Hometown Fireman. Lissa Manley

her shoulders. “But I’ll figure it out. I always do.”

      Maybe he was reading things wrong, but it seemed as if she were used to handling things on her own. Had she had a choice about being self-reliant in the past?

      Admiration for her strength spread through him, along with a healthy dose of curiosity. What had happened to make her so resigned to dealing with things by herself? In another time and place he would have encouraged her to look to God for help, yet lately he hadn’t even been doing that.

      He kept himself from putting an arm around her while he told her everything would be okay. The idea of pulling her close tantalized him, setting his composure on a crooked angle that kept him off balance and slightly uneasy.

      Sadie must have sensed Ally’s distress; she came over and sat at Ally’s feet, looked up and whined. Ally gave Sadie a quivery smile, crouched and buried her face in the fluffy toffee-colored fur on Sadie’s head. Ally sniffed and turned away.

      Empathy welled up inside him, fast and strong. He shifted from foot to foot and looked at the ground for a second. “Uh, I’m sorry it turned out this way.” That certainly sounded lame, considering what had happened, but he’d never been good at offering comfort; it just didn’t come easily to him.

      “Not your fault,” she said into fur, her voice scratchy. “You’re just the messenger.”

      He nodded and kept quiet.

      Rex came triumphantly bounding back with the ball in his mouth, ran in a circle and then dropped the toy about ten feet from where Drew stood by Ally and Sadie. After a moment, Rex sat and barked once, as if to say, Throw it, you dummy!

      Automatically, Drew responded to the order and moved forward a few steps, his hand out. Rex swiftly stood, flattened his ears and bared his teeth, growling, his hackles raised.

      Drew fell back, instinctively snatching his hand in, realizing too late that Rex had been barking at Ally to throw the ball, not Drew. “Okay, boy. Guess we’re not friends yet.”

      Ally rose. “Rex! No—”

      “It’s okay,” Drew said. “He needs some space.” And he understood that, better than he wanted to, actually. He’d been trying to get space from his dad all his life, and knew well how irritating it was to have someone trying to close up that space by forcing his wants and needs on the other person.

      “He’ll come around,” Ally said as she picked up the ball and threw it again. Rex took off. “Just give him time.”

      Time? Drew laughed under his breath. Yeah, right. His dad had proven that time didn’t heal all wounds.

      “What’s so funny?” Ally shot back, her brow deeply furrowed.

      “Oh, nothing.” He didn’t want to unload on her about his problems with Dad, not when she already had so much on her plate.

      “No, really.” She pointedly glared at him, her eyes turning as hard as emeralds. “What joke did I miss?”

      Rex came back with the ball in his mouth, but instead of dropping it, he lay down instead, panting around the ball, then placed it on the ground between his front paws, obviously played out for now.

      Ally went on, her tone rising. “I mean, I just found out my home is a total loss.” Her eyes snapped. “Tell me, what could possibly be funny about that?”

      Contrition zapped through him. “Nothing, trust me,” he said, trying, belatedly, to set her mind at ease. “It’s just that...” He trailed off. The last thing he wanted to do was burden her.

      “Just that what?” she prompted sharply.

      He let out a heavy breath. Guess he was going to have to level with her. “What you said made me think that sometimes time can’t fix problems.”

      She stared at him without speaking.

      Her silence prompted him to go on. “My dad and I have had a...difference of opinion for a long time, and it’s only gotten worse with time, not better.”

      “About what?” she said, her voice softening just a bit.

      “What I want to do with my life,” he said, surprised that he was willing to open up. Guess he needed a shoulder, though why he wanted that shoulder to belong to Ally was beyond him. “Moonlight Cove’s fire department is volunteer only, except for the chief, so I want to move away to where I can be a full-time, paid firefighter, and eventually train to become a paramedic.”

      Her eyebrows drifted skyward. “Go on.”

      “And, well, my dad’s had years to adjust to what I want to do with my life, and he’s still in a snit about my plans.”

      She frowned. “Why is he so against it?”

      “Well, at first it was just because it meant I wouldn’t be around to take over the family real estate business.” Dad had been adamant that Drew come back to Moonlight Cove after college, and Drew had agreed, figuring he might come to love the business in time. “Then my sister’s fiancé was killed while working on a hotshot fire crew a couple of years ago.”

      “Oh, that had to be rough.”

      “It was, of course. But ever since then, Dad has refused to accept that this is what I want to do, and he’s making no secret of his feelings, either.” He rubbed his jaw. “It doesn’t help that he moved into the apartment above the garage a couple of weeks ago and he and Mom haven’t spoken since.”

      Ally’s eyes went round. “Ah. Okay.” She paused, nibbling on her bottom lip. “It sounds like he’s just worried about you.”

      “I know that’s part of it. But I’m an adult, with my own life to live. I need him to relax a bit.”

      “Have you asked for God’s help with this?”

      He blinked, surprised that she’d brought up the very thing he’d thought about recently. “No.” God hadn’t helped Jake and Beth, and their lives had exploded. Would He even be there for Drew?

      “Well, maybe you should. I always feel better when He’s on my team. How’s your mom dealing?”

      “That’s the thing.” He shook his head. “She seems to be just fine.” He realized how strange that comment sounded. “Not that I don’t want her to be fine. It’s just that I would expect her to be a bit more upset by their rift, you know? I mean, their marriage seems to be on the rocks....”

      “I got what you meant.” Ally nibbled her bottom lip. “Do you think that maybe she’s just acting fine to cover up how she really feels?”

      Drew thought back to their recent conversations. All had involved Mom cutting him off with a lot of distracting mumbo jumbo and then skillfully changing the subject. “You might have a point,” he said. “It does all seem kind of premeditated.”

      “Well, it’s just a thought, but seems like a definite possibility. It’s always easier to cover up than open up.”

      He peered at her. “Sounds like you talk from experience.”

      Ally paused, her eyes unblinking. Then she pushed her mouth into a tight, fake little smile that didn’t reach her eyes, or anywhere else on her face for that matter.

      “Um...yeah.” She picked up Rex’s tennis ball. “C’mon, guys. Enough playing. Time for bed.” She regarded Drew, a composed mask slipping into place over her pretty features, as if someone had told her to look indifferent and she was giving it a go. “Good night.”

      He simply nodded, stunned silent at how quickly she’d shut down their conversation. Her words about covering up versus opening up echoed through his mind, raising his curiosity.

      With the dogs following in her wake, she headed into the house, leaving Drew standing there alone with the cool spring breeze ruffling his hair, wondering again what her story was.

      And