Chasing Fireflies

By Kathryn Kaleigh

Return to the enchanting small town of Whiskey Springs with Scottie Harrington in this heartwarming contemporary romance novel. As the Annual Spring Festival kicks off, Scottie is drawn back into the memories of her past, haunted by the choices that led her away a decade ago. A chance encounter with the charismatic pilot Chase Alexander&nbs

• Language: English
• Publisher: KST Publishing Inc.
• Release date: Jan 12, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869147400

Kathryn Kaleigh

Writer. Daydreamer. Hopeless romantic. Romance Writer Kathryn Kaleigh's stories span from the past to the present. She writes sweet contemporary romances,  time travel fantasy, and historical romances. From her imaginative meet-cutes to her happily-ever-afters, her writing keeps readers coming back for more. www.kathrynkaleigh.com

Book preview

Chapter One

SCOTTIE HARRINGTON

I glanced at my watch.

The sun was already setting, but floodlights kept the darkness at bay. The lights could not, however, keep the chill out of the air. I burrowed into my wool blazer and stuffed my hands in my pockets.

Bella was late.

I stood next to a cotton candy stand. Just breathing the air was giving me a sugar high.

Moving away from the sugary air, I wandered down the path leading around the edge of the festival area.

The Whiskey Springs Annual Spring Festival.

It had been—and still was—a staple of life here in my small hometown.

But I had gotten away ten years ago and I had never looked back. The closest thing I got to a festival these days was a special concert at the Houston Galleria.

Speaking of concerts, a local band, none of whom I recognized, jammed on a wooden stage in the middle of the festivities.

One section of the festival was lined with food carts. Cotton candy. Hot dogs. Hot chocolate. Mac and cheese bites.

The neighboring section was for the children. Face painting. A bouncy castle. A puppet show.

There were live demonstrations for the adults. The usual woodcarving and character painting. A young lady in a long flowy dress was doing glass blowing and attracting quite a crowd in the process. Glass blowing was not something people around here saw every day.

There was a photo booth. That was new.

And finally, there was the Ferris wheel. I had a lot of memories tied to that Ferris wheel. Even though most of them were good, they got overshadowed by the one bad one.

My passengers, Jim and Betty Morris were dancing with half a dozen other couples on the area partitioned off around the wooden bandstand specifically for dancing. The couples danced around and around the band.

I still was not sure how I had ended up being the one to fly Jim and Betty here.

Actually that wasn’t true. I did know. I knew quite well.

When Noah Worthington had found out where Mr. Morris was headed, Noah immediately thought of me. He knew I grew up in Whiskey Springs.

Noah knew everything about every one of his pilots and he never forgot anything.

Family oriented to a fault, Noah had no doubt thought he was doing me a favor by assigning me this flight.

I had not been home in ten years. And really, it wasn’t exactly home anymore. My parents had moved to Portugal seven years ago. I went to see them every year over the holidays.

Portugal was more home than Whiskey Springs.

Home is where your family is.

The closest thing I had to family here was my childhood friend Bella.

She insisted we meet here. And she was late.

I dropped onto a vacant bench and checked my messages.

Nothing.

A woman with a baby on her hip was walking in my direction, sparking a touch of recognition.

I knew Bella had a baby, but I was not prepared to see her like this.

Bella had gone from the slim young girl to a woman with a mother figure. But, grinning from ear to ear, she looked happy.

Hey, she said, pulling me into a hug with her free arm. Meet Olivia.

The baby turned her head away, hiding against her mother.

Babies don’t really like me, I said.

You always did say the craziest things. Here. Hold her while I get some lemonade. You want some?

What? No. I— Don’t know anything about babies. But Bella thrust the baby into my arms anyway, and left me standing there.

The baby stuck out her bottom lip and whimpered.

No, I said. Don’t do that. Don’t cry.

The baby—Olivia—was going to cry. Already, her eyes were moist.

Not knowing what else to do, I sat back down, holding her in my lap and bouncing her up and down.

The bouncing seemed to distract her from crying.

There, I said. This isn’t so bad, is it?

I looked toward the people lined up to get lemonade, but I couldn’t see Bella.

I had a shiver of panic that she might have shoved her baby off on me and left.

Bella wouldn’t do that, of course. She was happily married to her childhood sweetheart, Bob. It had been Bella and Bob all through high school.

Now it was Bella and Bob and Olivia.

They could have named their baby something like Bonita. Then it would be Bella and Bob and Bonita.

Olivia seemed to read my mind. She took a deep breath and let out a wail.

Hey, I said. Don’t do that. Your mother will be right back.

Since the bouncing wasn’t working anymore, I got up and paced with her on my hip.

You almost look like a natural.

I whirled at the familiar voice.

It was Chase Alexander.

The real reason I had avoided Whiskey Springs for the last ten years.

Chapter Two

CHASE ALEXANDER

Everything was going smoothly. So far at least.

Children’s laughter mixed with the band’s music and the music from the Ferris wheel.

It all blended together to make a festive atmosphere just like it was supposed to.

As the sheriff of Whiskey Springs, it was my responsibility to make sure everything stayed calm and peaceful.

It wasn’t a hard job. Whiskey Springs was calm and peaceful by nature. Always had been. Probably always would.

It was early though and people were already dancing. Before the night was over, someone would get rowdy. Last year I’d had to throw Sonny Tate into jail for disorderly conduct. First time the jail had been used in months.

I’d seen my sister, Bella pull up and park, late as usual. She’d taken to motherhood like a duck to water. She and her husband were planning on having more. I don’t know how they defined more, but we would see.

I walked past two little girls giggling as they got their faces painted with little hearts and unicorns.

Walked past a glass blower from down in Denver. I’d helped her haul her equipment in from her truck. Maybe not the smartest thing on my part. She’d been sending me suggestive glances all evening.

I would be sending my deputy to help her haul it all back to her truck after the festival was over.

I might be a man, but I could learn.

I’d missed a step when I saw the girl pacing with the baby on her hip.

First of all, it had been ten years since I had seen Scottie Harrington. And yet I would recognize her anywhere. We could be ninety years old seeing each other at an old folk’s home after seventy years apart and I would recognize her.

I also recognized the baby on her hip. Maybe not the baby so much as the blue and green plaid blanket she always had with her.

So my sister had pawned her baby off on Scottie. That did not surprise me one bit.

And I knew exactly why my conniving sister had done it.

Bella was hoping that Scottie would catch whatever fever it took to get her to want to have a baby. So they could be mothers together.

I had serious doubts about that happening.

Scottie was wearing high heeled designer shoes and a wool blazer that would have looked more at home in the boardroom than at a Whiskey Springs summer festival.

But that was typical Scottie. She’d never planned on staying here.

She took dressing for the job she wanted to another level. She’d always dressed for where she wanted to live.

She had been that way since we had become good friends in eighth grade. We’d continued our friendship into ninth grade. That’s when things had changed.

We’d gone from friends to boyfriend/girlfriend.

Everything had gone well all through high school, but by the time we were seniors, it had become clear that we were going in different directions.

If Scottie saw it, she hadn’t acknowledged it.

But I had seen it.

And I had done what any self-respecting boyfriend would do.

I had broken up with her.

Chapter Three

SCOTTIE

The music changed into something slow and moody.

Olivia seemed to like it better, even though she kept looking toward the lemonade stand where her mother had gone. That made two of us.

But then Chase Alexander had walked into our space.

He was wearing blue jeans and a solid white button down shirt beneath a black leather jacket.

He was, in fact, probably the only male at the festival not wearing a plaid shirt.

Even Olivia had a plaid blanket.

I honestly did not remember the propensity of those who lived here to wear plaid.

When Olivia saw Chase, she smiled and held out her arms to go to him.

I told your sister babies don’t like me, I said, mostly to myself.

Maybe you don’t like babies, Chase said.

You can’t not like what you don’t know, he said.

"Oh. I know them. My family has plenty. They don’t like me until they reach age eleven. Then we start to understand each other.

You always did have weird thoughts, he said.

So I’ve been told.

So where is my sister?

She said something about lemonade.

Do they even have lemonade? he asked, turning around to glance at the concession area.

They better.

Don’t you have rug rats of your own by now?

My stomach clenched at his words. He asked the question like he would ask a casual acquaintance. Not like