Page 102 of Smoke and Fire
"Hoses are fine, not kinked. Appear to be working." The gentletch tch tchof the sprinkler as it released water around the main building filled in the space between my words. James turned to Nilla.
"Everything else look good?"
"Cleared out," she murmured. "Buildings on the north side of camp are empty. Everything is set up appropriately. No historic structures to wrap."
"Empty on the south," I murmured, "except the stable near the lake. Some of the horses have returned."
"I radioed it into the Supervisor already," James said. "They let Bailey know. Mark's on his way to corral them. Ready to get on perimeter patrol here? We need to hike west, see if we find any signs of fresh starts."
I grunted. As if brought here by sheer thought, the sound of tires crunching on gravel followed. Nilla glanced up.
Two headlights shone out of the foggy orange haze, then a second pair followed. Round, globelike things in the smoke. Two trucks with attached horse trailers had driven past the main building and into camp to stop near us, one behind the other.
My breath caught in the back of my raspy throat when a familiar pair of strong legs and dark hair spilled out ofmytruck. Dahlia's gaze found me almost immediately, then widened. I fought the urge to swear.
What was she doing here?
Suddenly, all the excuses that I’d been telling myself disappeared. They dropped, settling like ash around me. One look at her lovely face and I lost all my determination to do everything myself.
I. Was. A. Total. Idiot.
Why was I holding Dahlia responsible for all the other women in my life? She deserved a chance. More importantly, I wanted her to have that chance.
Wind buffeted us as Mark Bailey stepped out of the truck next to Dahlia and came directly over. He held out a hand to James, who accepted it.
"Thank you all," Mark said, "for watching for new fire starts. You’re my heroes."
"Lookin' good up here, Bailey." James let Mark's hand go. "We'll do our best to keep it safe. No sign of spotting so far, but if there is, we're on it."
Dahlia stepped up behind Mark, but kept her gaze on me. In it, I read a world of questions. My throat ached to speak, but I held back.
"Thank you," Mark said. "Let's hope it stays that way. Horses at the stable?"
"Yes." I nodded. "Just saw them there."
"If it's all the same," Mark clapped James on the shoulder as he shot us all a grin, "I'll grab them and get out of your way. Thank you again." He raised a stopping hand to Dahlia. "The horses are going to be skittish at best. They won't let you near them. I'll round them up and bring them over to load up."
"How can I help?" she asked.
"Wait until I'm here. I'll let you know if I need help to load them in the trailer."
Mark jogged away. He disappeared into the smoke like a wraith. With Mark and Dahlia here, James wouldn't want us to go on patrol just yet. My gaze lingered to the west as more wind surged. The radio crackled in James' hand.
"Give me a second?" I asked James and motioned toward Dahlia. He looked at her in surprise, to me, then shrugged. With one last, inquiring glance, he called Nilla over and they headed toward the lake, radio in hand. I heard vague tones in the chatter, but purposefully tuned out the update.
The main fire would have likely advanced to the highway by now. We'd probably see fresh starts on our side of the canyon any moment.
Which meant Dahlia needed to get the hell out of here.
Once they were out of earshot, Dahlia stepped toward me.
“I hope it's okay I brought your truck," she blurted out. The first signs of stress appeared in her wrinkled forehead. "Mark needed help and couldn't find anyone that wasn't already evacuating their own animals. He's stupid fond of those horses, I hear."
"It's fine."
Her gaze skated over me, then back to my face. "Pretty intense get up you have here."
My bag strained at my shoulders and waist, filled with safety and survival gear and the most amount of water I could bear to carry and still hike fast. My clothes were grungy, the yellow almost faded to brown. Even though we'd just started work this morning, the grime of the smoky air had settled back into my skin. Never had I thought about what I'd look like in this get up until now.
