Page 173 of Smoke and Fire
Dahlia:Mav is covering for me.
Bastian:Because of the launch?
Dahlia:Of course! How could I show up for you while making cappuccinos? I got your back!
Several minutes passed before his next reply followed.
Bastian:Thanks.
I suppressed an eye roll. For being an author, he didn’t have a lot to say in real life. Maybe he used up all his words in his books.
With a sigh, I turned back to the computer. Before too long, another text came.
Bastian:Any sign of Katrina?
I chewed on my bottom lip.Thatwas the real question. I’d hesitated to back out of my shift because I wanted to see if Katrina showed up. Ultimately, I decided that it wouldn’t matter if she did. Mav would have no idea what Katrina was talking about if she asked about Jess, and Katrina had girlfriends with her anyway.
Besides, I hadn’t mentioned Katrina’s appearance as the Lolo character to Bastian. It seemed too . . . weird . . . to say over a text. He returned in just a few days, which would be an easier time to let it spill.
Dahlia:No sign of Katrina problems yet.
Bastian:Good
The utter lack of hearing from his agent made me nervous, but I had no idea why. Surely, she emailed him to a personal account that he’d vaguely mentioned. Texted too, I would imagine. If I really wanted to snoop, I could probably get into his personal email, but I wouldn’t do that.
From what little he’d said about Priyanka, she seemed like the involved type. His computational disarray and lack of connection to social media probably meant that he needed her to be the involved type.
Dahlia:Have you heard from Priyanka?
Bastian:Nah. She’ll call when I tell her I’m back. She normally leaves me alone when I’m on fires.
For some reason, that didn’t alleviate my concern.
Dahlia:Any updates on the fire?
Bastian:It died down a bit last night, but still creeping along. Nothing massively concerning right now except there’s no rain. Humidity is up though.
I took that to mean higher humidity was a good thing, which made sense. My head spun with all the weather talk running around the mountain. The voluntary evacuation had been issued, but people still hung around and waited. I’d never known what a pyrocumulous cloud was before this, and now I couldn’t imagine what anyone here would talk about once this was over.
If Pineville survived.
Bastian:Looks like we’re going to leave in five. I’ll lose reception soon.
Dahlia:I’ll send text message updates throughout the day.
Bastian:Can you make it video?
A huge smile slipped across my face. I sent him a selfie of me winking and pointing at him, followed by a GIF with an old man in board shorts saying, “You got it, dude.”
Bastian:#bestassistantever
I set the phone aside and tried not to fall in love.
BY THE TIMEthe sun fully rose and morning slipped into place, a small thundercloud moved away from Pineville.
It didn’t drop any rain that I could see, but the air had cooled. Only open sky lay behind the lone storm, and I felt stupid for investing any hope in actual moisture. Today would roll out as blistering hot as all the days before it. Time to get the air conditioning on before it was too late.
After making breakfast, changing into a pair of shorts and a tank, and coordinating a time to join Sione, Mark, and Stella at Adventura for dinner next weekend, I sat back down at the computer and my makeshift desk again.
