Dancing with Fireflies Read online

  Acclaim for Denise Hunter

  “Kick off your shoes and enjoy your time with Barefoot Summer! It sets the bar high for this year’s vacation read contenders by combining hold-your-breath romance, heartache, and laugh-out-loud conversations between siblings and friends. It’s more than a good read. It’s a delight.”

  —LISA T. BERGREN, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF WATERFALL AND GLAMOROUS ILLUSIONS

  “Hunter’s latest Chapel Springs Romance is a lovely story of lost and found.”

  —ROMANTIC TIMES, 4-STAR REVIEW OF BAREFOOT SUMMER

  “The Trouble with Cowboys is a fast, fun and touching read with the added draw of a first kiss that is sure to make my Top 5 Fictional Kisses of 2012.”

  —USATODAY.COM

  “Hunter’s well-developed characters and plot twists make for a delightful and inspirational journey.”

  —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW OF THE TROUBLE WITH COWBOYS

  “The best kind of love story—completely believable, wonderfully real, with a Sleepless-in-Seattle-esque vibe that just makes you want to cheer for love’s ability to be reborn.”

  —SUSAN MEISSNER, AUTHOR OF LADY IN WAITING, REGARDING A COWBOY’S TOUCH

  “What a tender, touching tale! Another cast of fascinating characters, another compelling storyline, another page-turning plot. All reasons Denise Hunter remains one of my favorite authors ever.”

  —DEBORAH RANEY, AUTHOR OF THE CLAYBURN NOVELS, REGARDING A COWBOY’S TOUCH

  “. . . a romantic adventure about unconditional love and forgiveness.”

  —LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW OF SURRENDER BAY

  “Hunter’s characters are well drawn and familiar. [W]ill appeal to all women readers with the taste for a good love story.”

  —FOREWORD MAGAZINE REVIEW OF SURRENDER BAY

  “[In Surrender Bay,] Denise has turned the spotlight on the depth of God’s love for His children in a story that will remain with you long after the last page is read.”

  —RELZREVIEWZ

  “No one can write a story that grips the heart like Denise Hunter . . . If you like Karen Kingsbury or Nicholas Sparks, this is an author you’ll love.”

  —COLLEEN COBLE, USA TODAY BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF ROSEMARY COTTAGE

  Also by Denise Hunter

  Novellas included in

  Smitten

  Secretly Smitten

  Smitten Book Club

  THE CHAPEL SPRINGS ROMANCE SERIES

  Barefoot Summer

  Dancing With Fireflies

  The Wishing Season (Available Winter 2014)

  THE BIG SKY ROMANCE SERIES

  A Cowboy’s Touch

  The Accidental Bride

  The Trouble with Cowboys

  NANTUCKET LOVE STORIES

  Driftwood Lane

  Seaside Letters

  The Convenient Groom

  Surrender Bay

  Sweetwater Gap

  © 2014 by Denise Hunter

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

  Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

  Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

  Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Hunter, Denise, 1968-

  Dancing with fireflies : a Chapel Springs romance/ Denise Hunter.

  pages cm. -- (A Chapel Springs romance series ; 2)

  Summary: “Jade returns home to Chapel Springs after years of; protecting her fragile heart. Then along comes Daniel, making her long to dance; again. Creative and complicated,;Jade McKinley felt like a weed in a rose garden growing up in Chapel Springs. When she left, she thought she;d never look back. But now, pregnant, alone, and broke, she has no other choice but to return. The mayor of Chapel Springs, Daniel Dawson, has been an honorary member of the McKinley family for years. While his own home life was almost non-existent, Daniel fit right into the boisterous McKinley family. Hes loved Jade for years, but she always saw him as a big brother. Now that shes back, his feelings are stronger than ever. As Jade attempts to settle in, nothing feels right. God seems far away, shes hiding secrets from her family, and shes strangely attracted to the man whos always called her squirt.” -- Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-4016-8702-1 (pbk.)

  ISBN 978-1-4016-8703-8 (eBook)

  1. Family secrets--Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3608.U5925D33 2014

  813’.6--dc23

  2013041040

  Printed in the United States of America

  14 15 16 17 18 19 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  EPILOGUE

  Reading Group Guide

  Acknowledgments

  AN EXCERPT FROM A December Bride

  About the Author

  PROLOGUE

  JADE MCKINLEY LOWERED THE STOVE TO MEDIUM AND returned the chicken breasts to the pan. What had she gotten herself into? She should’ve agreed to meet him at a restaurant instead of in the tiny apartment she shared with her friend. But it had seemed easier, meeting on her own turf with Izzy in the next room watching the Jane Austen marathon on PBS.

  “There’s a bottle of merlot in the cupboard,” Izzy called. “You can serve it if you want.”

  The phone rang. “Can you get that?” Jade opened the cabinet and reached for the wine. She hoped it was okay. She never drank, didn’t really like the taste.

  Izzy entered the kitchen a few m
inutes later, wincing. “Uh, Jade?”

  “He’s not coming, is he? That’s okay. Seriously, I was having second thoughts anyway.” And thirds and fourths. “I didn’t even want this date, remember?”

  “Chill, girl. That was work calling. They need me on the late shift. Someone’s sick.”

  “Oh.”

  “I really need the hours.”

  Jade bit her lip. Nick had been coming to the diner for months. He’d sat in her station every time, and after weeks of his persistence, she’d relented to one date.

  “Seriously, girl,” Izzy said gently. “You gotta get back on the horse. Aaron’s been gone a long time. Give the guy a chance.”

  A knock sounded at the front door.

  “Gotta get dressed.” Izzy rushed from the room before Jade could protest.

  She checked the table as she passed, then opened the door to Nick, remembering why she’d finally given in. Puppy dog eyes and an easy smile.

  “Hey,” he said. “You look nice. Like a beautiful gypsy.”

  She pinched her skirt and dipped in a curtsy. “Thank you. I guess you’ve never seen me outside the diner? Come on in.”

  He brushed past her, and his strong cologne filled her nostrils, making her want to sneeze. He wore a button-down and dark jeans. Jade’s eyes fell to his shoes just as she caught a whiff of shoe polish. Izzy always said to check out a guy’s shoes. Nick’s were a brown casual leather shoe. Not that it mattered. One date and she was done.

  “Smells good,” he said.

  “I hope you like chicken Marsala. Make yourself at home. I’ll get the wine.”

  In the kitchen she rooted through the drawer for the corkscrew. She was struggling to open the bottle when Izzy entered in her uniform, grabbing her purse off the counter.

  “Here, let me.” Izzy removed the cork with ease. “Here you go. Have a nice dinner.”

  “Wait.”

  Izzy turned.

  Jade lowered her voice. “Do you have to go? Could you hang around for an hour or two?”

  Izzy grimaced. “I already told them I was coming. Listen, he’s a nice guy. He’s been coming into the diner for months, right? Not like he’s a stranger.”

  “That’s true.”

  “It’s going to be fine. Mrs. Barlowe’s right next door, and Lord knows she’d come barreling in at the first peep.”

  Jade was just being paranoid. “Okay, you’re right.”

  After Izzy left, Jade took the wine to the table.

  Nick rose from his seat as she neared. “I’ll pour.”

  “Perfect.”

  Twenty minutes later they were halfway through the chicken and still engaged in awkward small talk. Jade finished her last sip of wine, telling him about her family back in Chapel Springs, about her passion for guitar. The wine seemed to have loosened her tongue.

  He was a good listener, and he looked attractive with candlelight flickering in his dark eyes.

  “I made dessert,” she said later when conversation petered out. “You like cheesecake?”

  “It’s actually my favorite.”

  It was possibly his longest sentence so far. She grabbed the cake from the fridge. When she returned, she saw he’d filled her glass again.

  She did most of the talking over dessert too. She’d used her sister PJ’s recipe, and it was divine, topped with a medley of blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries in a tangy sauce.

  She was talking too much, and by the time they’d finished dessert, the room had started spinning a little. Sweat had broken out on the back of her neck. The wine. She shouldn’t have had the second glass.

  “Is it hot in here?” she tried to say, but her words didn’t come out right. She should open the windows and let in the spring air.

  The table in front of her tilted, and her date seemed to sway the other direction. She blinked hard, trying to clear her vision.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Fine.” But her words didn’t sound fine. They sounded muffled and distant, like she was inside a tunnel.

  “Why don’t we sit on the couch?” he said.

  She needed a little help getting there. Her knees wobbled, and her feet didn’t go where she put them. “I think I had too much wine.” She teetered at his side.

  “Wanna watch a movie?” he asked.

  She sank onto the threadbare sofa and was relieved at the thought of not having to carry the conversation. She actually wished he’d leave but didn’t want to be rude.

  “Sure. You pick. They’re in the cabinet.” She didn’t think she could make it over there by herself.

  He chose one of Izzy’s action flicks. He started the movie, but Jade couldn’t follow the plot. Halfway through, her eyes grew heavy. So tired. Did alcohol make you tired? She’d never drunk enough to know. Maybe the room would stop spinning if she just closed her eyes a minute.

  “Jade?”

  A voice was talking from someplace far away.

  “Hmm?” she said. And then darkness closed in and everything went quiet.

  A twisting in Jade’s stomach pulled her from sleep. She drew her knees to her stomach, shivering. She reached for her blanket, but there was nothing to grab. She was on top of the covers. Still in her clothes.

  She closed her eyes against the glaring sunlight, trying to remember the night before. Dinner with the guy from the diner. She didn’t remember coming to bed, didn’t remember saying good-bye. They’d eaten, she’d felt weird. They’d watched a movie.

  What else?

  Nothing.

  She rolled over, her body aching, and pulled her skirt over her legs. Her eyes fell on a scrap of silky lavender at the foot of her bed.

  A memory flashed in her mind. Darkness and weight. The overwhelming smell of cologne. The steady creaking of the bed.

  She sat upright, her head spinning. Her eyes darted around the shoebox-sized room, the walls feeling tight. Her heart thumped heavily. She gasped for breath.

  No. Please no.

  What happened? The memories were a blur, separated by gaping black holes.

  Her stomach spasmed, threatening release. She raced for the bathroom and retched until her stomach felt twisted inside out. A cool sweat broke out on her forehead. Her throat felt raw. Her eyes burned.

  She eased down onto the tile floor, resting her head against the wall. The ache inside spread, consuming her. She trembled with the knowledge of what had taken place.

  “Jade?” A tap sounded on the door. “You okay?”

  Her eye sockets burned. She opened her mouth, but nothing passed her chapped lips. How could this have happened?

  “Jade?” The knob twisted, and Izzy slipped inside. “You sick?”

  Jade pulled her knees to her chest, willing the room to stop spinning. Willing it to be yesterday. Before she’d said yes. Before he’d—

  “Honey, what’s wrong?”

  The tears welled over. Stupid. How could she have been so stupid? This wasn’t Chapel Springs, it was Chicago. She knew better. And now she’d been—

  Izzy knelt on the floor and felt Jade’s forehead. “Can I do anything? Is it the flu?”

  Jade shook her head, a shudder passing through her. He’d seemed so nice with his easy smile and big brown eyes. She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to think about him. Wished she could wipe his face from her memory. How could he have done this? How could she have let it happen? God, where are You?

  “Did something happen last night?”

  Jade’s teeth knocked together, clattering in the quiet. She nodded. Her whole body shook, her own private earthquake.

  Izzy’s warm hazel eyes settled on her. “Honey, tell me.”

  “I—I think he slipped something in my drink. I got dizzy, and then I couldn’t talk. Couldn’t keep my eyes open. I don’t remember anything after that. I woke up in my clothes, and my underwear was off. I’m all achy. I’m having these flashbacks—”

  “Oh, baby . . .” Izzy pulled Jade into her arms. “This is all my fault.�
��

  The memories flashed into her mind, and she closed her eyes against them. The repulsive smell of his cologne. Her limbs weighted and helpless. Sounds, breathing, the squeaking bed, all of it sounding far away. But now it felt all too close, all too real. His hands on her, rough. His smothering weight pressed against her.

  Jade broke away, scrambling unsteadily to her feet. “I need a shower.”

  “Honey . . . you have to go to the hospital.”

  Jade turned on the water. She had to get it off her. His touch. His smell. She could smell his cologne on her. She couldn’t get him off her fast enough.

  “I’ll take you.”

  Jade shook her head, pulling the knob on the faucet until the shower sprayed into the tub.

  “They’ll need to collect samples, Jade.”

  “I can’t.” She just wanted to be clean. Just wanted to forget it had ever happened. If she could just forget, it would be almost like it hadn’t happened at all. She could put it behind her.

  Izzy took her arm. “Jade—”

  Jade jerked free. “I can’t, Izzy! Leave me alone!”

  Izzy gave her a long look. “I’m so sorry. I’ll be right outside if you need me.” The door closed quietly behind her.

  Jade disrobed. A minute later she stood under the scalding water. But no matter how much she scrubbed, she couldn’t get clean. She wondered if she’d ever feel clean again.

  CHAPTER ONE

  JADE’S FOOT EASED OFF THE GAS AS SHE PASSED THE MARINA, not because the speed limit had changed but because her heart had begun beating up into her throat.

  Nearly there.

  She hadn’t expected to see Chapel Springs, Indiana, for a long time, but it had barely been a year—a year of broken dreams. But then sometimes life took unexpected turns.