Free Firestorm by Lisa T. Bergren

smoke. The crumpled, empty fire tents. And beyond them …
    She leaned back in her chair, set her feet on the desk, and closedher eyes, deliberately pushing back the images.
Please God, not a smokejumper
, she prayed again.
Anything but that. I just couldn’t stand to lose someone I love …
    But the urgings of her heart were unstoppable.
    The next day Reyne entered her office to find a faxed note waiting. She smiled immediately, spotting Logan’s name in the From section. She sat down, amazed that just his name on a piece of paper set her heart to pounding, and then read his short note:
    HI, REYNE. MISSING ME YET? WAS WORRIED THAT NO ONE WAS GOING TO MAKE YOU LAUGH TODAY, SO I THOUGHT I’D SEND THIS COMIC. HARDLY PROFESSIONAL, I KNOW. BUT WHAT THE HECK .
    Reyne glanced over the comic strip, smiling as Calvin set Hobbes’s foot on fire, then ran to get away. She didn’t know what was funnier: the cartoon or Logan’s all-caps style writing.
Just like in life, Logan
, she thought.
Bigger and louder is always better
.
    But she was charmed. There was no getting around it.
    Five days later, coffee cup in hand, Rachel Tanner came strolling into Reyne’s office. “I want to see what you’re working on these days,” she said. “Oh, you’ve got a fax …”
    Reyne, just behind her, squeezed through the door and hurried toward the machine, but Rachel had already plucked the paper from its tray.
    Smiling, she read the missive and handed it to Reyne. “You have some ’splainin’ to do, Lucy,” she said, in her best Ricky Ricardo imitation.
    Reyne gave her a sly smile and ripped the paper from her hands. “I most certainly do not.”
    Rachel sat on the countertop and stared at her. “Oh yes you do. Are you telling me that a firefighter is courting you and you’re actually allowing it?”
    “What am I supposed to do? Shut off my fax? He’s just being friendly,” she tried, hoping to sidetrack her friend.
    “Ha! That’s the friendliest fax I’ve seen in a long while. And what are these?” She picked up the stack of previous faxes and paged through them quickly. “Every day? He’s been sending you one every day?”
    Reyne nodded, smiling. “What do you think?”
    “I think he’s terrific! And romantic! And sweet. We’ve already covered the handsome part. Are you telling me that you’re actually giving him a chance? I thought you’d sworn off firefighters.”
    Reyne moved away, pacing. Her mind was a mass of thoughts, her heart a frantic mix of emotions. “I don’t know, Rachel. I
had
sworn off firefighters. This is crazy.” Her voice was tight, agitated.
    “Reyne,” Rachel said gently. “I know it was rough that day in Idaho. I know you’ve suffered since then. But maybe God is telling you that it’s time to get on with your life. To share your heart again.”
    “And it would be just like him to make that person a firefighter.”
    “Through him all things are possible—”
    “Yeah, yeah, spare me the sermon. I
know
, Rachel. But I’m scared. Scared to death. And who knows? Maybe he’s just idly flirting.”
    “He doesn’t seem to be the type. For all his joking around, from what I can see, he’s pretty single-minded.”
    Reyne nodded thoughtfully. “Well, we’ll see what happens. I’mnot making any moves. We’ll see what Logan McCabe is really up to.”
    The following morning Reyne dressed quickly and headed out to the office before the coffee was even brewed. She threw open the door and had to mentally keep herself from actually trotting over to the outbuilding. Smiling already, she crossed immediately to the fax machine.
    But there was nothing there.
    She fought the wave of disappointment that swept over her and chided herself for fighting back tears.
What’s this, Oldre? You’re tougher than that!
    She shook her head, unable to believe that she had let herself get so worked up over a silly fax. Reyne opened the door and slammed it behind her, eager to get back to her coffee now.