The Fireman's Secret by Jessica Keller Page B

of the worst possible scenario.
    Although, when he’d first arrived in town, he’d run into her because she’d just hit a deer. So maybe wondering if she had been in an accident wasn’t so off base.
    Joel stretched to work out the kinks in his shoulders. He prowled to the picnic table near the front of the station but then paced away from it.
    She was fine. She would have called, wouldn’t she have? No. Shelby would have called her brother. Someone at the firehouse must have Caleb’s number. He started for the building but stopped when he heard a truck rumbling down the road. He spotted a tiny woman barely visible over the dashboard.
    Joel was at the driver’s window before Shelby had time to shut off the truck. He hooked his hand on the edge of the door near her elbow. “You, my dear, are late.”
    “Sorry. Blame my brother.” She jammed the vehicle into Park and didn’t look at him.
    “No worries. I was kidding.”
    “I know. Sorry—”
    “No more saying sorry tonight. You’ve already met your quota of two apologies for the day, and it’s only been about forty seconds.” He popped open her door as she gathered her purse. “Let’s get these boxes out and go inside.”
    He hauled out the largest box. As he eased it out of the truck’s bed, he looked inside. It held some cooking supplies for the pancakes and a bunch of boxes of frozen breakfast sausages.
    Shelby grabbed a small box of decorations and followed him to the building.
    Joel glanced back at her. Her brows were drawn low. Whatever she was thinking about couldn’t have been good because her lips were pressed tightly together to form a grim line.
    Distraction could be his ally, at least until she wanted to talk.
    “I already cleared out the garage area and swept it. I got some of the guys to help me set up tables and chairs, and we washed the fire engines so they’ll sparkle for the crowd tomorrow.”
    “You didn’t have to do all that work.” Setting down her box on the closest round table, she surveyed the open garage.
    Unlike a regular car garage, the fire station was clean. No spilled oil or stains on the floor. The room was large with a high ceiling to accommodate the fire trucks. Tomorrow, as long as the weather cooperated, they’d leave the massive doors open. There were enough seats to fit about a hundred people.
    “It didn’t take long to set up,” Joel said.
    Shelby’s fingers laced together. “Do you think we put up enough signs? What if people don’t know about the breakfast?”
    So, she was just nervous about the event.
    He chuckled. “We put a sign on every corner in town. Everyone knows. They’ll be here. Tell me what you want me to do and we’ll get started.”
    “There are a lot more boxes to carry in.” She jutted her thumb toward the truck.
    “As you wish.” He winked at her. It took him ten minutes to carry everything in.
    She had boxes and boxes full of little churches, which she’d built out of Popsicle sticks and painted white. Each one had a small slit in the top where people could drop donations inside. They looked just like the old chapel. Joel busied himself with putting away all the food in the kitchen area while Shelby carefully took out the churches and placed one at the center of every table. Next, she began setting up other decorations.
    Whenever he walked into the room, she stopped what she was doing and watched him.
    “What else do we have left to do?”
    “Not much.” She shrugged and continued hanging signs where they would set up the silent auction in the morning.
    He’d expected her to be happy. Hadn’t she told him rebuilding the church was her dream?
    Joel shoved his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat. “Is something wrong?”
    She stared at the ground, and tugged on her sleeves until they covered her hands entirely.
    He inched closer. “You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”
    “Caleb says I should stay away from you.” Her eyes widened, almost as if she