Her Protector: A Firefighter Secret Baby Romance

by Ashlee Price

  “Please, Mr. Hannity, it won’t happen again. I can’t afford to keep paying these fines. I’ll never get out from under the loan that way.” Paul had a helpless tone in his voice. Jenna wanted to cry, but instead she listened closely.

  “Well, perhaps you should get decent medical coverage so you won’t have to come to me the next time your wife falls sick. I’m sorry, but I did warn you not to borrow from me if you weren’t going to be able to pay it back according to my terms. So don’t complain now! Pay me my money, Paul. I’ll be by the bar around six this evening. Have it ready—along with my room!”

  “Yes sir, Mr. Hannity,” Paul said, walking the Irishman out of the house.

  Jenna wasn’t sure what to do, but she couldn’t just keep sitting at the top of the stairs. Eventually she’d have to tell her dad that she knew more about the Hannity situation than he wanted her to. But the first thing she needed was coffee.

  She walked into the kitchen to find her father sitting at the table with his face buried in his hands.

  “Whatever it is, Daddy, we’re going to get through it,” she told him.

  Paul ran his fingers through his hair, but the look on his face was less than compassionate. “What we’re going to do is pack a bag for you. You’re going to take these next few weeks and go check out those schools that sent you acceptance letters.”

  “But, Dad—”

  He cut her off. “You will not stay here in Doveport and get trapped in this damn town! You’re going to be more than a barmaid, or some firefighter’s girlfriend. After what I saw last night, I’m beyond disappointed in you, Jenna. That party was out of control!”

  “I know things got a little carried away, and I promise that I’ll clean it up, but that’s no reason to banish me to a cross-country road trip. I just want to be sure everything is good here when I do leave for grad school. I don’t want you in any trouble. I don’t want you to be so deep in debt that you have to close The Wheel. I promise, Daddy, I’ll get things up and running, and then I’ll think about going to grad school.”

  She had just sat down when Paul slammed both his hands on the table, rattling her cup and shocking her. “No! There is no thinking about going to grad school. You’re going, and that’s it! I told you before and I’ll tell you again, that bar was me and your mother’s responsibility. Now that she’s gone, it’s mine! Mine! Not yours. You are not to worry about me or that place!”

  “That’s not fair!” Jenna cried. “You can’t tell me not to worry when you’re all I’ve got left!”

  Paul held back tears. “You’ve got so much more in you than Doveport. Please don’t fight me on this. I can promise you that I’ll make everything work out so this bar will never close. Not on my watch. I will always do whatever it takes to keep this place open and your mother’s memory alive. Jenna, I just need you to do what we agreed you were going to do. Don’t come home and change the plan. Speaking of changes, why in the hell were you drunk? Please don’t pick up that kind of vice. It’s crippling, Jenna.”

  “Believe me,” she said, rubbing her temples, “I’m not picking up another drink any time soon. To be honest, I had this thing with Tanner, and even though it’s over now—I promise it is, Daddy!—his girlfriend just really got under my skin. Everybody was having such a good time and I wanted to get back in a good mood. I swear it won’t happen again.”

  “You’re right about that,” he told her firmly. “I thought you and that Tanner kid were done after high school? I don’t like him, Jenna. He’ll keep you here in this town. Don’t get distracted. Start making plans to leave here. I will not have you squander your summer, and shame your mother’s wishes, by working at The Wheel when you could be scouting schools. I don’t want you here!”

  “I don’t want to argue, Daddy. I’m tired and my head is pounding. I’m going to lie back down and sober up before I head over to the bar to start cleaning up. I promise I will look through the schools, but if I want to stay here, Daddy, there’s nothing you can do about that. It was hard enough getting through my undergrad. I need a break. Please respect that.”

  “I respect that, but I also know that taking breaks leads to never finishing. Please, Jenna just listen to me—”

  “Dad, enough!” She got up from the table. “I heard you, and I told you that I’d think about it. I don’t want to have this out right now. I’m going to my room. Besides, we made a deal that I could do the parties and you’d cut me some slack on school!”

  “You broke that deal when you had me as acting referee in a bar fight, while you were taking shots, and the police and the Fire Marshal came to shut the place down.”

  “Fine.” Jenna walked away before their disagreement could turn into a screaming match. She knew how much grad school meant to her parents, and disappointing them was never her intention.

  Plopping down on her bed, she grabbed her phone to sort through the myriad of messages she’d received. Most were from Hannah, but the one that stood out the most was from the guy she’d just told her father she was done with.

  Tanner: Hey, good morning. How ya feeling?

  Jenna wasn’t sure whether she wanted to reply, but with the performance she’d put on, she figured he deserved at least that much.

  Jenna: Hey, good morning. Sorry about last night. I kinda lost it. I’m good. Thank you.

  Tanner: Come outside. I don’t want your Dad threatening to shoot me anymore.

  Jenna: Now? When did you get here?

  Tanner: Just got here. When you didn’t respond earlier, I thought I’d come over before I head in to do my shift. Just want to see you’re alright.

  Jenna looked at her reflection in the mirror. Throwing her hair up into a quick ponytail, she swished some mouthwash around and threw on her shorts and motorcycle boots before heading downstairs and flying out the door.

  Tanner stood by his car wearing a tight black T-shirt and dark denim jeans. Her heart nearly melted as the sun bounced off his sandy blond hair and his hazel eyes narrowed toward her as she approached him.

  “You look a lot better than you did last night,” he joked.

  “I wish I felt better,” she admitted, moving next to him to lean against his car.

  “So you were going on about something Brandy said, and I just wanted to be sure that we’re on the same page here.”

  “I told you before that Brandy wasn’t going to leave me alone so long as you keep entertaining her antics. Last night I just let her get to me, and instead of socking her in the face, I took a shot or two,” she chuckled.

  “Ah yes, that would have been quite the addition to the night. Two girls in coconut bras fighting in the middle of your father’s bar. Yeah, he would have loved that,” Tanner laughed.

  “Yeah, all that’s missing from that is some mud and rowdy guys taking bets,” she grinned ruefully, shaking her head. “I’m so embarrassed. I knew there was a really good reason I didn’t drink.”

  “Yeah… So can you let me take you out to dinner or something? I want to make up the diner thing, and I don’t know exactly what Brandy said, but I haven’t spoken to her since that night. I would love to make up for you having to deal with her last night too.”

  “That’s sweet, Tanner, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m not sure that I trust myself around you that much,” she admitted.

  Tanner turned around to face her while she leaned against his car. The position was too familiar. Watching Tanner lick his lips sent a shock to her center and made her wish he could take her like he had in the back room.

  “I’ll be on my best behavior,” he winked. “I’m gonna head into work, but just tell me you’ll have dinner with me.”

  “I guess I can do that. But it has to be soon. Daddy doesn’t like you, and he doesn’t want me spending that much time with you. He’s about to ship me off on some road trip to look at grad schools. None of which are near Doveport.”

  “Okay. And no more alcohol. I like you sober,”
he told her as she backed away to let him get inside his car.

  Jenna stood back and watched him pull away from her house. Tanner Devlin was hard to say no to. Yes, he drove her body to feel things her mind didn’t want to acknowledge, but they felt good together. It was a good enough reason for her to put off grad school, even though she’d swear up and down that she was staying behind solely to help her dad.

  When she went back inside, Paul was sitting there with a frown on his face. She held her hands up to stop him from saying whatever was about to come out of his mouth.

  “I’m going back upstairs to lie down, Daddy. Tanner only came by to check on me and make sure I was okay,” she told him, racing up the stairs. Jenna heard the slow thud of her father’s footsteps following her, but she was hoping that he’d go to his own room instead of coming after her.

  When Paul entered her room several minutes later, he had a box in his hand. It was pink, with a sea-foam green floral print all around it. He sat on the edge of her bed before opening it up. When he did, Jenna couldn’t help but peek inside.

  Paul pulled out a picture. It was of a young Jenna standing on a tree stump with her arms in the air, stretched toward the clouds. She was soaking wet. The smile on her face was bright and wide. The sky was blue, and the trees around her were the greenest she’d ever seen.

  “I’m not sure if you remember this or not,” he told her, “but this was the day you jumped in the lake. We’d driven miles up into the mountains to hang out with some of your mom’s friends. We’d been trying to get you to jump in and go swimming with everybody else, but because you couldn’t see the bottom you absolutely refused. We pushed, pushed, and pushed… not literally, of course, but we kept trying to get you to go in.”

  “Well, at least I finally did it,” she laughed, letting her head rest on his shoulder.

  “Right, you did it! You didn’t let us push you in, but you also didn’t let it stop you from jumping in on your own. I’m telling you this because going to grad school is a lot like jumping in that lake. You can’t see the bottom. You don’t know what’s going to happen. It may turn out to be the best thing you’ve ever done, but you have to make that choice. I’m always going to push you to be the best version of you, but if you’re not willing to jump, ain’t no amount of pushing in the world that’s going to make a difference.”

  “So does that mean you’re okay with me taking some time off?”

  “No, that means I understand that you want to take some time off, but it also means I believe there is a better piece of you that you’re burying just to stay here. Your mom and me knew that you could be spectacular at anything you put your mind to. But if you just shut that down and don’t even try, you’re not doing what’s best for you. Do what’s best for you, Jenna. Not for me. Not for Tanner. For you.”

  “What if what’s best isn’t grad school?”

  “You’ll never know that until you try. Go for a year and see. I would love for you to stick with it and graduate, but you’ll never know unless you go. Give it your all and try your best. Don’t let this town, or anybody in it, make you second guess what you’ve been wanting to do. Be great, Jenna. You have to be great. Your mom wouldn’t want you to be any other way.”

  “Okay, Daddy,” she finally conceded, “I’ll look over those acceptance letters again and let you know. I can’t say that I’m just going to leave Doveport this week, but I’ll at least pick a school. You know, for a minute there, I was convinced that you only wanted me gone to keep me away from the bar.”

  “Oh, that’s most certainly true. We never wanted you to work there anyway,” he admitted. “But if that’s where you end up after you’ve seen all your education has to offer, I’ll be okay with that, and I think your mom would be too.”

  Jenna nodded. “I get it. But first things first. I’ve got a mess to clean up, don’t I?”

  “Oh yeah,” Paul nodded. “The Wheel is a mess. If you’re going to clean it yourself, I suggest you get a move on so the place doesn’t become a sticky puddle of goop that’ll take ya days to get through.”

  “Gross, Dad,” she laughed.

  “You ain’t seen gross until you see what they did to those damn bathrooms.”

  Chapter 10

  By the time Jenna arrived at The Wheel, the wind was blowing furiously through Doveport. It felt more like a fall morning than a warm summer afternoon. As she pulled the door open, she wished that the air in the bar could have been just as fresh. The odor, which had been marinating overnight, nearly knocked her off her feet as she stepped inside. It took every ounce of strength for her not to puke right there in the entryway. Instead of letting the door close behind her, she propped it open to let the place air out.

  Staring around the bar, she took in the damage. The grass skirt table decorations were mostly pulled off. Jenna had a very distinct memory of a partygoer wrapping one around his waist to hula with his friends. The evidence was clear: Everyone had had a good time. Even after it got shut down and she got escorted home, no one could tell her that she didn’t know how to throw a party.

  The wind from outside kicked up a bit, blowing some debris into the bar. Jenna got started, hoping she could clear out the stinkiest parts of the mess before she had to close the door. She was able to sweep up some of the dirt, but most of the gunk was sticking to the floor. Only a power wash would clean it up now.

  The spot that held the majority of the funk was near one of the tables. Jenna remembered one poor girl puking her guts out right there. That was just before Tanner had come in with his firefighting buddies to kick everybody out.

  “Yuck,” she mumbled to herself, staring down at the obvious chunks and congealed liquid cemented to the hardwood. She was beginning to think that a power wash wouldn’t do it… this floor needed to be sandblasted.

  Jenna decided to stop wasting time. She rolled up her sleeves and got to work. As she moved around the bar, she heard the wind blowing in from outside, but she never saw when it knocked over the can of oil she’d left on the bar for the tiki torch. Nor did she notice the sharp petroleum scent; it simply blended with every other odor assaulting her senses.

  Going behind the bar, she came across a few sparklers she’d bought for the party. Her idea had been to sit them in a bucket or a bottle and light them for customers who ordered large amounts of liquor. She snorted. The largest order that had come in was for a round of shots. Granted, there had been a lot of orders placed, but none that warranted sparklers. Curiosity got the better of her, and she reached for one of The Wheel’s promotional matchbooks.

  The bright white glow of the sparkler’s ignition mesmerized her. As she stared at it, the wind whipped into the bar. The gust was the strongest yet, and it carried the sparkler right out of her hand, dropping it onto the counter top. It didn’t take long for the tiki torch oil to catch. Flames sprung up immediately and spread faster than Jenna could believe. She grabbed one of the fire extinguishers from behind the bar and managed to quench the flames on the counter top, but the fire had already spread to the floor. The grass skirts around the tables acted as kindling, feeding whatever flames came near them.

  As she rushed from one blaze to the next, Jenna was terrified that the mini-extinguisher wouldn’t be enough. She started to panic as she imagined her father’s hard work—and Hannity’s money—going up in flames. She couldn’t let that happen. She refused to be the reason her father lost everything. Jenna worked furiously to put out the fire before it got completely out of control. By the time she succeeded, the damage was done—but at least the bar didn’t smell like puke anymore.

  The first number Jenna dialed was 911. She requested the fire department, and within minutes they arrived in full force, ready to battle a blaze. But the only thing they saw was Jenna standing in front of the place with her hands shamefully folded in front of her.

  “I managed to put it out, but I wanted you guys to come in and take a look to make sure nothing else was going to catch
,” she told the first guy who approached her. He looked familiar, but now wasn’t the time for pleasantries. She’d been expecting—hoping—to see Tanner, but he was nowhere in sight.

  The firefighters walked around the bar examining the path of scorched wood and tiki-themed party accessories. The more Jenna thought about it, the worse she felt. Guilt began to wash over her as she pulled out her phone to make the call she’d been dreading.

  “Daddy, there’s been a fire,” was all she said before Paul hung up the phone and raced down to the bar.

  He pulled up just as the firemen were coming out. Paul barely brought his truck to a complete stop before hopping out with a frantic look on his face.

  “What happened? Jenna! Are you alright?!?” he screamed, wading his way through the firemen.

  Jenna was standing there talking to one the them when he approached, worry plastered across his face.

  The fireman held his hands up. “Mr. Ferris, no need to worry. Your daughter here acted quickly and was able to put it out. There’s a lot of damage inside, but nothing that can’t be fixed. If you guys need anything else, please give us a call.”

  Once the fire truck pulled out of the lot, Paul stood there waiting for an explanation.

  “I’m sorry, Daddy,” Jenna blurted out as tears began to stream down her cheeks. “There was a sparkler, and… I don’t know. My stupid idea, for this stupid party, got out of control and caused this fire. I’m so sorry.”

  Paul drew in a very deep, silent breath. Blowing it out just as slowly, he told her, “Let’s go inside and see how out of control this got.”

  Jenna didn’t say anything else. She simply followed him into the bar. The residue left on the tables and bar top wasn’t thick enough to hide the amount of scorched wood underneath. The floors were burned too, but for the most part the damage was cosmetic.

  “Okay, this is not so bad,” he said, looking around.

  Paul moved his foot through some of the residue left by the fire extinguisher. Despite his words, Jenna could see his heart sink. There was no way The Wheel would be open for the night—or any other night until they got the place cleaned up.