Page 17 of A Gift for her Festive Firefighter

She watched him climb into the truck. He lifted a hand in a slight acknowledgment – and she did the same. Almost like a weird truce was building between them. Yeah, she imagined how leery he was being around her if he thought she had a crush, and she did. She wasn’t exactly feminine, and the stuff she’d bought had remained unopened.

Holly was scared.

Intimidated.

She’d always hidden behind her coveralls, a baseball cap, or wore her hair in a ponytail to keep it off her neck, but the idea of dressing like a woman meant exposing herself to scrutiny, whereas the town really didn’t ‘see’ her now. No, she was able to fade into the background and treated like ‘one of the guys’ – but she didn’t want to be one of them.

In her dreams, she always wished that some valiant knight would swoop in and take her off to his castle. Maybe he would be so lovestruck that he would admit his feelings, asking her to be his wife, before planting True Love’s First Kiss. Aurora, Snow White, and Cinderella were all down-on-their-luck princesses that their beloved prince found or discovered unexpectedly, so why couldn’t that be her?

Maybe she wasn’t walking barefoot in the forest toward her caretaker’s cottage, singing to forest animals. So what that she wasn’t cleaning the ashes from the fireplace in rags – at least she didn’t talk to rodents. If a woman with narcolepsy could manage to have Happily-Ever-After slap her in the face… couldn’t Holly do the same?

Sighing heavily, Holly heard a ding. She reached for her cell phone in her pocket, withdrew it… and froze. Her heart clenched as she saw his text message and took it for what it was – a polite gesture of friendship.

Thanks for the Gatorade.

“Baby steps are still steps,” she whispered, texting him back. “I might be barefoot in a sticker patch surrounded by rattlers… but this is definitely a step forward, so eat your heart out, Cinderella.”

You are welcome.

Chapter 7

CADE

“Sooooo boss, we stopped to see your girlfriend, huh?”

“Shut up, Mayberry,” Cade grumbled, getting in the captain’s seat of the fire engine, hurriedly downing a massive sip of the cold Gatorade that Beary had tossed him. He gave a slight wave as the truck lumbered forward and saw her do the same and winced.

Holly.

She requested he call her ‘Holly’ and not ‘Beary’ – and he wasn’t sure if that sat well with him. Holly made her feminine and girly, which meant that she actually did have a crush on him, making the rumors true. Cade had sworn off dating until things calmed down and considering he was still the hot gossip in town, that wasn’t going to be anytime soon. Calling her Beary made her easier to handle – palatable. She wasn’t a threat, a problem to handle, or had feelings. Nope. She was simply ‘Beary the Mechanic’… a nobody. Holly was a person with feelings – and they were focused on him.

“Dang it,” he muttered.

“Problem?”

“Tired, I’ve got a headache and a bad case of indigestion,” Cade admitted, looking over his shoulder at the two firemen in the back of the cab. “You guys did great today, and I really appreciate it.”

Cade turned back toward the front, so proud of himself. He remembered that Reese used to do that when he was the captain of his truck, and he was a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ new firefighter. The man always gave praise in the same voice that he gave constructive criticism. He expected to be listened to at all times – both good and bad – and reflecting on his time with the man he admired, he could learn a few things.

“Awww,” Jude chuckled. “The captain is getting downright mushy now that he’s in love with ol’ Beary!”

Cade winced. Yeah, being in Reese’s shadow did not prepare him for that one. No, that was a new situation he was going to have to handle blindly on his own. He really didn’t feel right discussing that with anyone.

“It’s not mushy praising you for a job well done – nor am I even friends with Beary. She’s simply doing some work on my truck, and I thought I’d check on it so it doesn’t just sit there waiting.”

“Beary doesn’t do that,” the two men looked at each other. “She’s a pretty good mechanic – even if she’s distracted by a boyfriend.”

“Who’s her boyfriend?”

“You, remember?”

Yup, you fell right into that one, moron, Cade thought and pressed his lips together tightly. Nope. No more conversation, no more trying to butter up the guys, and no more chit-chat about Beary-less existence.

“Hey, captain…”

“Yeah?”

“You coming to the Halloween Hoedown?”

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