Free The Last of The Red Hot Firefighters (Red Hot Reunions Book 1) by Jessie Evans Page B

take Maddie by the arm, and cross the room to join the SFD’s holiday party with hope for the future.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    Jake
    As Naomi and her sister crossed the room, Jake took another long pull of the lukewarm Guinness he’d been nursing for the past half hour, and prepared to make amends.
    After the ridiculous way he’d behaved Friday night, some damage control was certainly in order.
    By Saturday morning, he had felt like a fool for bailing on his and Naomi’s first date. By Sunday, he’d promised himself that he would head over to the bakery and apologize—he and Naomi had three more dates and he was determined none of them would end with him running like a coward. But by the time his team had the roadside fire on Route Twelve contained and returned to the firehouse Sunday evening, Icing had been locked up tight.
    Monday was one of his days off, but Jake had stopped by the firehouse this morning for an hour to do some paperwork, anyway, hoping to be there when Naomi and her partners opened up. But when the time came to leave for the station’s annual holiday lunch and the Whitehouses still hadn’t showed, Jake had decided to let himself off the hook and try again tomorrow.
    If there was ever a time to give himself a break, this was it.
    Jenny had passed exactly two years ago today. That morning, he’d kissed her good-bye and teased her about wearing a Santa Claus sweatshirt her Meemaw had made her to go shopping; that afternoon he’d been called to identify her body.
    On the first anniversary of her death, he’d spent the entire day at a megaplex movie theater in Atlanta, hopping from film to film, hiding out from everyone he knew, letting himself get caught up in stories other than his own. But today he hadn’t felt like hiding.
    He’d started the morning by taking flowers to the cemetery and having a long talk with Jenny, filling her in on all the news from the last time he’d visited a few months before. He even told her about Naomi moving back to town, and how mixed-up it had him feeling. Jenny knew that Naomi was a big part of Jake’s past, even though his wife hadn’t moved to Summerville until she was in her twenties and never witnessed the high school romance that had defined Jake’s teen years.
    Talking to Jenny had soothed something inside of him. For the first time since her passing, he’d felt uplifted, instead of depressed by a visit to her grave. He knew Jenny would have told him to relax, and that the opportunity to apologize to Naomi would present itself when the time was right—Jenny had been a big believer in letting things work themselves out, and not pushing people or situations too hard.
    But now Naomi was here, and the chance to start fresh with her had fallen into his lap, the way Naomi used to fall into his lap when they were younger.
    Back in high school, Naomi would burst into his bedroom while he was studying and plunk herself down on his lap, inserting herself between him and his computer, refusing to let him concentrate on chemistry homework or English papers or anything serious until she’d had her fill of him. Lyle Hansen, Jake’s dad, had been too busy to pay attention to whether or not his boys had girls in their bedrooms—one of the upsides of being raised by a single parent. From the time Jake was sixteen, he’d been free to shut his bedroom door, lock it tight, and make love to Naomi until they were both limp and breathless and his sheets smelled of her perfume.
    Jake took another drink, forcing away thoughts of a naked Naomi. Thoughts like that were the opposite of relaxing, and a good way to ensure he made a fool of himself all over again.
    “Hey,” Naomi said, casting an uncertain glance his way as she and her sister came to stand beside him. “Work party?”
    “Yep,” he said in what he hoped was a pleasant tone. “We have it here every year. Best buffalo wings in Georgia.”
    “Really? In the entire state?” Maddie’s eyebrows lifted skeptically.