Page 40 of My Three Hometown Firefighters (Aspen Springs #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Grayson

“This is wild,” the guy says as I hand him his cup of coffee. I chuckle because he isn’t wrong.

I’m helping to man the concession stand for the city at the local skijoring event. Growing up seeing this happen every year, I don’t think it’s that odd, but for an outsider, I’m sure it looks a little insane.

Hickory Avenue, the main street that runs through town, is packed with several feet of snow that was hauled in from all over town with dump trucks.

People on skis are attached by a rope to someone riding a horse, who pulls them down the street. The horses don’t just trot along. No, they run at full speed.

Along the course, the skiers must collect rings and fly off ski jumps. It’s a race to see who can get the quickest time, while hitting all the marks from point A to point B.

I know that sounds like the most insane sport imaginable, but I swear Aspen Springs isn’t the only place where this happens. It’s a real thing. Kind of.

Just then, a horse races down the middle of the road. Clumps of snow fly as the horse’s hooves pound against the snow. The man being pulled yells with excitement as he launches off the first jump.

I shake my head, smiling. “Yeah, it really is.”

Sliding the money the man gave me into the metal box, I see Tucker staring wide-eyed toward the end of the course.

“You think I’d be used to this by now, but even after watching for several years, I am still baffled by it,” he says.

I slap my hand on his shoulder. “You’ll get desensitized to it if you live here for long enough.”

He turns to look at Warren. “Do you think this is bat sh…” His voice trails off as he remembers that Jackson is standing next to his dad. “Bat shake crazy?”

“Did you just say, ‘bat shake’?” Warren asks, running his hand over his short beard.

“Yeah, I did, but that’s not the point,” Tucker says, leaning back against the table.

“What’s a bat shake?” Jackson asks, looking between Tucker and his dad.

“Who knows, bud?” Warren says, ruffling the kid’s hair. Now it looks even messier than it did when they got here this morning.

Getting the first shift for the stand is a blessing and a curse. You have to be here at the ass crack of dawn, but you’re done in time to go enjoy the event from outside the confines of the concession stand.

We’re down to the last ten minutes before the next group of people is set to come relieve us of our duties.

“Yes, I still think it’s odd,” Warren says. He points to Jackson. “He loves it though, so who am I to judge?”

A few more customers come by. Most are buying hot drinks because even though the sun is shining today, it’s still cold.

“Hey, Sunshine,” I hear Tucker say. Before I even turn around, I know who’s going to be standing there.

Turning on my heels, I’m not disappointed. Sienna is standing there in all her rosy-cheeked glory. She’s beautiful.

She has on an emerald green hat with a pom-pom on top. The color makes her eyes pop. She’s all bundled up, but her coat is left unzipped.

Considering the way her bump is popping out more and more as the weeks pass, I’m guessing it won’t zip up anymore.

That’s a problem I need to remedy very soon.

I step up beside Tucker, and her gaze swivels over to me. “Hey,” we both say, almost in unison.

“Sienna,” Jackson says, pushing his way between Tucker and me. He crawls under the table until he’s right next to her.

She crouches down. “Hey. I like your hat,” she tells him, pointing to his bright red beanie.

“Yours is better,” he says, pointing to the pom-pom. “Balls are cool.”

“Balls are cool,” Tucker says, nodding his head emphatically. Warren slaps him on the shoulder.

“I’ll let you borrow it sometime,” she tells Jackson, and he beams at her. She stands back up, looking right at Tucker. “I remember you in particular being a fan of attention on balls.” She says the last words a little quieter.

Is she flirting with him?

An evil smirk crosses Tucker’s face as he leans over the table. “How would I not be a fan when you’re the one giving the attention?”

Her body is leaning in toward him too, even if she isn’t consciously aware.

She freezes, obviously realizing what they’re talking about and how far past “friends” it goes. She shakes her head, looking like she’s going to bolt.

“Are you staying to watch everything?” I ask her.

She hesitates for a moment. “Yeah, for a while.”

Jackson grabs her hand. “Can you come with us?”

She looks down at him. Her shoulders lose their rigid stance from before when she was prepared to make an escape to a cabin in the woods, where she wouldn’t have to see any of us ever again.

She looks back up at us.

“We’re leaving in a few minutes,” I tell her. “The next crew is already here.”

With her eyes trained on us, she looks like she’s going to say no. But then we’re saved again by the kid.

“Okay, I’ll hang out for a while,” she says.

“Where the hell do you expect me to fit in this damn truck?” my mom groans when I open the door. I was going to pick up my mom to bring her out to watch some of the event, which turned into a whole group event in Warren’s truck.

There’s an open seat in the back with Tucker and Jackson or one in the front with Warren and Sienna. “You pick where you want,” I tell her.

Her eyes dart between Tucker and Sienna. “Sienna, I love you, sweetheart, but I’m going to have to sit next to his hottie back here.” She points to Tucker, who gives her a charming smile.

“I love you too,” Sienna says, laughing, and I don’t doubt it for a second. Sienna spent enough time next door with her grandma when she was growing up, and she built a special bond with both Hadley and my mom. “I don’t blame you. I’d want to sit next to him, too.”

I shake my head. “You two really aren’t helping. He doesn’t need the ego boost.”

Tucker winks at my mom. “Come here, Mama Jones.”

“Don’t say that again,” I say, glaring at him, which just makes him laugh.

“You can just call me Maggie. You act like we haven’t met before, Tucker,” my mom says.

“I would never forget meeting a beautiful woman,” he says.

Now I want to throttle him.

“You really are a charmer,” my mom says. She looks at Sienna. “No wonder you fell into this one’s orbit, too.”

Yeah, my mom knows. It was kind of impossible to keep the situation from her. While she was worried about me getting hurt, she has been nothing but supportive.

I shouldn’t have expected anything different form the woman who fearlessly raised my sister and I on our own, and if I do say so myself, she did a damn good job.

Sienna shrugs. “What can I say? My tastes are…” She pauses, thinking about how to finish her thought. “Eclectic,” she finally says.

“So, are we going to actually get into the truck, or are we going to stand here and talk all day?” I ask.

Mom smacks my chest. “I thought you were less grouchy because you were getting some now.”

“Mom,” I groan, dragging out the word.

Warren nudges my shoulder, so I can move to Mom’s other side. I didn’t even realize he had gotten out of the truck while everyone was talking.

He helps me get my mom into the truck. It isn’t lifted, but I don’t want her to hurt herself.

Mom has MS and arthritis, which limits her mobility. She’s in significantly less pain after the hip surgery she had a few months ago, but she still has to be careful.

I slide her cane under her feet. “Do you want me to grab your wheelchair from the garage, just in case?”

She doesn’t even use her words to answer me, just a deadly stare that made me straighten up right away when I was a kid. As an adult too, apparently.

Warren and I hop in the front seat on either side of Sienna. After getting buckled in, my hand ends up on her thigh.

I go to move it, but she gives me a small smile. That’s all the invitation I need to leave my hand right where it is for as long as she’ll allow it.

Through the rearview mirror, I see my mom leaning forward.

“Hi Jackson. It’s nice to see you,” she says, her voice gentler than her usual level. She digs in her purse, holding up a couple of suckers.

Why the woman has suckers in her purse, I have no idea.

“Do you want one?” she asks Jackson. He nods but looks at his dad.

Warren locks eyes with my mom in the mirror, giving her a nod.

“What color?” she asks him.

“Red,” he says. He pops the treat into his mouth as soon as he gets the wrapper off.

Mom chooses a purple one, sliding the others back into her purse.

“What about me?” Tucker groans.

Mom pats his leg. “You’re cute, but not that cute.”

Sienna throws her head back against the seat, laughing hysterically.

Why does this feel so right?

I can’t help the genuine happiness that radiates through me at this moment, being here with so many of my favorite people.

We walked a few blocks along the course, but eventually Mom wore out. We found a free bench outside of Peak Brews where she and Sienna could sit and still see the racers fly down the street.

Hadley and her family found us about an hour ago. Hadley is now sitting on the bench with the other ladies. They are laughing and giggling, no doubt gossiping about something.

Sienna is wrapped up in Warren’s Carhart jacket, that he had in his car. It’s way too big on her, but at least it easily fits over her bump. It took a full five minutes for Tucker, Warren, and I to convince her to wear the damn thing.

Her stubbornness is one of the things I love the most about her, yet it drives me up a damn wall most of the time.

Jackson and Evelyn are leaning over the railing, stretching to see more of the race in either direction. I don’t know if Jackson likes the horses or if it's the guys flying off the jump right in front of us that has him smiling the entire time.

Then there are six grown men standing guard over all of them. Yes, six. We must look ridiculous right now. I’m sure this is one of the things the girls are laughing about.

Austin bumps my shoulder. “So, are you ready for all of that?” he says, pointing toward the kids in front of us.

“I am.” I know it might not be perfect, but somewhere deep down, I have to think it will all work out. “I’ve wanted to be a dad for a long time.”

I remember when Austin told me his ex was pregnant. There was a little piece of me that was jealous, even though the entire situation was less than ideal.

In the end, he got Evelyn, and I know he wouldn’t change that for the world. Maybe that’s why I’m okay with all of this, even if it’s killing me a little inside.

“I know you have.” He sighs. “I just want to make sure you aren’t setting yourself up to have your heart broken. As much as you’ve tried to hide how you felt about her in the past, it was pretty obvious.”

I turn to look at him. “You knew?”

He shakes his head. “I didn’t know what exactly had happened, but it was clear how you felt.”

“Really? I thought I hid it pretty well.”

He adjusts the ball cap. “Maybe for other people, but you’ve been my best friend my entire life. I could tell.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

He laughs quietly. “Again, I know you better than that. If I had asked, you would have denied it. I knew you would tell me in time, if you wanted me to know.” Typical Austin.

Hadley worms her way between us. “Mom’s ready to go home,” she says. “I told her we could take her, since you guys brought her up here,” she says, looking up at me.

“That’s fine,” I say.

She looks up at Austin. “Are you okay with that?”

He pulls her against his chest. “You don’t even need to ask, angel. Of course we’ll take her home.”

After hugs and a few snappy remarks from my mom, they all walk away toward Austin’s truck.

Sienna steps up beside me. “I love your mom so much. Her give-no-fucks attitude is the best. It reminds me of my grandma.”

I chuckle, looking down at her. “I’m glad they’ve chosen to be friendly neighbors instead of enemies because lord only knows what antics those two would impose on this town if that were the case.”

“No kidding.” She laughs. When she turns to look at the next horse that’s barreling toward us, her head leans against me.

My arm moves to wrap around her shoulders, resting against the rough fabric of Warren’s coat. When she smiles at me, that hope in my chest blossoms a little more.