The Fireman Finds a Wife

Stop it, Summer. Just stop.

Refusing to give in to the temptation to wallow in self-pity, she snatched up a tube of mascara and refreshed her eyes even though she wasn’t going anywhere.

Feeling a little better, she got up and plucked her cell phone from her purse. Spring would still be with patients at the free clinic, but maybe Autumn had a few minutes to spare for a sister who was acting like a total spaz.

As the phone rang, she walked around her bedroom trying to figure out where the receiver for the landline telephone might be. The Darling sisters and their mother had taken over the house, throwing themselves into making Summer’s new home as comfortable and cozy as possible.

They had done a good job.

As Summer headed into her large walk-in closet, Autumn’s mobile phone went straight to voice mail.

Summer sighed.

Instead of continuing the search for the landline, she decided to stare at her clothes and try to figure out what was appropriate to wear out on a date with Fire Chief Cameron Jackson.

He had not said where they would be going, but she had a general idea. Dinner and a movie were typical first-date fare. And unless he planned something for them to do in Raleigh, the options in Cedar Springs were pretty much limited to movies or bowling and eating.

For a town its size, Cedar Springs, North Carolina, boasted an eclectic mix of restaurants. Everything from traditional Southern fare and Americana to national chains and the nouveau cuisine that might be associated with large cities like New York or Washington, D.C., could be found either in town or nearby.

Cameron looked like a Carolina barbeque kind of guy.

That thought made her smile.

Something about his rugged good looks made her think he wouldn’t object to a pig-picking backyard barbeque. She could imagine him enjoying the food, not minding if barbeque sauce dripped on his shirt.

The contrast with Dr. Garrett Spencer or even Dr. John Darling, her father, could not have been greater. If it were true that little girls grew up and married men just like their fathers, the case had certainly proven true with Summer.

When Autumn said as much, Summer denied it. Now, however, with Garrett gone, she did see the similarities between the man who raised her and the man she married. Both were physicians dedicated to their professions and their patients. Both doted on their wives, providing the wealth that made outside employment for their spouses the stuff of hobbies and volunteer work.

Summer knew it was true that her oldest sister, Spring, had taken after their father by going into medicine, while Summer tended to hearth and home, much like their mother, Lovie Darling. Lovie’s example had been one of quiet grace, Southern gentility and charm, and a strong faith enhanced with a healthy sense of humor.

From her mother, Summer inherited the domestic gene. Autumn and Winter called themselves the changelings, because beyond physical attributes, neither of them seemed to carry the traits of either parent.

Summer was pretty sure that Cameron Jackson was interested in her because he had not yet met Autumn. Her little sister was the Darling daughter who wowed everyone she met: men, women, teenagers and even little kids. Autumn knew how to bring people together. Spring was the healer and organizer of the bunch, championing causes and making things happen. Winter was always on a quest, off exploring or doing something slightly dangerous. But Summer, well, she was basically a boring homebody, content in the kitchen, tending to her garden flowers and being known as a gracious hostess.

She sighed.

Compared to her sisters’ lives, hers was vapid.

And without the social connections she had taken for granted in Macon and Atlanta—being a doctor’s wife—she was home in Cedar Springs but felt much like a fish out of water. She had her sisters, of course, but had yet to make many new friends.

Lovie had already tried to set her up with a radiologist who was the son of one of her church members.

That hadn’t gone well, but Summer suspected he would be just the first of many eligible men her mother sent her way. Lovie Darling gathered business cards of single professional men the way some women collected recipes. She then parceled the business cards out to her daughters, none too subtly suggesting that she wanted her four daughters married and producing grandchildren for her to spoil.

And now, less than two weeks since the radiologist debacle, she was going out on a date with a man she had just met—a man who was not a whit like her father or her husband.

What was she thinking?

Her cell phone rang as if to answer the question.

“Hello, this is Summer Spencer.”

“You know, you don’t have to announce who you are. What if it’s someone on the other end that you don’t ever want to talk to?”

Summer smiled. She left her closet and moved back into the bedroom where she settled on a chaise near the large bay window.

“That, little sister, is because, unlike you, I do not live a life that requires me to be in hiding from some people.”

“Hey, I resent that,” Autumn declared. “I do not hide. I just don’t feel like being bothered with some folks sometimes.”

“Is that why you let my call go to voice mail?”

“You wound me, Summer. I did no such thing. I was actually in the shower. Just finished racquetball and tried out a Zumba class a friend was teaching.”

Summer shook her head. “You make me tired just listening to you.”

“There’s a half marathon coming up in six weeks. It’s gonna be down in Fayetteville. Lots of cute soldiers from Fort Bragg will be running in it. I can fast-track train you and get you ready to join me.”

“I think all of that physical activity has cut off the oxygen to your brain. Sweat and I do not go together.”

Autumn laughed.

Summer heard the chirp of Autumn’s car door as the electronic lock disengaged.

“Where are you headed?”

“I was gonna grab a bite to eat, then crash.”

“I have quiche.”

“You have any of that raspberry cheesecake that you made for Spring left?”

“I didn’t make it specifically for her, I just made it.”

“Whatever. She got first cut and that’s just wrong.”

“A big slice will be waiting for you.”

Autumn let out a triumphant whoop. “Hah! Guilt trip works every time.”

Summer laughed at her sister’s antics. “See you in a bit. And, Autumn?”

“Yeah?”

“Drive carefully, please. No texting while driving.”

“Bye, worrywart. Oh, hey! Summer!”

Summer held the phone away from her ear. “What?”

“I want to hear about this fire chief that you’ve been making googly eyes at.”

Googly eyes?

Summer was pretty sure she had not made googly eyes with anyone since Jason Weathersby in third grade.

“Well, uh, that is sort of why I called you, Autumn,” she confessed. “I have a date with that fire chief.”

The cheer that came over the phone line really may have damaged Summer’s ears.

Chapter Five

Cameron could not believe she had changed her mind, but he was sure glad of it. While he’d teased Summer Spencer about not needing to know the reason why, he was a bit curious. He had enjoyed watching her interact with the homeless and indigent who flocked to Manna at Common Ground. On at least a couple of occasions throughout the evening, he’d caught her looking at him.

He wondered what she saw. Although he had his father’s blond hair and blue eyes, he knew he was not considered classically handsome. Cameron was a battle-scarred army veteran who had caught more than his share of bad burns while fighting fires, first during his enlistment and then as a civilian.

The buddies he’d summoned to help out at Manna, on the other hand, had the good looks that seemed to attract women.

In between cooking and serving, he had managed to keep an eye on the pretty blonde who had captivated him from the moment she collapsed in his arms. And the one thing he noticed as Manna at Common Ground’s guests arrived—and as his friends ogled her!—was that Summer seemed completely oblivious to his friends’ efforts to catch her eye.

A stab of jealousy arced through Cam until he realized that Summer gave his buddy Rob the same gracious and polite treatment that she gave everyone.

Was he just imagining a warmth that seemed to come into her eyes when he himself spoke with her?

He didn’t know, but he was grateful and happy that she had agreed to go out with him.

“Chief?”

Cameron started, then focused in on the room. He was in a special meeting of the Cedar Springs City Council and the department heads. While not a regularly scheduled meeting, this one was open to the public because they were discussing town business. A handful of residents sat in the audience.

A few people exchanged amused glances.

“I’m sorry,” Cameron said. “What was your question?”

“We wanted to make sure you can meet with the architect when he comes in,” Mayor Bernadette Howell said. “We haven’t even seen the plans for the development project, let alone voted on anything, and there’s already been an uproar in some parts of the city. I keep getting an earful about destroying historic sites and overburdening emergency services, especially the fire department.”

Cameron nodded, making a note on his smartphone. “What’s that date?”

“Gloria will set you up with an appointment,” the mayor said.

Cameron nodded toward the town clerk who doubled as administrative assistant to both the mayor and deputy mayor.

Mayor Howell then asked the city manager for an update on the title search for the two properties under consideration for a new mixed-use residential and retail development.

“The surveyors will be starting some preliminary work in the next few weeks. There’s some ambiguity with a few of the parcels that are either adjacent to or possibly that overlap with the Darling land.”

The mayor sighed.

As the late meeting went on around him, Cameron’s thoughts had been on Summer Spencer more than the new development proposed for Cedar Springs.

Darling land? Wasn’t Summer Spencer’s sister’s last name Darling?

“John, what do you mean overlap?” Cameron asked.

“That’s my question, as well,” the mayor said.

“Apparently, there were some, er, shall we say gentlemen’s agreements regarding property lines many, many decades ago,” the city manager said.

“Great,” Mayor Howell muttered. “Just great.”

“I foresee trouble,” a voice rumbled from the end of the table.

“Well, let’s not buy trouble before we have to,” the mayor snapped. “Everything is preliminary right now. All we’re doing is assessing potential sites,” she said.

“I, for one, would rather not get into a protracted land dispute with Lovie Darling.”

Everyone turned toward Joe Marchand, who had been on the City Council longer than its youngest members had been alive. Joe kept getting re-elected despite his protestations that there were others who should take over the seat. Since he rarely had anything to say at the council meetings, when he did speak, people tended to pay attention.

Cameron leaned toward the police chief, who always sat next to him in council meetings. “Who is Lovie Darling?”

“Old money,” the police chief whispered back. “Her husband’s family basically founded the town that became Cedar Springs.”

Cameron sat back frowning.

He’d been excited about the prospect of taking out Summer Spencer. Now that he suspected she was one of the wealthy Darlings, he wondered how he could beg off from the date.

The last thing he wanted was the high-maintenance drama that went along with a wealthy woman. He’d been down that road once before and it had led straight to misery—and divorce. He didn’t plan to head down that path ever again.

* * *

When Summer opened her front door, Autumn was not alone. She had somehow managed to round up both Spring and Winter.

Summer groaned. “I knew I should have kept my mouth shut.”

“Too late,” Autumn said, barging in with a take-out drinks tray.

“Starbucks?”

“What else? She mainlines the stuff,” Winter said, following with a small cloth satchel.

Summer nodded toward it. “And what is your contribution to this little intervention?”

“It is not an intervention,” Spring said. “It’s a little sisterly chat. We haven’t had one of those in a while.”

“And since I am apparently the only person on the planet who doesn’t know about this man you’re seeing,” Winter said, “I expect to be fully filled in and compensated for the misdemeanor of leaving me out of the loop.”

Summer groaned as she shut the front door behind her sisters, who all headed to the room their mother had dubbed The Salon.

Overstuffed chintz chairs, lamps with frilly-edged shades and plenty of pillows in coordinating solids and clashing floral prints made it a room ideally suited for chitchats and tea among girlfriends or for snuggling in with a cozy mystery novel on a rainy day.

Summer noted, not for the first time, that her style and those of her sisters varied widely. If they didn’t actually resemble each other, no one would imagine they were related.

Spring, in crisp khaki slacks, penny loafers and a white button-down shirt, had clearly come straight from the free clinic. All that was missing was her white doctor’s jacket and a stethoscope.

Autumn sported black yoga pants, a T-shirt in bright fuchsia and black flats. And, as always, Autumn’s thick blond hair was pulled into a ponytail, with a baseball cap to top it off.

Winter was the surprise today. She had on a tiny floral print sundress that hugged her curves and suspiciously looked like it had come straight from Summer’s closet.

“I am not seeing him,” Summer declared. “ I just agreed to go on a date with him Friday night. And, excuse me, but is that my dress?”

“Uh-huh,” Autumn said.

At the same time, Winter added, “It’s way too big for you.”

“She borrowed it when we were doing your bedroom,” Autumn the tattletale added. “Where’s my raspberry cheesecake?”

“There’s cheesecake?” Winter said. “Nobody ever tells me anything.”

“Chief Jackson enjoyed it,” Spring said, a slight smile at her mouth. Autumn and Winter whirled around.

Summer gasped and threw a tasseled pillow at Spring. “You’re supposed to be on my side in this!”

Spring winked at her. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

Summer pouted but couldn’t maintain it. She stared at her sisters and her eyes filled with tears.

“I’m so glad I came home. I’ve missed you guys more than you know.”

A moment later, the four Darling sisters shared a group hug full of tears and laughter.

“Just because we’re all cozy here,” Autumn said breaking free of the circle, “don’t for a minute think you’re getting any of my cheesecake, Winter.”

After they were all settled with either quiche or dessert, coffees and tea, Winter got down to business. “Since everybody except me knows about this guy of hers, who is going to fill me in?”

“He’s not my guy,” Summer said, feeling a need to defend herself.

The others turned to Spring. Autumn and Winter knew that as the oldest and most level-headed of the four, she would tell the truth.

“I was here when they met,” Spring said. “Chief Jackson came over to inspect the smoke alarms.”

“Is he cute?” Autumn asked.

Summer blushed.

“Oh, he is! Look at her! What does he look like, Spring?”

“I would guess he’s about your age, Winter. Mid-thirties. Dark blond hair. Blue eyes. He has that boy-next-door look about him, but a boy next door who had responsibility thrust on him at an early age.”

Three sets of arched eyebrows turned in Spring’s direction.

“What an astute observation,” Summer murmured before taking a sip of tea.

“Did you change specialties to psychology?” Autumn asked.

“No,” Summer said aloud. “She’s right. That’s it. He has an air of responsibility, like he’s used to taking care of people.”

“Cameron?” Autumn said coughing, as the coffee she was drinking went down the wrong way.

“Should I call an ambulance?” Spring asked dryly.

“Ha, ha,” Autumn said. “Cameron? Cameron Jackson?”

“You know him?” Winter and Summer asked at the same time.

“Of course,” Autumn said.

Summer’s tummy did a little tumble. If Autumn knew Cameron, her chances with him were suddenly diminished.

“I just didn’t put that whole chief thing in place until now. You’re dating Chief Cam? Way to go, Summer. He’s a really good guy. God, country and firefighting.”

She went back to forking up cheesecake.

Winter huffed. “Well, don’t just leave it hanging there. Spill!”

“Spill what?” Autumn said around bites. She shrugged. “Like I said, he’s a stand-up kind of guy. He plays basketball with the kids at the rec center every couple of weeks. The kids really like him.”

“Is he cute?” Winter said.

Autumn said, “Yeah, he looks like he means business.”

Summer frowned. “What kind of description is that?”

“Focus, please,” Winter demanded. “He came here to check Summer’s smoke alarm batteries and then what?”

Summer and Spring shared a glance.

And in that moment, Summer knew that her older sister would keep her secret. The fewer people who knew about her fainting, the better—and the less likely it would get back to their mother, who would fuss and probably set up temporary residence in the guest room.

“She was baking and gave the crew cheesecake and cookies,” Spring reported.

“You go, sis,” Autumn said. “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. With your baking and cooking, you’ll have him literally eating out of your hands in no time.”

Summer had a question burning in her. If she failed to ask it now, she knew she might regret it.

“So, you and he aren’t...you know...?”

Autumn’s eyes widened. “Me and Chief Cam? Goodness, no. He’s like the big brother I didn’t have. Chief Cam, he’s like everybody’s big brother. The kids love it when he plays ball with them. And, like I said, he’s the all-American kind of guy.”

“Apparently, he’s not everybody’s big brother,” Winter observed with a grin. “He clearly doesn’t see our Summer as a little sister.”

The blush that she thought had dissipated bloomed again on Summer’s cheeks.

“So, where are you guys going?”

“I don’t know,” Summer said. “And I don’t know what to wear.”

“No twinsets!” Autumn and Winter yelled at the same time.

Summer glared at them.

“And nothing starched,” Spring added. “Like those shorts you’re wearing.”

“What’s wrong with neat and pressed clothing?” Summer asked.

“It’s a date, not a committee meeting at the library,” Autumn said.

“I would not wear shorts to any meeting,” Summer declared. “And you three are not helping. What to wear is the least of my problems.”

Winter reached over and snatched the last forkful of Autumn’s raspberry cheesecake.

“Hey! Foul. Flag on the play!”

Laughing at her sisters, Summer rose and headed to the kitchen.

“The good thing about stress is that I make good use of it,” she said.

She returned with a tray bearing four dessert plates, forks and a double chocolate cheesecake.

“How is it you can bake all these sweets and not ever gain an ounce?” Winter asked.

As the curviest of the Darling sisters, every bite she put in her mouth landed on her hips. And unlike Autumn, who lived for every sport ever invented, Winter didn’t work off the calories with physical activity.

“That’s because I make sure that other people eat it all. So eat up, ladies.”

Summer and her sisters spent the next hour talking, laughing and teasing each other.

When she finally closed the door and turned off the downstairs lights to head to bed, Summer realized that not one of her sisters had expressed concern about her dating.

She smiled.

Maybe it was because of the man she had decided to see: a blond-haired, blue-eyed, stand-up kind of guy by the name of Cameron Jackson. Both Spring and Autumn had given him the A-OK. Now all Summer had to do was make it through the date without embarrassing herself.

Chapter Six

It had taken Cameron less than ten minutes on Google and the Cedar Springs Gazette’s website to find that Summer Darling Spencer and her sisters were indeed the trust-fund debutantes of Cedar Springs society. The ordeal that had been his two-year marriage to a trust-fund daddy’s girl had left him with no illusions about what it meant to be in an economically lopsided relationship. The melding of working class and upper class was the stuff of oil and water, and Cameron had the emotional scars to prove it.

Summer was pretty and he’d been drawn to her vulnerability. But self-preservation trumped those assets.

Cameron’s first instinct was to text Summer and tell her something had come up and he wouldn’t be able to make it Friday night. But a text message was the coward’s way out. He’d all but chased her to get her to agree to go out with him, practically cornering her while she did her volunteer work at Manna at Common Ground.

His mother had raised him to be a gentleman. And a gentleman didn’t run away from tough situations. So approaching the business entrance to Manna at Common Ground the next day, the irony didn’t escape him that the way his social life was at the moment, he considered breaking a date with a beautiful woman as a tough situation.

Cameron didn’t know if she was at the soup kitchen on Thursday, but it was an easy visit for him to make from the public safety building.

As he pulled open the door to the Common Ground business office, he had one goal: extricate himself from the date with Summer Spencer.

“Chief Cam,” Mrs. Davidson trilled from her desk. “What a surprise. Two days in a row. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Doris Davidson was one of a handful of full-time employees for the Common Ground ministries. She was the central receptionist, point person and general bookkeeper for the soup kitchen, recreation center, homeless shelter and free clinic.

“Hi, Mrs. D. Is Summer Spencer working today?”

She gave him a sly smile. “As a matter of fact, she is. I think you know where to find her,” Mrs. D said with a general wave in the rear direction.

“Thank you,” he said, making his way toward the kitchen.

As he drew closer, Cameron heard raised voices, tinged with anger.

“You just can’t waltz in here and rewrite the rules of Manna to suit your own purpose. You had no right to allow unauthorized people in here.”

“Ilsa, if they hadn’t been here, we wouldn’t have been able to serve the evening meal. There weren’t enough volunteers.”

Cameron recognized Summer’s voice. He pushed open the door and said, “Excuse me.” Neither of the women saw or heard him.

Summer’s hair was pulled up and back with clips. She wore one of the Common Ground aprons over slacks and a short-sleeve top and had a wooden spoon in one hand. The other woman was in her mid-to late-forties with blond hair cut into a short and severe bob. While Summer was dressed to work, the other woman wore a suit he guessed was both linen and designer.

“Are you implying that I’m not doing my job?” the woman demanded of Summer.

“I’m not implying anything,” Summer said. “What I’m saying is that Wednesday is our busiest day. If it hadn’t been for Chief Jackson and his men stepping in when they did, we would have had crackers to serve to our guests.”

Hearing his name in the middle of the fray brought Cameron up short. Was she being reprimanded for having him work in the kitchen?

From the way she gripped the wooden spoon, Cameron knew that she was holding on to her temper. Another woman would have been ready to use the utensil as a weapon.