A Healing Match
After serving overseas, former soldier Josephine âJJâ Jones needs a fresh start. And Gordon Falls is just the place. When JJ meets executive Alex Cushman, her world is turned upside down. Alex is seeking a respite from all the pressures of his multimillion-dollar business. And the beautiful firefighter might be the answer to his prayers. But a secret lies between them. One so big, it threatens to end their love before itâs even begun. Can she ever trust Alex when she finds out he may be responsible for a family tragedy that changed all their lives?
Gordon Falls: Hearts ablaze in a small town
âYou should just leave.â
Alex had thought about leaving. The old Alex would have been long gone days ago. Still, he couldnât.
He saw it, then, in her eyes. JJ was waiting for him to leave. Watching for him to betray her in the way she had been betrayed before.
âI canât leave.â
âWhy?â
âYou really donât know the answer to that?â
Her face flushed. âWhy would I ask a question I know the answer to?â
JJ tried hard not to look him in the eye, but the more she dodged him, the stronger his conviction became. âBecause Iâm supposed to stay.â And then, even though it felt like jumping off a cliff to do so, Alex made himself add, âAnd because I want to stay.â
Her eyes widened, and she backed up. âMax doesnât need you.â
âIâm not staying for Max.â He reached for her hand.
At first JJ edged out of his grasp, but when he took another step, she stilled her hand and let him grasp it. âIâm staying for you.â
ALLIE PLEITER
Enthusiastic but slightly untidy mother of two, RITA® Award finalist Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and nonfiction. An avid knitter and unreformed chocoholic, she spends her days writing books, drinking coffee and finding new ways to avoid housework. Allie grew up in Connecticut, holds a B.S. in speech from Northwestern University and spent fifteen years in the field of professional fund-raising. She lives with her husband, children and a Havanese dog named Bella in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.
âRomans 8:28
Dedication:
To Rachel
Who has overcome so much
Acknowledgments:
This story needed a hefty dose of technical support to get the details right. My thanks to fire chief Don Lay for again checking all the firefighter and firehouse facts. Lisa Rosen and Dr. David Chen from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago were also great helps. Thanks as well to Sean Smith,
who lent me his climbing knowledge and expertise. If any of the medical, climbing or firefighting facts of this book are incorrect, the fault lies with me and not with any of these generous experts.
Chapter One
Gordon Falls, Illinois
1:48 a.m.
2:36 a.m.
3:14 in the why-on-earth-canât-a-soul-get-to-sleep morning and JJ Jones still lay as wide-eyed as if she had downed a quartet of espresso drinks.
Refusing to lie there one more minute under the false pretense of drowsiness, JJ reached for an elastic band. She pulled her long blond hair back into a resolute ponytail and stepped into a pair of jeans under her oversize T-shirt. Padding to the not-yet-familiar kitchen of her rental cottage, JJ let the summer evening breeze coming off the Gordon River soothe her annoyance.
It was a lovely place, even in the middle of the night. She could almost count her insomnia as a pleasantry here, the nights were so enjoyable.
She grinned at her brotherâs handwriting, still sloppy in his brief set of âGuest Instructionsâ taped to the refrigerator door. They were mostly useless items with a few wisecracks like â#6. Donât drown in the river,â and â#8. Go to the hospital if you get bitten by something you canât identify.â Max ran his cottage and boat rental businesses like he ran the rest of his life: at breakneck speed with little thought to useful details. His talent at haphazard messes was one of the reasons sheâd opted to stay in a rental cottage rather than Maxâs grubby house.
She addressed the list, stained in three spots and taped back together in one corner. âIâve seen your house. Iâve seen your life. Youâd have lasted eight seconds in my unit, Max. Six, tops.â
It felt foolish to chastise an empty room, but since leaving the army a month ago sheâd not yet learned how to be comfortably alone. That was why she was here: to reacquaint herself with the virtues of peace and privacy. To ease her way into settling down in Gordon Falls alongside her brother. And, if she was truly honest, to get the chronic knot out of her stomach and squelch the nonstop urge to look over her shoulder. Helping Max out by tending to his business for a month while he was off on yet another of his crazy schemes was just a temporary way to pay the bills while she got her life in order.