Page 135 of Smoke and Fire
“C’mon. Dagny just finished dinner, and it’s going to blow your mind.”
The air lay thick with the scent of roast beef. The thought of mealy potatoes, hot and cracking open with the touch of a fork, made my mouth water. My body craved protein and carbs. On my two days off, I could rarely eat enough to satisfy the deficit created by weeks of whacking my way through mountains on a fire line, or hitting my way through project work in the national forest.
“S-s-simple stuff,” Dagny said with a wink, “always t-t-tastes the best.”
She shut the door as Hernandez led us toward the kitchen. Hernandez had a small house, but Dagny had taken it from militaristic-male-deputy life to a homey place after they married in the spring.
“Smells wonderful,” I said.
Without looking like a creep, I attempted to study the way they finished assembling dinner and quietly spoke with each other. What words quantified such warm expressions? How did I write the way watching this felt?
Without my computer under my arm, I felt restless. Naked. A bit unnerved, as if I didn’t know how to belong without my words. The written ones. Those flowed like water. Verbal ones were like stuck honey between my tongue and the roof of my mouth on good days.
Plates and a simmering pot roast waited on the table. Dagny had thrown a simple white tablecloth down, folded napkins over utensils, and had soft jazz music playing in the background. The warmth of the kitchen gave me an instant pang of jealousy for Hernandez. Did he return home to this every day?
Lucky dog.
Maybe I didn’t want to get married, but a warm greeting at the end of the day would be infinitely better than a cold house and a needy cat.
“Have a s-s-seat.” Dagny nudged me toward the far chair. “It’s all ready to g-go. Just b-barely tabled it.”
Hernandez pressed a hand to her back as he slipped behind her, then pulled her chair out. She shot him a smile full of adoration that I tried not to study too obviously. When thoughts of Dahlia interposed over Dagny, I shut them down completely. We settled into steaming pot roast that fell apart at the touch, and potatoes that steamed when I cut them open with the edge of my fork.
My ravenous stomach nearly doubled over in anticipation.
“How are things here?” I asked.
Hernandez shrugged. “Not bad. Pineville is the same.” His gaze darted to me. “Except for, you know, a raging forest fire. What’s up with that, amigo?”
“Not sure yet,” I said.
Hernandez raised an eyebrow. “You going on it next?”
“Probably. Just depends on what assets have already been assigned. I’ll spend the day with Inessa in Jackson City tomorrow, then go to active status with the crew the next morning. We’ll find out then.”
Hernandez whistled low. “Short break, my friend.” He sliced into a carrot that fell apart on the plate. “Hope you’re close, but I don’t want you in any danger. We’re tracking things just in case evacuation status comes, but they’re already anticipating a pre-evacuation going live.”
I nodded. Sounded about right.
Dagny studied me as she grabbed a salt shaker. “How ab-b-bout you, B-bash?”
“What about me?”
“You d-doing okay?”
“Yep.”
She eyed me with a gleam that meant she noticed something. Did she see my cagey energy? Could she tell that the weight of the world pressed on me?
“You still keep track of the Frolicking Moose?” I asked. Her inquisitive expression altered a little. She nodded. I leaned back. “The new girl. Dahlia. What’s your take?”
She blinked. “Oh. W-well. She’s really n-n-nice. Quick on her feet, learns fast, d-d-does things correctly. From what I understand, she’s been eager to t-take work, so that helped B-b-bethany and M-maverick transition out of Ellie leaving. Sh-she’s the only one th-there.”
Lifelong stutter aside, Dagny had graduated with a degree in construction management at the beginning of the year and taken on work at a local construction company. In the middle of all that, she’d married one of my best friends and made him the happiest deputy on the planet. All that change pushed her out of working at the coffee shop, but in such a small town, no one could entirely disappear.
“Her c-c-cousin is Sione,” Dagny continued, “the guy r-running Adventura Summer C-camp now. They’re p-p-pretty close.”
I nodded. Sione I didn’t know, but I’d heard rumors that Mark Bailey had turned over the operation of his summer camp to one of his trusted counselors. He worked on business from his cabin, with his wife, Stella. Mark and I knew each other out of sheer reputation. He and JJ had paved the path for the wild antics of the Merry Idiots. We’d looked up to him and his twin, JJ, in the weirdest ways possible.
