He hugged his mother and kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks, Mom, I won’t be far. Just have to get some freshair.”
“Don’t stay away too long,” Mom said, tearing up. “We enjoyed having you here since Christmas. I knew you’d eventually go back to the fire lines. It’s in yourblood.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sitting the year out. Trying somethingnew.”
“You need to get back on that horse,” Dad said, coming up to him and roping him into a man-hug. “The sooner you’re back fighting fires, the better. Don’t put it off toolong.”
Larry clapped a hand on his shoulder. “If you ever need to talk, I’m a good listener, and I’m not aHart.”
“So am I. You have any questions about women, you come to me,” Cait offered, even though she was technically a Hart—although she’d belatedly taken her husband’s surname,Wonder.
“Grady’s given up on women,” Jenna said to Cait. “He doesn’t even want adog.”
“You’ll need companionship.” His mother patted his arm. “If you stay with us, you can even get a dog. I’m taking allergy shots now. I don’t want there to be any excuse why we can’t have our entire family, including our fur and feather babieshere.”
“I know that, and thanks.” He gave his mother a kiss and turned toward thedoor.
“Here’s a list of fire chiefs I know.” Dad shoved a piece of paper into his hand right before he stepped out. “In case you want to apply for aposition.”
“Don’t worry, everyone.” Grady waved to his large and utterly adorable family. “I’m taking a time-out, but I’ll be back. No need to act like I’m going off the end of theearth.”
“If you happen to go by Colson’s Corner because of a certain female, tell her ‘hi’ from all of us,” Cait, the most nosy of all his sisters, said as a partingshot.
Last December, Cait and Brian had spent time in the mountains renewing their marriage and had gotten to know Linx Colson when they found two lost chow chowdogs.
“Come back here.” His youngest brother, Dale, finally realized he was leaving. “We’re setting up the poker table. At least stay until you lose all yourmoney.”
Dale was the prankster and joker of the family, and all he cared about was having fun. Nothing ruffled his feathers, and Grady doubted he had a serious bone in his entirebody.
“Don’t you ever feel like jumping on a motorcycle and riding off to parts unknown?” Grady asked. “You should try it sometime. Let’s you know the realyou.”
“Sounds fun. I might join you if they don’t stop trying to push me into firefighting,” Dale said,laughing.
“Actually, it’s more fun if it’s just you and the open road,” Grady grumbled, but allowed himself to be steered back to the Harthousehold.
He had considered taking his brother along, but they were opposites, and Grady could only take so much of his brother’s jollybonhomie.
Nope. Grady was a loner and there was nothing more remote and undisturbed than the site of his burned downcabin.
Hours later, after playing Texas Hold’Em, Spades, Hearts, and Hand and Foot as well as two rounds of Clue, Grady made his final escape and checked into a motel in Sacramento for thenight.
The next morning, after renting a used fifth-wheel trailer, he pulled it up the mountain and found his plot of land. Weeds had grown rampant over the burned-out foundation of his cabin, and the forest had taken back theclearing.
Grady unhitched the fifth wheel and set it up under a spreading pine tree for shade. He spent the rest of the day clearing brush and whacking weeds. Instinctively, he put up a firebreak between the forest and the foundation of his cabin. He dug a trench and planned to fill it with gravel. It was hard work, and it took the edge off of his restlessness—alittle.
Would he put down roots in this remote mountain cabin? He’d been happy here once, long ago. During the weekends he had off while training smokejumping rookies, he’d come here under the canopy of tall trees to enjoy thesolitude.
One day, a tiny puppy had crawled out from behind the woodpile, and Grady was no longer alone. He’d named her Sasha, after his crazy red-headed jump partner in Siberia who washed everything down with vodka. His Sasha went with him everywhere: to the creek, on long hikes, and even skiing where she eagerly pulled him at fast speeds down cross-countrytrails.
It had all ended with afire.
Grady stared at the place where the woodpile had been. If he had ever had a desire to put down roots, this small piece of mountain would do. It was as if Sasha had sprung out of the earth and then gone right back to it, ashes to ashes, dust todust.
A warm settled feeling came over him, and he felt her presence. Everywhere he looked, he saw her. Her favorite spot next to the fireplace, the way she ran around the yard, and the place where she once treed abobcat.
Closing his eyes, his mind took him back to another female who still haunted this very location. A wild and tempestuous woman who’d trained to fight fires, who’d shared his passion for preserving the forest, who’d climbed peaks with him—and who’d kept his bed ablaze and his heart on tetherhooks.
He’d been running from her long enough. She’d been haunting him for way toolong.
