“Let’s see how it goes. I’ll try to work fast—not cutting corners, but I can try to speed things along.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Out at the site, they found a flurry of activity—hand crew digging fireline, a more experienced hotshot outfit battling the frontline and dealing with flare-ups stemming from efforts to control the initial blaze. A dry, hot wind wasn’t helping matters, and it wasn’t long before he too was sweating. His adrenaline surged, gathering energy from all the activity as he collected the weather and other fire data he needed to make more accurate predictions. He was also carefully looking for signs of possible arson or, alternatively, evidence of a lightning strike or other natural ignition source.
Meanwhile, Tucker was busy talking to leadership, and at one point, Luis lost track of where he was. His pulse sped up, the smoke hanging in the air seeming to thicken by the second, heat increasing until for a second he was back in California, working that terrible blaze, and Mike...
Damn it. He wasn’t supposed to care about Tucker or anyone else like this ever again. Tucker was a professional and could handle himself in the field and didn’t need Luis hovering. Not that his expertise guaranteed his safety, though. Plenty of firefighters each year saw devastating injuries and worse, and not simply hotshot personnel and smoke jumpers on the front lines either. Simply being out here was a risk. So is driving, he reminded himself, but that didn’t help his churning gut any.
He forced his mind back to work, but it kept wandering. What if he never got another chance to kiss Tucker? To hold him and hang out with him and listen to him talk...
Fuck it. He had it bad. And unlike when they’d been teens with the world stretching out in front of them, he’d lived enough years to know that a connection like theirs was precious and rare. And time was finite, always. Circumstances and choices made for a reality where people never had as much time as they wanted together. He hadn’t pushed for meeting up after work yesterday, and now he was mentally shoving his own shoulder. Idiot. At this point, leaving was going to suck no matter what, and avoiding Tucker only meant fewer memories and more regrets for later.
“Almost done?” Tucker appeared back at his side. “This appears fairly contained. I don’t think we need to scramble additional crews at this point, and I updated Fred with your latest insights as well.”
“Yeah. Just finishing up.” He was stupidly happy to see Tucker, dusty and sweaty but otherwise in one piece. “Does Fred need to see you back at the office?”
“Nah. It’s Friday night. He’s already on his way to the grandkids. If we get another callout, he’ll come in, but otherwise I think we’re good.” Tucker glanced down at his watch. “I’ll drop you at your car, then hustle back up to Painter’s Ridge, see if I can get the second half of the scrimmage at least.”
“Or we can go straight from here, get you there sooner. We’re closer to Painter’s Ridge than to my car, that’s for sure.”
“You’re coming?” Tucker’s smile held nothing back. He’d genuinely wanted Luis to come, and that desire was...humbling. More even than the ego boost of being wanted, it was humbling how Tucker wasn’t afraid to show him what his heart needed. And Luis might not be able to give him everything, but he wasn’t about to walk away with nothing either.
“Yeah, I’m in.” He wanted more of Tucker, however he could get him, even if that meant braving another family thing. He needed more good memories for his stockpile.
* * *
Bringing a date to a school function was a first for Tucker, but then he couldn’t say that he’d brought a date much of anywhere before. Thus, it was maybe slightly significant that he’d arrived at the scrimmage directly from the field, hot and sweaty, with Luis in tow.
“You came!” Heidi, who was also still in her work clothes and heels, scooted over on the bleachers to make room for them. Angelica was already waving homemade pom-poms, and Isaac had a hot dog from the concession stand. It might simply be an inter-squad thing, but the booster club wasn’t going to turn down a chance to make money from food sales.
“Are you hungry?” he asked Luis. “It’s mainly fair-type food like hot dogs and barbecue beef, but they do have funnel cakes, which are worth the splurge.”
“To you, maybe.” Luis gave him an indulgent smile. “You’re the one who had to skimp on lunch. How about I go get you one? I’ll see if there’s anything else there I might eat.”
“Sure.” Tired after all the walking around the fire site, Tucker was okay with letting Luis be the one to get food. “But you have to have a taste of mine.”