Page 93 of Fireworks
She couldn’t let a chapter stay unwritten, couldn’t pretend like she hadn’t imagined life at that farmhouse, too.
She lifted her head and asked her friend, “Do you think maybe you and Fraser could look after the kids tonight?”
“Yes, of course. I’m way too hanging to even face going to the fireworks tonight. But first I need to vom. All that swinging on a hangover …” Harper dashed into the kitchen, Bernard following after.
Eiley stood, revelling in this clarity. They deserved a proper chance to try. She just hoped it wasn’t too late.
41
The field on the edge of town teemed with locals and tourists alike, leaving Eiley reluctant to get out of her car. Was a fireman, or any man,reallyworth braving the crowds, and worse, the noise?
She turned off the dulcet tones of a romance audiobook narrator, the likes of which she’d hoped would provide her with some confidence but had only served to smudge her mascara as she’d reached a particularly angsty bit. She looked at what was pulling all the crowds. The burning bonfire at the centre of the commotion spewed plumes of smoke into the indigo sky, the lick of flames reminding her again of the wildfire; the fear she’d felt when she’d imagined losing Warren, or even just his home.
If he was as wrong for her as she’d wanted to believe, would she really have searched for him that night? Waited for him until morning? And had slow, hot sex in the shower?
It was enough to motivate her into action. She wiped her eyes in the rearview mirror, tutting at the splotches which refused to be hidden even beneath Harper’s borrowed makeup, and then stepped onto the muddy soil.
She should have brought wellies, she soon realised as she sank into the crowd … and the mud. The influx of visitors matched with the recent rain had left the oversaturated field in swamp territory, and the bottom of her jeans were soon coated with a band of muck. All around, families thronged, children’s faces painted as they queued for fairground rides and food trucks. Eiley wished she could be the type of person to enjoy such chaos. Finlay would always call her a misery guts for wanting to go home early when she felt anxious and exhausted by the mayhem. But tonight, she didn’t have to pretend she was here for anything other than one reason, one person.
Maybe she was finally ready to live life on her terms.
Then she saw it, its red livery part-beacon, part-warning. The fire engine was parked nearby, causing her to hasten her steps. The firefighter idling by the front of the truck in glowing uniform left anxiety rattling through her, but she refused to give into it this time.
She soon realised that the figure was too short to be Warren.
“Nate,” she called, searching for his usual partner as she approached.
“All right, Eiley?” Nate sported his welcoming smile, which she hardly deserved after causing him such trouble the night of the fire. “I didn’t think I’d see you tonight.”
“I wasn’t going to come. Where is he?” she blurted impatiently, and hoped Nate didn’t think her rude.
He scratched his head. “You’re not here to give him a hard time about his little gift, are you? He’s done his best, Eiley. He thought you’d like it. Didn’t want the kids to think he’d just vanished even though …”
She frowned. Had she been so terrible to him that Nate assumed she wasangryabout the hamper?
Her stomach twisted, knowing the answer was probably yes.
“I loved it. I wanted to thank him. To tell him …” She frowned, looking back at the wild orange glow of the bonfire again. “Why isn’t he here? Shouldn’t he be telling those poor kids over there about the hazards of smoke inhalation or something?”
He surely hadn’t missed the opportunity to lecture the entire village about why they should keep their distance from the fire, or what might happen if a firework was set off the wrong way. She could practically feel second-hand concern on his behalf. What about the burning lungs Brook had warned of?
The world was so much better, so much safer, for having Warren in it, even if she’d been slow to see it.
Nate clearly thought the same, because he laughed. “I know. I wondered if I should call the doctor when he told me he was taking the night off.” And then, he gave a knowing smile. “Perhaps he might be working on taking a step back, letting some of us shoulder the responsibilities for a change, eh?”
Eiley wrapped her arms around herself, the cacophony of fairground rides and laughter making her brain fuzzy. “So, you don’t know where he is?”
A shake of his head. “Sorry. He said something about needing some space, so my guess is he’s parked up with his van somewhere quiet.”
Eiley shifted, unsure whether Nate was covering for his friend. She knew he might already have moved on, perhaps with Blair. She’d prepared a second speech in case, thenripped it up when it had sounded a bit too Meredith Grey asking McDreamy to pick her, choose her, love her, a quote she only knew about thanks to Harper’s many forwarded TikTok videos.
She couldn’t help but slump at the thought that she might not see him tonight. Had the hamper been some kind of goodbye, an attempt at closure? What if he hadn’t taken tonight’s bonfire watch because he didn’t want to see her in town, or ever again, and this was his kind way of showing it?
Somewhere close by, the first firework screeched through the air, and Eiley plugged her ears with her fingers. “That’s my cue to leave,” she shouted over the crackle. “Thanks anyway, Nate.”
Nate stopped her. “Eiley?”
“Hm?”
