Free Love Inspired November 2014 #2 by Allie Pleiter, Lorraine Beatty

never happened at the city convenience mart.
    â€œJesse’s account of your powerhouse sink demolition was the talk of the firehouse,” JJ went on, as the two of them wandered down the frozen-food aisle. “As if your first-day kitchen fire hadn’t endeared you to the guys already.”
    â€œI think I was hoping for less fanfare tied to my entrance into Gordon Falls,” Charlotte admitted. “The past few months have been a bit more dramatic than I’d like.”
    â€œWell, if you’re not into drama, you’ve hired the wrong guy. Jesse Sykes is as Hollywood as they come. You remember him singing at our wedding, don’t you?”
    Just the other afternoon she was upstairs measuring windows when Jesse either forgot she was home or didn’t care that she heard him. His voice echoed stunningly throughout the empty house, and she’d stopped to lean against the wall and just listen. Smooth as silk and soulful to boot. Mima would have declared Jesse to have “a set of pipes” and Charlotte had to agree. “He’s amusing, and he’s got a great voice, that’s for sure.”
    JJ’s voice softened. “He’s a great guy. A bit of a loose cannon sometimes, but a heart of gold.” She grinned. “Mostly.” When Charlotte narrowed one eye at her she added, “You could do worse.”
    She really didn’t want to get into this with JJ again. Her cousin knew her concerns about getting involved with a first responder without them arguing it out for the umpteenth time. Anyway, it felt wrong to tell one firefighter that you didn’t think you could do life alongside another firefighter. “Sure, he’s got personality. He’s not for me, though.”
    Was there anyone out there for her? She liked to think so, though she was getting frustrated waiting for him to show up. In any case, now wasn’t the time for a new relationship. Now should be about being her own person, stepping confidently—if not smoothly—into the future God had for her. Dating would just muck up her thinking and add to her anxiety. And really, the last thing she needed right now was the prospect of any more rejection.
    â€œI thought you just said he was amusing.” JJ selected a bag of frozen peas and placed them in her cart.
    â€œAmusement is not the same thing as attraction.” That felt dishonest, because she did feel an attraction to Jesse. She just knew better than to act on it. “I’ll admit, we’re having a bit of fun with this renovation project, and I could sure use a bit of fun right now, but that’s all. Besides, from the little I heard, he’s got all kinds of family baggage and I don’t need anyone like that.”
    â€œWho’s got family baggage?” Melba and Maria came up the aisle, waving hello.
Here we go again, a party in the frozen-food aisle.
It had its fun side, but Charlotte fretted her days of throwing on sweats and a baseball hat to duck into the grocery store were over.
    â€œSykes,” JJ replied.
    Melba sighed. “Everyone’s got family baggage of some kind.”
    â€œMaybe, but your family baggage is adorable.” JJ wiggled one of Maria’s irresistible tiny pink toes, making the baby girl giggle.
    â€œWhat would Mima have thought of Jesse?” JJ asked, surrendering the toe as, with the astounding flexibility of babies, Maria pulled it up to stuff it in her mouth. All three women laughed. Even though JJ and Max were Charlotte’s cousins on her father’s side, Mima left a big enough impression that both sides of Charlotte’s relatives knew and loved the woman. Max and JJ had come to Mima’s funeral, and not just because they wanted to support Charlotte and her parents.
    Mima’s opinion of Jesse—or what it would have been—was an interesting point to consider. Charlotte had to think for a moment, biding her time as she filled her own