Chapter 9
The prior evening, Chelsea and Grady had eaten Mexican food takeout and watched a movie at his place, ending a wonderful evening with sweet kisses before he took her home.
Monday, they stopped by the firehouse. Chelsea took the day off from working in her dress shop. She trusted her assistant manager, Chantilly Chavous, completely to handle her business while she was away.
They parked in the lot adjacent to the huge brick building. One of its two monstrous doors was rolled up, and one of the red firetrucks was parked in front of it. Grady helped her out of his SUV, took her hand, and led her to the firehouse.
He escorted her through a door to the left. In front of them was a pole. She tipped her head back and saw that it went up through a round hole big enough for a couple of men.
“The pole goes into the room where our bunks are,” he said.
“It’s so high up there.” She looked at Grady. “I’d be afraid to fall.”
“You’d do fine.” He smiled. “It’s not so bad.”
Her gaze moved to the right, to the other red firetruck with KCFD in big white lettering on its side and gleaming chrome bumpers, grills, and all sorts of knobs and such. Like the truck outside, a large wreath with a red bow and sprigs of holly hung on its grill.
To the left of the truck, straight in front of her, a long locker with multiple doors ran the length of the wall. A staircase to the second floor was to the left of the wall.
“I hear the guys upstairs.” Grady gestured to the wooden staircase, wide enough for one person to walk up it. “Ladies first.”
Chelsea gripped the polished wood rail and made her way up the staircase to a small landing outside a closed door. Muffled sounds of talking and laughter came from the other side of the entrance.
Grady reached the landing, opened the door, and stepped back to let Chelsea precede him. Her belly fluttered at the thought of meeting his fellow firefighter friends, but she took a deep breath and walked through the doorway into a large common room.
Two men lounged on worn big leather couches in front of a big-screen TV. On the right side of the room was a round table with a checkerboard laid out, and it looked like a finished game was on the board.
On the other side of the couches, a couple of firefighters played Ping-Pong, and another stood in front of an open locker in the middle of the row along the wall behind the game’s table.
The lockers were made of wood, and each one had a number on it with a nameplate beneath it.
Donovan was engraved on the plate of the door closest to them.
Right next to that was an open doorway, and she caught a glimpse of twin XL-sized beds.
Grady stepped beside her, and one of the men playing Ping-Pong noticed them. The black-haired firefighter looked familiar. He caught the ball with his hand and headed toward them. “What are you doing here on your day off, Donovan?”
“Just getting into trouble.” Grady nodded to Chelsea, “Meet Chelsea Dunn.” He turned to her. “This is Cord Elliott.”
“A pleasure, Chelsea.” The blue-eyed man extended his hand. “I’ve seen you around town.”
“I thought you looked familiar.” She smiled and took his hand. He had a firm grip and a sexy grin. “Nice to meet you.”
The other men stopped what they were doing and introduced themselves—Archer, Beckett, Hunter, and Dawson. She’d seen all the men around King Creek but had never introduced herself to any of them. They made her feel comfortable and welcome.
They each wore a navy-blue T-shirt with a white firefighter symbol on the left side of their chests and “KCFD” on the back. The tall, muscular men were good-looking, but as far as she was concerned, Grady was the sexiest of the bunch.
“Come on in, Chelsea.” Archer inclined his head toward a doorway. “We’ve got some sludge in the coffee pot if you’d like something to warm you up.”
“Sounds great.” She rubbed her hands together. “It certainly is chilly today.”
Grady rested his arm loosely around her shoulders and guided her into a large kitchen.
It had two industrial refrigerators, a stove, a microwave, and a dishwasher.
In one corner stood giant white boxes with Holiday Toy Drive written across each one.
Toys were piled up, including a large stuffed brown bear, a toy firetruck, a board game, and two e-tablets.
Everything was new and in its original packaging.
Archer took a navy-blue mug out of one of the white cabinets, went to the coffee pot by the stove, grasped the handle of the clear carafe, and poured the dark liquid into the mug.
Grady helped her out of her jacket and draped it over a straight-backed chair at the long dining table across from the appliances. He put his own jacket on another chair.
She took the mug from Archer and cupped her hands around it. “This will warm up my hands.”
“Creamer and sweetener are over there.” He inclined his head to the end of the counter as he pulled a spoon out of a drawer. He handed it to her. “Help yourself.”
“Thank you.” She smiled at him as she took the spoon and proceeded to heavily doctor up the coffee with lots of creamer and sugar.
The other men joined them, and they all sat at the table with mugs of coffee and a bag of Oreos they passed around.
Chelsea took a cookie and set it on the napkin in front of her. She drank the still-bitter coffee and grimaced. “This really is sludge.”
The men laughed. “It’ll put hair on your chest,” Dawson said, with a twinkle of amusement in his chocolate brown eyes.
Chelsea smiled. “That used to be one of my dad’s sayings.”
“I hear you were a champion ice skater.” Hunter thumped his mug on the table. “Grady says you skate like an angel.”
Grady nodded. “She does.”
“Thank you,” Chelsea said to Grady and then looked back to Hunter. “That was a long time ago. Now I instruct my students on the side.”
“Do you own Chelsea’s Closet?” Cord focused on her. “On Main Street.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “My store has been there a couple of years now.”
“My sister likes to shop there.” Archer leaned back in his chair, holding his mug. “Knowing her, she’s probably one of your best buyers.”
Chelsea cocked her head. “What’s her name?”
“Beth Roberts.”
“Oh, she is certainly one of my top customers.” Chelsea smiled at Archer. “She’s a sweetheart.”
“Don’t know about that.” Archer looked at her with amusement in his vivid green eyes. “But as far as sisters go, she’s not so bad.”
Chelsea glanced into the corner where all the white boxes stood. “It looks like the annual toy drive is going well.”
“We’re ahead of our daily goal so far.” Grady thumped his mug on the table. “The residents of King Creek are generous.”
“Do you know how the soup kitchen is doing this year?” She picked up her Oreo. “The donation boxes at the grocery store usually look like they’re brimming with canned and boxed food.” She twisted the cookie apart and ate the half without filling.
“Last I heard, they’re short on hams for Christmas dinner,” Hunter said, “The local 4-H club kids are working hard to get more donations.”
“My store can contribute to that cause.” Chelsea gave a slow nod. “We pick a charity to support every year. We like to see where the greatest need is and help fill it.” She ate the other half of her cookie with filling.
“They’ll appreciate it.” Beckett picked up his mug. “Local charities get a lot of support from our town’s businesses.”
“And the surrounding ranches.” Archer raised an Oreo. “Our ranchers tend to be generous folks.”
“The new holiday decorations look great.” Chelsea nodded in the direction of Main Street. “It’s nice of the fire department to do the decorating every year.”
“The city council finally voted to put money in the budget for them,” Grady said. “The old bunch were looking pretty ratty by the end of last year.”
“You all found a terrific fir for the town square, too.” Chelsea remembered seeing the huge fir strapped down on one of the firetrucks. “The tree-lighting ceremony was lovely, and the elementary school kids sang O Christmas Tree so sweetly.”
“My son, Micah, is in the choir.” Archer wore a fond expression. “He’s excited to sing in front of the mayor and the rest of the town.”
Chelsea thought back on holidays past. “I can remember when my sisters and brothers were little and how excited they’d get about Santa and his reindeer landing on our roof.”
“It’s all my son talks about.” Archer chuckled. “He sent his note to Santa yesterday at the post office holiday letter drop.”
“I’m sure he’ll get a letter from the jolly old elf soon.” Chelsea shifted in her seat. “The Lions Club’s members are great about that.”
Grady pushed back his chair. “We’d better get going.” He took Chelsea’s hand as she stood, and he helped her into her jacket. “We have some Christmas shopping to do.”
The men got to their feet as Grady put on his own jacket, and everyone moved back into the common room.
“It was great meeting you all.” Chelsea smiled as they stopped in front of the door. “I’m sure I’ll see you around town.”
After goodbyes were said, Chelsea and Grady left, headed downstairs, and out toward his SUV.
“Christmas shopping, huh?” She looked at him with amusement as they walked.
“Had to think of some reason to get going.” He gave her a wicked grin. “I wanted you to myself again.”
She laughed as they reached the passenger side of the blue Nissan. “I really could do some holiday gift buying.”
“There’s plenty of time left in the day.” He opened the door for her, took her hand, and helped her into her seat. “What do you say to walking down Main Street and doing our shopping locally?”
“Sounds like a great idea.” She put on her seat belt as he shut the door and went around to his side of the vehicle.
“We’ll start along one side of the street and walk down the other, back to the SUV.” He drove to the lot near Founders Park, at the far end of Main Street.