Forget Me Not (Golden Falls Fire Book 4)

by Scarlett Andrews

  “Swollen to twice its normal size, but otherwise fine!” She looked around as she accepted the mug of coffee he’d poured her. “Where’s everyone else?”

  “They were going to see if the coffee shop was open and grab some bagels if it was,” he said. “I volunteered to stay here and wait for you to wake up. The consensus was you should get to sleep as long as you wanted given the kind of day you had yesterday. How’d you sleep?”

  The group had insisted that Annabelle should take the master bedroom. Lottie slept in the second bedroom, while Peter and Derrick shared the third, which had twin beds. The firefighters, who were used to bunkrooms, slept in the upstairs loft that contained four beds.

  “Like the dead,” Annabelle said. “I was afraid I’d have nightmares about falling into the crevasse, but I didn’t.” She paused and studied him. “Then I wondered if you ever have nightmares. You must see some pretty gruesome things in your line of work.”

  “Sometimes I have nightmares,” Sean said, flattered that she’d thought of him at all, and even more so that it had been in that precious time right before falling asleep. He’d been thinking of her, too. “But weirdly, they’re more often about failing a test or something.”

  When Annabelle had disappeared into her bedroom the previous night, Sean exhaled a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. Not only was she gorgeous, but there was a soft shyness to her that he found captivating. Admittedly, Annabelle wasn’t his type at all. Invariably, he dated bouncy, social butterfly-types. In high school it had been the head cheerleader; in his one year of college it had been another cheerleader; and since then it had been a procession of the same, rotated out every year or two. At this point, having a chirpy blonde girlfriend felt almost like an unbreakable habit, but Annabelle made him want to upgrade his dating game.

  Annabelle made him realize how much other women bored him.

  He was sure that with her, he’d never be bored.

  The way her eyes lit up as she talked about her research . . . Sean had never imagined that science could be that sexy, but listening to Annabelle, it was. In fact, he thought he’d never grow tired of listening to her.

  At the pizza place, he’d studied her mannerisms until he could predict what would come next—the unconscious running of her hand through her hair as if trying to smooth it in place, or the long eyelashes blinking fast whenever he spoke to her, as if she was nervous and wanted to bolt, or the gentle affection she showed toward Peter Eubanks as if she was his daughter. As well, she listened to the stories the firefighters told as if they were intriguing creatures from a land far, far away from the world in which she dwelled.

  When they’d all gone to bed after closing down the restaurant, he’d lain awake for hours trying to think of a way to see her again once they got back to Golden Falls. He didn’t think just asking her out would work because she probably considered him a lughead. She was brains; he was brawn. There was no getting around that fact, not when she nearly had a PhD and he’d only completed an associate’s degree.

  Annabelle was way out of his league. She’d want a man of substance, not some dude with dyslexia who hadn’t even finished college.

  But he was smart—he knew it, even if it had never been what drew women to him. They saw the body and the bulk and the firefighter uniform and put him in a particular hot-and-heroic box. He’d never complain about his ease in picking up women—he was a hot-blooded male in the prime of his life, after all—but damn, what he wouldn’t give for a woman to see the whole of him. Just a little bit of his complexity.

  Annabelle seemed like a woman who could. That alone made him determined to see her again.

  “So,” he said, thinking fast. “Trivia night.”

  Maybe she’d come to see that he was intelligent, too, just in a different way than she and the people she typically hung out with were. He knew sports like the back of his hand, and he could study up on the other stuff and try to impress her that way, too.

  Annabelle tilted her head and smiled at him. “What about trivia night?”

  “I think you need me,” he said, as boldly as he dared while feeling so uncertain inside.

  She spit out the coffee she’d been drinking and then hurriedly wiped her mouth, turning a shade of embarrassed-beet red as she did.

  “I don’t believe I just did that,” she said. “I’m such a klutz. You’re going to have to repeat yourself. You think what?”

  “I think you need me,” Sean said again, although now feeling a little defensive. “You said last night your trivia team’s weak link is that you don’t have anyone who knows sports. Well, I do.”

  “You want to join our trivia team?” She said it like it was the strangest idea in the world. “We’re just a bunch of geeks, you know. You’ll probably be bored to death.”

  But Sean knew he’d never be bored around Annabelle, not for one minute.

  “Just tell me when and where,” he said. “And we’ll make it a night to remember.”

  9

  For the entire hour-long flight back to Golden Falls, Annabelle felt, hoped, wished that her life might have just taken a dramatic and exciting turn for the better. Sean Kelly wanted to attend her trivia night!

  He wanted to sit with her, drink with her, laugh with her, and geek-compete with her—not because, as had been the case the previous night at the pizza parlor, he’d been stuck in a tiny town with nothing else to do. He’d suggested of his own volition to spend more time with her.

  Could it possibly be . . . might he like her? Might Sean Kelly, the teenage boy of her dreams, actually be interested in the woman she’d become?

  I think you need me, he’d said. We’ll make it a night to remember.

  It sure sounded like he might be.

  “Pinch me, please,” she whispered to Lottie.

  Lottie did so, happily pinching the smoosh of Annabelle’s parka without even asking why. They, along with Derrick and Peter, were flying back in the same small plane they’d taken to fly out to the glacier, while the Search and Rescue team—aka Sean—flew back in a separate chartered plane, while their helicopters made a fast and light return without passengers. What a life he lived, one full of adventure and danger and daring. It was such a contrast to her quiet life as a scientist, and she was sure his stories would never grow dull.

  Not that she was imagining a life of them sitting at a kitchen table first thing in the morning, she about to set off for the lab and him arriving home after a firefighting shift, chatting over coffee, sharing stories of their respective time apart. It would be foolish to daydream about such a thing. Sean might very well have offered to show up for trivia night only as a means of passing the time. Although later in the season, it was still winter in Golden Falls. The sun was finally coming out of hiding and gracing them with its presence for a solid ten hours every day, but the temperature had yet to catch up. It was still parka weather, not sleeveless shirt weather. By March, they were all a little stir-crazy.

  In any case, he might not even show up.

  And that would be fine.

  Life would go on, happily. On this trip to the glacier, they’d collected the last bit of research she’d need to crank out the final pieces of her dissertation, which would require long stretches of blessed alone time. She looked forward to hunkering down on it.

  Not that she wouldn’t mind taking breaks that involved Sean. Unlike Derrick, Sean had testosterone to spare, and if they dated, he might be the one to take her places sexually she’d never gone before. Maybe with him, she could finally let loose.

  For several minutes, Annabelle gazed out the window of the bush plane and imagined what sex would be like with Sean.

  As a teenager, she’d fantasized about him, but her virginal musings had been incomplete. Now that she knew what was what, and how, in theory, she liked it . . . well, that brought a whole new world of possibilities.

  In her scientific world, there was an unspoken implication that dressing provocatively, or even too stylishl
y, would damage her professional reputation with the implication that she was using sex appeal for career advantage. Besides, the time and effort for shopping and primping was time she’d rather spend on research . . .that, and leggings and baggy tops were just so darn comfortable. All these factors played into her looking far less sexy than she probably could.

  But she had a secret self. A hidden streak of passion. She fantasized about being a dedicated scientist by day and a sex goddess at night. She imagined being at the lab, wearing her usual flannel and Uggs but also naughty lingerie underneath. She imagined getting a text from Sean saying, Get home now. I’ve got to have you. She imagined the heated carnality of a sex life with a lover as skilled as she thought Sean probably was, the kind of lover she’d never had.

  Feeling a poke on her shoulder, she turned to the seat behind her, trying not to snarl at Derrick’s interruption into her sexual yearnings that involved another man.

  “Can I come over later?” he asked.

  “No.” While breaking up with him was high on her list, it could wait until tomorrow. “I need a little downtime.”

  “How about I give you a ride back to your apartment, at least?” he said. “It’s not like you can drive with that ankle.”

  He’d ignored her the entire trip and hadn’t helped her once. Why offer now?

  It didn’t matter. Annabelle no longer wanted his help.

  “Lottie’s driving me,” she said.

  Lottie, who’d been looking ahead and ignoring the conversation as best she could, smiled. There had been no such plan made, but her smile told Annabelle that Lottie had her back. As always.

  “But—” Derrick began.

  No buts, Derrick, she thought. She didn’t want him in her apartment ever again. Humble student housing though it was, it was still her sacred space.

  “I’ll catch up with you tomorrow at the lab,” she said firmly.

  At which point I will break up with your sorry ass.

  “Oh, no,” Annabelle groaned as she looked out the window of the small plane as it landed a short time later.

  The sleepy Nanook Valley Regional Airport had been transformed. A crowd of several hundred people stood on the waiting area of the tarmac, cheering and waving at them.

  “It must have been on the news,” Lottie said.

  The plane carrying the Search and Rescue team had already landed, and Sean and the others stood at the front of the crowd. Around them, people held signs saying, Welcome home, heroes! and Golden Falls’ Finest!

  “There’s the mayor,” Lottie said. “And there’s Claire Roberts, and the president of the university, and, ooh, look, Cassie Holt! I love Cassie Holt! I’ve got such a crush on her.”

  Cassie Holt was the TV reporter and anchor for KFLS Channel Eight. Sharp, sophisticated and fashionable, she’d been in town for less than a year but was already a popular fixture.

  “It seems we have quite the welcoming party,” Peter said. “Oh, look, there’s my wife!”

  He pointed to Linda Eubanks standing to the side of the crowd. Her face lit up when she and Peter connected. Peter waved at her earnestly, grinning from ear to ear. This is how it’s done, Annabelle thought. People who not only love each other but like each other, too.

  Linda was a strong maternal presence in Annabelle’s life, and Peter had told her to expect some pampering when they got back. Where Linda was concerned, that usually meant an invitation to dinner and home-cooked Southern dishes inspired by Peter’s childhood favorites like gumbo, fried catfish, and peach cobbler. While Linda was an Eskimo who’d been raised on salmon and ‘beach food’ that consisted of seal, shellfish, and clams, she was unapologetically fond of all kinds of food and had told Annabelle more than once that she preferred to enjoy life rather than worry about her figure.

  Lottie’s attention was still on Cassie, who was positioned partway between the crowd and their airplane. “She’s going to want to interview you, Annabelle.”

  “Oh, no,” Annabelle said, a nervous sweat breaking across the back of her neck. “That can’t happen.”

  Rule one of being a geek: Don’t draw attention to yourself, because people will make fun of your geekiness.

  She turned to Peter. “I don’t have to, do I?”

  “Of course not,” he said. “But I should think you’d like to thank the rescue team.”

  Well, there was that. Annabelle’s admiration for her rescuers was stronger than her desire to stay out of the spotlight. They deserved all the praise she could give.

  You’re a wallflower no more, she reminded herself, reiterating the vow she’d made to herself while stuck in the crevasse waiting for rescue. She’d survived a fall into the abyss; she could surely survive an interview with a local reporter.

  The team of scientists disembarked from the airplane amid cheers from the crowd. Peter exited first, followed by Lottie. Both then helped Annabelle down, while Derrick brought up the rear.

  Cassie Holt, striking in a magenta coat and sleek blonde hairstyle, greeted them first.

  “A quick interview?” she said, as if they really had a choice, and made eye contact with Annabelle. “You’re the one who fell into the crevasse?”

  Annabelle nodded, feeling disoriented from nerves.

  “Come by me. Here, I’ll help you walk.”

  The news camera was set up near the rescue team. Cassie helped Annabelle to a prominent spot in front of the camera while the others trailed behind. Sean caught Annabelle’s attention once and winked at her, which make her briefly recall the delicious fantasizing she’d been doing on the airplane just minutes earlier.

  “Cody says you were very brave throughout your whole ordeal,” Cassie said as they walked.

  “Oh, you’re that Cassie!” Annabelle said. “Your name came up a few times when we were at dinner last night—your first name, not your last name—but I didn’t connect it with you. You were involved in that Boy Scout rescue, too, weren’t you? Along with Cody?”

  “That’s right,” Cassie said.

  Annabelle didn’t watch much television and rarely paid attention to the news, but it had been impossible to be unaware of the Boy Scout rescue from the previous fall. A troop of scouts had become stranded in Denali National Park when their leaders got swept away in a river. The incident made national news, and Cassie had been at the front and center of it because she’d spotted the scouts from the news helicopter, which enabled their rescue.

  “And you had some stalker situation, right?” Annabelle struggled to remember. “I was sorry to hear about that.”

  “I did, but that’s all resolved now. And besides, I’m supposed to be interviewing you, not the other way around!” Cassie’s change of subject was deft. “Here we are, anyway.”

  They’d arrived at the camera. Annabelle again caught Sean’s eye, and he gave her an encouraging smile as if he knew being the center of attention might be hard for her.

  “Are you ready for a couple of quick questions?” Cassie asked.

  Annabelle nodded, and the interview began.

  10

  Sean stood next to Cody and watched as Cassie helped Annabelle make her way across the tarmac. We could be a foursome, he thought. Me and Annabelle and Cody and Cassie could go on double dates.

  The thought excited him, although he suspected Cassie and Annabelle had little in common except for their intense focus on their careers. Cassie was a big-city woman who’d landed in Alaska by strange happenstance, while Annabelle had been born and grown up here. Sean sometimes wondered how Cassie didn’t get bored with the relatively unsophisticated people and slower pace of life in the small city of Golden Falls, but Cassie was curious about everything and liked to do deep dives on the people she met. Sean figured she’d find Annabelle and her research interesting.

  He sure did.

  He’d like to do a deep dive on Annabelle, too, and figure out what made her tick, what made her brilliant mind work in its unique way. He’d like to understand her research and why it mattered
to her and what its implications might be in the larger world. He’d like to do a deep dive with her under the covers, too, once her ankle healed. Sometimes the quietest girls were the wildest in bed, and he had the feeling that Annabelle letting loose in bed would be a wondrous thing to experience.

  As the scientists neared the little staging area where interviews would take place, Lottie stood next to Sean, while Derrick stood next to Lottie, looking sullen.

  Lottie elbowed Sean. “Annabelle’s nervous,” she whispered. “She doesn’t like attention.”

  Sean could tell that even without Lottie’s mentioning it because Annabelle looked like she wanted to bolt but was stuck there for the sake of propriety. For him, the grateful attention of the community was something he was used to. Golden Falls was a tight-knit place and one big booster club that never missed an opportunity to celebrate one of its own.

  “Annabelle Keith is my tenant,” said Claire Roberts, who stood on Sean’s other side. “I was so shocked when I saw what happened on the news.”

  It didn’t surprise him that Claire was Annabelle’s landlord; Claire was one of the two largest property owners in Golden Falls and owned some of the nicer private student housing units near the university. Claire had been Sean’s landlord, too, before he’d bought his house a few years back. Not only did she give discounts to first responders, but she was also the largest benefactor of the city hockey league—which made her pretty awesome in Sean’s book. He was a volunteer coach along with Andrew Blake, a retired firefighter who owned the Golden Touch Barber Shop on Main Street, and he knew firsthand that Claire had a standing agreement with the sporting goods store in town to cover the cost of hockey equipment for families who couldn’t afford it.

  Because of the cheerful, chattering crowd behind him, Sean had to strain to hear the interview between Cassie and Annabelle.