12-Alarm Cowboys (141 page)

By the time the woman had said the last two words, Makenna’s face was flaming and Allie was just about to go confront them when Jericho walked up to them. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“Those women over there are talking trash about Makenna,” Allie said, loud enough for the ladies to hear.

For all the years Makenna had lived here in this quaint little town on the banks of the Blanco River, folks had always been friendly. They made a lot of their money off the tourist dollar, and the town square and surrounding streets were full of specialty shops—everything from homemade quilts to gemstone jewelry. You could buy wine-a-ritas at one place and breakfast tacos at another. This was a haven for artists, people who loved the outdoors and those who wanted to be in the country, yet close enough to go into the city for dinner if they wanted. She thought, despite Damien, she’d found a place to call home. To have this happen just devastated her. “Allie, it’s okay, they’re just repeating what Damien told them.” The town’s golden boy had a sterling reputation and she was the outsider.

“Don’t pay any attention, Makenna.” Jericho put his arm around her. “Titan told us what happened.”

“Thank you.” Makenna was mortified. Damien enjoyed painting a picture of her that made people question her good sense, her judgment. But she hadn’t known people would listen or would care. Pity no one ever asked her what the therapy and treatments had been for—they might’ve been surprised.

“Some friends and I are hosting a party tonight over on Canyon Lake. Why don’t you two come?”

Makenna was about to make an excuse when Allie piped up. “Great, we’ll need a break by then. What can we bring?” Allie gave the snoopy women who had finished checking out a saccharine sweet smile.

“Just bring yourselves and a couple of wild bikinis.” He winked at them, writing down the address to his friend’s house on a slip of paper. “We’ll start up about eight or so.”

“Sounds good,” Makenna answered with mixed feelings. It had been years since she’d been to a party other than the ones with Damien where he wouldn’t let her dance or speak to anyone unless he was within earshot. He’d always been afraid she’d reveal his true character.

Before Jericho left, he put his arm around Makenna. “I’m so sorry about what happened. If I’d had any idea, I would’ve put a stop to that crap.” She nodded and he continued. “I don’t know if you remember, but tonight is our scheduled fire department meeting. Are you coming?”

“What about your party?” She was stalling. She’d known the meeting was today. Would they even want her there?

“The meeting won’t last long, it never does. We might be a minute or two late for the party, but that won’t make any difference. You are coming, aren’t you? We need you, you know.”

Makenna thought for a minute. “Do you think everyone will still want me to be secretary?”

“I most certainly do,” he assured her. “We’re planning on asking Titan to be our new chief. We need the community to know we’re still in business and working to make sure they’re safe.”

She blushed, knowing it was her idiot of a husband who had caused all of these problems. “Titan will be a great Fire Chief.”

“So you’ll come? To both?”

“I’ll be there,” she promised.

As he moved off, Allie sighed. “I think I’m in love. He’s so hot!”

“That’s why they call him Hotshot.” She wrapped her arm around her friend’s neck as they giggled, feeling more light-hearted than she had in a long time. Yea, a few people thought she was crazy—but that was fine. Maybe she was.

The rest of the day passed quickly, perhaps because she was so anxious to go to the VFD meeting. Anxious to see Titan was closer to the truth. Makenna glanced at the clock. She didn’t want to be late and she didn’t want to be early. Would she be brave enough to tell him how she felt? And what would she wear? Having nothing in her wardrobe she thought would do, Allie loaned her a tight pair of dress blue jeans and a baby blue camisole with a lace Western-cut shirt to wear over it.

There’d never been anything even remotely formal about the meetings. Most of the men came straight from work, some with grease on their clothes and some needing a bath and a change of clothes. None of that mattered, for all knew the reason they were there. As a poster hung on the wall said,
We Walk Where the Devil Dances
, while another declared,
Not Because I Can But Because of Who I Am
. Their purpose was greater than any hardship they faced.

“Hey, how’s this for the party?” When Allie handed her a white swimsuit, Makenna blushed.

“There’s not enough material here to sneeze on.” Damien would have died if she wore anything so revealing.

Allie winked. “Exactly.”

Makenna hadn’t confessed her feelings for Titan to her friend. She didn’t exactly know how to do that. Allie had no idea the VFD meeting was far more important to her than the actual party. Titan wouldn’t be at the party.

*

Over at the
fire station, Titan unlocked the door, jerking at one of the vines where it had grown down over the facing. No one had the heart to kill the old purple wisteria, they just kept it trimmed back. He’d come early to put on a pot of coffee. The men had negated the idea of getting one of those contraptions that used K-cups, they thought they were too manly for that. What they wanted was an actual container so it could sit too long on the heating coil while the liquid inside grew stiff enough to pass for battery acid. While he waited for the pot to brew, Titan walked around, looking and remembering. A lot of people had worked hard to make this place possible. The department had little to no county or city support. Most of the funds they used to pay for their equipment and gas was money they raised together.

Their prime asset was the old building itself. Having withstood the test of time, it dated back to the early 1900s. The floor was concrete and the walls were brick. Half of the building held their trucks and gear. The other half contained a small kitchen, a meeting table and their files. There was also room for community meetings. In the past they’d held Halloween parties for kids or rented the space out for family reunions.

“Hey, Sloan, how’s it hanging?”

Titan had been studying the photos on the wall. Someone had hung his ‘I Am My Brother’s Keeper’ plaque and a picture of him receiving it. Since he’d stuffed it in the back of the file cabinet, he knew that someone must have been Makenna. Only she would worry about something so sentimental. Each member of the department had their own key to the front door, including her. Would she come tonight? God, he hoped so.

“I’m great.” He shook Montana’s hand. The big guy owned a heavy equipment rental place and hired out extra to dig ponds or other earth moving work for ranchers or anyone else who needed it. Right now he had on a black T-shirt that declared,
Find ’em Hot and Leave ’em Wet
. “You know anything?”

“I know it’s been hot as a firecracker. All we need is a few grass or forest fires to break out. You know the sap in these junipers is about as potent as turpentine.” Montana poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down across from where Titan had scattered his paperwork.

“Yea, I agree. We need to go over our schedules tonight and make sure who’s going to be here and who’s going on vacation so we know we’ve got a full crew available every weekend.” While Titan was speaking, a few more of the guys came in—Blaze, Dallas, Ronan and Hotshot, followed closely by Makenna.

As soon as she entered, the conversation in the room turned into a dull roar for Titan. He was only aware of her. All of the men were glad to see her and that didn’t surprise him. Since the truth had come out about her marriage, most could look back and see tell-tale indications that all hadn’t been as it should be. Like Titan, they wished they could turn back the clock and rescue Makenna from a nightmare she never deserved.

Titan tried not to stare, but he couldn’t help himself. She was so damn beautiful. All he could do was remember how good she’d looked in his bed. His only consolation was that she seemed to be having an equally hard time keeping her own eyes off of him. Well, good. Maybe they could put an end to this nonsense and pick up where they’d left off with that kiss.

As Assistant Chief, he welcomed everyone, including her, and soon it was time to get down to business. Titan didn’t know how it was in big fire departments, he’d only had experience in this one. But in Hays County, they sat around the table, listening to the reading of the minutes of the last meeting in Makenna’s husky little voice. Next, Dallas told them how much was in the bank account. Not enough, there was never enough. Titan was about to talk about their schedules when Montana raised his hand. He’d come in late, but apparently he had something to say. Titan nodded at him.

“In view of what’s happened, I’d like to nominate Titan Sloan as our new fire chief.”

“I second the motion,” Blaze spoke up quickly, while Titan sat there with mouth slightly open in disbelief.

“All in favor?” Hotshot asked. There was a chorus of ‘ayes’ and all raised their hand.

“Will you accept?” Dallas asked him.

“Why me?” Titan shook his head, trying to wrap his head around this new development.

“Simple,” Ronan chimed in. “I might be the youngest, but even I can answer this. You’re qualified, you’re committed and you’ve got a heart as big as Texas.”

All of them clapped and Titan bowed his head. “I’m honored and I’ll do my best.”

Makenna smiled at him. “You’ll be wonderful. Now, can I say something?”

“Of course.” Titan gave her the floor.

“I want to apologize to everyone about how my personal life and the actions of my husband tarnished the reputation of this department. I would like to stay on as secretary and continue working with you, but if you don’t think I should, I’ll absolutely understand.”

“We want you to stay.” “Stay.” “Of course you’ll stay.” All of their answers ran together. She looked relieved and Titan was so happy he couldn’t see straight. After that, he went on with the meeting, sharing information on a few training classes they had opportunities to sign up for. Finally, he opened the floor for fund raising discussions.

“I think we could do a ‘bake-less’ bake sale,” Makenna suggested, shyly.

“A what?” Ronan asked. “I don’t get it.”

Sitting a little higher in her chair, Makenna explained. “People are busy. Instead of asking the townspeople to donate cupcakes and cookies and then turn around and ask those same folks to buy what they baked, I would just send out a letter with a cute graphic and ask them to donate whatever money they would have spent on baking or gas or buying the goodies straight to the fundraiser.”

“Hey, I like that idea.” Blaze nodded. “Let’s do it.”

“There’s other things we can do. One fundraiser won’t be enough, of course.” Makenna smiled, glad her idea was being accepted. “We can have some food booths at area festivals, they’re usually successful.” She looked straight at Titan. “Anything we can do to make ourselves…available, I think we should.”

Titan’s eyes widened. Was she sending him a message? In public? He was amazed at the change in Makenna. She’d always been helpful, but now her smile was big and she seemed so relaxed. “All of those things will be great.” He gave his approval. Later he’d find out if there was more to that little speech than met the eye. She’d been doodling something on a piece of paper. He snuck a peek but it was only the letters MTF written several times, sometimes with a heart around them. What did that mean?

“I was hoping we could do another one of those beefcake calendars,” Hotshot said blandly, then smirked when the other guys looked shocked. “What? I was a great Mr. September.”

Titan laughed. “One of those a year is all we can manage.” Jericho was right, though, the calendar had paid for a lot of new equipment they’d needed desperately.

After that, the meeting went along at a fast clip. Titan was pleased. They accomplished what they needed to do. A couple of the guys stood up to leave when there was a tap on the door. Titan looked up to see Fire Marshal Kirkland Armstrong standing there with a serious expression on his face. “Could I have a minute?”

“Of course.” Titan motioned him in. “What did you find?”

Kirk shook hands with all the men and nodded to Makenna. He knew everyone. Before taking the job as Marshal, he’d been a volunteer firefighter himself. “I’m sorry to say that I didn’t find much. The origin of the fire, like you said, Titan, was in the bedroom. There was no evidence of arson that I could find. Unfortunately, this is one of those times when I can’t determine exactly how the fire started.”

Makenna noticed that Kirk seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her. She squirmed in her seat, feeling uncomfortable. More than likely many people felt her accusation stemmed from the trouble she and her husband were having rather than any guilt on his part. Feeling self-conscious, she passed her hand over the fading bruise on her face.

Titan was disappointed. “I understand. Sometimes it’s impossible to pinpoint the exact cause of a fire.”

Kirkland stood up, finally directing his attention toward Makenna. “Ms. Wade, I hope everything works out for you.”