Light the Fire: The Live Oak Series, #5

By Lacey Dancer

The series continues with the story of Jennifer and Cody. Jennifer has started her own business with her best friend. She has successfully pulled several weddings and looks forward to creating memorable celebrations for her friends, family and neighbors in Suwannee County Florida. Cody is the county Sheriff and has loved Jennifer since high school. Now that she has returned from the big city he wants to have her back in his life as his friend, lover and future companion for life. They just have to survive the raging revenge from a school classmate.

 

Cody Cross made a picture with the sun streaming over his lean body in his habitual jeans and plaid shirt. His boots were scarred but the gun on his hip looked as new as the day it had come out of the box. Sunglasses hid his gray eyes but she knew the easy smile on his face would be there in the foggy depths

 

He leaned against his vehicle and waited. Long legs, curves in all the right places and that sexy switch of unbound dark hair still had the power to give him ideas that hadn't dimmed in the years and distance that had separated them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lacey Dancer
• Release date: Jul 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201789190

Lacey Dancer

International, Award-Winning Romance and Suspense author, Sydney Clary a.k.a. Lacey Dancer, has written and published over 36 books over her lifetime. She is working on adding 20 or 30 more to the count as well as bringing her backlist into the 21st century. Currently, she is concentrating on writing stories in two new series. The first is called the Live Oak Series which is a romance/suspense story set in North Florida. The second is The Truth Series, a thriller/suspense series set in Montana and other places around the world. Finally, she is enhancing and republishing the very popular Pippa Romance series.

Book preview

A Letter from Lacey

I am so delighted you have decided to visit the friends and neighbors of Live Oak. The town is real but until now, all the characters have been fictional. This series has been so much fun to write, starting with Chase the Fire, Archer and Randi’s story.

For the first time in my career, I am bending a rule I have had since I began writing.

‘I do not base my characters on anyone living or dead.’

I love the freedom of writing completely fictional characters. If someone I know sees his or her image on the pages of any of my books, I can say with all truth I did not use anyone as a model.

Every one, so far, has been a product of my very busy, sometimes too busy, imagination. However, due to the gentle hints, the puppy eyes of two ladies I like and admire, I am bending that rule but I have added a caveat. Each woman had to write her own physical description. I really want to keep the real Jennifer and Tina as friends.

This is Jennifer’s story of a homecoming to Live Oak and a reconnection with Cody Cross. Thankfully, real life the Jennifer fell in love with Sheriff Cody Cross when he first appeared in book four, Catch the Fire. That made writing this story interesting and challenging. Cody is a man to make a woman very glad she was born female. As for Jennifer, she is one feisty lady in or out of a book.

Jennifer, this one is for you. Remember Tina the next book is all yours. Trey is waiting and so am I.

Lacey Dancer

PROLOGUE

Cody got out of his truck and stretched before slamming the door and heading across the parking lot of the drug store. Since he was over this way, he needed to pick up a few things for the first aid kit at the office.

The drunk and disorderly that they had handled last night had resulted in a depletion of peroxide, iodine, and cold packs. He shook his head even as he grinned at the memory. The life of a sheriff in a small town was never without its moments.

Stewart, the man they had finally managed to stuff in a cell, was a cheerful drunk most of the time unless he got into rum. Stew had a weird reaction to the stuff.

Did he remember that? Only when he was sober. Never on Saturday night when he drank anything set in front of him. The new bartender at the country and western bar hadn’t known about Stewart’s quirk or his liking for Pina Coladas.

The result? An almost instant bar fight. The owner was not happy with his new hire or one of his oldest friends. Cody chuckled as he headed into the store. A least, he didn’t have to referee either of those upcoming events, he hoped.

Small town life was downright funny sometimes. It had certainly been entertaining last night. Andy got a black eye while Melly, the rookie on the force and Andy’s shift partner, had sat on Stewart’s butt and legs in the end rather than getting into a punching match.

Since she was a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet and Stewart was about two fifty, Stewart wiggled like a landed fish while trying to hit on her for a date.

Red in the face while riding a bucking drunk, she had assured him that she had a full social calendar and had to decline. He had promised to ask again before finally deciding he wanted to take a nap. He was tired.

I figured you would be in this morning, Callie said as she placed three items on the check-out counter. I heard about Stewart and the rum. The new deputy has a way with her I hear.

Callie, you hear every darn thing, Cody commented with a grin as he eyed the supplies he needed. You didn’t miss one thing.

Of course not. Besides, Andy called and left a message on the service about the stuff the office needed. Told us someone would be over to pick it up.

Cody got out his wallet. Someone would be me.

You do a good job as sheriff. With you being so young and all when you ran for office two years ago, I didn’t vote for you. Wish I had now, she explained as she took his money then counted out his change. I’ll definitely be voting for you next time.

I appreciate that. He touched a finger to his hat after he took his bag and change.

You tell Andy and them to stay out of bar fights. Not everybody is as harmless as Stewart.

I’ll do that.

Cody left the store and crossed to his truck just as a familiar pick-up pulled into the slot beside his. The driver got out. She hadn’t noticed him yet. He slowed his walk, not only to enjoy the view but to give her time to realize he was there.

Jennifer Sanders. So much had changed between them. Once he would have called out to her, gotten a flashing smile and a greeting back. That time was gone.

Since she had come home, she had evaded him with more skill than a trained spy. She was settling in, connecting with a few friends, all of the female persuasion, and buying a house for herself. He had heard talk of her looking into adopting a couple of dogs.

The dare anything girl he had wanted so badly when he was old enough to understand what his body was telling him was gone. In her place was a woman of strength enough to kick the loser she had married to the curb. Now she had sad, guarded eyes that said the past had the power to color her present and her future.

She was polite when she met him by chance or in a group but, the old ties they had shared no longer seemed to exist for her.

He studied her as she looked at the list in her hand. When she lifted her head as though sensing his attention, he watched her eyes change with recognition. Not sad now.

Wary, startled, she paused clearly deciding on how to react then she smiled. He didn’t like the caution, the lack of immediate welcome but it was a number of steps up from evasion and invisibility.

He stopped in front of her. The day just got a little brighter. He nodded at the paper in her hand.

Your list looks just about as long as mine.

Cody Cross made a picture with the sun streaming over his lean body in his habitual jeans and plaid shirt. His boots were scarred but the gun on his hip looked as new as the day it had come out of the box. Sunglasses hid his gray eyes, but she knew the easy smile on his face would be there in the foggy depths.

Once she would have hugged him, teased him about the dust up he and his deputies had had the night before. Instead, she stood quietly, wishing she could explain away the choices that she had made, the words she hadn’t said, the way she had cut him from her life. She couldn’t, any more than she could explain those same things to her parents, the people who loved her, had given her life and a wonderful home.

One decision, she thought made for all the right reasons, had been based on lies, betrayal and grief. She and Cody had once been best of all friends. She had killed that, not with anger nor hurt but with the past she could not change, the distance geographic and emotional she had put between them.

She wasn’t sure she knew the man he had become. She was focused on the woman she looked at in the mirror every morning, the woman she didn’t recognize any more, the woman she no longer wanted to be.

She couldn’t recapture the past, but she damn well could build a new future. For the first time since she had been home, they were face to face with no one around to buffer the moment.

Cody caught the bracing of her body, the instant of deciding whether he was friend or foe. So much about the woman standing in front of him was the same. So much was different. Her eyes used to telegraph her emotions.

Now, the dark green depths held secrets and shadows. Her smile used to light her face. This one was just a little cool, putting an invisible barrier up for reasons only she knew. The sheriff in him catalogued each change and wondered. The man, the friend wondered and worried about the cause of the changes.

I didn’t expect to see you, she said quietly. Standing there saying nothing was not an option. She had known Cody almost from the cradle.

I hear you are settling in. He leaned against the side of his truck. He could almost feel her need to walk away. She had yet to relax. I heard about the house you are buying. Good deal on that. Now, you’ll have room for your horses again. He waited in vain for the smile her one time passion should have brought to her face.

Guess you know I am working at the library with Tina.

He nodded. She was being polite, not friendly. This was so not the Jennifer he knew. How about having dinner with me? We can catch up.

More in reflex than thought, she shook her head. Tons to do. Moving, me, the stuff I brought from Atlanta, the horses from Dad’s. New job. Don’t have time right now.

Definitely not the Jennifer he had known. Excuses were just not her style.

Maybe later, he agreed as he straightened. He caught the flicker in her eyes, the bracing again. Fear? The minute he moved aside, she eased by him, without touching him in any way.

Maybe, she agreed before walking quickly toward the store. She didn’t look back.

He frowned. He knew enough about victims to recognize the symptoms when he saw them. The question was ‘what or who had hurt her?’.

He could get the answer. He had the power and ability to delve into her background. He couldn’t do it. Not yet anyway. He wanted her to trust him enough to tell him herself.

Once, she had told him almost everything, secrets, hopes, dreams, and plans. He had been closer to her than anyone else in his life. If she’d had trouble in those days, she would have come to him, in some cases before she even told her parents.

Something or someone had clouded or erased those years. Just now, she had treated him almost as a stranger. She hadn’t even used his name. She was his friend, whether she wanted to be or not.

As he watched her enter the pharmacy, he knew that more than friendship and curiosity were keeping him standing there. Memories, that spring and summer when friendship took a sudden and unexpected turn into attraction arose, erasing the time between then and now.

For one moment, he felt that shocking realization that the girl who had thrown her arms around his neck as she glowed with happiness about the new colt her father had bought for her wasn’t a girl any longer.

He had a woman in his arms and his body was telling him that he wanted her as a man. Stunned, having no experience in how to handle what he felt, he had almost shoved her away as he fought his own body.

The frisky, coal black yearling had saved him from making a fool of himself and embarrassing her. The colt had butted her in the back, throwing them off balance. She had stumbled out of his arms and grabbed for the fence. Those moments had changed something for them. He had blurted out an invitation to a school gathering and she had accepted. Their first date had led to others.  Two short months of frustration and excitement. He could shake his head now at his dreams and the choices they had made out of their shared reality.

Two small town kids with plans for the future. A future they couldn’t share over a few hundred miles too far apart. They had separated to attend two different universities in two different states. Life had happened and when they had finally reconnected two years later. Here on holiday, she had been involved with the guy she had later married.

Now she was divorced and home. In a town that considered gossip one of life’s real pleasures, Jennifer had come home with few facts, stories or whispers.

The divorce had a period at the end of the statement. No explanations, no stories, no speculation. It was as though Atlanta was past and invisible. In his experience, no one cut away from the past like that without a very good reason, most likely a very painful one.

He wanted to help her if she needed it. He wanted to see her eyes light with pleasure when she saw him instead of caution and wariness. He wanted the Jennifer he had always known back.

As he drove away from the pharmacy, he considered his options. He was good at waiting when something was important to him. Jennifer and he had been friends. They would be again.

If it was time she needed, he would wait. But he would keep watch too. If trouble was looking for Jennifer, it would have to go through him to find her.

He wasn’t a boy any longer. He was a man. The sheriff of the county. Trouble and he were old combatants. He knew how to protect what mattered to him. He would keep watch.

If his body reminded him that they had once been on the brink of exploring a relationship much deeper than friendship, he was man enough to know and understand that what the body wanted was not always the answer. Now, at least, he had time.

CHAPTER ONE

One Year Later

His voice was as smooth as a shot of Jack Daniels on a warm summer evening. The song Cody sang with his gray eyes looking into hers was a country ballad that hit every emotional note—love, loss, pain and renewal. She had always loved his voice. The deep smooth sound of it touched her in ways no man ever had. His watched her as though every word he sang was for her alone.

Jennifer stood in the shade of a lacey palm, for a moment lost in the realms of her memories. The joy and the conversation of the wedding celebration she had helped orchestrate faded into the mist of the past.

They were eighteen again, his hands on her bare shoulders, his mouth whispering her name just once before he kissed her. She felt again the heat of his long, rangy body and the need of her own. Finally, she would....

I am so wired I think I could dance if someone asked me, Tina said with a laugh as she joined Jennifer. Did we do a good job with this wedding, or what?

Jennifer returned to the present with a jerk and a silent curse. She wanted that moment back. For the first time in her life, she wished her best friend a million miles away.

Tina’s smile faded into a look of concern. Hey, are you alright?

Jennifer pulled herself together and managed a grin. I got caught up in Cody’s song.

Not a lie but not the whole truth either. Tina was the best friend she had in the world but there were some things that even she didn’t need to know.

We did a great job with this wedding especially since we put it together in a week, she managed.

The last seven days had been a race against the clock. Not something new with this crowd of newcomers and friends. She had loved every minute of the insanity of weaving together ideas, materials and needs into the party that was in full swing around them.

Tina laughed as she watched the crowd. Everyone was clearly having a great time. Jennifer’s decorations, the multitude of flowers in varying shades of purple and white, the balloons dancing in the night breeze, Honey’s idea, created an effect that was fun, colorful and brilliantly perfect for Nancy and RJ’s wedding.

At least RJ and Nancy gave us more than the twenty-four hours that Lydia and Max did when they decided to tie the knot.

She searched the crowd for the ebony haired dynamo and her new husband. Lydia North now Greene was dancing with RJ, smiling at something he said. Nancy was enjoying a waltz with Max.

I still have trouble believing that Max popped the question one day and got married the next, right here on Archer’s patio, Tina said, watching as Max steered Nancy to within reaching distance of his wife. He deftly exchanged partners and a joke with RJ. She couldn’t hear the words but judging by the amusement of the women, the men were enjoying the male solidarity thing. Each man now had his own wife.

Archer’s patio is becoming wedding central. When he and Randi marry here in November, that will make three ceremonies in less than a year. At least Alex and Lucy are getting married at Alex’s house.

Jennifer scanned the group around them. Honey was enjoying a dance with her soon to be adopted grandfather. The little girl that Nancy and RJ were adopting could have lit a dark concert hall with her smile and her excitement.

That means we have handled four big weddings in less than a year. That doesn’t count the events like the class reunion, six birthday parties, four anniversaries and that grand opening for the new antique shop in Branford. The first two weddings have been relatively simple, but Randi’s and Lucy’s are not. I can’t believe how much our part time business is growing.

Jennifer glanced at Tina, thinking about the changes that the last months had made in both their lives. The satisfaction in Tina’s voice matched her own feeling of accomplishment. They had not only gotten this last job done but they had created a celebration with a style that matched Nancy, RJ and Honey perfectly. In spite of the tight time line, they had done it.

I am thinking about turning in my resignation at the library, she said, giving voice to an idea that had been growing in strength since Nancy had asked her to handle the decorations for her wedding.

We have been talking about our wedding consulting business for almost a year. To date, we have done more birthday parties, reunions and anniversaries than anything else. Those have been great and I want to do more of them but I want to do more than just parties for friends, Tee. I am thirty-one years old and I am tired of waiting until the time is right to get into this as a real career. We can do it. You know we can. We are doing it, more than we thought we could.

Tina stared at Jennifer. They had talked about starting a full-time business. It was a wonderful dream. Reality was a paycheck she could count on. She couldn’t forget that the biggest celebrations were coming from the construction crowd that was working on the housing and commercial complex that Alex and Archer had put together. Live Oak was still a small town. Yes, it would grow but enough to support the two of them?

I love you like a sister, but have you lost your mind? Yes, we have done a great job with these two weddings, and we will do even better work with Archer and Alex’s weddings. But party and wedding planning full time? That is a very different situation than our positions at the library. We make good money with a regular paycheck.

She frowned then added. What the devil does our age have to do with anything?

Jennifer was aware that Cody had ended one song and was beginning another. She should have waited to discuss her idea with Tina. The middle of a party was hardly the best time to make a life changing decision. But now that she had brought the subject up, she wasn’t backing away from the future she wanted.

I want more of a life than I have. I’m divorced. No children. I have a pretty little house, but no one lives there but me, my horses and my dogs. I go to work every day, talk to the same people, follow the same routines. It is nice, like an old comfy robe. I love the fun of creating this, the challenge. I know it is a risk. We can always find another job if it doesn’t work out. I want to try. I don’t want to regret not trying.

She waved a hand to encompass the people laughing and dancing around them, the purple and white floral decorations that marked the occasion.

She had loved the challenge of taking Honey’s favorite color and her favorite flowers to fashion the theme for the child’s soon to be parents’ marriage. She gestured to the towering cake that Tina had spent hours making. It was a work of art.

Look at what we did. You and I created this setting for this day for two people who love each other and that little girl now giggling in her soon-to-be daddy’s arms. We gave them this day to remember. The fun, the laughter, the purple rose petals Honey sprinkled down the aisle. The arbor where the minister had to pause the ceremony so Honey could stand between her soon-to-be parents so she could be married too. RJ and Nancy would have married without us but it wouldn’t have been like this.

She watched Tina’s expression change, the comprehension in her eyes as she continued, I want to be a part of making that happen for other couples more than I have ever wanted anything in my life. Don’t tell me you aren’t going to enjoy the moment when Nancy and RJ cut your creation, when they take that first bite of what you baked. Or when Honey gets a close look at the topper you had made especially for them. A couple and a little girl with light brown hair isn’t what a regular wedding planner would have suggested or made happen with such a short time frame.

Tina heard the yearning and determination in Jennifer’s voice. She was right on so many levels. Her needs spoke to the dream that Tina had of her own future when she wasn’t thinking of paying bills and figuring how to save for a new car.

It costs money, J. A lot of money to start up a business. We would need some kind of office or store. A place to keep our supplies. Coolers for food and your flowers would be best if we go into this on a larger scale. We both would need help, at least part time. We can’t keep grabbing friends and buying pizza and beer in exchange for labor. Advertising isn’t cheap. We could go belly up and lose everything. Live Oak is not that big of a town.

Jennifer stared at her friend. Tina Marie Morgan, you are really thinking about it. She threw an arm around her and hugged her close.

Tina returned the hug then pulled free. You knew I would when you dropped that first hint when Nancy asked us to do this. I did a spread sheet, darn it. I couldn’t sleep last night so I did a damn spread sheet. I hate that stuff. I can’t think why I took business as a second major.

Jennifer laughed at Tina’s disgust. You took it because you are a planner and risk taker.

Oh, no I am not. I am definitely not. I like a quiet life. Tina emphasized every word. She knew she was going to follow Jennifer into this contagious dream they had and it was shaking the foundations of all she had worked so hard to build.

Who did a bungee jump? It wasn’t me. Who always heads for the most hair-raising roller coaster? That sure isn’t me.

That’s different and you know it.

Jennifer glanced past her friend to the party going on around them. She had watched so many of her dreams crash and burn. She knew first-hand what failure felt like. She knew the pain and the gut clenching effort of starting over. She had lived through both. She had thrived through both.

I want this, Tina. You do too.

Tina turned to look at the people and the setting. It was almost time to cut the cake. She could see it sitting on the white and purple draped table behind the protection of the glass sliders that opened to the patio.

It was warm enough still on the patio so that she and Jennifer had decided on making a stage out of the air-conditioned family room that led to the pool area.  With the sliders open, those who had come to celebrate with Nancy and RJ would have a