Breakaway For Love by Jen FitzGerald

Author:Jen FitzGerald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knotted Hearts Publishing
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“What’s up with you, you hooligan?” Grams asked after a stretch of companionable silence. They’d gotten one pallet’s worth of foliage planted and Maddox hauled over another.

With a swipe of his arm, he dried the sweat off his face. Though it was early and the sun hadn’t risen over the trees yet, it was still hella hot and sweat drenched his shirt.

Normally, there were a dozen better ways to spend a Sunday morning, but few in his family could say no to Grams. Least of all him. When she’d called him, it turned out her warm and loving presence was a thing he needed just then. “Nothing, Grams.”

The warm loamy scent of the soil wafted up. Insects buzzed and birds serenaded them. The sound of a mower drifted over from a street or two away. It was nice. Conducive to thinking.

“Don’t give me that.” She smacked him lightly on the arm with her trowel. “Something’s goin’ on in that noggin of yours. I may be an old woman, and I may not know everything about you these days—nor do I probably want to—”

A snort escaped him and he flashed her a grin.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that I can still read you.”

“Fair enough.” His thoughts swirled like the earth through the tines of the tiller he’d wielded earlier. Landon had planted the seed of higher education into Maddox’s brain, and the commercials for the local community college acted like sun and water.

“Also, you’ve been quiet, which isn’t like you at all, so spill.”

Grams had been his champion his whole life. He’d always been able to talk to her. Well, about most things, anyway. Certainly not about many of his exploits as a teenager and newly legal adult. But about this? Definitely.

“I’ve been thinking about taking some classes.” Thinking about it hard since Landon suggested it. There’s no way he could go full time, but he could manage a few classes each semester maybe. It’d take a while to finish a degree, though. Especially the kind he wanted.

“Classes in what?” she asked.

“Science stuff.”

Her hands stilled in the soil and she looked at him. His skin prickled under her long, considering gaze. “You looking to make a change?”

“I might be. Just noodling with the idea.” He had no idea how to fund such an endeavor, so it might turn out to be a non-starter.

“You’re a good firefighter, buttercup, everyone says so. Your annual evals bear that out, but you were never as invested in firefighting as the rest in this family.” Grams plopped a hosta into the hole she’d created and patted soil over the root ball. “You wanted to be an astronaut.”

“I know I can’t be that now, but—”

“But there’s plenty of other science jobs out there, sweetheart, and if that’s where your interest and your passion lie, then it’s definitely worth considering.”

“You don’t think I’m crazy for thinking about changing careers mid-stream?” He wasn’t sure how he’d juggle work, training, and school. The thought of it sat heavy on his shoulders.

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