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The Station 7 Brotherhood #8
My Brooding Firefighter
I have loved Sawyer Quinn since I was twenty-two years old.
I stopped, because his wife loved him first — and she was my best friend. I managed my feelings the way I manage carefully, quietly, without complaint. For twelve years, I was very good at it.
Then Claire got sick. Then she was gone. Then I moved back to Redwood Falls to hold what was left of the family she left behind — a grieving firefighter and a small boy who had his mother's eyes and more courage than any child should need.
I was supposed to be the steady thing. The safe thing.
I was not supposed to fall harder.
He is not the same man he was. Neither am I. And somewhere between Saturday mornings on a muddy river trail and evenings on his back porch after his son was asleep, something started that I am no longer able to manage.
The question isn't whether I love him.
It's whether loving him is something I'm allowed to keep.
I stopped, because his wife loved him first — and she was my best friend. I managed my feelings the way I manage carefully, quietly, without complaint. For twelve years, I was very good at it.
Then Claire got sick. Then she was gone. Then I moved back to Redwood Falls to hold what was left of the family she left behind — a grieving firefighter and a small boy who had his mother's eyes and more courage than any child should need.
I was supposed to be the steady thing. The safe thing.
I was not supposed to fall harder.
He is not the same man he was. Neither am I. And somewhere between Saturday mornings on a muddy river trail and evenings on his back porch after his son was asleep, something started that I am no longer able to manage.
The question isn't whether I love him.
It's whether loving him is something I'm allowed to keep.
74 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 14, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
June 15, 2026
Wow!
What an amazing read! A walk through grief, working through the stages through a best friend’s balance and juggling, a spouse’s deep void and the need for continuance, and a child’s coping through actions rather than words. This tale was well written, flowing easily between characters and not needing the usual overt romance or major roadblocks/problems or contrived angst to keep me reading. Claire had been gone for two years when the story opened and Luna, the best friend, Sawyer, the husband, and Ben, the son, are still traveling through their grief, and the adults are starting to realize that they are not the same people as before Claire’s death. They also acknowledge that Ben has more courage than any child should need and is working through this loss in his own way. The fact that Luna had been in love with Sawyer 14 years earlier but stopped and boxed her feelings because her best friend loved him first and won his heart …. That played a large part is dealing with her grief. Then there is the fact that Claire asked Luna to “be there for them” after she was gone. Did Claire intuitively know something Luna had learned to managed and store away?
Second chances don’t always come easy and many never see them. This book gives you a lot to think about and, at the same time, provides words/actions to smile about, to chuckle at, and to just plain feel good about; it will also deliver on a rather unique HEA.
What an amazing read! A walk through grief, working through the stages through a best friend’s balance and juggling, a spouse’s deep void and the need for continuance, and a child’s coping through actions rather than words. This tale was well written, flowing easily between characters and not needing the usual overt romance or major roadblocks/problems or contrived angst to keep me reading. Claire had been gone for two years when the story opened and Luna, the best friend, Sawyer, the husband, and Ben, the son, are still traveling through their grief, and the adults are starting to realize that they are not the same people as before Claire’s death. They also acknowledge that Ben has more courage than any child should need and is working through this loss in his own way. The fact that Luna had been in love with Sawyer 14 years earlier but stopped and boxed her feelings because her best friend loved him first and won his heart …. That played a large part is dealing with her grief. Then there is the fact that Claire asked Luna to “be there for them” after she was gone. Did Claire intuitively know something Luna had learned to managed and store away?
Second chances don’t always come easy and many never see them. This book gives you a lot to think about and, at the same time, provides words/actions to smile about, to chuckle at, and to just plain feel good about; it will also deliver on a rather unique HEA.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review