Page 6 of Sparks with the Firefighter

Thoran has captivated me in a way I didn’t see coming.

By the time I sit down at Lumberjills Cafe for the planning meeting for Lumberjack Days, texting Thoran is just a part of my life. I have to force myself to pull my attention anywhere other than the three dots I know will be illuminating my phone.

I have my notebook squared in front of me. It’s the good one, with the tabs. Adler Oakes is talking through details and I'm trying to find a gap I can fill for this community I love so much. I’m two minutes into writing when the silver bell chimes over the door and Thoran walks in.

My heart nearly stops as he nods at the room. The gesture is casual and collected. Then he pushes two tables together, one-handed, like they weigh nothing, and joins us like it's the most natural thing in the world.

He sits down directly across from me. He’s close enough that I can smell sawdust and clean cotton. He’s even more handsome than I remembered, which does not seem fair at nine in the morning.

Adler asks individual tables to discuss something about a food vendor, but there’s no way I can pay attention to anything other than the way Thoran’s eyes bore into mine.

Jules slides into the booth beside me and puts a hand on my arm. That jolts me back to the present.

She smiles at me, but there’s a glint in her eye that tells me she’s got something up her sleeve. "Don't hate me. Okay?"

"Why would I hate you? You make the best coffee in town,” I laugh.

"Well, I nominated you two to be our Lumberjack Lovers for the festival."

My pen stops. "What two? Us two?” My eyes flick from her to Thoran and back again.

Thoran lets out a strangled noise that lands somewhere between shock and a chuckle.

"Yes, precisely! I got to thinking you two are both single. You look stunning together. And—" she raises a finger before I can get going, "—the Lumberjack Lover couple gets the front-page advertising slot in the program. The whole page, Vivien. Think about how many new pups come walking through that door. It’s a win for everyone involved."

"I hate to point out the obvious, but they’re supposed to be a real couple. Sponsors buy into the dream because they think it’s a reality and I’ve got the whole fire station at stake here." There's a laugh buried in Thoran's voice. He hasn't looked away from me once.

"Well, a real couple at any stage of a relationship is a real couple. Know what I mean?" Jules shrugs. "This town has eyes and I see everything. I call it like I see it. So, is that a yes?"

And then, she winks at him. Winks.

I open my mouth. I have several things to say, all of them reasonable. For example, I can’t be in a fake relationship, I have a son. I’m new in town. I’ve only been divorced for a year. Thoran looks like he walked off a firefighter calendar. We hardly know each other.

But I get out exactly none of them because Jules is already standing up. Before I can stop her she’s tapping a spoon against the side of her mug and turning to face the room with her whole face lit up.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Get ready to cross this off your agenda."

"Jules, I don’t⁠—”

"We have our Lumberjack Lovers."

CHAPTER FIVE THORAN

The whole town turns out for the Lumberjack Days barbecue.

They always do. It’s the second Saturday, in the arena parking lot and it’s our unofficial kick off to the festivities. Smoke goes up off the pits behind the announcer's stand before the sun's clear of the ridge. Somebody's truck is backed in with the speakers on it. Kids run the bleachers and hide underneath them. The whole lot smells like woodsmoke, cut grass and hot asphalt.

I've stood in this lot for the opening barbecue every June since I moved here. I have never once stood in it with a woman on my arm.

Vivien comes across the gravel toward me and I forget the sentence I was in the middle of saying to Adler. She's got her hair down for once, and a plaid shirt knotted at the waist. The jeans she’s wearing show every curve and it makes it impossible to think. Drew is half a step behind her with his hands already full of cotton candy.

She stops in front of me. Close, but not close enough.

"So." She's got that professional voice on, the one from the bay. "How do we do this?"

"Do what."

"This." She flicks two fingers between us. "There's a banner with our faces on it, it hardly even looks like me. Someone hung an AI banner, Thoran!”