Sparks Will Fly

by Daniel Banner

  “Yeah, we’re already mad at you for threatening our bachelor ways,” added Dax. “We felt much safer when you lived in another state.”

  Nikola looked at Stone. “How did she convince us all to drive all the way out here to help her move closer?”

  Stone, emotionless as always, just shrugged.

  “I convinced you,” said Blue. “You wouldn’t dare defy an order.”

  “You mean we wouldn’t turn down the chance to see the Broncos play in the playoffs next week on your dime,” said Dax.

  “If you can’t win their respect, buy it,” said Blue.

  Lucy said, “I know you guys just have hearts of gold and you wanted to help me live closer to your leader so I can make sure I really like him even when I get to see him more than twice a month.”

  “You won’t,” said Stone, totally deadpan.

  “Trust us,” added Jeremy. “He’s horrible. That’s why we are moving you out there so that you see that and we can finally get back to being Blue’s Bachelors.

  “Maybe I’ll do you a favor and take him off your hands,” she told them.

  Stone scowled and muttered, almost too quietly for Lucy to hear, “It’d be a shame if something happened to you in the long desert road between here and Park City.”

  “That’s it,” said Blue, putting an arm around Lucy, “you’re riding with me. I don’t trust any of these guys.”

  “We’re out of here,” said Dax. “Walter White’s house is calling to us.”

  “Can’t visit Albuquerque and not check out the Breaking Bad sites,” added Nikola.

  Lucy had seen the TV show; who in Albuquerque hadn’t? But unlike these guys, she wasn’t dying to drive past the house featured in the series. “Tourists,” she called them with a smile.

  “We’ll see you at the chicken place,” said Blue, referring to a fried chicken restaurant that was also featured in the show. “Meet you there in an hour.”

  They jumped in their car and took off. Lucy took pride in her potential role as the ruin of Blue’s Bachelors. These guys were much too fun, kind, and good looking to be self-proclaimed bachelors any longer. Maybe now that she was moving to Utah she could see more of them fall and even encourage it if she got a chance. She would be happy to see the title of Blue’s Bachelors become a thing of history.

  So much was changing. Lucy turned to take one last look at her apartment. Surprisingly she didn’t feel nostalgic about the upcoming move. “I’m not going to miss it,” she told Blue. “I’m ready.”

  That was it. Time to go. Blue opened the passenger-side door of his truck, and Lucy stole a quick kiss before climbing in.

  “I’m going to get spoiled living close to you,” he told her. He went around to his side of the truck and climbed in behind the wheel. “Also, I’m glad it’s not killing you to leave Albuquerque because I’m psyched for you to start your new job.”

  “That’s so sweet,” she told him. University of Utah wasn’t her alma mater but she had landed a great job as an advisor. No more hiding away in a cubicle. She’d be meeting with students non-stop and doing everything she could to help them make the most of their education.

  Blue gave her that mischievous off-kilter smile as he pulled onto the road, with all of Lucy’s earthly belongings in the trailer behind his truck. “Actually it’s selfish. I can’t wait to see you wearing Crimson and White.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. It wasn’t the first time this had come up. “The University of Utah is red and white. That’s completely different than crimson and white. I will always bleed Silver and Cherry.”

  His face went all disappointed, but it was a fake disappointment. “I was hoping you’d say you would always bleed Blue.”

  Lucy chuckled. She was tempted to say something about the Cienciano jersey, but kept to her decision to ignore it. Make him bring it up.

  Blue took her hand and gave it a playful squeeze. He’d seemed almost as eager as Lucy felt ever since he arrived in Albuquerque the night before. He hadn’t asked her to move to Utah, that was entirely Lucy’s idea, but he had about fallen over with excitement when she told him. She felt like a marriage proposal was likely anytime, and as she’d mentioned to the guys, wanted to be closer to him. Not to see if they were actually compatible. That was the excuse she used sometimes. Really she just wanted to be closer to him.

  “So we’ve got ten hours to kill,” she said. “You finally going to tell me what the deal with Jeremy owing you that favor is all about?”

  Blue let out a long, thoughtful sigh. “Not sure. I feel like that’s a story for another day. Maybe I’ll let him tell you.”

  The more he put it off, the more curious she became, but the drive to her parents’ house was only a few minutes and they had just pulled up. This was the one part of Albuquerque she would truly miss. Lucy’s mom came out to the front porch of the modest home as soon as Blue and Lucy climbed out of the truck. People who knew about her family’s connection to UNM always expected her to have grown up in a mega-mansion. But when Lucy’s mom had chosen to marry an immigrant boy, she’d been more or less cut off financially. As far as Lucy knew, she didn’t have any regrets.

  Blue took her hand again as they walked across the yard. With the limited time they’d had together, it seemed like they were touching at least 99 percent of the time they were awake. Maybe more. Hopefully they could keep that up when they were seeing each other nearly every day.

  Lucy’s mother came forward and hugged her as soon as they reached the porch, holding her tight without speaking. She moved on to Blue, and practically disappeared when he wrapped his big arms around her.

  “Hi, Mrs. Avila,” he said.

  “Oh, come on. I told you to call me Kathryn.”

  He smiled his winning smile at her and said, “That’s right. I’ll try to remember. I’m just glad you’re more accepting of me than some of my family is of Lucy.”

  “I wish I could say they’ll come around,” replied Lucy’s mom, “but that doesn’t always happen. And just so we’re clear, I accept you all the way, but I’m still planning on draping my grandbabies in Lobo onesies, bibs, bonnets, and whatever other Lobo gear I can find them.”

  “Mother,” said Lucy, shaking her head. “You’re getting a little bit ahead of yourself.” This was another conversation they’d had a thousand times. Maybe it was time for Lucy to get a little payback. “Unless you are encouraging an out of wedlock pregnancy or an elopement, I suppose.”

  Her mother’s eyes went wide. “You bite your tongue. Even your father and I didn’t go that far and my parents were much less accepting of your father as we are of Azul.” The whole Avila family had taken to calling him by his Spanish nickname. “Is your dad doing okay now that the dust has had a chance to settle?”

  It had been over three months since the incident. “Yeah, he’s got a good gig with a couple of friends of his who have a big corporation. He travels more than he used to, but the job pays even more than the AD job and the work’s much easier.”

  Lucy knew the friends Blue had mentioned were the men from the skybox who tried to get in Blue’s way that night, but neither of them brought it up because they had both pretty much let the grudge go.

  “I know how your father feels about Lucy, but are you and he getting along any better?”

  “Not really,” said Blue. “And until Lucy is welcome at his house, then I don’t want to be there either.”

  That was only part of the story. Blue had confronted his dad about the deception, which had led to a blow up between them that very well might have come to blows if Blue hadn’t walked out.

  Her mom put a hand on Blue’s arm and said, “Someday he’ll realize you’re more important than his pride.”

  A car pulled into the driveway. Lucy’s dad was home. He parked it in the garage then came around and joined everybody on the porch. “All loaded up? I would’ve helped if you waited.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” said Lucy, giving him a hug. “We wanted to be on the road
soon.”

  With one arm around Lucy, he offered Blue a hand. “Azul.”

  “Mr. Avila,” said Blue returning the handshake.

  Lucy’s dad smiled and looked at his wife. “Hear that? Mister Avila.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Sorry. Not impressed.”

  “Nice try, Azul,” said her dad.

  Blue shrugged. “Oh well.”

  “Of course,” said her dad, “it would mean more coming from someone with some sort of taste in sports teams.” He looked down at the hideous Cienciano jersey.

  “This?” said Blue, looking surprised. “You mean the team who won the Segunda Division Cup last month? Oh, I hadn’t realized I was wearing it.”

  Lucy just shook her head. She hadn’t had a chance to warn her dad against asking about his team.

  “So that’s how it is,” said her dad. “You just better be ready for me to show up at your house in the middle of the night and sing the Garcilaso anthem next year when we get revenge.”

  “I can handle that,” said Blue. “Just please don’t tell Abuelita I still have this. She might be under the impression that I burned it.”

  “No promises,” said Lucy’s dad. “You may be brave enough to defy my mother, but I’m not.”

  A lull settled over the conversation and Lucy knew it was time to be on the road. Time to start her new life.

  Her dad had always been sensitive to her feelings and he spoke before she could say it. “You two better head out.”

  “Don’t rush them,” said her mother, even though she knew it was time.

  “Te amo, chica,” said her dad, then kissed her on the top of the head. I love you, girl.

  “Te amo,” she replied with another hug. Then the same words and a hug for her mother. While she did this she noticed her dad shaking hands with Blue and speaking quietly to him.

  Then they were off. Waving back and calling out farewells and promises to see them soon. Blue opening the door for her. The road beneath them and the trailer pulling behind them. Lucy couldn’t wait for the new adventure.

  “You okay?” asked Blue.

  Lucy slid over to the center seat and wrapped an arm as far around his shoulders as she could. “I’m better than okay. You?”

  “A little distracted,” said Blue with the crooked smile she loved so much.

  “What do you mean? This is exactly like the flight to Cuzco, and you weren’t distracted at all.”

  “I wasn’t trying to drive,” he told her.

  “If you want more space, that seat by the window is open. I can scoot over.”

  Blue wrapped his right arm over her like a lap seat belt and pulled her even closer. “No way. I’m good. It just took me a second.”

  “You sure?” she asked. “This trip is longer than eight hours and eighteen minutes.”

  “I’m surer than sure. And if you even think about moving over, I’ll get one of the guys to ride in here with us so you have to stay close.”

  “Fine. You convinced me.” She put her head on his shoulder and let out a breath. Getting everything ready for this big day had been exhausting. “What did my dad say to you back there on the porch?”

  She could tell Blue was thinking about teasing her or making something up by his short pause. “He told me that secretly he’s always been an Aggie fan, but he’s never admitted that to anyone.”

  “Not funny!” said Lucy, elbowing him in the ribs. “I can’t believe you would even joke around about that.”

  Blue just laughed, and Lucy told him. “Keep talking like that and I will move over to the open seat.”

  “Alright, alright,” Blue conceded. “He said that until my family accepted me back, I was welcome to be a part of your family.”

  That was more emotional than Lucy was expecting and she had to wipe her eyes.

  “Don’t cry, Lucy. Just because he likes me more than he likes you.”

  “Can’t say I blame him,” she replied. “I think you’re pretty amazing.”

  “Well I think he’s crazy,” said Blue. “You’re far superior to me in every way and I can prove it. You have a secret identity that you kept hidden for years. How cool it that? You, my lovely little noirette, have an amazing vocabulary. You’re multi-lingual and when you speak that Spanish all of my self-restraint disappears so don’t even think about doing it now. I’ll never play Chicken with you again because I know I’ll lose, even if you’re bluffing. You’re daring enough to pick up and move to a brand new state. Your eyes are like some sort of magic opal or obsidian that cast spells on me. The way your lips tilt up at the very edges makes you more beautiful than humanly possible when you smile. You are brave and committed enough to eat a worm. Fit enough to carry another woman up all the Capitol steps. Funny and intelligent enough to hang with the banter of veteran firemen, even though you’re new to the culture.” He paused to catch his breath.

  “That’s quite the list,” said Lucy.

  “That was nothing,” said Blue. “I was just getting started.”

  “Well, we do have ten hours.”

  “Ten hours? Maybe in ten days I could make a dent in the list of reasons why you’re better than me.”

  Lucy laid her head on his shoulder. As much as she loved hearing him say all that, she didn’t need it. Just being together was perfect enough, but not for ten hours or ten days. She looked forward to years, decades, a lifetime together.

  Message from the Author

  If you enjoyed Sparks Will Fly, please consider posting a review on Amazon. Even a short, simple review makes an author like me want to be your best friend ever! (See the About the Author Section for more books by Daniel Banner.)

  Watch for more Park City Firefighter Romance: Station 2 books in early 2018!

  Stone Cold Sparks by Cami Checketts

  Untitled Sparks by Sarah Gay

  The Park City Fire Department is a fictional department that blends elements and culture of various American fire departments. The authors of the Park City Firefighter Romance Series based the characters and the department on interviews with firefighters from various agencies in multiple states, as well as the 15 years firefighter/paramedic experience of one of the authors of this series It is not intended to represent or resemble Park City Fire District.

  All references to names of persons and positions at University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University are fictional as well. UNM is, however, one of the few American universities that has a male and female mascot.

  About the Author

  Daniel Banner is happily married to the former mascot of his alma mater—the University of Arizona. He speaks Spanish and has participated in Questival twice. He also owned a standoffish llama at one point in his life.

  ALSO BY DANIEL BANNER

  Park City Firefighter Romance Series

  Two Hearts Rescue

  A Perfect Rescue

  Rescue and Redemption

  Kisses and Commitment Series

  How to Find a Keeper