Hot Stuff

“All right, then. Let’s go in my office.” He jerks his head. “I’ll be there in a second.”

“Yes, sir,” I agree. He turns back to the guys briefly, and I take a deep breath in through my nose.

And then…I smile.

Because as serious as all of this is, there’s a deep sense of calm at the heart of me. I don’t know how this is going to go. I don’t know how he’s going to react. And I can’t control either of those.

But I know I can be a good man for Lauren and a good father for my kids. And at the end of the day, those are the only things that really matter.

I grab the handle on Cap’s office door, start to turn it, and stop suddenly as everything around me goes wonky.

I glance from my hand back to the group of guys, and the Cap’s eyes meet mine as we both realize at the same time what’s going on.

It’s strange how it takes your brain time to process the literal scrambling of the earth. It’s so different from normal—so otherworldly—it takes a minute to even remember that what’s happening in front of your eyes is possible.

“Earthquake!” Cap shouts, and Ben Mills takes off at a sprint across the engine room to sound the alarm.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” I yell, watching as men pour out of the bunk room in droves, rubbing sleep from their eyes all while at a run.

The onslaught is violent—much, much worse than we’ve seen here in decades—and a huge ball of air gets lodged in my throat as I move toward my locker in a hurry.

All of us gear up quickly, just like when being dispatched to a 9-1-1 call. We can tell by the way the whole world seems to be turning upside down, there will be an aftermath.

Quickly, we load into our two engine trucks and a buggy and pull out with sirens blaring.

The Cap is right across from me, barking orders to Hunter, the guy driving our rig, but I pull out my phone anyway. Several of the guys are doing it because, quite frankly, it’s a fact of life. We’re on our way to help people, but we all have people of our own we’re praying are finding help from someone else.

I dial Sarah first and then Hayden, neither call doing anything but going to voice mail. I move on to Bethanny next, but her phone does the same.

Frustrated, I slam a hand into the side of the rig, and the Cap turns hard eyes to me. I don’t care. I dial anyway.

And by some stroke of luck, a call finally fucking goes through.

“Lauren?”

“Garr…” I hear Lauren say before it cuts out, so I try again.

“Lauren, are you there?”

So starkly it feels like slow motion, I watch as the Cap’s eyes find mine and hold, a hardness that’s unmistakable taking root. He’s heard the name I’ve said loud and clear, and he’s put that together with the way I’ve been this morning, and he’s fucking pissed.

But now isn’t the time to care. And for him, now isn’t the time to give me shit. We both know we’ve got a job to do.

“Yes, Garrett, I’m here! How are you? Are you all right?”

“Yeah, baby, I’m fine. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. A little shaken—” She laughs, and despite the knot in my throat, at the sound of it, so do I. “No pun intended—but fine. I’m fine, I swear.”

Thank God.

Jimmy Carroll holds my eyes in the clutch of his and doesn’t let go.

“Okay, babe. I gotta go. I haven’t been able to get ahold of the kids yet—”

“Wait—”

“I’m sorry to rush, Lauren, but I’ve gotta get ahold of them and get to work. We’re on our way to search and rescue now.”

“No, Garrett, I know. I just wanted to tell you that I spoke to Sarah. I called them first. She says she, Hayden, and Bethanny are all fine. Blake was at work, so they’re still trying to get ahold of him, but—”

My throat gets tight with emotion, but I push through it to speak anyway. “You called my kids first?”

“Yes. I mean, I just had to make sure they were okay. You, I know, can take care of yourself, but—”

“Lauren.”

“What?”

“I love you.” The words just shoot from my lips. And once they’re out there in the open, I have zero regrets. Just…zero regrets. I don’t care that her father is currently shooting lasers into my skull with his eyes right now. I don’t care about any of it because I love her.

“Garrett.”

“I love you, and I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Go save lives. I’ll drive over and check on the kids on the way to help out at the hospital.”

“Okay.”

“Bye,” she says, her voice strong and healthy and ready to take on the world. I take a deep breath as I pull the phone away from my ear, letting my head sink back on my shoulders briefly.