Chapter One
Six years later
“Take it off!” a seventy-something woman screamed from the row of chairs closest to the stage. “Shake it, CJ!”
Lucy Stone dragged her best friend Rachael into the Blue Lake fire station and scanned the room for the rest of their friends. If Rachael hadn’t taken so long to say good-bye to her new love—smoking-hot rock star boyfriend Cole Turner—Lucy would’ve been able to enjoy girls’ night in its entirety.
Blue Lake Firefighters’ “Date for a Dollar” auction was in full swing by eleven. It was a good thing Lucy didn’t show for the men (the hot ones were first in the auction lineup). She attended for the cheap beer, complimentary dessert, and hilarious, bellyaching laughter with the best girlfriends in the world.
The station was packed to the max, with a DJ set up along the back wall next to racks of fire gear, and a wooden runway slicing through dozens of folding chairs. Rick “CJ” Caffey (Blue Lake’s most notorious firefighting bachelor) slung his suspenders off his shoulders and gave a little shake near the front corner of the stage.
“Do you see the girls?” Lucy hollered over the roar of the crowd.
Rachael shook her head, gasping when old Mrs. Busbee waved a dollar in front of CJ’s crotch.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Joey Brackett interrupted, striding onto center stage, microphone in hand. “This isn’t a strip show. Put away the dollar, Mrs. Busbee, and buy a date for your granddaughter instead!”
The fire station put on the auction every year and gave all proceeds to programs assisting students in Blue Lake School District who struggled with dyslexia. Although they’d named it Date for a Dollar, that’s simply where the bidding began. Through the years, Lucy had witnessed one dollar turn into two thousand. All for a good cause.
“There!” Rachael pointed over Lucy’s shoulder. “See ’em? Down in front by the speaker!”
Nodding, Lucy weaved through the crowd to join April Cassidy and Laney Owens, two of her very best friends. As they approached the table, CJ’s bid skyrocketed to two hundred dollars. The ladies standing behind their table went wild.
“He’ll take you out on a date to remember!” Joey hollered, his deep voice echoing through the station. “Guaranteed. Just make sure he leaves his suspenders at home! We don’t want to see that dance again!”
Lucy plopped into her seat and stole the beer in front of her. “Tell me this is mine.”
“It’s yours, and number two is on the way.” Brushing her chocolate-brown hair out of her eyes, April pushed her coffee mug aside. “Hope the beer’s better than the coffee. It tastes like motor oil.”
“You’re biased,” Lucy said, and took a hard drink.
April owned the coffee shop in the center of town and brewed the richest coffee Lucy had ever tasted. It was no wonder nothing compared.
“What’d we miss?” Rachael said, crossing her legs and swiveling her hips toward the stage. “Or maybe I should say who’d we miss?”
“This year they did the silent auction first, and the cocktail hour felt more like two,” Laney chimed in, yanking a mini-caramel-pop out of her mouth with a slurp. The treat was delicious, made by Laney’s own hand. If there weren’t so many people around, Lucy might’ve stolen the lollipop right out of the candymaker’s fingers. “You only missed the first ten guys or so.”
“How high’d the bids go?” Rachael asked excitedly.
Lucy laughed, nodding in thanks when a firefighter acting as a waiter brought over her second beer. “What d’you care? It’s not like you want to buy a date with any of these guys anyway! Not when you have your dream guy waiting for you back at home.”
Rachael and Cole had been together a year and still couldn’t take their hands off each other. In the last month, they’d left most of the rooms in Rachael’s historical inn vacant, so they could spend private quality time together.
Lucy didn’t blame her. With a guy like Cole on her hands, Lucy wouldn’t leave home for days. Okay, okay…weeks.
“I may not be shopping for a date for me,” Rachael said, swiping Lucy’s beer. “But I bought Laney a date last year and April a date the year before that. I paid twenty bucks for Jimmy Swanson and thirty-two dollars and fifty cents for Bucky Leo.”
“Yeah, thanks for that.” April rolled her eyes and set them on the next firefighter coming out on stage. “Bucky kept trying to get me naked that night.”
Laney snorted, choking on her lollipop.
“I’m serious!” April said, once Laney burst into a giggle fit. “He did this weird fist-pump-thing to the middle of my back and popped the hook on my bra. From the outside of my shirt!”