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Chapter One
When he first entered my yard, my heart slammed into my chest. The sight of him scared me more than the rattler that was slithering underneath my barbecue grill. My nerves were rattled enough as it was, but the sight of him scared the bejesus out of me. I estimated his height to be at least six feet four inches, and he was all man. He wore a navy-blue Palm Hills Fire Department T-shirt, jeans that molded against his massive thighs, and tan hiking boots. His wavy hair was thick and full of gray. He wore a thick mustache. I knew he must be in his sixties, but damn the man was hot! His light-brown eyes sparkled for a moment when he glanced my way.
“Ma’am, we’re here about a rattler?”
“Oh, right.” I blinked for a moment, then my skin crawled from the realization of why I had called 9-1-1 in the first place. I pointed toward the barbecue grill that was against the side of my house. The tail of the rattler was in plain sight and was moving back and forth slowly. I wanted to throw up. “See… see, I wasn’t lying. Please. . . do something.”
The man nodded, then gestured to one of the two younger firemen who accompanied him. They were younger than me. I was thirty-two years old.
“Well,” one of the firemen said as he lifted the cover from the grill. “Holy crap! Captain, take a look at this!”
Captain Hottie walked closer to the other men, then exclaimed, “Holy shit!” He echoed the others but in a deeper, more mature voice.
“What you have here is a king snake eating a rattler,” one of the younger men said.
I clenched my stomach. I felt bile rise in my throat. “Ew,” I said.
“It’s a good thing,” the captain explained. “You want to keep the king snake in your yard. It will keep the bad snakes out.”
I shook my head adamantly. “No!”
“Do you have kids?” the captain asked.
“Yes.”
“Then, you’re keeping the king snake back here. Trust me,” the captain commanded.
“But—” I started, but the captain shook his head, his eyes steady on mine.
“Trust me,” he said again.
My shoulders sagged in defeat, and I whispered, “Okay.” Never mind that I feared all snakes.
The two young firemen had reached into their pockets for their phones and started taking photos of the red-and-black-striped king snake eating the rattler.
“I had no idea there were two snakes under there,” I cried. I started to jump up and down like an overly caffeinated spaz. I was waving my hands back and forth, unable to control my anxiety. In some ways I should have been proud of myself for keeping it together for as long as I had. But, at the moment, I wanted to pee in my pants, barf, and crawl into a ball all at the same time.
I had just come home from my son’s basketball practice, and I was outside disposing of some trash when I noticed the tip of the rattlesnake underneath the barbecue grill. I was just thankful the kids hadn’t followed me outside. Knowing my son, he would have tried to reach for the snake without believing it could kill him.
The captain noticed the panicked state I was in and approached me. Now I wanted to pee for an entirely different reason. Damn, why does he have to be so sexy? He placed a strong, manly hand on my left shoulder. My nipples immediately peaked at his touch. Thank goodness I was wearing an overly padded bra so none of the men could see the effect the captain had on me.
“Ma’am, are you okay?”
I shook my head no.
“Do you need me to call someone to stay with you? Are your kids here?”
“I… no… I mean, no, you don’t need to call anyone. Yes, my children are here.”
As if on cue, Max slid open the back sliding door and stuck his head out. “Mom, can we come out now?”
I glanced at the captain. He nodded.
“Yes, you guys can come out now,” I responded.
Max and Kyra walked out. Max was ten and was still wearing his basketball jersey. Kyra was thirteen and in shorts, a pink tank top, and flip-flops. “So was there really a snake out here this time?” Kyra asked.
My face immediately flushed from embarrassment. In the past few weeks, since moving to Palm Hills from San Francisco, I had seen way too many snakes in the backyard. I was really starting to regret moving because of creepy, crawling creatures. The last two times I called 9-1-1 turned out to be false alarms. The first time I thought I had a rattler, but it turned out to be a garter snake. The last time, I was pretty sure there was a rattler, but it moved too fast and disappeared in the hill behind my yard. The two younger firemen were the ones who’d arrived the other two times.
One of the men chuckled. “We asked Captain to come with us this time. He wanted to meet the lady who cries snake.”
My shoulders sagged farther. I didn’t think they could sag any more than they already had.
“James, that was uncalled for. Apologize to the beautiful lady,” the captain said. Did he really sound like Sam Elliott, or was that all in my head?
“Yes, sir. Sorry, ma’am, but you do understand my joke, right?”
“Yes, I get it. Like the boy who cries wolf, I’m the lady who cries snake. But now you know I wasn’t lying, right?”
“Right,” the young man said, then turned his attention to Max. “Hey, you wanna see something cool?” He pointed to the king snake eating the rattler.
“Cool!” Max exclaimed.
Kyra scrunched up her nose and said, “That’s disgusting. Ew! I’m going back inside.” That’s my princess. I would go inside with her, but I didn’t want to be rude. Oh, who was I kidding? I wanted to be next to the captain for a little bit longer.
“Did you call your husband as well?” the captain asked.
“Oh, my dad moved away a long time ago. We never see him. We e-mail every day and talk on the phone once a week, but…” Max answered. For some reason he wanted to divulge all our family drama.
“Max!” I tried to interrupt.
“So you’re alone here?” the captain asked.
Before I could come up with a dignified answer, Max replied again, “No, we aren’t alone. We have one other. I’m the man of the house.” Max puffed up his chest.
Could th
is get any worse? I wanted to run inside and bury my head under the covers.
“Good to know,” the captain mumbled.
Did I really just see the edges of his mouth lift a little bit into a smile?
“Mind if I take a stroll around your property? I already see at a glance some brush that needs to be cleared.” He didn’t wait for me to answer but instead gestured for me to follow him. He pointed to the hill behind my yard. It was really an open field with lots of hills. It belonged to the city but was my responsibility to clear. I knew this, but I didn’t have the funds or man power to remove it—yet. He gestured to a bush that was actually in my yard. “I suggest you remove that pepper tree. Not only is it a fire hazard—it can go up in flames like that”—he snapped his fingers for dramatic effect—“but also your kids could get just a little bit of the brush on their hands and wipe their eyes. Talk about severe eye pain.”
I nodded. I had intended to have it chopped down since I’d inherited the property from my aunt.
