She yawned so wide her jaw popped but at least it shook her out of her thoughts. Gawd, clearly the accident was making her maudlin. Time to go to sleep.

Chapter Three

Matt opened up the box and the heady scent of cookies greeted his senses. Mouth watering, he read the note, ascertained the cookies were from Tate, the woman he’d helped out earlier in the week after the car accident. He vaguely remembered her from school. Perhaps a year or so behind him, definitely not from his circle though.

Knowing she wasn’t a terrorist, he gave in and shoved a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth. And moaned. Holy shit, that was the best thing he’d ever eaten, even better than Maggie or his momma’s cookies though he’d never admit it to them. An oatmeal cookie followed. Nope, that was the best cookie he’d ever eaten. Peanut butter chips in oatmeal cookies? Fabulous. Thank goodness she’d been okay after she’d gotten whacked by that car. The world couldn’t live without this cookie-baking goddess.

Looking at the outside of the box, he realized the address was the beauty salon just across the way. He’d have to go and thank her in person.

He’d saved some folks, helped at quite a few accidents and emergencies and fought fires in and around Petal for the last decade. Still, he could count the number of times he’d received a thank you note on one hand. It felt good to be appreciated.

Finishing up in the late afternoon, Matt grabbed what was left of the cookies, knowing he’d have to work out extra after the dozen or so he’d scarfed down since the mail came. He’d had to hide them from the rest of the weenies at the station who’d have swiped them if they’d known. And with cookies as good as the last five in the box, he wasn’t gonna share.

He’d never been inside the beauty salon though he’d seen it just about every day for years. He had a vague idea that the women in his life got their hair done there, but that was the extent of it.

When he opened the door, the jingle of pretty wind chimes greeted him first, followed by the pleasing sound of feminine laughter. Oh how he loved the sound of a woman’s laugh.

Smiling, he headed toward it. He saw her before she saw him. Her hair was the prettiest blonde he’d seen on a woman and unless he was mistaken, she came by it naturally. It hung in a high ponytail and still cascaded down her back in a long spiral curl. Those wide blue eyes of hers were set off by some floaty-looking blouse that was a sort of pinkish-orange. He was sure they had a name for it, women always had names for colors like that. He’d say that Nicholas had light green walls in his room but Maggie had told him they were sea foam green. He’d just looked at his brother over her head and Kyle rolled his eyes back at him.

She was short. Like really short. And all curves. Her musical laughter cut off when she caught sight of him and then began to choke.

Dropping his things on a nearby counter he rushed to her, concerned as she waved him off, her eyes widening as she backed away.

“She’s all right,” one of the other women said.

Tate recovered and turned a shade of red he was sure they had a name for too, but it was clear she’d either injured herself or was mortified.

“Fuckety f**k,” she muttered as she tried to catch her breath.

“Are you all right?” He touched her arm.

Her blush deepened as she nodded, sending her ponytail swaying. “Fine. Um, can’t breathe and swallow at the same time. Apparently I forgot that.”

He grinned. “I’m Matt Chase. I just wanted to come by to thank you for the cookies.”

“Oh…oh, I’m glad you got them. I should have just brought them over but I didn’t know when I’d get the chance to get away and my family was sort of trying to steal them and if I hadn’t wrapped them up they’d have ended up at the University of Georgia with my kid brother and sister.”

He couldn’t stop grinning. The woman was like one of those little dogs with all the energy. “It’s fine. They’re really good. Like criminally good. In fact, and if you repeat this, I’ll deny it, they’re the best cookies I’ve ever eaten. You missed your calling you know. You should have opened a bakery.”

“Her cookies are a drop in the bucket. She makes a peach cobbler that’ll bring tears to your eyes and the most perfect scratch biscuit you ever tasted. That’s until you try her chicken paprika,” one of the women, clearly a relative, told him proudly.

“Stop it now. I already said you could have Saturday off.” Tate winked and the other woman laughed. “Oh, my manners! I’m Tate Murphy. Aside from bleeding all over you the other day, I figure we haven’t been formally introduced.”

He shook her hand, still wearing a stupid grin.

“This is my sister, Anne and the sister just younger than her, Beth.”

He nodded to all of them and noted they all had the same nose but they were redheads with green eyes while Tate had blue eyes and blonde hair. She was also a lot shorter than the other sisters, who were at least five-seven or so.

“Nice to meet you all. I think I know your brother Tim. He and I were just a year apart in school. We had a few classes together. Redhead right? Green eyes? Freckles?”

“That’s our brother.” Tate grinned.

“He’s a nice guy. Tell him I said hello. Well, I don’t want to keep you all. I just wanted to thank you for the cookies.”

“Well, thank you for helping me. A few cookies are nothing in comparison.”

He liked her smile. Wide, open.