The Firefighter's Family Secret. Shirley Jump

Can you please, pretty, pretty please, just think about it? Just for a day or two.” Ginny cocked a hip to the side and wagged a pink-tipped nail in Rachel’s direction. “You know, my wedding should make all the papers, and if my daddy has anything to say about it, it’ll end up on the local news, too. That should be great for your business! A bonanza, for sure!”

      It would be fantastic for her business. But Rachel couldn’t see a way to make it work. There simply weren’t enough hours in the day to do both. She couldn’t let her father down, couldn’t abandon his store. But instead of telling Ginny that straight out, Rachel found herself saying, “Yeah, sure, I’ll think about it.”

      Ginny squealed, then drew Rachel into a tight hug. “Awesomesauce. I’ll call you in a couple days or you call me. I’m so excited!”

      After waving as Ginny pulled away from the curb in her pink Mercedes, Rachel let her smile falter as she slowly walked back into the empty shop. There were no customers, and the full shelves and almost empty cash register seemed to mock her. She was spending her days here, trying to keep her father’s dream alive, while her own died a slow death.

      On the back wall hung a series of plaques and a small shelf of trophies. Best Fisherman, Biggest Catch, Good Neighbor Award. All the things that made up her dad and his life here in Stone Gap. It was like walking through her memories, remembering the fishing trips to the lake, perched in the back of the boat when he reeled in the biggest bass anyone had ever seen, sitting on a hard metal folding chair in the lobby of the town hall while the mayor of Stone Gap handed her father a plaque and a citation for his help the day after a hurricane whipped through Stone Gap and leveled half the town.

      That was the kind of guy her dad was. Hard-working, competitive, considerate to his neighbors, to everyone who knew him. She couldn’t abandon him.

      Couldn’t put his dreams on the shelf while she went after her own. Even if a part of her heart broke as she thought about letting her dream flutter away in a cloud of pink.