When the shed was no more than a pile of charred timbers dripping with water, the last few flames flickered and died.
‘That’s it,’ Justin called.
The trainees stepped back and secured the hoses. As they lifted the shields on their helmets, some were smiling and nodding. The experience of putting out the fire had been satisfying and some of them were beginning to understand what being a firefighter was all about. Jake and Matt were emerging as potential leaders of their local firefighting team.
‘Well done, everyone,’ Justin said. ‘That’s it for today.’
Around him, the group of trainees nodded and slapped each other on the back. They wiped the sweat from their faces and set off for the cluster of parked cars, where there would be water bottles and a chance to catch their breath. Justin stayed behind for one more check that their training fires were well extinguished. Jake went with him, as Justin had known he would. Jake was his star trainee.
‘I think you’re ready to take the lead on any local prevention,’ Justin said. ‘There are a lot of places that could use some firebreaks. How do you feel about doing them?’
‘I can do that, if you think I’m ready.’ Jake paused and looked around. They were training on one of the properties fairly close to town. All around them the paddocks were baked by the summer heat, the grass brown and tinder dry. ‘I’d feel a lot better if we had some rain.’
‘We all would. Although there’s not much grass or undergrowth to feed a fire.’
‘Enough, though.’
Justin nodded. When it was this hot and dry, a fire didn’t need much to turn from a few sparks into a raging monster. ‘You’re ready for it now. Well, as ready as you can be.’
They turned away from the embers, damp and cool now and safe after the practice session.
As they approached the others, Ben appeared, phone in his hand. ‘The commander wants us back.’
Justin had been expecting the call; their time at Wagtail Ridge was always going to be short. Such was the enthusiasm of the town’s residents, they had trained more than a dozen volunteers, and Jake and Matt were ready to continue to guide people in preparing their homes for fires. If he was honest, they had done what they had come to do and there were plenty of other places that needed their expertise.
The problem was … Justin didn’t want to go. He wanted to see Anna again. He needed to apologise for their disastrous date last week. And for basically ignoring her when he’d dragged Ben from the pub the other night. He’d reached for his phone more than once to ring her, but apologising was something he felt he had to do face to face. Between work and his brother, though, he’d had little time. Neither was it something he wanted to do when he was stressed or distracted or angry. And that seemed to be every day now.
He liked the Ridge. Accommodations at the fire station weren’t brilliant, but the town itself had grown on him. The people were friendly and there was a great community feeling, which he liked. His mother was here too. He wasn’t sure what was the right word to describe how he felt about that. He thought he liked the idea of getting to know her better and healing the rift in the family. But there was one enormous obstacle to that—Ben.
Despite Justin’s best hopes and efforts, Ben was no closer to forgiving their mother than he had been all those years ago. Seeing her again and being this close hadn’t helped Ben let go of the anger he’d been nursing all these years. In fact, it seemed to only have made it worse. Of the two of them, Ben had always been the partygoer and inclined to drink more than was good for him. But in these couple of weeks, he’d become much worse. Justin was tired of dragging him home from the pub. He was tired of covering for him if his hangover cut into their work. But more than that, he was worried about his little brother. Ben couldn’t go on this way. And if getting away from their mother and going back to Tamworth was the only way to get him to cut back his drinking, then that’s exactly what they would do.
Anna would understand. He hoped. After all, Tamworth wasn’t that far away. He would go and see her as soon as he could and talk to her. This afternoon, he decided. He would see her this afternoon. And nothing was going to get in the way.
Justin and Ben made sure all the firefighting gear was safely stowed, said their farewells to the trainees and set off back towards Wagtail Ridge.
‘I’ll be glad to get back to HQ,’ Ben said. ‘I’ve had enough of this place.’
Justin bit back his reply and increased speed slightly as the road climbed a ridge. As they came over the crest of the rise, he slammed on the brakes. Just ahead of them, someone was in serious trouble. A big four-wheel drive lay on its side half off the road and behind it, a trailer had slid into a ditch, where it lay at a strange angle.
‘Look out.’ Ben’s warning was unnecessary.
As soon as their car slid to a halt, the men were out, running towards the wreck. Justin got there first. He saw a figure inside the car and crouched down to look through the smashed windscreen.
‘Are you all right?’
The answer was a weak groan.
Justin spotted blood on the man’s clothes. ‘Ben. We need an ambulance. And police. And get some warning lights out before someone else does what we nearly did.’
‘I’m on it.’
Trusting his brother to do what was needed, Justin dropped to his knees, trying to get a closer look into the car. The driver was still strapped in. He was lying on his side, blood trickling down his face. Justin could feel the engine heat from under the bonnet of the car. This accident had happened only minutes before. He reached out and turned off the ignition.
‘Hey. Can you hear me?’
The man attempted to move his head.
‘Don’t try to move. It’s okay. Help is here. We have to figure out how to get you out of there.’
