Read Online The Perfect Match by Susan May Warren - Free Book Online Page A

into this group, and he wondered if it had to do with the fact that his older sister Cindy Simmons was now fighting for her life in a Duluth hospital. When Judy Franks and Marnie Blouder introduced themselves as dispatchers, Ellie’s smile immediately warmed.
    Ellie spent the rest of the morning arranging the firefighters into crew groups, extracting experience and information, and passing out training schedules. She also issued them pagers to be worn 24/7.
    When Joe tested his pager, Dan nearly jumped out of his skin. “That’ll wake the dead.”
    “Or me in the dead of night, I suppose,” Joe said. “Poor Mona. She hasn’t slept a decent night through since she got pregnant.” Joe pocketed the beeper. “I never knew pregnancy was so tiring.” His eyes held a twinkle.
    “I think the fun is just starting, pal,” Dan commented as he tried out his own pager. “What does Gabe think, by the way?” Gabriel Michaels, Joe’s younger brother, lived in a home for the mentally challenged not far from Deep Haven.
    “He’s thrilled. Can’t wait to be an uncle.”
    Dan noticed that in all Joe’s exuberant musings about their developing baby, he carefully left out his bone-deep fear that the baby might carry a gene for Downsyndrome—Gabe’s condition. Until Joe was willing to bring it up, however, Dan steered around it. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder how this fear might seep into the Michaels’ joy.
    “She certainly seems capable,” Joe said, looking at their new fire chief. Dan followed Joe’s gaze and watched Ellie as she helped Guthrie figure out his pager.
    “Yes, she does,” Dan said with a low moan.

    Ellie threw a piece of driftwood into the Lake Superior surf. “C’mon, Franklin, go get it.” The basset hound stared up at her, baggy eyes blinking. He looked in the direction of the stick, back at Ellie, then with a huff, flopped down and closed his eyes. “Oh, super, I can’t even get you to obey me.”
    Shoving her hands in her pockets, she closed her eyes and let the wind brush the hair from her face. Cool and crisp, the wind carried with it the slightest hint of rain. Good. She noticed that the fire alert in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area had been notched up to high. They could use a good shower.
    The sun hovered just above the shoreline, a brilliant flame painting the wave tips red. Around her, gulls eyed her as if she might be a benefactor, their heads bobbing as they called out their complaints. “Shoo,” Ellie said, balancing her supper—a turkey croissant she’d picked up from the Loon Café—on her knees. She had no doubts that the greedy birds would dart in and snatch it the second she relaxed her guard.
    She’d better toughen up her defenses if she hoped toeke out a smidgen of respect from the men she’d met today. She’d been mildly disappointed to discover that the Deep Haven Fire Department didn’t host even one woman. The two ladies who showed up to run the emergency dispatch felt like a cool drip in a hot spring.
    She mentally categorized her crew—John Benson, Doug Miller, and Craig Boberg formed the backbone of the company. With ten years or more experience each, she’d be able to trust their gut instincts and would lean on them for leadership. She’d put probies Guthrie Jones, Lionel Parks, and Simon Sturgis through their paces, but with her slim crew, they’d have to man hydrants, drag hose, and fill in the gaps until they were ready to face a fire. A group of other lumberjack types formed the bulk of the crew, headed by Mitch Davis and Ernie Wilkes, who hated her guts if she read their body language correctly. That left Joe Michaels, Bruce Schultz, and Dan to win over. Joe seemed friendly enough with his wide smile and twinkling eyes. And Bruce Schultz had shaken her hand with a solid grip that told her he wasn’t afraid to let a woman lead. But what about Dan?
    His words from their dismal meeting at the hospital still rang in her mind: Over my dead body. Dan