Smoke Screen by Stephanie Newton

Author:Stephanie Newton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2010-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

The smoky smell lingered, but in the newly painted office suite, Jake could nearly convince himself that a fire hadn’t nearly taken his church building away from him. Just like he’d nearly managed to convince himself that kissing Chloe had been an anomaly. It had been an emotional day—he’d been worried and afraid. He also managed to bake cookies with her this morning without kissing her again. So why did he feel so torn up inside?

He walked to the bookshelf and straightened the framed copy of the firefighter chaplain’s prayer, wishing he could straighten his life as easily. He wanted to be with Chloe. Weird, wasn’t it, that he’d spent this time searching for someone right for him and he’d stumbled upon Chloe and she just somehow fit?

A brisk knock at the open door of his office brought him back to his present surroundings. His assistant, Susan Paulson, entered with a cup of coffee from Sailor Sloan’s shop. “Pastor’s Special, one sugar, no cream. And I made you some blueberry muffins last night. I figured you might’ve had a hard night after everything that happened. I know they’re your favorite, and I threw in some oatmeal to make them a teensy bit healthier.”

“Thanks for trying to keep me on the straight and narrow, Suse.” He lifted the lid off the coffee and took a long drink.

“I always try to take care of you, Jake. That’s my job.” His girly-girl assistant chipped at the red paint on her thumbnail as she lingered in the door.

“Unfortunately, it’s a little late today. I’ve already had my allotment of calories, probably for the month. I taught Chloe how to make chocolate-chip cookies this morning.” He picked up scads of envelopes that had been piling up on his desk and tried to stack them in some kind of order.

“Chloe?”

He looked up at Susan, still standing in the door. “The special agent the FBI sent over? You’ve probably seen her around here.”

“Oh, that’s right. Well, I can put these out in the break room. I’m sure someone will eat them.” She crossed to his desk, put the plate of muffins on one of his chairs and began helping him with the papers.

“You know, the youth ministry staff are always hungry.”

Susan laughed. “You’ve got that straight. Can I get anything else for you?”

He grimaced at the stacks of papers. “Nope, I’m all good. Thanks for the coffee. After a night with a two-year-old, I need it. Especially if I’m going to face the paperwork that ate Detroit.”

Her smile was really pretty, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Jake, can I be honest with you?”

“Of course.”

She eased into the chair, sliding the muffins onto her lap. “I’m worried about you. That you’re getting distracted by all that’s going on. Maybe your priorities are getting a little skewed. I just—well, I’m worried is all.”

Jake couldn’t help but try to take the words to heart. Of all the people in the church she probably knew him best. And if she

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.