LITMIR.BIZ

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      “How did you learn to accept Kevin’s job?” Laura asked.

      “I had to because I love him. I couldn’t make him give up something he loves as the price for being with me.”

      It was Laura’s turn to use her paddle to douse her sister with ocean water.

      “Hey,” Nicole protested.

      “You love me and this is important to me, so what’s the difference?”

      “You’re my sister,” Nicole said.

      “And?”

      Nicole blew out a breath and sat down on her paddleboard. She crossed her legs and laid her paddle across her lap. Laura sat, too, and they let the easy current push them gently around while still staying close to each other.

      “Why do you want to do this?” Nicole asked.

      Laura trailed a hand in the water. “Because I want to live. And live with myself. I used to believe I could do anything and that anything was possible, but when Adam died, it wrecked my world. You know I was...self-destructive for a while.”

      “Are you kidding?” Nicole asked with a sympathetic smile. “I thought the third guy in a row you dated who had a seedy past and a sketchy future was an indication of your excellent judgment.”

      “There were only two. And they weren’t all that bad. At least I didn’t think so at the time.”

      Nicole nodded. “Of course, I’m getting some of this bias from Mom and Dad who thought you’d quit your teaching job and take off on a motorcycle at any moment. They were worried about you.”

      Laura forced a laugh, but her sister’s words hit home. Her parents, hardworking Midwesterners, considered quitting a nice steady job one of the worst things a person could do. She remembered how scandalized they’d been when Nicole quit her job at the furniture factory a year ago and moved to Cape Pursuit to work in a fledgling art gallery. They’d accepted her decision when the move turned out to be a good one, but Laura wasn’t sure they’d see it the same way with her. She was their youngest child now, and she knew they considered her fragile. She would need to prove her strength to them.

      “I don’t care for motorcycles,” Laura said. “There’s no good place to put your purse.”

      “Seriously,” Nicole said. “Why firefighting? Do you think it’s what Adam would want you to do? Is that why?”

      Laura shook her head. “It’s what I want to do. Over the past year, the only times I felt better about myself were the times I was helping someone else. I didn’t feel the anguish or helplessness I felt after Adam’s death while I was being useful volunteering and organizing fundraisers.”

      “So you could volunteer at all kinds of things,” Nicole said, excitement in her voice as she latched onto an idea. “We have a library and a summer reading program in Cape Pursuit. You could work at the soup kitchen. You could organize a sock drive for the homeless. Be a blood donor. You could do fifteen dozen things other than be a firefighter.”

      “I want to challenge myself,” Laura said. “I helped save some people during a beach rescue last week. It was exhilarating and it made me feel like I could get out of my own way for the first time in a long time. I want to help people when they need it the most.”

      She thought of Tony coming through for her at a dark moment a year before. She had almost gotten behind the wheel of her sister’s car after too many drinks to count—her crappiest day in a year full of crappy days. He had rescued her, but she pushed that thought aside whenever it surfaced. Tony wasn’t the person who could save her.

      The only person who could save her was herself.

      She saw Nicole swipe a tear away. She didn’t want to argue and open a wound that would never be fully healed. They were sisters. They needed and loved each other.

      “Anyway,” Laura said as she heaved a big sigh and stood on her board, taking a moment to regain her balance. “I don’t even know if they’ll accept me into the training program. I’m only here for the summer, and they probably have plenty of people with better qualifications than I have.”

      Nicole stood on her board and spread her feet carefully, tilting the board side to side and using her paddle as a balance bar until she gained control.

      “I don’t think anyone coming into the fire service has better qualifications than you do,” Nicole said. “You’re a superstar teacher, your patience is battle-tested from putting up with teenagers and I think you’re braver than you know.”

      “Really?” Laura said hopefully. Did her sister really believe in her?

      “Of course,” Nicole said. “You’re here helping me with my wedding, and you’re crazy enough to live in the same house with me as I panic about all the details. Maids of honor should probably get special presidential medals of valor.”

      “I thought you were being serious about me being a good candidate,” Laura protested, laughing.

      “I believe you can do anything you want to,” Nicole said. “But I don’t want you doing this.”

      The sisters paddled toward the dock where Kevin sat on the tailgate of his pickup truck, his legs dangling. As soon as they reached the dock, he jumped down from the truck and offered them both a hand.

      Nicole stepped onto the dock first, her paddle in one hand, and then Kevin steadied Laura as she did the same.

      “Did you see anything interesting?” he asked. “Stingrays or jellyfish?”

      “A shark followed us, but I fought him off with my paddle,” Nicole said.

      Kevin clutched both her arms. “Really?” he said, his voice full of alarm.

      Nicole laughed. “No.”

      Kevin blew out a sigh of relief.

      “Laura fought him off,” Nicole said.

      Her fiancé shook his head. “Not funny—not that I doubt you, Laura.”

      He helped haul the paddleboards up to his truck, then lifted them in and secured them with a bungee cord.

      “Did you know Laura wants to be a volunteer firefighter?” Nicole demanded as the three of them squeezed into the cab of the truck, Nicole taking the middle seat.

      Laura leaned forward so she could see Kevin’s face when he answered. His expression was neutral and cautious.

      “Tony mentioned that.”

      “And you didn’t tell me?”

      “I thought Laura would tell you,” Kevin said.

      Nicole scoffed. “Coward.”

      Laura leaned back, happy her sister had someone else to vent her frustration on, even though she knew she hadn’t heard the last of it.

      Why firefighting? Her sister’s question stuck with her. Why the fire service and not one of the dozens of other volunteer possibilities? Nicole’s assertion that it was an homage to their brother made Laura pause. Was that her reason?

      She had to admit that was part of it. The ultimate way to handle her grief and guilt over Adam was to face it directly, not to run from it as she had been. If she hadn’t shown him the campus flyer asking for volunteers, he might never have known about the summer job. He might be alive right now.

      She swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to remember to focus on the present and the future—the only things she could do anything about. Being in Cape Pursuit took her away from her parents, but she could be with Nicole. And the blue water, sunshine and vacation vibe of the town had warmed and welcomed her. She could see why Nicole had fallen in love in more ways than one.

      Laura watched the downtown shops blur past as Kevin drove them to her sister’s house. Cape Pursuit was where she wanted to be, and squeezing

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