Page 28 of Once Upon a Summer Night

Determined to prove that she was neither here to steal his job nor upset about their near lip-lock, she tried keeping things light as he led her down the hall to their small conference room where the others had congregated. He felt a quick introduction was necessary, to which she hadn’t objected. Again, trying to show she was with him, not against him.

Besides, she was far more eager to hear when her interview might be for the safety inspection and training manager job she’d pushed to create, than to lock herself into a job in Bourbon Falls.

After she’d agreed this weekend to help at the station while her father was off on medical leave, Hannah had requested a list of names and lengths of tenure for the station’s current staff—something she’d hoped to go over with Chase last night but he’d gotten called away. Really, she’d just wanted to know how many people she might encounter who had known her from before. The fewer remnants from her childhood, the less awkward this might be.

From the list her father jotted down, only two individuals had been there since before she left. One was Dylan Campbell, who, if she was remembering correctly, had been a couple years older than Chase and was still pretty new to the station when she’d made her grand exit. Heck, he might not even remember her at all.

The other, however, would most definitely remember her: Kenny Green. He was not only a longtime fireman at this station but also a very close friend of her father’s. It was him she worried most about now. Would he accept her, or would he judge?

Her thoughts went back to her younger years once more, pinging with memory after memory as they drew nearer the station’s small conference room. The kitten they’d found hiding under the alley dumpster she hadn’t been allowed to keep. The Dalmatian that’d called this station home one summer, also a pet she hadn’t been allowed to keep. She and Chase’s countless games of hide and seek. Races up and down the fire pole. Stargazing on the roof.

Some of her favorite memories had been made here, a place deemed safe enough that the chief hadn’t felt the need to eagle eye her every minute of the day. Or maybe he’d just held his tongue to not look like a hard-ass in front of the others. Who knew what he’d told everyone when she ran away?

Then again, knowing her father, he might not have said anything at all.

“Well, I’ll be.”

Hannah looked ahead to find Kenny walking toward her, shaking his head, a grin stretched wide across his kind face. Thankfully, that grin told her she’d be accepted, not condemned. Like her father, Kenny had visibly aged while she’d been gone, his dark hair nearly white now.

“Little birdie told me you were back in town,” he said in that deep, musical voice of his. “Left out the part about his baby girl being all grown up and ready to fill some Stephen-sized shoes.”

He opened his arms wide, and Hannah stepped into the waiting embrace. “Good to see you, Kenny.”

“So good to see you, too, Hannah girl.” He gave her a gentle squeeze, then stepped back to study her in uniform. “Where you been hiding all this time?”

“Illinois.” She grinned. “Only female to make captain at Station Number Five.”

His brows rose high. “Apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Good for you.” He tipped his head toward the conference room, where the others were apparently already waiting. “Well, don’t you worry about them youngins, Hannah girl. Our rookies may flap their jaws some, but they’re eager to learn with hearts of gold.”

“Thanks for the tip, Kenny.” She gave his arm a pat as he continued on, grateful to have another ally in the room.

The meeting went as well as could be expected, wary stares coming from one side of the room while she stood with Chase on the other. Introductions were made, her role as interim office manager explained, then the meeting was adjourned. Kenny and Chase worked the crowd as their crewmates came forward to shake Hannah’s hand, and everything went as smoothly as was to be expected while the two of them were there.

The true test, she knew, would be tomorrow when Chase and Kenny were both off duty.

By 8:35 a.m., the party was over. Yesterday’s crew had left and those staying for today’s shift had wandered off inside the building to do whatever daily tasks they’d previously been assigned. Hannah followed Chase back to the office, ready to dig into whatever paperwork had begun to stack up. It couldn’t be much, since her old man had only been off for a week.

“That went well,” she said, trying to ignore that cool, clean cologne mingling with the air around them. Maybe she should ask Chase not to wear that while they were working together. But then she’d have to explain why it was a problem. It wasn’t, of course. She wouldn’t let it be, even if they had shared a fumbled, unintentional first kiss.

“They know better than to say much with me standing there. And so you know, that was the easy part. This office, on the other hand.” Chase stepped ahead of her to get the door. “Not sure if you have any idea what you signed up for, Han. I mean, it’s great that your dad and aunt are offering to help with the attorney, but…”

Hannah took two steps inside and froze. If there was an office in here, she couldn’t see it. Every flat surface in the room was covered with stacks of papers, manilla folders, professional journals, and magazines. But the coverage didn’t stop there—notes of every shape and size were tacked to the walls, and two paper mobiles hung from the ceiling. The only item that appeared to not be cluttered with paper was the chief’s chair.

“Oh. My. God.”

“Yeah.” Chase rubbed the back of his neck. “Your dad, he’s not a big fan of throwing things away. Thinks the minute we do, we’ll turn around and find that we needed it. We did manage to make a small dent on his side table last week, though.”

“You mean, it wasworsethan this before?”

“For the record, it wasn’t always this bad. But after Sally retired a few years back, the piles started growing. They have someone at town hall help with the administrative stuff now. Payroll, paying bills, stuff like that. We still have to approve it all, of course.”

“Of course.” Hannah slowly made her way over to what she thought might be her father’s desk, afraid to touch anything and start a room-wide avalanche. A sticky-note-covered computer monitor came into view. “Is the computer a prop, or does it actually get used?”

“Oh, it gets used. And cursed at regularly,” he added with a laugh.

“That sounds like Dad, all right. Okay, well, I guess we’ll need to call the IT department to get me set up on your network.”

Chase gave her a blank stare.

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