I called it in and we did what had to be done.
It was routine after that. Once he was hydrated we stabilized his ankle enough so that we could help him limp out.
A happy ending to a job well done.
When we got back to the parking lot and transferred the hiker off to a waiting ambulance I stared out over dry hills. Even when things worked out I was always aware they could have been worse. I’d seen the aftermath of animal attacks. I’dhelped locate what was left of a person who tripped not over a log, but over a ravine.
Then there were the ones who were never found at all.
I shook off the melancholy thoughts.
This was my life: unpredictable and dangerous. It was Wren’s too.
There was a good chance she was smelling the same smoke I was but from a more dangerous vantage point. Not exactly the kind of thing you build a future on.
Acknowledging that fact stung, but it was something I’d made my peace with a long time ago and would just have to do again.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot at headquarters Flynt and Ash pulled out their phones. “Checking in with your better halves?” I asked.
Flynt grunted and Ash nodded. “Sara and I always check in with each other since her work in the ER and mine here both have crazy hours.”
“Aww, you big sap,” Clay said, slinging an arm around his neck.
Ash shoved him away. “As if you and Emily aren’t on the radio constantly? We all noticed she checks in with us twice as much when you’re in the field than when you’re not.”
His neck colored, but a smile split his face.
“Isn’t that a pain in the ass? Checking in all the time?” I asked.
All three men whipped around and stared at me at the same time. “She’s worth it,” Clay said.
“She matters enough that I don’t want her to worry,” Ash added.
Again Flynt just grunted but that was basically a love poem coming from him.
Maybe I should be taking advice from them, not anothersingle guy like Aaron. Maybe they knew something we didn’t. Or maybe I was kidding myself because I wanted her.
Chapter Fifteen
Wren
The road to Lillooet was familiar, as was the thick hanging smoke in the air.
The news reports on the fire were not promising. The weather was holding strong at hot and dry with wind. The fire was big and getting bigger every hour. More and more resources were being sent to the area.
I settled into camp as I had at every other place. Find where everything was, check in with command, claim a tent and drop my gear.
The short proximity between me and where Jasper lived wasn’t lost on me.
I pushed the thought down…again.
This job was important to me. I wouldn’t put it aside for anything. I was just in a bit of a haze with everything that had happened with him. Maybe it even had me reassessing a few things. The bottom line always came back to the same thing.I could have my job, or I could have stability. I couldn’t have both. And a relationship without stability was doomed to fail.
The next morning came early. I stepped out of my tent, a layer of ash sloughing off it as I pushed the flap aside. The sun was a reddish orange and so blocked by smoke that you could stare directly at it.
Not a good sign.
The fire had swept through so quickly that it left unburned fuel behind. The flames were gone but the fire itself and the potential for more of it remained.
