Firefly Mountain Read Online Free PDF

accepted the kiss she dropped there. “Get Ma or Pop to take you to the studio, and I’ll pick you up there later so you can have your car back.”
    Gini slid out of the car. She waved as Jonah backed out of the driveway. He saluted her and drove out of sight around the corner. Gini stood on her parents’ front walkway for a few minutes until the door opened behind her.
    “Gini?”
    “Hi, Daddy.” Gini turned to face her father. The look in Walter Claremont’s pale blue eyes told her he already knew what had happened.
    “Chief Warner called.”
    Probably wants you to keep me on a leash. Gini toyed with a pebble on the walkway with her sandal.
    “Come in here, honey.” Walter wrapped his arm around her shoulder and prodded her inside the house.
    “Where’s Mama?” Gini accepted the chair her father dragged out from the kitchen table.
    “She stopped at the bakery. You know how she still likes to get her hands on the dough from time to time.” Walter smiled as he poured them both glasses of lemonade and sat across from her.
    Gini took a long swig, and the remaining residue of the morning’s disaster washed away.
    “What happened?” Her father rested his hand atop hers.
    “Nothing, Daddy. It was foolish. I let someone get under my skin.”
    “Who?”
    “A new firefighter, Patrick Barre.” She watched Walter’s hand curl into a fist. “Down, Daddy. It was my fault, not his.”
    “Anyone who upsets my girl deserves a good beating.”
    “No, no. I let my guard down. He seemed pleasant enough, but when I mentioned taking his picture, he refused. Strongly.”
    “Why wouldn’t he want his picture taken?” Her father’s eyebrows lowered. “Maybe he’s in trouble with the law or something.”
    “I don’t think so. Probably wouldn’t be a firefighter if he was a criminal or in the witness protection program. He’d pick something lower profile to blend in better.”
    Walter nodded. “Suppose that’s true. You’d better stay away from him. You’ve gone a long time without a—”
    “Flare up.”
    Her father’s wry smile made her heart ache.
    “Happy thoughts, baby. Happy thoughts.” He patted her hand and finished the last of his lemonade.
    Happy thoughts. Right. She could do happy thoughts. They had gotten her this far, and she wasn’t about to let some smug jerk who didn’t “do” pictures make her lose control. She’d avoid him. Simple.
    ****
    Patrick wiped the sweat from his forehead and studied the newly planted bush. Chuck had gone off to get the hose to water it. Looking at the work they’d done, no one would ever know the former resident of this particular spot had been charred to an untimely death.
    What the hell had happened? Patrick leaned his chin on the handle of the shovel as he thought back to the morning. Jonah’s hot sister visits. She unveils her ridiculous calendar fund-raising plan. She gets all over his case about having his picture taken. A bush explodes into flames. Jonah escorts shaky sister off the grounds. Patrick was missing something in this whole scenario, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what.
    “Let her rip!” Chuck called back to the station. A gush of water rained down on the new bush. The soil around it was drenched in no time, and the branches splayed open.
    Patrick waved and the fighter manning the hose cut the water. Droplets dripped from the branches, and the earth had that wet, summer sun smell. He breathed it in and put thoughts of Gini aside. That’s where such thoughts belonged anyway. Aside. Way aside.
    As he turned to follow Chuck into the station, Patrick noticed the black SUV shooting to the back parking lot. He’d caught a glimpse of Jonah in the driver’s seat. The passenger side was empty.
    “All set out there, boys?” Chief Warner asked.
    “Yes, sir,” Patrick said. “What hap—”
    “Good, good,” the chief interrupted. “Dorm and kitchen cleaning duty is yours, New Guy. Hop to it.”
    Patrick opened his mouth,