, seasonal kinda relationship. Really, things didn’t get all that hot and heavy until after graduation...oh, my gosh, I need to stop talking.”

Hannah pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have to see Rodriguez’s response to her long-winded ramblings. “Anyway, it was all so long ago, I hardly ever think about it anymore.” She gave the woman a tense smile. “I should go check on my son.”

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.