Let Me Burn (Angel Sands 1)

Ember wasn’t so sure. After everything that had happened maybe he’d decided to call things quits, but the thought of that made her chest tighten even more. “How long will he be out there?”

Deenie shook her head. “I don’t know. When there’s an active fire in the forest they tend to take it in shifts, one group of them camping up while the others fight on. It all depends on how long it takes for the fire to get under control. But he’ll be okay, Ember, I know he will.”

“You seem so calm,” Ember said, marveling at Deenie’s easy composure. “How do you do that? You must be worried sick.”

Deenie gave her a soft smile. “I learned a long time ago that worrying about that boy did nothing except raise my blood pressure, and he doesn’t want me to worry about him. He wants me to be strong, so when he comes home he has somebody to lean on.” She nodded at Ember. “You’ll learn that, too.”

“I will?”

Deenie’s voice was certain. “Yes, you will. Because you love my son and you want to do everything you can to support him.”

“How can you tell?”

“That you love him?” Deenie asked, her hand still holding Ember’s. “I can see it in your eyes, hear it in your voice. You don’t worry about somebody that much if you’re not in love with them.”

Deenie was right. Ember was in love with Lucas. She could feel it burning inside her, like a flame that refused to be put out. The certainty of it gave her the strength she needed to go on.

“Tell me what to do to make things easier for him when he comes home,” Ember said, knowing in her heart that he would be coming home. Anything else was unthinkable – even when he was faced by the most engulfing of fires.

He’d come home and she’d tell him she loved him; everything after that she’d leave up to fate.

* * *

It wasn’t the biggest wildfire he’d fought, but it was tough nonetheless. It had taken them almost twenty-four-hours to clear the fire line in the forest, only for the wind to change direction and for them to have to start on a new line all over again. After a day and a half of fighting the fire, with a six hour sleep beneath the stars to try and recharge their batteries, they’d finally managed to halt the fire’s progress, though the forest was still burning brightly. Every now and then a chopper would come over and empty more tanks of water over the burning flames, in an attempt to dampen the land around it, but it wasn’t enough to tame the blaze.

It was the afternoon on the fourth day when they set the controlled fire to burn what was left of the vegetation in the fire line. Lucas stood back and lifted his visor, wiping the sweat from his skin. Every part of him was thick with grime and ashes, from his hair to his feet. He could probably bathe for a week and still not get it all off.

“Has the chopper come back?” Georgia asked, frowning as she looked up to the sky.

“No, it’s moved over to the other side of the blaze,” Lucas told her.

“But I felt some water.” Georgia frowned, still looking upward. “Shit, don’t tell me it’s bird poop.”

Mark laughed, though it sounded tired. “Isn’t that supposed to be lucky?”

But then Lucas felt it. Just the gentlest of droplets against his exposed cheeks. He lifted his hand to his face, touching it with his fingertips, but all that came away was more grime and sweat.

“That’s not bird poop,” Georgia said, when a thicker droplet fell on her helmet. “That’s rain.”

Sure enough, the drops were coming thicker and faster now, bouncing off their protective clothing and helmets, soaking into the ground. Lucas looked up, bemused, trying to work out where the cloud was coming from, because they sure as hell hadn’t had any rain forecasted for today.

“It’s raining,” Mark shouted, his face splitting into a grin. “Just when we need it most. Isn’t that a beautiful sight?” It rained so rarely in Southern California that watching the water stream down from the sky felt like some kind of miracle.

It was impossible not to laugh as it turned into a deluge, dampening all the land around them. He watched as the other firefighters stopped what they were doing to see where the hell the water was coming from, all looking up to the sky with surprise and delight.

He knew from experience that a storm like this wasn’t likely to put the fire out completely, but it would dampen the trees and vegetation surrounding the blaze enough to stop it encroaching any further, which would allow them to approach it and get the flames under control.

Lucas had never been a religious man, but right now as he watched the Californian skies darken, and felt the coolness of the rain against his skin, he couldn’t help but think he was watching some kind of miracle unfold right in front of his eyes.

Maybe they’d be able to dampen this fire enough so he could go home, get some rest, and find the woman he couldn’t stop dreaming about.

He couldn’t think of anything better than that.

27

The blaze had been going on for days. When she wasn’t teaching Ember had been glued to the Internet and the news channels, watching for some sign that they were getting it under control, hoping against hope that there wouldn’t be any mention of fatalities. She learned more about fighting wildfires than she’d even knew possible; how the crews divided into teams either cutting down vegetation, fighting spot fires, and dousing the flames from the air. Every time there was footage on the television she couldn’t help but scan the firefighters faces to see if Lucas was one of them, but he never was.

By Wednesday afternoon, she was sick of reading updates on her phone, so instead of going home after school, she stopped at the beach. Ally was closing up the café and Ember helped her, stacking up the chairs and mopping the floor – anything to take her mind off all the ‘what ifs’ that were swirling around her brain.