Epilogue

EPILOGUE

AMBER

“ D addy’s going to be in a calendar.”

Clay blushed every time the topic of the firefighter calendar came up. After the captain, he’d been the first one they approached. Initially, he’d said a big fat “no,” but the money was going toward new equipment, so eventually he caved. One by one, his buddies agreed, and now they had all twelve months filled.

“Can I be in a calendar?” our youngest, Savannah, asked.

Her older brother made a face as he picked up a chicken finger and took a bite. He said nothing, though. He was too busy chomping.

“Maybe we’ll make our own calendar,” I said, exchanging a glance with my husband of six years. “We’ll have a picture of you guys on every month.”

“There are twelve months in a year,” our oldest, Jonah, said. “There are only two of us.”

“So you’d each get six months,” Clay said.

“You be in it too,” Savannah said, looking from her dad to me and back again.

Clay laughed. “One calendar a year is plenty for me, thank you.”

Our eyes met and held, and in that one short stare, I felt the same warmth and contentment as always since starting our lives together. There was security there too. When he was around, my world felt complete.

Not that I didn’t have a life outside of the home. My graphic design business was going well. I’d worked my way up the pay scale as a freelancer, and now I was able to make plenty of money working part-time. Best of all, it was flexible enough that I could squeeze work in while taking care of the kids. Once Savannah hit elementary school in a couple of years, it would be even easier because I could work during the day and be there to help with homework.

Clay had a job he loved too. In addition to his volunteer firefighting, he’d taken a position on a construction crew here in town. All the firefighters seemed to work in that field. There was so much development happening in Rosewood Ridge, they had more work than they could ever need.

“Daddy, I’m finished,” Jonah said, pushing his empty plate away from him. “Can I go play?”

“Me too?” Savannah asked.

“Finish your peas,” Clay told Savannah. “Then you can join your brother.”

As Jonah ran off to the living room to play, I sat back in my chair, a feeling of contentment settling over me. Home was where the heart was, and this was my home. Wherever these three people were was where I was happiest.

Clay’s phone buzzed when he was taking his final bite of chicken. He picked it up and glanced at it, then shook his head.

“Mrs. Bracegirdle’s called for help again,” he said. “I have to go.”

I smiled. Mrs. Bracegirdle was in her eighties now, but she’d once been my next-door neighbor. She had a habit of calling the fire department for trivial things. She liked the hunky firemen coming in and out of her house.

If it weren’t for Mrs. Bracegirdle, my best friend wouldn’t have met her husband, so I couldn’t complain. Even if she was taking my husband away during dinner.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, coming around the table and kissing me. “You two behave.”

That was directed at both kids, but Jonah wasn’t paying attention to us anymore. Even though he was clearly visible from where we sat, his mind was on his favorite new toy.

But Savannah got it. She nodded, her eyes wide as she watched her dad head to the bedroom to get his gear. He was her hero.

He was my hero too. Whether he was in his firefighter uniform or just reading bedtime stories to the kids, that would never change.

Amber and Clay act out her firefighter fantasies on their one-year wedding anniversary. Check out the steamy bonus chapter, FREE with newsletter signup. Get it here .

Amber’s roommate steams things up at the fire hall with Clay’s buddy, Zane. Get Book 2 in the Rosewood Ridge Fire series here .

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