LITMIR.BIZ

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attended every school board and city council meeting there was. She should’ve expected as much and normally would be the first to endorse the improvement of their town. But did they have to hire Isaac Jones?

      “What are his qualifications, anyway?” she muttered to herself, but Carmen’s raised brow indicated she’d heard. “I mean, besides volunteering with his uncle and racing around town as if he had a siren permanently attached to anything he drove. Including that jet boat he used to drive way too fast on Rush Lake, showing off for all those girls from Sugar Falls High.”

      “I remember that boat! That’s the one his dad bought him for his sixteenth birthday.” Luke smiled, then caught his bride-to-be’s eye and quickly cleared his throat. “I mean, I remember that it went fast. I don’t exactly recall the part about the girls...”

      Carmen laughed at Luke’s flustered explanation. “Perhaps I should put on my bikini and grab a wakeboard to help jog your memory.”

      Luke pulled his fiancée toward him and whispered something in her ear, causing her to squeal with laughter.

      Hannah rolled her eyes at the smitten couple. “I lived in this town for five years after college and didn’t have so much as a blind date. I’m barely out of the country and you and Drew and every other single person in Sugar Falls are getting married off.”

      “Technically,” Luke said, tapping his bare ring finger. “I’m still waiting for Carmen to make an honest man out of me.”

      “Good luck with that,” Hannah said with a snort. Then she added, “How’re the wedding plans going?”

      “Moving the date up to Thanksgiving week was a little tricky. We had to switch venues, make it more of a destination wedding so that Carmen’s family wouldn’t have so far to travel. But the sooner we have it, the easier it will be for Mom to...you know.”

      The immediate silence grounded Hannah and reminded her that she had bigger issues to address in her life than the reappearance of Isaac Jones. Nobody had really brought up their mother’s recent diagnosis, as though to mention the cancer would cause it to spread more quickly.

      The old house creaked and a shed door slammed shut outside, highlighting the uncomfortable quiet that had suddenly settled between the three of them. Finally, Carmen said, “I was hoping you’d be one of my bridesmaids.”

      Hannah practically sighed, grateful to have the subject changed back to something more pleasant. “Wait. Would I have to walk down the aisle with Drew? Because nothing says ‘lonely spinster’ like having your brother as an escort.”

      “You would only walk with him at the end,” Luke said, then smirked. “Unless you want me to ask Isaac Jones to be my best man?”

      Hannah’s response was to pick up a plump strawberry from the fruit salad and throw it at his head.

      “Is someone going to fill me in on whatever is going on between you and Isaac?” Carmen asked.

      Luke shook his head at his fiancée. “Don’t ask or she might tell you.”

      “Do you know what he had the gall to do earlier today?” Hannah continued as though she hadn’t heard them. “He tried to squeeze into a picture I was taking of Sammy.”

      Her brother used his finger to wipe off the red juice dribbling down his cheek. “Where was this picture being taken?”

      “Inside the fire truck.” Hannah looked down at one of her jagged thumbnails. Not that she was the type of woman who had time for manicures, but she also wasn’t normally a nail biter. Or, at least, she hadn’t been one in years. Just two sightings of Isaac and less than forty-eight hours later, her nails were bitten to the quick.

      “Technically...” Carmen handed Luke a damp paper towel to wipe his face “...I believe it’s called a fire engine.”

      “What did he do when you asked him to turn the taxpayers’ fire engine—” Luke winked at his fiancée “—into your personal portrait studio?”

      Hannah rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t like I asked for special treatment or anything. In fact, if it’d been up to me, I would’ve kept as far away from him as possible. But you should’ve seen how Sammy’s eyes lit up when he put on that helmet. My son is obviously way more important to me than a meaningless grudge some arrogant firefighter still hasn’t gotten over ten years later.”

      “Hello?” Carmen’s hand shot up into the air and she waved her fingers. “I’m still lost over here. What grudge? What’s going on between you and Isaac?”

      “Nothing!” Hannah wailed, then she lowered her voice when she spotted the kids playing outside the window. “Nothing is going on between us and it never will again.”

      “Again?”

      “We dated briefly when we were teenagers.” Actually, they’d done a lot more than date, but Hannah wasn’t going to further humiliate herself by admitting to her brother and his fiancée how much more. Ten years ago, Hannah had been much more innocent—in more ways than one—and had thought Isaac was “the one.” Currently, though, both pride and hindsight forced her to downplay how foolish she’d once been. “It really wasn’t that big of a deal.”

      “As you can see,” Luke grabbed for another slice of pepperoni, not even bothering to conceal his sneakiness this time. “Hannah’s totally over him. She’s only mentioned him about thirty-eight times since she got here tonight.”

      “No I haven’t.” Hannah crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I didn’t even say a word about the video.”

      “What video?” Carmen asked and Hannah’s jaw snapped shut.

      “Somebody posted a breakup video on YouTube ten years ago,” Luke explained, as though it was perfectly normal to end a relationship in an online rant to the entire world. Then he looked at Hannah. “Did you ever find out who did it?”

      But she kept her lips locked in place. Why hadn’t it ever occurred to her that Isaac wasn’t necessarily responsible for posting it? And did it even matter? All that mattered was that he’d said the words.

      “What do you mean, a breakup video?” Carmen asked.

      When it became apparent that Hannah wasn’t going to speak, Luke continued. “I forget the exact words he used, but it went something like, ‘Hannah Gregson was done with me so she moved on to the next guy.’”

      Actually, it was Hannah Gregson is the ultimate user. She plays all innocent until she gets what she wants and moves on to the next guy. Well, guess what, Gregson? It’s over and you’ll never see me in Sugar Falls again. Too bad you just lost out on the best guy you’ll get. Not that Hannah had replayed it in her mind a thousand times.

      “Ouch.” Carmen frowned, not even knowing the worst part. Isaac’s unpleasant speech had come right after they’d spent the night together. “How old was he when he did this?”

      “Eighteen,” Luke replied. “And, in his defense, his eyes were pretty watery at the time, as though he’d been drowning his sorrow in a case of cheap beer.”

      “In his defense?” Hannah finally spoke up. A bit too loudly. “You’re supposed to be my brother, you know? Whatever happened to having each other’s back?”

      “You want me drive over to the fire station and beat him up for you?” he asked, and Hannah tilted her head as she pondered his offer. “Geez, I was kidding, Hannah. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.”

      “Because of your job?” She nibbled at the cuticle on her thumb. Her brother was a former SEAL who was now the officer in charge of Navy recruitment for the entire region.

      “No, because of his.” Luke let out a deep breath when Hannah shot him a look of confusion. “Here’s the deal. I know this might surprise you, but your precious nephews got into a little trouble at the Fourth of July picnic.”

      “Those

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