Sliding the new key into the slot, I listened for a moment before heading inside. As soon as the door shut behind me, Chip skittered out of his hidey-hole, chattering away. I grinned down at the chipmunk. “Good to know you missed me.” He kept right on talking as if I could understand every word. “Or maybe you’re just hungry.”
I hung my purse on a peg I’d put by the door and moved towards the kitchen. Opening a cabinet, I poured a small amount of the nut mix into a little dish. I sat it on the floor, and Chip pounced. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Letting the sound free released some of the tension in my muscles. I rolled my shoulders back and turned the oven on to four hundred. Tonight was a frozen-pizza kind of night. I moved to the window to peek outside.
It looked like Shiloh had been here today. The remaining dilapidated fencing had been taken down and arranged in piles: keep and use for firewood. At least, I wouldn’t have to split logs anytime soon. I really should’ve gone out to get a few hours of work in—the summer light would last until after eight—but I just didn’t have it in me.
Instead, I opted for the hottest shower known to man while my pizza cooked and then climbed into bed with a book it
was taking me far too long to work my way through. The long days I’d pulled lately meant I nodded off before I’d read more than a few pages.
I looked around the room before I switched off the light. It was starting to feel more like home. In the last week, I’d made it more mine—a purplish-gray paint on the walls and gauzy white curtains that lifted in the breeze. I took a deep breath as I switched off the light, letting the fresh mountain air soothe me—hoping it would keep the nightmares away.
It certainly helped me fall asleep faster. It seemed like moments after my head hit the pillow, I was slipping under.
A foreign smell tickled my nose. It was the fact that my nose scrunched in repulsion, the scent invading the calm of my pine air, that woke me. I lay in bed for a moment, blinking awake into the darkness. As I inhaled again, I jolted upright. Smoke.
I flew out of bed, grabbing my phone on the way. I ran down the hall and out into the living room. I slipped my feet into muck boots and threw open the front door. Flames greeted me in the distance, fully engulfing the barn.
I dialed nine-one-one in a haze.
“Sheriff’s Department. What’s your emergency?”
My voice cracked as I struggled to get the words out. “My barn is on fire.”
“What’s your address?”
I listed it off as a particularly violent gust of flames surged.
“Are you in a safe place away from the fire?”
I looked at the distance between the barn and the cabin. The flames could easily catch on the trees and then jump to my cabin. “Safe enough. I have to go.” I hung up without another word, running for the hose. The barn was a lost cause, but my cabin wasn’t.
I turned on the water as far as it would go, thankful I’d picked up the hose and spray nozzle at the hardware store. I aimed the stream of water at the cabin’s roof, coating the side closest to the blaze as much as possible. When it was thoroughly doused, I moved around to the front and aimed for the opposite side as I heard sirens in the distance.
I stayed fully focused on my task, glancing at the barn and the surrounding forest every minute or so. My stomach dropped when two nearby trees caught. “Hurry up,” I begged to no one in particular.
Lights poured across the drive as two fire trucks crested the ridge. They paused in front of me, and a window rolled down. A handsome man with dark hair stuck his head out. “Water?”
“There’s a line to the pasture.”
He nodded and motioned for the driver to move forward. When the trucks parked, they moved in what almost looked like a choreographed dance. Everyone knew their places and went to work immediately. One hose hooked on to the property’s waterline, and others came from the trucks themselves.
I kept my pathetic hose pointed at my little cabin. I moved in a slow pattern, doing all I could to prevent the fire from jumping. A series of shouts sounded as a tree fell. My heart stopped as it sent a cascade of embers flying. It would’ve been beautiful had it not been so deadly.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw everyone was free of the destruction. More sirens cut through the night as an SUV came to a screeching halt in front of me. Hayes jumped out in jeans and a tee that molded to his chest. “Hi,” I croaked.
“You need to get out of here. That fire could jump at any minute.”
“I need to water down the cabin.” If I lost my place to live, that would be it. I wouldn’t recover from the blow.
Hayes moved towards me, trying to take the hose from my hands. “I’ll do it. Just get out of here.”
I held firm. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He muttered a slew of curses. “Is there another hose?”
“Around the other side.”