Free Neighing with Fire: A Mystery (Colleen McCabe Series) by Kathryn O'Sullivan Page B

comments, undoubtedly ribbing him about Fawn.
    “Chief McCabe!” Fawn called, and bounded to her. “I wanted to tell you what an honor it is that you’ve agreed to be one of my spiritual guides at our union ceremony. Your presence is a great blessing.”
    “I’ve been called many things, but never a blessing,” Colleen said, amused.
    Fawn grabbed Colleen’s hand. Colleen peeked at the men, unsure what the spirited young woman was up to and afraid that her men might witness Fawn doing another reading of her aura. Once in front of Chip last summer had been bad enough.
    Instead, the young woman squeezed her hand and said, “If there is anything I can ever do to repay your kindness, you just need ask.”
    She noticed Chip watching them and gently pulled her hand free. “Actually,” she said. “There is something you can do.”
    “Really?” Fawn asked, delighted.
    “Why don’t we speak out back?” Colleen said, and walked outside with Fawn and Sparky trailing close behind.
    “Everything okay?” Chip asked as they passed him.
    “Just girl talk,” Fawn said. She blew him a kiss.
    Colleen resisted the urge to roll her eyes. One thing she had never been into was “girl talk.”
    “Can I ask you a question?” Fawn said as they rounded the corner to the back where the guys practiced their drills.
    “Sure.”
    “You’ve got a boyfriend. What does he think of you being a firefighter?”
    Colleen stopped in her tracks. There was no way she was going to discuss her relationship with Bill with Fawn. “I know you’re concerned about Chip,” she said. “But being a firefighter requires that he—and you—make sacrifices.”
    Fawn hung her head. “I worry about him.”
    “I know you do. And so does Chip. But there is one thing you can do to make it easier for him at the station.”
    “What’s that?” Fawn asked, brightening.
    “Try not to do your worrying here, in front of the guys. It makes it harder for Chip to do his job and gives his friends ammunition for teasing.”
    “No more running to the station after calls. Got it.”
    Colleen grinned. She could see why Chip was in love with the girl. She had a certain wonderful energy about her.
    “So,” Fawn said. “What is it that you wanted to ask me?”
    “You and Chip live up in Carova. What’s it been like up there lately?”
    “How do you mean?”
    “I understand there’s been some tension with the tour companies,” she said, wishing to remain diplomatic since she didn’t know how Fawn might feel about the various factions that were in disagreement over the use of the land.
    “I know the tour companies have to make a living, but there has to be a way they can do it without interfering with our animal friends.”
    “You mean interfering with the horses and the piping plover?”
    Fawn nodded. “It’s the scary Snellings and their Tour-zilla trucks that’s the problem. You can’t tell me those big trucks aren’t doing damage.”
    “Why do you say the Snellings are scary?”
    “Apparently, the father wanted to run his tours through someone’s front yard so they could turn the tour around easier instead of using the longer route of the road. He dug into records and found out the man who owned the house had fallen on hard times and was at risk of losing his house, so he pressured the man to take money in exchange for allowing the tour to go through the property. Then the son tore up the land so badly with the truck that the man had to move out anyway. What kinda person treats people like that?”
    Colleen wasn’t sure if that made the Snellings scary, but they certainly sounded greedy. “What about the horse preservation society and plover foundation folks? I heard they’ve sometimes been at odds,” she said, recalling her conversation with Myrtle.
    “It’s the bird people versus the horse people,” Fawn said with disappointment. “My aunt Autumn is more in the piping plover camp. Personally, I think there’s room for all of