Only Her Smokejumper Firefighter - Cami Checketts Page 0,36

felt uncomfortable and awkward. Did Grams know the discrepancies between Mavyn and Ren? Did she understand that no matter what happened yesterday, Mavyn was terrified to simply believe and trust in God, trust in Ren? Especially after she’d lied to him.

When Mavyn didn’t say anything, Grams put an arm around her. Mavyn found herself leaning against the older woman’s soft warmth. “Isn’t he incredible?” Grams sighed. “How I love my baby boy.”

Mavyn smiled, relaxing a little bit. The term “baby boy” didn’t fit the tough Supervisor Ren Chadwick at all, but she knew he was soft for his grandmother and for her. She glanced around at all the expectant faces.

Cedar cocked an eyebrow. “Well … do we get to read the note too?”

“No.” Mavyn held it against her chest and thought up a quick reply to distract them. She liked Ren’s family, but this note was too personal to share. “Unless you want Hope reading the love notes you send to her out loud to the entire family.”

Everyone chortled at that as Cedar protested. “I don’t send her love notes.”

Hope elbowed him in the gut and pulled out her phone. “Do y’all want to hear the sappiest texts in the world?”

Cedar grabbed her phone and held it away, his handsome face flaring red. A battle for the phone ensued between Cedar and Quill, but luckily for Cedar, he won. Finally, everyone settled down and helped cook a large breakfast.

Mavyn escaped upstairs, hoping no one would notice. She needed to be alone. She read the note over and over, studying the picture of the Savior. Why was Ren so good, so trusting? He’d given her his “most treasured earthly possession” and she couldn’t even give him the complete story of why she pushed God out of her life.

Gnawing at her thumbnail, she debated just leaving. She’d promised Ren she’d stay in Mystical Lake, but she didn’t know if she could handle being surrounded by his happy family. Cora was here, so that helped. Also, Kris Bellissima was in the valley, so that made her want to stay and find a way to expose that woman for what she was.

Frustration at herself had her chewing more fingernails. Ren loved her and how did she repay him? She lied to him and tried to think of ways to escape her promise to wait for him. Flopping back on the bed, she felt as miserable and alone as ever. She’d felt pure love from Ren, but she still wanted to ditch him. She’d do almost anything to hide her secrets.

Rolling onto her knees, she did something that terrified and thrilled her. She prayed.

Chapter Eight

Ren and his crew dropped in next to a hotspot north of Redding California early Christmas morning. The winds were vicious but it was a mild fifty-five degrees. His team worked so well together and were such hard workers that they’d built a fire line half a mile long by the time a crew of wildland firefighters joined them. The other men arrived on foot just after lunch. The crew was a group from San Francisco and were some of the roughest-talking and looking firefighters Ren had met. That was saying something. Most wildland crews were pretty tough and not people you’d ever agree to meet in a dark alley.

“Former inmates,” Joshua grunted to him as they shoveled. “Most of them barely released but got their training in prison.”

Ren had worked with crews of inmates before and it had gone fine. Most of them were happy to escape prison walls and gain a valuable skill that could help them find success after they were released. They usually put their heads down and worked, which he appreciated.

He’d grown close to his own crew over the past couple of years as crew supervisor, and though only Joshua shared his faith, they all were respectful of it, most of them admitting that Supe Ren’s “intuition” had saved their lives one time or another. Because of that, they were careful with their language around him. Not perfect, but they tried and he appreciated it.

One of the men on the San Francisco wildland crew was particularly foul and loud, cursing every other word and complaining about them working on Christmas, claiming the idiots who started this fire should be the people burning in it, on and on. Ren learned the guy’s name was Bruce and he felt an even stronger aversion to him. Bruce had been the name of the scum who’d hurt Mavyn.

Ren focused on