Page 6 of Birchwood Burn (Black Timber Peak Hotshots #2)

SIX

LARISSA

FOUR DAYS LATER

Two nights ago, a massive rainstorm answered everyone’s prayers, hitting Black Timber Peak hard and extinguishing the wildfire.

Although the fire did not destroy any mountain towns, it devastated thousands of acres, displacing and/or injuring countless wild animals.

Numerous volunteers assisted with the animals and the cleanup.

I’ve tried to be one of them, but my friends and the doctor put the kibosh on such physical activity since my lungs are recovering.

Besides Beth, the rest of us were supposed to leave yesterday, but the doctor doesn’t think that it is the best time for me to fly.

Give it another week at least. My friends also changed their flight plans, and Beth even added a couple of extra days to her vacation, despite my telling them it wasn’t necessary.

But their damn guilt is suffocating them, along with me.

I say nothing and let them ease their guilt, but I don’t blame them. I went along with it and, well, it brought me to Jace. How can I ever be sorry when I have that?

The man has been the center of my focus this whole time. I assumed not seeing him for a few days would ease this desire for him, but it hasn’t. It gets stronger, and I get more restless.

My friends worry, and I’m able to blame it on my discomfort and aching chest. Because my lungs and throat ache a lot. Who suspected smoke inhalation could be so painful?

Beth’s apartment is small, and we’re on top of each other here, which gets to be a bit much. But I’m the only cranky one who verbalizes it.

A fire siren blasts through the air, and I turn in my seat on the couch and lift the curtain, looking for Jace. It’s unreasonable, and I’m unsure why I do it, but I do. My friends notice, as they watch me like a hawk, and I’m a little embarrassed.

“Why don’t you visit him? He’s a firefighter, I’m sure we can find him at, oh, I don’t know, the fire station,” Beth says.

Hayley laughs. “Seriously? We’ll all go with you.”

That is the last thing I want. It’s bad enough that I embarrass myself with him on my own. No need to have an audience, too.

“It’s ridiculous. I don’t even live here, and it’s just a little crush. The man saved my life. Obviously, there’s a little hero worship going on here. Nothing more than that.” Damn, who knew I could lie so unconvincingly?

My friends do because all three roll their eyes.

“With everything you’ve gone through the past year, it’s not like you couldn’t move here,” Beth says.

I check her over to make sure she’s not having some sort of seizure or something.

“What? It’s not a crazy idea. You have nothing exciting to go back to. You hate your apartment, you hate your job, you hate being in the city.”

“I hate this mountain. It almost killed me. I’d love to get away.”

“Oh, to your four roommates and a literal coset for a bedroom. Oh, and what about running into Howard and his floozy,” Maddy says.

Her rough delivery forces me to wince, and she sighs. “I’m sorry, that was harsh.”

“You think?” Hayley says and reaches for my hand.

“Larissa, you’re not happy there. You never even wanted to live in a big city like that.

You wanted to find a small town, build your own freelance business, get married, and have babies.

Now you’re stuck there with nobody. No support system. No family. No friends.”

The honesty hurts, but seriously, I’m going to uproot my life for a crush on a guy. It’s ridiculous and something I’m not up to doing. And I say so.

“No, not for some guy. For yourself. You can stay here with me until you get on your feet. You can get a part-time job to help if you want, and then if you happen to date the sexy ass firefighter, then so be it.” Beth snickers and wiggles her eyebrows at me.

Maddy rolls her eyes at Beth, and turns to me and says, “Girl, you thought you couldn’t breathe on this mountain, well, it’s been nothing like what you’ve been dealing with over the past few years.”

They all make good points, but another big upheaval?

Just like that? I’m not certain I’m up to it.

However, the idea of being close to one of my best friends is a selling point.

I miss them so much, and being here with them reminds me of all the good times.

The brief blip of getting separated and lost, not being considered, of course.

Done with the conversation for now, I change the subject. “What should we eat for dinner? I’m craving a French dip. What about you three?”

All three of their shoulders slump, and they back off. The minute I divert a conversation to food, they realize I’m done and not going to discuss anything more. Which I won’t, but there’s a lot to digest. And boy oh boy, do I.

Since I have to take things easy, we’ve been doing movie and TV show marathons, and today is no different, but I haven’t been able to absorb one part of the movies. Jace keeps running through my mind, and visions of what it would be like to move here flash through my head.

The cost of living here is significantly lower than back home. My stomach churns at the word home since it means nothing. It’s only been where I’ve existed; I haven’t been living.

I don’t even like going out much there. The sheer volume of people and noise is overwhelming.

Let’s not forget how expensive things are, and working for only a little above minimum wage, I can’t afford to do a lot.

Which isn’t too much of a sob story. I’m a homebody, but then it means I hang out in my room for most of it because with four roommates, it means there is always somebody there.

None of us are friends, people living together to get by in the fast-paced world of New York.

The girls don’t mention another word about moving here or going to find Jace, but as we go to bed and I toss around. I decide I need to speak with Jace one more time.

My friends are right. There’s nothing to go back to.

Nothing to anticipate, except the hopeful, positive potential I get from his gaze.

If my latest experience is to teach me anything, it’s telling me to go after life and follow my gut and live every day to its fullest. I want an adventure, and Jace is going to be the biggest adventure of all.

I know it. Or at least, I won’t have any regrets of not trying.

Once my mind settles, I pass out and have the best night's sleep in months.. It’s like my mind and body are telling me I’m going to need my rest because my life is starting tomorrow.

As the first one up the next morning, I busy myself with getting ready. If I don’t go sooner, then I won’t go later. I’ll talk myself out of it. Something I’ve always excelled at.

The coughing has lessened quite a bit, but I still have little fits now and then. The wheezing will happen if I get short of breath, which I make sure I don’t do a lot of.

I’m dressed, with my hair curled, and makeup done, when my friends wake up. They all wear a Cheshire cat smile on their faces.

“Yes.” Hayley laughs with my friends.

“Good for you,” Maddy says.

I give them a little twirl, even though I’m not wearing anything fancy, because I packed nothing nice.

For the past few months, I’ve been in ‘depressed-poor-me mode’, so I didn’t stress about wearing anything nice.

But I’m wearing my best jeans, and I borrowed one of Beth’s tops, knowing she wouldn’t care.

None of us ever cared about sharing our things.

It made it a lot easier for four broke college girls to feel like we had more than what we actually did.

“I intend to stop at the bakery and pick something up. As a thank you. What do you think?”

“Smart. It’s a shame you can’t bake,” Maddy says.

“Or cook,” Beth adds.

“Oh, hush. Why do I need to cook or bake when I can order a mean chicken chow mein?”

Beth lifts her brow. “If you move here, it won’t be as easy.”

Okay, so there is one benefit for the city, access to any cuisine at any time of day. I shake my head, dismissing it. I’m just going to take each moment and see what happens.

“Beth, can I borrow your car?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks.” Without dragging this out anymore, I leave the apartment, go to the bakery, and now I’m holding two dozen icing-stuffed cupcakes for the firefighters of Black Timber Peak. I didn’t know how many would be here and didn’t want to leave anybody out.

The garage doors stand open, and the gleaming firetrucks sit parked inside; I’m relieved to know they’re here. Hopefully, Jace is, but I’ll soon find out.

“Hey, are those for us?” A man, around my age, eyes the cupcakes with a gleam in his eyes. I swear he’d be salivating right now if it were appropriate.

“Um, yes. I wanted to thank you all for what you did. Especially for saving my life.” The guy’s head snaps up, and he cocks his head to the side.

“You’re Larissa?”

His question startles me, and a heat builds in my belly. Has Jace been talking about me?

“I’m Jerry. I met your friends when they came down the mountain.”

“Oh, yeah. They mentioned you. Thank you so much for getting them out of there.”

The man shrugs, like it’s no big deal, but it is. “I’m glad they found us and could tell us to search for you. But we appreciate the sweets. Don’t tell anybody, but I have a massive sweet tooth.”

“Dude, it’s not a secret.” A man I haven’t seen before walks up from behind us. He nods, smiles and reaches out his hand. “Hi, I’m Bastian. Thank you for the baked goods.”

I shake his hand as Jerry relieves me of the confectionary goods.

“You’re welcome. Sorry, they’re not fresh.

I can’t bake, but I figure the bakery is a better option, anyway.

Leave it to the professionals.” Why do am rambling?

Why not ask about Jace? Maybe I should just leave and forget this whole idea? They got a thank you and some treats.

“Oh, you can never go wrong with our bakery in town. They know what they’re doing, and we’re always happy to receive anything from them.” Jerry appears to be itching to take off and have a gluttonous moment with the cupcakes. I hold back a laugh.

“Well, again, thank you all so much, and I’m glad to hear nothing happened to any of the firefighters.

” I’ve been listening to anything and everything on the news, social media, and reading articles to follow what’s been happening.

Dreading the moment, I might hear Jace’s name.

Afraid something bad would happened to him.

“Wait, hold on a sec.” Bastian stops me from leaving. “Let me grab Jace. He’ll be happy to see you’re okay.” He runs to the back of the building, and I hear him yell, “Yo, Jace, get out here! Somebody here to see you.”

“Be right there.”

The sound of his voice sends a zing through me, and my body hums again. Something it only ever does when this man is around. I want to fiddle with my hair and my clothes, but Bastian and Jerry are watching me, and it’s awkward all the way around.

“So you’re just visiting, right? Your friends say you live in New York City.” Jerry asks.

“Yes. I was supposed to leave the other day, but according to the doctor, it’s best to stay put a little longer. Airborne might be tough on my lungs.”

“Plus, why would you want to leave this gorgeous mountain before you absolutely have to?”

I lift my brow, and Bastian laughs at Jerry. “Dude, I think she doesn’t mind leaving the mountain.” He claps him on the back.

Jerry’s face drops, like I offended him. “Why would you want to leave? This place has everything.” And I never understood the BookTok meaning of golden retriever when they talked about their heroes, and now I get it. Jerry is a perfect example of the golden retriever vibe, and we must protect him.

“Larissa?” Jace speaks excitedly, but his face shows confusion. I bite the inside of my cheek.

Shit. I shouldn’t have come.

“Hi.” I wave and drop it, appearing like a dork.

“Boss, she brought cupcakes as a thank you.” Jerry lifts the wares in his hands, and Bastian looks back at Jace and me, and something changes in his expression. He clears his throat and tells Jerry they should put the cupcakes in the kitchen and let everyone know they’re there.

“It was nice meeting you,” I say.

“You too.” The guys say over their shoulders, and I catch Bastian wink at Jace, and I blush.

“I hope it’s okay that I’m here. I just want to thank you properly.” And show you I’m not a complete mess all the time.

“I’m glad you’re here. You look amazing.” He coughs. “I mean, you look well.”

I roll my lips and lick the top one as I ponder what to say. “The doctor is keeping me grounded for a few days to make sure my lungs are okay.”

“Are you okay?” His brows drop, and he seems to concentrate on me harder.

“Oh, yeah. I do everything I’m supposed to. I get little coughing fits and wheeze if I get short of breath. I can’t lie down, so I’ve been sleeping in a recliner. But other than that, I’m doing great. I’m alive. Thanks to you.” Damn the stupid rambling.

He steps closer, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. “Look, um, I work until seven a.m. tomorrow, and, well, I can’t… I keep thinking about you. Normally, I keep work and private life separate, but… Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”

“Yes.” I blurt out, and my cheeks glow with a blush I sense without touching them.

Jace laughs. “Okay, great. Can I get your number?”

I nod and tell him my number. My phone pings in my bag, and I’m giddy about having his number now. It’s juvenile, but makes me happy. Something I haven’t been in a long time.

We both have dorky smiles on our faces. On him, it’s attractive and endearing, and I don’t care. I’m going on a date with the hottest man on the planet. We talk for a little bit, but it’s time for me to go because the man is at work.

“I should get going. You have things to do,” I avert my eyes.

“Maybe, but would you mind if I hug you?” He offers me his hand, pulling me into a tender hug.

With his arms around me, his scent fills my lungs, and it’s like a balm soothing everything. I missed his embrace. We say goodbye, and I swear I float my way back to Beth’s apartment before I stress about what I should wear.