by Ashlee Price
“What?”
“I actually like it here. I get your not wanting me to be stuck in a small town. I also understand the importance of continuing and finishing my academic career. But I also believe in coming back home and helping out around here. I’d much rather open up a business here than work for someone else’s dream in a big city somewhere. How about we make a deal?”
“I’m listening,” he sighed.
“I promise that I will go look at these schools, I’ll even pick one to go to, if you let me make some changes around The Wheel. Nothing drastic. I just want to host some events to bring in some extra cash so that I won’t worry about you while I’m away at grad school. If I know you’re bringing in this extra money, I can study in peace,” she explained.
“Okay, but don’t touch the office, and you’re not painting any walls!”
Jenna put her hands up in surrender. “Agreed.”
After finishing up her coffee and hammering out some more details of their agreement, Jenna took off for the day. She wanted to clear her head of both her dreams of Tanner and the thought of grad school. The plan was always for her to go home for the summer, but she’d decided months ago that grad school would be the next step. However, her father’s problems with the bar were making her second guess her decision to leave home again. For one thing, she definitely didn’t want to leave until Hannity was out of the picture.
Jenna walked around different stores wondering when inspiration would find her. Luckily enough, she came across a store with a bright purple awning drawing her eyes up and then into the window display. There was a skeleton dressed like a 1920s flapper. A bean bag chair with an emoji painted onto it sat in the corner. There were balloons and streamers strung up like curtains opening to a stage, but instead a troupe of actors, there was the inside of the store.
A bell chimed as Jenna walked in. Her eyes lit up as she spotted huge tiki torches, and that’s when it hit her… A luau party!
“Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to Llana’s Lucky Leis,” a woman giggled uncontrollably. “I just love saying that. I’m Lucky Llana, and how lucky might you be?”
Jenna chuckled at the odd woman. While she was beautiful in name and face, her hair was all over the place like she’d stuck her finger in an electric socket. She wore thick-rimmed, circular-lensed glasses and bright red lipstick that was smudged on her teeth when she smiled. With a royal blue velvet robe draped down to her feet, she swayed side to side, making sure her skinny hips were pronounced through the robe.
“My goodness, you’re quite the character,” Jenna smiled.
“Character indeed! It runs through my blood. Now who are you and what can I do for you, my dear?”
“I’m Jenna Ferris. My father, Paul, owns The Wheel,” she began.
“Oh, that’s rich,” the woman giggled. “Ferris wheel, how genius!”
“Yes, well, I was trying to think of ideas for how to bring more business in for the summer, and I came in here because it just looked like a fun store to come into, and I think I want to host a luau party. Tiki torches, fruity drinks, grass skirts… the whole thing.”
“Well, why don’t you come and try a few things on? As hostess, you should be in costume as well!” Llana told her, showing her to the back dressing room.
Jenna turned around, sniffing the air, “Is that smoke?”
Llana did the same. “Yeah, I think so… maybe someone’s barbecuing.”
So Jenna disregarded it, following the older woman to the back of the store. They made small talk as Jenna tried on costume after costume. It wasn’t until thick grey smoke began to plume through the space that Jenna’s attention returned to the odor. It wasn’t any barbecue she’d smelled, something was on fire!
“We have to get out of here!” Jenna cried out in a panic. As if agreeing with her, the fire alarm in the store went off just then, but there didn’t seem to be any sprinklers. Leaving the back room, Llana and Jenna halted in their tracks as heat and flames shattered the front window and blocked their way out. Llana grabbed Jenna by the wrist and rushed her back towards the back room, moving as fast as she could.
“Come on, there’s a back door to the alley!”
But the fire was spreading so fast that they saw the ceiling and part of the rear wall collapsing in front of them as they passed the dressing room. Orange and yellow flames danced around the store, igniting everything they touched. They were trapped.
As the flames raged closer, Jenna and Llana took hold of each other, crouching down as far away from the heat as possible. Jenna didn’t want to cry, but fear was taking hold of her. Everything was slipping away. Llana had fainted, and the only thing Jenna wanted to do was collapse beside her.
“Help!” she screamed. “Someone help us! We’re in here!”
She heard the sound of sirens in the distance—but would they get to her in time?
Chapter 6
Jenna tried desperately to wake the store owner up, but she wasn’t moving. In fact, she was barely breathing, and her pulse was faint. Panic had already settled in as the beads of sweat dripped down her temples. It was becoming harder and harder to breathe. The walls around her seemed to swirl with smoke, and her body felt weak. She got as close to the floor as she could, desperately searching for fresher air, but it was of no use. The smoke was filling up the room—and the flames were catching up to her, too. Jenna was certain that she was living out her last few moments.
And then the sizzle and steam of the fire being put out engulfed the entire store. It must have been mere minutes, but it felt like hours as Jenna continued to hover over Llana, waiting for the heat to dissipate. She was scared to move, and scared that something would go wrong at the last minute. It wasn’t until she heard the crash of the wall across from her being smashed open that she was sure they would be saved.
Firefighters in masks, carrying axes, made their way around the space. They were talking to each other, but Jenna could barely make out what they were saying. One came and scooped the eccentric old lady into his arms and carried her out. Jenna was next. A man with very familiar eyes bent down and screamed to her, “Are you okay?”
All Jenna could do was nod as the firefighter helped her to her feet. Scooping her into his arms, the masked savior rushed her out of the rubble.
There was an ambulance alongside two fire engines that were still battling the blaze on the other side of the store. A chaotic crowd of onlookers had gathered on the sidewalk across the street. Jenna was still scared, but she began to calm down a little once she was sitting on a gurney next to the ambulance.
The firefighter who’d put her there finally took his mask off. Tanner’s dark hazel eyes stared at her as he pulled the cloth protector away from his mouth. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I think so, just a little shaken up,” she mumbled.
“Okay, they’ll take you to the hospital to get checked out. I’ll call your dad and let him know what happened.”
“Wait a minute, where are you going?” she asked worriedly.
“There’s still a fire to fight.” He winked at her before gathering his gear and heading back toward the blaze. From what Jenna saw before she was pushed into the back of the ambulance, the amount of destruction was massive. Four stores in total had been affected by the fire.
The minutes ticked by as Jenna lay in the hospital room with an oxygen mask over her face. While she hadn’t felt any pain, when the adrenaline began to die down she became aware of the slow, steady stinging of a burn on her leg. She realized that she was still in costume, and some of the plastic strips from the hula skirt she’d been trying on had left her a searing reminder of what she’d been through.
A doctor and a few nurses came in to check on her. It took them only a few minutes to remove the melted plastic and treat the injury. They had just finished wrapping the wound when Paul arrived. He looked pale and frantic.
“Jeeze, Jenna are you alright?!? What happened?”
“Honestly, Daddy, I don’t know. I was in a shop, just goofing around, when I smelled smoke. I didn’t know there was a fire at first, and I didn’t think a fire could spread that fast. By the time the alarm sounded it was already coming through the walls. Oh, I did have a great idea for The Wheel, though! What do you think about a tiki party? A luau! We could really pack in some of the college kids that are home for summer break. We’d make a killing!”
Paul sighed, plopping down into the chair next to the bed. “Here you are with burns on your leg and you’re still worried about your old man’s bar. I’ll do whatever you want to do at the bar, Jenna.”
“You promise?” She eyed him suspiciously.
“Yeah. So have they told you when you get to leave? I gotta go meet Hannity at the bar in a few. I want to talk with him before we open so we can iron out the details of his new agreement when you go back to school.”
“But, Dad, I—”
He cut her off. “I don’t want to hear a word about it. You’re not working tonight. Go out, have some fun if you’re up to it. Or stay home and watch a movie. Relax! You’ve earned it. I guess I should go grab ya some clothes, huh?”
Jenna stared down at her half-melted hula skirt and coconut bra. Her smile grew into a giggle she simply couldn’t stop. Through her laughter, she nodded, “Yeah, that sounds great, Dad. Thank you.”
“Alright, I’ll be back in a few to take you home. Probably after I see Hannity, okay?”
“That’s fine with me, Dad. Just don’t forget my stuff!”
By the time Jenna was ready to check out of the hospital, her father had returned. She’d never felt happier to go home than she did that evening.
Paul set her up in the living room with her leg propped up on his favorite chair, the TV in her sights, and the remote in her hand. There was plenty of food on the coffee table for her, along with some magazines that he’d pulled from her room.
“Oh, Dad! Can you bring me my laptop? I have to let everyone know I’m okay and that my phone is probably scorched by now.”
Paul nodded and did as she asked before heading out for the night. “Um, okay, I think you have everything you need. If you go out or anything, leave me a note, or…”
She interrupted him this time. “Dad, don’t worry about me. Everywhere I go won’t be engulfed in flames. If I go out, I’ll be home by morning.”
He simply kissed her on the forehead and headed out to the bar. She would have loved to go with him, and even better to know what was said in his conversation with Hannity, but with her leg still hurting, she was on the couch for the night. She turned on her laptop, planning to message her friends to ask for some company, but then remembered that there wasn’t any Wi-Fi at home.
Jenna stared at the wire running from the ancient cable modem to her Dad’s dinosaur desktop computer. Even if her laptop was compatible with the modem—which didn’t seem all that likely—she had no idea how to configure it, so she decided to give the desktop a try. Turning the thing on sounded like she was initiating a launch sequence. The noises freaked her out, and she didn’t want to break anything that belonged in a museum, so she held the power button down until the thing shut itself off.
“I guess TV it is for the night,” she said to herself. But just then there was a knock at the door. Thinking it was her Dad, she started talking before it opened. “What is it this time, old man? You forget your keys or something?”
The man who yanked open the door wasn’t Paul but Tanner. Tanner Devlin was standing on her doorstep with jeans and a T-shirt on. He looked and smelled clean, whereas Jenna hadn’t even thought of showering after the day she’d had.
“So are you going to invite the guy who saved your life inside, or do you want me to wait out here?” His sarcasm made her pause.
“Sure,” she said, snapping out of it and beckoning him in. “Come on in.”
He shut the door behind him and looked around the room. “Wow, this place hasn’t changed that much, has it?”
Jenna felt a wave of anxiety as Tanner wrapped up his trip down memory lane and focused his eyes on her. They had made a lot of memories here, but right now it was making her nervous to have the man she’d rolled around with in her dreams standing in the living room. They were in her house alone, and she couldn’t stop undressing him with her eyes.
“Thank you,” she finally blurted out.
“You’re welcome,” he smirked. “I got something for you.”
“Really? I should have gotten something for you and everybody else down at the station. Who knows what would have happened if you guys hadn’t shown up when you did.” Jenna moved over so he could sit next to her.
Tanner handed her a plastic bag. Inside of it was her purse. It reeked of smoke like it had been barbecued. But her stuff was intact. She pulled out her phone, and it powered on just enough to show it was okay—but at 1%. It quickly shut itself back off. “Damn. Thank you so much, Tanner. I can’t believe how much I owe you for today. I guess that dream I had about you this morning was actually a good thing.”
“Wait a minute, a dream? What was it about?” he laughed.
“Nothing I want to talk about sober,” she giggled.
“But you don’t drink.”
“Exactly,” she laughed.
“So what time are you heading over to The Wheel?” he asked her.
“I’m not. Dad’s orders to relax and take the night off. Apparently I’ve been through a lot today.”
“You’ve been through a lot, period. I see you have a smorgasbord already, but how about you let me take you out to dinner?”
“You save my life and now you’re trying to wine me and dine me? What did I do to deserve all of this?”
“You lived! I had no idea who was in that store. We only went through the wall to make sure no one was stuck, and when I saw it was you, my heart nearly stopped. I don’t know what I would have done if—” he stopped himself. “Never mind. We got to you and got you both out.”
“Speaking of which, do you know if Llana is okay? The shop owner. She was out cold by the time you guys got to us.”
“Yeah, she’s alright, I think. I know they were keeping her overnight for observation, but I don’t know much more than that. So do you feel up to going out? Grabbing a bite with me?”
“Sure, as long as I can shower first. I’m the one who smells like a burning building even though you’re the actual firefighter,” she chuckled.
Jenna made her way up the stairs to shower. The burn on her leg wasn’t too bad. It didn’t hurt that much, she told herself. Yet she still made sure to keep it out of the water while she washed herself and got dressed.
Tanner got up from the couch when she made it back into the living room. With a slick smile on his face, he nodded. “I like, but I was kind of hoping you’d come down in that hula skirt and coconut bra combo from earlier.”
“Ha, ha, very funny.” She pushed him playfully toward the door.
Not wanting to end up anywhere fancy, the two agreed to grab a bite to eat at a nearby diner. It wasn’t the best food in town, but it wasn’t the worst either. They sat down to eat, talking about everything from the fire to the fun times they had shared as kids in Doveport. There was so much history between them, mostly from before they started dating.
It had always bothered Jenna that they’d lost touch after she went back to school, but she knew that wasn’t on her. If Tanner hadn’t told her what he had, they would have been much closer. Perhaps that dream she’d had would have even been a reality.
Sitting across the table from him, Jenna couldn’t help but replay the images of his face between her legs and wonder if the real thing lived up to her fantasy.
“So tell me about this dream,” he said to her as if he were reading her mind.
Jenna just knew she was blushing. The goofy smile on Tanner’s face told her she was. He slid around the table into the booth seat with her. “I can tell that it’
s something you need a drink for by how red you’re turning. Please just tell me all the other details, then. I’m curious.”
She felt his hand on her thigh. With her short shorts on, he was inches away from making her dream a reality. Her heart began to race as she moved a piece of hair behind her ear. “Well, we were married.”
“Not the most farfetched idea in the world. I’ve heard worse,” he laughed. “Go on.”
Giggling to herself, she practically hid her face as she told him, “And we were on our honeymoon. We were celebrating our union as husband and wife when we got interrupted.”
“Interesting,” he smirked mischievously. “I think I like where this is going.”
“Oh, don’t celebrate just yet. You end up in shackles,” she laughed.
“I’m not into handcuffs and bondage, but I could be for the right person,” he whispered to her, moving his hand further up her thigh.
Jenna tried hard to control her breathing, but the closer his fingers crept to the edge of her shorts, the more anxious she got. Her center was growing moist, and the only thing he’d done was rub her thigh!
“So what happens before I end up in shackles?” he asked her, biting his lower lip. The sight of it made Jenna melt.
She was getting hot just sitting there. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. I shouldn’t have said anything to you about the dream. Let’s talk about something else.”
“I don’t want to,” he said, and this time he moved in closer. He was looking to her, waiting for her to stop him, but Jenna just sat there. “Did I do anything like this in the dream?”
Her heart pounded against her chest as Tanner’s lips were suddenly grazing her neck while his hands grazed the wet spot between her thighs. He wasn’t inside of her shorts, but she wasn’t sure she’d stop him if he went there.
“Yes,” she answered him with her voice trembling. After taking a deep breath, Jenna pulled away from him. “Tanner, you just broke up with your girlfriend less than 24 hours ago. I don’t want to be some rebound summer fling thing.”