Page 3 of A Gift for her Festive Firefighter

Both men laughed easily, and Cade tucked one round package in the back pocket of his Levi’s and grabbed two more. He slid all the goodies onto the counter and dug out his wallet, pulling out several twenties. His truck drank fuel, but it was well worth it. Kinda like the gas station pumps, there was something so satisfying about driving a vehicle that made people stop and look.

“You know, you ought to stop by the shop and meet Beary. You’ll want to have the stuff in stock to do the service on your truck when it comes time and…”

“Yup,” Cade interrupted as his phone rang again. “I’ve really got to take this, but I promise I’ll stop and talk to Barry about my truck. I appreciate the advice.” Scooping up his things, he answered the phone and backed out the door, waving his Icee at Jorge politely.

“Mr. Pruitt? This is Dr. White’s office. We wanted to let you know the specimen results came back as negative,” the woman said, and Cade sagged in relief. “Keep using the sunblock, doing monthly checks on yourself, and let us know if you need anything else. He recommended following up in a year.”

“Thank you,” he whispered gratefully, closing his eyes and setting his stuff on the passenger seat of the truck. “I really appreciate the update.”

“Of course. Have a great evening, Mr. Pruitt.”

“I will now,” he replied, chuckling easily. This was his last night off, and tomorrow he would be back at the station – but this was at least one thing off his mental stress list that had been weighing on him. Yup. He was going to get some shut-eye, indulge in a greasy burger, and wash it down with his cherry Icee.

Life was good.

Chapter 2

HOLLY

Life sucked.

Holly plastered on a smile and felt all eyes on her in the coffee shop, knowing this would be all over town within the hour. Oh yes, ‘Good ol’ Beary’ was on a blind date with ‘Davy-the-Druggie.’

That was the last time she ever trusted Krista for anything. Her neighbor was an ambitious bleeding heart who wanted nothing more than to match people together, and she had caught Holly during the middle of her period, mowing the lawn, hair unwashed, with a Snickers hanging out of her mouth. It was a bad day that unknowingly was going to get much worse.

“I shoulda dumped hooch in my water bottle instead of lemonade,” she muttered under her breath. “Because then I could blame this nightmare on the booze.”

“Sooooo, Beary,” Davy drawled, leaning back against the booth with a satisfied smile on his face. “You’ve been wanting to go out with me, huh?”

“I think perhaps Krista exaggerated slightly,” she replied kindly, knowing others were listening nearby. The tomboy of town did not need to be classified as the town’s royal goodie-two-shoes – and she sure wasn’t above giving someone a chance, even Davy.

“I heard,” Davy began again, interrupting her thoughts. “That you’ve been on lots of dates and waiting impatiently for Mr. Right. So, let’s cut the chit-chat and talk about what that fella looks like to you because I’ve always thought you were pretty.”

“You did? Wait, you do?” she blinked, shocked and taken aback at the unexpected turn of his words. Wait, Davy-the-Druggie thought she was pretty? Like, ‘girly’ pretty?

“You’ve got the stuff up top,” Davy drawled, and Holly realized that his pupils were huge. He didn’t have brown eyes. They were just overtly large because he was higher than a kite and starting to slur his words.

She was going to maim Krista for this blind date. The last several blind dates had been a doozy, but she managed to get free of ‘Slobbering-Sam,’ dumped ‘Dorky-Duane,’ and by offering to pay for her meal, she’d dubbed ‘Pretentious-Paul’ and a new nickname that didn’t bear repeating.

“A nice round bottom under those coveralls you wear all the time and – oh my gosh – I get it. Coveralls actually cover all, don’t they? Sure makes it hard to see the stuff on the bottom, but it’s there.”

Leaning forward, she waved him forward so he would lean down before whispering to him.

“Davy, did you take something before our date?”

“Yeah, you want one? I’ve got another hit in my pocket, and that would be awesome if we were both into expanding our minds together. I mean, that would make you the coolest girlfriend…”

“I’m not your girlfriend,” she said bluntly and saw his goofy smile fade as he blinked several times. “I am not your girlfriend,” she repeated slowly so he didn’t miss what she said. “I am also not dating someone that does drugs. So if you are high, this date is over.”

“Me? I’m not high,” he immediately said, backpedaling quickly. “I don’t do drugs, officer.”

Holly sighed and put her head down in her hands. He was slurring so badly that ‘officer’ was pronounced as ‘ossafer’. Oh, her date was definitely higher than the space station in orbit.

It was going to be a pathetically long evening at home alone, nursing another Snickers bar and watching Hallmark romance movies where it actually worked out. Honestly, it was a crying shame that Davy was strung out on drugs because he was actually handsome in a ‘tough guy’ sort of way.

If this town was the Outsiders, Davy was definitely ‘Soda Pop Curtis’ from the book – on drugs. Why couldn’t she find her ‘Darry’? A responsible, handsome, hard-working guy who just wanted to keep the family together and maintain a home?

Where were all the good guys, the heroes, the guys that were men and not boys in need of a caretaker, mother, or housemaid? She wanted a real man in her life. Someone who would defend her, fight for her, romance her like in the movies. Where was her Lancelot, her Sir Gawain, her Romeo?

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