The Firefighter's Family Secret. Shirley Jump

empty cash register seemed to mock her. She was spending her days here, trying to keep her father’s dream alive, while her own died a slow death.

      On the back wall hung a series of plaques and a small shelf of trophies. Best Fisherman, Biggest Catch, Good Neighbor Award. All the things that made up her dad and his life here in Stone Gap. It was like walking through her memories, remembering the fishing trips to the lake, perched in the back of the boat when he reeled in the biggest bass anyone had ever seen, sitting on a hard metal folding chair in the lobby of the town hall while the mayor of Stone Gap handed her father a plaque and a citation for his help the day after a hurricane whipped through Stone Gap and leveled half the town.

      That was the kind of guy her dad was. Hard-working, competitive, considerate to his neighbors, to everyone who knew him. She couldn’t abandon him.

      Couldn’t put his dreams on the shelf while she went after her own. Even if a part of her heart broke as she thought about letting her dream flutter away in a cloud of pink.

       Chapter Four

      Colton had never been the kind of guy that anyone would describe as romantic. He didn’t remember Valentine’s Day, rarely thought to bring flowers and stumbled over his words whenever he tried to say something poetic.

      Yet here he stood in the Garden of Eden flower shop in downtown Stone Gap a little after six in the evening, debating between roses and lilies. They all looked the same to him, a jumble of pinks and yellows and reds, and he realized he didn’t know enough about Rachel to tell which she liked best.

      God, this was a stupid idea. He could buy the wrong kind of flowers, or buy too many and make her wonder about his intentions. Maybe he should have picked up one of those solitary roses in the bucket on the counter at the gas station. Or nothing at all. Colton started to turn and leave when a familiar figure walked into the shop.

      His younger brother Luke. A very, very welcome sight.

      “If you ask me, roses are overrated. Women like something creative,” Luke said. He slipped into place beside Colton, the two of them squaring off against the colorful refrigerator case like two gunfighters. “Something that tells them you thought it through, or at least made a stab at thinking.”

      “Does staring at all these options for twenty minutes, too damned confused to pick anything out, count?”

      Luke chuckled. “Nope. Sorry.” He gestured toward the refrigerated case stuffed with fresh flowers. In the background, a saleslady in a green apron hovered, ready to jump in at any time. She’d already offered her help three times, but Colton had thought he could do this on his own.

      Ha-ha. Yeah, he pretty much sucked at this romance thing.

      “So,” Luke said, “I take it the agonizing over flowers is part of your campaign to impress the beautiful and intriguing Rachel Morris?”

      Even though his brothers had teased him when he’d returned to their table in the diner that morning, he hadn’t told them he had asked Rachel out. He’d just changed the subject when the food arrived, and the two of them had let it drop. Colton thought maybe his conversation with Rachel—and his interest in her—had dropped below Luke and Mac’s radar. Yeah, not so much. “How did you know that?”

      “For one, you ditched us to talk to her—”

      “Sorry.” Luke was right. The time he had with his brothers was limited, and he should have stayed at the table instead of getting distracted so easily.

      “No need to apologize. Pretty women always take precedence. Though you should expect some serious teasing in the days ahead.” Luke grinned. “All part of the initiation.”

      “There’s an initiation?”

      “Of course. You didn’t expect us to just let you become a Barlow without one, did you?”

      Colton chuckled. “Guess not.” Then he glanced over at his brother, half his flesh and blood. When it came to his brothers, Colton already felt like he was part of the family. With his father...not so much. “Though I don’t think it’s quite that simple.”

      “You talking about Dad?” Luke let out a sigh. “I don’t think it’s anything personal. I think he’s just struggling with the whole thing. You being here, what that means in...”

      “In what?” Colton prompted.

      “In a town this size. People talk, you know, and most people talk more than they should. About crap they know nothing about.”

      That was what Colton had been afraid of. That even at his age, being an illegitimate son was mostly an embarrassment. What had he been thinking, just showing up here last week? At Jack’s wedding, at that?

      His uncle Tank had warned him that Bobby might be...difficult. It’s going to take some getting used to, Tank had said. My brother isn’t one to embrace change. He’s a stick who is very happy staying in the mud.