“Peace,” the bar owner repeated. “I like that.”

Chester had become not just a mentor but a friend to Danny over the past year. When he learned that Chester had been one of Julie’s father’s friends, one of the people who’d kept tabs on Julie after her parents perished in Mexico City, Danny had felt a sense of gratitude to him. But when Julie explained just how the man had helped, that gratitude turned into unwavering loyalty.

“How did you end up at Chester’s?” Danny had asked over coffee and cinnamon rolls one morning.

The faraway look Julie sometimes wore when the past caught up with her flashed across her face, but instead of being paired with tear-filled eyes, it came with a smile.“Ahh, Chester. Apparently he came to the funeral.” She shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t remember most of that day. When we spoke after the fact, he explained that he didn’t approach me—something about too many people suffocating me with their need to feel good about themselves.” She and Danny laughed, knowing Chester would absolutely say something like that. “About a year after my parent’s deaths, I heard from Chester for the first time.”

“Wait.” Danny’s head snapped to attention. “What the fuck? He left you alone for nearly a goddamn year? What kind of an irresponsible son-of-a—”

“Danny.” Julie placed her hand on his arm, and the simple contact lowered his blood pressure instantly. “I said it was the first I’d heard from him, not the first he’d checked on me. Remember what I told you the first night we got together? I was never really alone. Apparently Chester and my dad knew each other from boot camp and infantry training. They went separate ways after that, but they remained close. Chester stayed in the marines for many years after my dad got out, and apparently, Chester has people.”

“People?”

“Yeah, people. I didn’t ask many questions, but according to him, during one of our first conversations, his people had been keeping an eye on me. When the ‘well-wishers’ and the ‘sympathy parade’ got back to their real lives, he knew I’d need him. So he waited. Said he was a little surprised that it took as long as it did, but then again, he knew how amazing my parents were.”

“Okay…” Danny stretched out the word, not sure where the story was leading.

“One night, after I got home from work—I’d been waitressing seven days a week at a joint where they let me bartend two shifts out of twelve for extra cash and experience—I had a message on the answering machine from one Chester Murray. He explained who he was, how he knew me, and that he expected me—expected me—at his bar the following day or he’d send his people to collect me. That was all left in a sixty second message.”

Danny chuckled. “What’d you do?”

“What do you mean? You’ve heard his voice. I asked some people I worked with about his place to make sure it wasn’t too seedy, and I went to his bar the next day. Sure as shit didn’t want a man that sounded like that sending anyone to my house.”

Danny laughed. His woman was smart and had no idea how funny she was. Beautiful was something. Funny was something. Smart, funny, and beautiful was practically unheard of. “What happened when you got there?”

Julie’s eyes had danced with the memory. “I was dead on my feet when I walked into Chester’s Bar. That was back when I was pulling as many double shifts as I could in order to keep my mind occupied and my body out of this house.”

Danny thought back to when they had met and her schedule was jam-packed with hours. He remembered thinking she must have needed money, before he learned about her family. Then he realized she needed the hours, not the cash.

“Anyway, I shuffled up to the bar and had my very first encounter with infamous Bunny.” They simultaneously rolled their eyes. “From the scathing look she gave me the moment I asked to speak with Chester, you would have thought I’d shoved a picture of her, sans makeup and hairspray, in her face and threatened to release it to the media. She claimed he wasn’t there and that I’d wasted my trip. Thankfully his office door was open and when he heard me leaving my name, he came out to introduce himself, or I would have never come back. Bunny was a raving, territorial bitch. I mean, Chester’s great and all, but the man is old enough to be my dad. Eww!” She shivered. “I’m not that kind of girl.”

Julie explained how she’d turned down the job Chester offered her, but the old guy refused to give up on her. After a handful of offers over a handful of months, he wore her down and got her working under his roof. Respect for the guy who never gave up on a brother’s kid was something Danny would never forget.

Chester spoke, bringing Danny’s mind from out of the past. “The question, and it’s somethin’ you don’t need to answer as much as you just need to think on, is if you found your peace and you found your woman, then why are you running from one thrill-seeking mission to the next?”

The cool liquid turned to ice as it hit the back of Danny’s throat, frosting a path straight down to his stomach. “What the hell are you talking about? Firefighting runs in my blood.” Danny grunted. “It’s a goddamn honor.”

Pressing open palms against the bar top, Chester leaned forward, towering over the scarred pine. “I recommend you think on it, Marcus.” Chester’s next words came out slowly, and Danny couldn’t tell if Chester was speaking slowly on purpose or if it just seemed that way because of the truth he saw in the man’s eyes. “You made it through the army, boy. Four years of trainin’, fightin’, and prayin’ that you’d make it out differently than Jeff. And here you sit, drinkin’ a beer on the night of your discharge. Four motherfuckin’ years, Danny.

“You think that was hard?” he continued. “You think signing up for a war and leavin’ your family was difficult? Tryin’ to keep your mind focused in order to get your brothers to safety…you did that daily, no?” Chester placed two shot glasses on the bar, filled each with tequila, and slid one in Danny’s direction before nodding at Julie, who was tending to customers on the deck outside. “Now you got her. Her love, her pain, her loss, her happiness…all that is with you on every single call you get. Firefighters are amazing, boy. It takes heart, soul, and skill. You have that. You gave that. Four years you gave that. You sure you still wanna give it? Knowing what you have to lose…knowing what she could lose?”

Nausea churned in Danny’s gut. What the hell? This was his plan, their plan. He had always planned to be a firefighter like his father. The army had been off course, not this. “Chester, you’re wrong, man—”

The older guy raised a hand. “I don’t need answers tonight. In fact, I don’t need answers ever. It’s just a question I’ve been thinkin’ about. Do what makes you happy, and take care of our girl.”

Chapter Seven

Took Tommy Jones

“SERIOUSLY, THAT WAS the best Christmas I’ve had in years,” Julie said through a yawn. She unfolded her cramped legs, stretching yet again in the passenger seat of Danny’s Ford Ranger. The sleep she’d just woken from faded away as memories from the past few days replayed in her mind like the holiday music Danny’s father had insisted play throughout the house.

“You say that every year.” Danny grinned, his hand rubbing her upper thigh and sending tingles to her core.

“And I mean it every year.” She giggled.

They’d left North Carolina at the crack of dawn, and six hours later, they were almost home to a slush-covered Baltimore. After four years of marriage, the heat between them still snuffed out even the coldest temperatures.

“I love that you love spending time with my dad and Neal, honey.” Danny squeezed her thigh, his eyes never leaving the road.

Julie gripped his hand. “Danny, they’re my family too, and they have been for quite some time now. Being with them…” She sighed.