Page 7 of Falling for Brody

He held out his hand toward Chip. “Come on, buddy. Let’s get you inside and seated.”

Chip ran up to him and took his hand in a strong grip. Brody walked him up to the back of the ambulance and didn’t let go until the boy had both feet firmly planted on the floor of the ambulance.

"You want me to help-"

"I can buckle myself in." Chip moved to the seat in the corner with his backpack looking like it might drop him to the floor. "I'm a big boy."

Yeah, Brody smiled to himself,I guess you are.

He turned around to look at Rhea and caught the way she looked after Chip. Her eyes were filled with love and her face had transformed. Somehow, she was even more beautiful than she’d been a moment before.

Brody groaned inwardly. Her husband was one lucky man.

CHAPTER2

Rhea feltlike her heart was going a mile a minute. It wasn't fear. It was adrenaline.

She loved her job.

She loved helping people.

Getting her toes wet before she even got to town?

That's a first day story for the record books.

Even better, she'd met some good people. And good people aren't easy to find these days.

It was what drew her to Fallport. She'd talked to Joshua Armstrong when she'd applied for the job and it was easy to see that he was a good boss. He had a good family, too. Which he'd mentioned, talking about Brody since she'd be working with him primarily. It was obvious that he loved his cousin and thought the world of him.

And he'd been right.

Since Brody had pulled up at the accident site, he'd done nothing but impress her.

And Chip. Chip who loved the best of everyone and saw even more than that.

Sitting in the back of the ambulance, Rhea kept up a conversation with Avalon, getting to know the woman who was in love with her boss. "You've got a great family here."

Avalon's smile lit up the back of the ambulance. "I do! And I know how lucky I am to have it. I was away from Fallport for a while. Years, really. I came back here and ended up staying." She sighed softly.

"And falling in love?" Rhea responded.

Avalon's eyes sparkled when she looked right at Rhea. "I was already in love with Joshua from the time we were kids. Now, it's a whole new world for me and I love every moment of living it here in Fallport."

Rhea gave her a hopeful smile. "I'm looking forward to making it a home for me and Chip."

Rhea could tell by Avalon's expression that she had found something interesting in her words.

"It's just the two of you moving to town?"

Rhea had a feeling that this was just a curious question. She'd always heard that small towns were a place where everyone was always in your business. What a change it would be from a life where no one in her family or her husband's seemed to care if they were around at all.

So she answered Avalon's question, not just because she was trying to make conversation. But because Avalon looked and sounded like she cared.

Rhea knew she had to give this town and its people a chance to get closer, not just for herself but for Chip, too.

"Just me and Chip."

She saw Avalon nod. "Nothing 'just' about it. Two new people in Fallport is like front page news. You're going to have people just as curious about you as you are about our town."

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