Page 220 of Smoke and Fire
Hernandez grinned a slow, beguiling smile. "That’s a quick timeline for that Merry Idiot. He needs a strong woman like you." He nodded. "He okay on the fire? You heard from him?"
"He's fine."
Hernandez winked. "Watch out for him, will you?"
"You bet I will," I said firmly.
He grinned, then turned to the lingering women in the shop and called, "Everybody out!"
They rushed to the doors yet again. Bodies scattered everywhere. Deputies had to halt traffic to let them flow across the street and into their cars. The swirling smoke and alerts for more evacuations added to the chaos.
Thirty minutes later, the Frolicking Moose had finally emptied. I turned to Lizbeth, ragged at the edges from keeping all the pieces together.
She let out a long, long breath. "Well," she murmured. "That is that." She chucked me softly in the shoulder. "When were you going to tell me about you and Bastian?"
"When I knew more, myself," I murmured, and touched my lips.
A knowing gleam entered her eyes. "Ah," she murmured. "I see. Fresh as a new flower in spring?"
"Very fresh."
"It's good that way. He seems like a pretty tough nut to crack."
"Very."
Lizbeth sighed. "Romance is so wonderful, even when the world is threatening to burn down. Thanks for letting me relive it for a moment. Maverick told me to keep the place open, by the way. Their house is in the North Pineville mandatory evac zone, too. They're heading down the mountain to come here now. We're going to all pile into the loft here and leave the Frolicking Moose open. That way, locals and officials have a gathering spot if they need it. JJ's going to start batch making food on an outside grill."
The thought of going to Bastian's house and sitting there by myself felt interminable. With Sione in Jackson City and a closed highway between us, I'd have to be alone with my fears.
Right now, I wanted to be with the townspeople I'd come to love.
"Want some help?" I asked.
Lizbeth smiled, then nodded. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Let's wait here for news of your man, and our home."
28
BASTIAN
The beast had finally arrived.
To the west, fire billowed plumes of smoke bigger than my eye could see. The roar of the fire came from not far away, darkening the world like a hellscape after all.
Heat and ash and wind flailed around us as we extinguished the new burn to stop the advancing fire from tearing through Adventura.
Grass and leaves curled in on themselves under the flames. Smoke stung my eyes as I walked the burning line. The lake would create a natural barrier to protect Adventura, not to mention the dirt roads and the gravel parking lot. But the trees could still ignite and spread and stop all our hard work.
So we constantly worked.
For the rest of the day, I strode around Adventura, shovel in hand, digging at the ground as I went. Embers flared in plumes of orange and red as the winds raged. Fire swirled. We dumped water, called commands, and tried to keep energy high.
All around us: smoke, smoke, smoke. All in my thoughts: Dahlia, Dahlia, Dahlia. This hungry beast that wanted to kill us had nothing on my Dahlia. Her lips pressed to mine burned hotter than the fires of Hades.
I wanted nothing more than to get back to her. No more flailing out here to make a point. From here on out, I would turn over a new leaf. New Bastian. New life. Time to embrace help, change, and the inevitable.
Dahlia was mine.
PEOPLE LINEDthe streets of Pineville.
