New Story-Fireworks-Chapter 1

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” Isaiah 41:18
“Really? You need me?” Bethany Brown clapped her hands, feeling more like a giddy child than the twenty-two-year-old she was. “Thank you for asking. I’d love to help out.”
“We’ll see you at nine sharp, then,” the fire chief said. “Sorry about the short notice but one of our regular auxiliary ladies fell and broke her arm yesterday and had to cancel.”
Bethany grinned broadly. “No problem. I’ve already helped decorate the bank’s booth. I don’t have any other plans for the day except to enjoy the food and see the fireworks later.”
“Good. And don’t worry. You won’t have to sell our baked goods alone. Stan said he had enough staff lined up to help on all but the first shift.”
“Stan Ellison?” Her heart began fluttering as if it had suddenly become a demented butterfly. “He’s in charge?”
“This year he is. Why?”
“No reason. I just wondered.” She hoped her flushed cheeks weren’t giving her away because she didn’t want to start rumors. It was bad enough that Stan and her sister, Amy, had been the talk of the town the previous summer.
She sobered. Poor Stan. He’d suffered so. And all because of Amy’s foolish idea that she was pretty enough to be a success in Hollywood. As far as Bethany was concerned, any woman who would abandon a great guy like Stan to pursue a chance in a million of becoming a movie star was off her rocker.
And cruel, she added to herself as she watched the chief walk away. What Amy had done to Stan was a crime, pure and simple. She had not only broken his heart when she’d jilted him, she’d caused him to shut down his emotions where other women were concerned.
“Especially me,” she murmured, disgusted and disheartened. There had been a time when she and Stan had been pals, special friends who had confided in each other. But all that had changed after Amy had packed her bags and left High Plains so abruptly.
Worse, as Bethany had attempted to help Stan heal his broken heart, she had grown more and more enamored of him. The excitement she’d started to feel every time they had met had become so telling she’d eventually had to distance herself. It was either do that or take the chance she might speak out of turn or even be so foolish as to throw herself at him.
“Which would be a terrible mistake,” she insisted, shaking her head. “It would make him think I’m just like my sister.”
Nothing was further from the truth, Bethany assured herself. She wasn’t self-centered, nor was she the kind of woman who used others. When she made a promise she kept it.
“And speaking of promises…” She glanced at the clock atop the new town hall building across from the park. It was nearly eight-thirty already. In half an hour or less she would be in close proximity to the one man who could make her knees tremble and send shivers up her spine by merely passing her on the street. What was she going to do; how was she going to keep her sanity when they were cooped up together in the tiny food booth for three hours?
Her grin returned. It grew so wide, so joyful, it made her cheeks hurt. Perhaps this unexpected chance to help the fire department raise funds was going to be the answer to her prayer about how to break down the walls around Stan’s heart. It certainly had possibilities.