Charlotte’s brain struggled to comprehend what she was hearing. “You want me to work for you? Open up a yarn shop next to your store?”
“I’d thought of it more as a partnership, but that was further down the road. I figure that’s a bit much to take on right now. I’d mentioned it to Melba a while ago—just as an inkling I’d had when you first said something about job hunting at the knitting group—but when she told at church this morning that you were considering going to New Hampshire or wherever it was, I had a long talk with God about whether I might need to speed up my time frame.”
“Vermont,” Charlotte clarified, and then thought that was a stupid thing to say. She blinked and ran her hands down her face, reaching for a focus that she couldn’t quite attain. “Not that it matters.” She straightened up, planting her feet on the ground as if that would help. “You’re serious? You’re offering me a job? Here?”
“There are probably lots of details to iron out, but yes. I want you to know you have an option to stay here if you want to. I’m not at all sure I can match whatever you were making at Monarch, but—”
“I want to stay here,” Charlotte cut in. She blinked again. “I don’t think I even realized how much until just this moment. I don’t want to go to Vermont.” She held Abby’s gaze, feeling a bit dizzy. “Thank you. I’m sure we can figure something out.”
Abby’s smile told Charlotte this was no pity offer, this was God at work, moving things to His perfect timing. “I’m sure, too. After all, we both know you are a very clever person.”
* * *
Charlotte was sitting on his front steps by the time George pulled into Jesse’s driveway. Jesse was glad to see a little more of the old Charlotte back in her eyes. That smile did more for him than all those painkillers.
“Well now, look who’s waiting to take over nurse duties,” George teased as he pulled the crutches out of his backseat while Jesse opened the passenger door. “Toss me your keys, son, and I’ll get your front door open while you say hello to the lady.”
Charlotte ran a hand down Jesse’s cheek, and he felt his whole body settle at her touch. “Hello, you.”
He leaned up and gave her a small but soft kiss to her cheek. She smelled just-showered; clean and flowery. It was like fresh air compared to the disinfectant-soaked doctors’ rooms. “Hello to you, too.” He stood up and tilted his head close to hers, closing his eyes and stealing another breath. “You smell amazing, do you know that?”
He felt her smile against his cheek. “Flattery just might get you better nursing care.” She pulled away to eye him. “How’d it go?”
He’d have to tell her sometime, might as well get it over with on the front sidewalk. “Not well.”
Alarm darkened her features. “What do you mean?”
He started making his way carefully to the front door. “I messed my leg up pretty badly. I’m going to need surgery. I have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at some cruel hour.” He tried to keep the anger out of his voice, but her eyes told him he hadn’t been successful. George’s “prayer warriors,” as he called them, hadn’t won this particular battle.
“Surgery? Oh, Jesse.”
Somehow the worry in her voice just made it worse. Weren’t church people supposed to get happy endings from God? His twenty-four-hour venture into faith wasn’t going very well, even though George had spouted some platitudes about God still being in control. “I’m more of a Motown guy than a heavy-metal one, but it seems I’m going to get chrome-plated tomorrow. I get fifteen whole hours at home before I have to report for surgery.” The further he got into his explanation, the less it seemed worth the effort to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
“I’m sorry. I know that’s not what you wanted.” She hugged her arms. “You should never have stayed out there waiting for me.”
He stopped, nearly losing one crutch in his effort to grab her elbow. “I don’t regret it. Don’t you think that for a second, Charlotte. I’m just mad I didn’t get a clean getaway, that’s all.”
“You’re going to be okay,” she offered, even though she had no way of knowing that was true.
He simply nodded, not having a good comeback for that one.
Once they got him settled on his couch, George ticked off a list of instructions to Charlotte and bid goodbye with a promise to visit Jesse tomorrow at the hospital. “Make sure he calls his folks,” George ordered on his way out the door.
Charlotte pulled an ottoman up to the couch. “Want me to get your cell phone?”
“No.” He took her hand, pulling her in for another gentle kiss. “Not yet. How are you? Did you go back over there?”
She smiled and brushed the hair off his forehead. Her fingers were gentle and soothing. He wanted those hands nearby when he woke up from surgery tomorrow. He wanted those hands nearby every waking moment. With a sort of slow-motion burst of light, he realized he loved her. Exclusively her, absolutely her.
“No. I slept most of the morning, and then Abby Reed came over to talk to me.” Something bright danced in the corners of her eyes.
“That’s nice.” That struck him as a dumb response. “What’d she say?”
Charlotte took his hand in hers. It was much easier to push the pain out of his thoughts when she was near. “She offered me a job, Jesse. Evidently she’s been thinking about expanding her business into a full-fledged yarn shop next door, but hadn’t planned on doing it until the fall. When Melba told her this morning I was looking at a job in Vermont, Abby decided maybe it was time to speed up her time frame.”
Jesse wished the pain medicine didn’t sludge up his thinking so much. “A job? Here?”
The brightness in her eyes now lit up her whole face. “A job. Right here. We’re still working out all the details but I think it’s going to be perfect. I’ve always wanted to run a yarn shop—it’s almost what I did with Mima’s money. Now I can learn, only as part of another business and with a partner.”
“Me?”
She laughed and slid off the ottoman to bring her face close to his. “No, silly, Abby. You’d be terrible as a yarn salesman.”
He kissed her again, needing her close. “Nah, I’d be great.” He reached up to touch her cheek. “You’re staying.”
She nodded. “I think so.”
Maybe George’s prayer army had pulled off getting him what he truly needed after all. “What about...us?” He didn’t think he could stand the thought of her being in Gordon Falls and not being with him. As he looked into her eyes, Jesse realized, with a crystal-clear shock of certainty, that he’d do whatever it took to be with her. Whatever it took. “I need us to be...us.” He knew he wasn’t being eloquent by a long shot, but the look in her eyes told him she understood. “Tell me what you need for that to happen.” He’d never in his life placed someone else ahead of his own interests, never laid his own plans at the feet of someone else’s needs. A fire rescue was one thing, but his whole life? How did that work? He was pretty sure faith was what made such a thing possible. Clark had said it before—even Charlotte had talked about it—but he’d never really believed it before now.
Jesse wanted to see certainty in her eyes, but saw honesty instead. She settled in against him, sitting on the floor and laying her head on his chest. “I don’t know. At least not yet. I’ve got a lot of...baggage...in that department and I’m not sure how easy it will be to lay that all down.”
“I’d leave it. The firehouse, I mean.” He didn’t even know that until it leaped from his mouth. He waited for the regret to come, but it didn’t arrive. “It’d be hard, but I would.”
A tender pain filled her face. “I don’t want it to come to that. It’s so much of who you are. I don’t know what the answer is, but I have to think there is one out there.”
For the first time, waiting didn’t feel like procrastination. “We
’ve got some time here. I’ll be off duty for a while after the surgery.” He grinned. “Look at me, all silver lining and stuff. Maybe God really is always right on time. This is going to take some getting used to. I’ve got authority issues.”
Charlotte laughed, and Jesse felt the hum of it against his chest settle somewhere deep inside. “I’ve noticed.” After a long spell of staring into his eyes, she ran one finger across his stubbled chin and whispered, “I love you. I don’t know when it happened, but I’m glad it did.”
The glow in his chest had nothing to do with any prescription. “I know when for me. I mean, I didn’t at the time, but looking back, I know exactly the moment.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “Berry cobbler.” Just remembering the moment doubled the glow under his ribs.
“Then?”
“The face you made when you dug into it? A man can only take so much. I lost it right then and there. I didn’t know it yet, but that was the end of it.”
Her face flushed. “So that’s why that kiss pulled the rug out from underneath me.”
It had yanked him way off balance, too. “I didn’t work it out, though, until the fire. I figured it was just a great kiss...until I thought maybe you were in that cottage. When that call came and I didn’t know if you were safe... And then later when I thought about you driving back all that way all alone...”
She lay her hand across his chest, and he felt the warmth of her palm against his heartbeat. “Maybe that’s what it took for both of us. All the stuff we thought we needed—lots of it is gone right now. Maybe that leaves more room for the stuff that really matters.”
It was so clear, right then, what really mattered. He slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. “I love you. We’ll work it out. Right here.”
“On this couch?” Her laugh was soft and velvety against his cheek.
“It’s a good place to start.”
If he’d thought the kiss over the cobbler sealed his fate, he was dead wrong. The kiss she gave him now beat that one by a mile.
Epilogue
Ouch.
Jesse’s head felt as if it had been stuffed with cement and he couldn’t feel the tips of his fingers. His mouth was dry and something was beeping with annoying regularity off to his left. He forced his eyes open to a bright room.
“Hey there, hero.”
It took him a minute to recognize the voice as Charlotte’s. He rolled his head away from the beeping and saw her eyes in the glare.
“Welcome back.”
He winced and grunted, no words coming beyond the dusty dryness of his mouth.
“Thirsty?”
He felt Charlotte’s fingers feather across his forehead as he nodded.
She held a cup and straw up to let him drink, and he felt the cool water pull him back to life.
“You came through beautifully, Jesse. There’s a plate in your leg now but it’ll be okay.”
Jesse recognized his mother’s voice and turned his head toward the foot of his bed, where his mother and father stood looking like twin parental pillars of worry.
“I always wanted to be in hardware,” he choked out, the voice sounding as if it came down from the ceiling rather than from his own body.
“At the moment, you’re in plastic. You get a fiberglass cast later.” His father’s voice filled the room, but without the edge it usually had. “You’ll be back to your usual antics in a few weeks.”
Not really. Jesse still hadn’t figured out a way to tell his parents how drastically things had changed for him in just a matter of days. As he watched his mom’s eyes dart back and forth between himself and Charlotte, it was clear she had caught on. Dad still looked a bit confused. “Maybe. Right now it hurts.”
“I imagine it does.”
“You always had a flair for the dramatic.” Jesse turned to find Randy sitting on the guest chair. Randy was here. “Or should I say heroic?” He rose and offered Jesse his hand.
“That’s me, your friendly neighborhood hero.”
“That is you,” Randy said, squeezing Jesse’s hand. “You’re pretty amazing. I may have to take back all my wisecracks about the firehouse.” It was as close to a declaration of support as Jesse had ever gotten from Randy. “Let me know how I can help. I’ll find the time.” Jesse blinked hard, almost unsure he’d heard Randy correctly. The world really had been turning inside out lately.
“You will be off your feet for a while,” Charlotte said. “George already has a schedule up at the firehouse for when your parents, Randy and I can’t be there. And your church fan club will keep you in food clear through Thanksgiving if you need it.”
“Why didn’t you call us earlier?” His father’s voice was tight with worry.
Jesse’s first response was a knee-jerk “Why are you so concerned all of a sudden?” as the usual wound of his father’s inattention roared to life. Only something made Jesse stop and look at his father’s eyes rather than just react to his voice. He was genuinely concerned. It wasn’t just the “Why do you do that firefighting thing?” Jesse always read into his father’s inquiries. Today it looked more like “You were in danger.” He wasn’t quite sure what brought on the distinction. Had his father changed? Had even Randy changed? Or was it his ability to see his family that had altered?
An honest answer—instead of his usual wisecrack—came to him surprisingly easily. “I didn’t really have time. And I knew I’d be okay.”
“Oh, you knew, did you?” Mom did not look as though she shared that opinion. “Surgery is not my version of okay, son.”
“I called you for the surgery part, Mom. And look at me, I’m fine.” He wasn’t fine—not yet, really—but he wanted that worried look to leave his mother’s eyes. “Mom, Dad, Randy, this is Charlotte.”
Charlotte laughed softly and his father smiled. “We had a chance to meet while you were getting your new hinges put in.”
“So this is who bought the cottage,” Dad said. His words hinted at more than a real estate transaction, and Jesse found himself wondering just how well his parents now knew his favorite customer. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt in all that the other night.”
“We have lots of work to do—” Jesse felt Charlotte’s hand tighten on his “—but I think it will all work out in the end.” She caught Jesse’s eyes. The fact that she’d used the word we planted a grin on his face that had nothing to do with the postoperative painkillers.
Only he couldn’t really help with the renovation work for now, could he? “Who are we going to get to help you finish the cottage?” He didn’t really like the idea of anyone else working on that place—he liked to think of the project as his and Charlotte’s alone.
“I think we can worry about that tomorrow. Chad Owens helped me call in a cleaning company that specializes in these things, and that will take a few days anyhow. And then there’s all the insurance to be settled.” She ran her thumb over the back of his palm and Jesse felt his eyes fall closed at the sensation. “We have time.”
God is never late, and He’s never early, Jesse thought as the fog began to fill his head again.
“What did you just say?” His father sounded baffled.
“It’s something my grandmother taught me,” he heard Charlotte’s voice explain. “About how everything works out. ‘God is never late, and He’s never early. He’s always right on time—His time.’”
“That’s a lovely thought.” His mother sounded pleased.
She’s a lovely woman. I’m in love with her, Jesse thought to himself as he began to slip back asleep.
“You don’t say?” Randy actually sounded amused. When had Randy learned to read minds?
“And I’m in love with you,” he heard Charlotte whisper in his ear. “But we’ve got time for that, too.”
Jesse fought the fog to push his eyelids open. Charlotte had the sweetest look on her face. “I’m loopy,” he admitted, realizing what had just happened. “But I still mean it.” He brought his hand up to touch the delightful softness of her cheek. “I’m head over heels for you. Well, maybe just one heel at the moment.”
She laughed. “One heel is enough. Though, I thought you were sweeping me off my feet, not the other way around.” She parked one elbow on the bed beside him. “Your family is sweet. Your dad tries to hide it, but he’s really worried about you. He cares, Jesse. He just isn’t very good about knowing how to show it.”
“I think they like you.”
Her smile made his head spin. “I hope they do. I think they were onto us before your little pronouncement a moment ago.”
“They’ll have to get used to it sometime, why not now?” Jesse yawned and blinked. He needed her to know before he slipped away again. “I’m absolutely, one hundred and ten percent in love with you.” The words were taking more effort to get out as the fog settled back in. “So you have to stay. You have to.” He couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. “I need you. Stay, please?”
The last thing he remembered was the cool softness of her kiss on his forehead. “I know where home is now. I’m not going anywhere.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from HIGH COUNTRY HOLIDAY by Glynna Kaye.
Dear Reader,
There is an old saying that “God laughs at our plans.” I don’t know that I believe that as much as I believe He smiles at our version of our plans, then gently remakes our striving into His better purpose. Sometimes not so gently, as many of us need a hefty shove to be headed in the right direction, yes? Jesse and Charlotte have dramatic turns in their lives, turns that pull them together but are by no means smooth transitions! I hope you draw faith for your own challenges from their story. If you’d like information on how to start a prayer shawl ministry at your church or just want to say hello, feel free to contact me at www.alliepleiter.com, “Like” me on Facebook or drop a line to P.O. Box 7026, Villa Park, IL 60181—I’d love to hear from you!
Saved by the Fireman Page 18