“I need a dozen men clearing brush along the west border,” I shouted. “Cut a good twenty miles this side of that range and along the north end. It’s still a helluva long way off, but the hot zone’s still far from contained. It’s our job to make sure it doesn’t reach the gorge, or we could lose this whole valley.”

And thirty of the finest firefighters from across the western states headed out, still fresh and intense, ready to pour every ounce of energy into their work. Randy and I would take the main rig and head closer to the biggest of the wildfires moving in our direction. Last word was that the fire lines weren’t holding… ember attacks were moving it forward, hundreds of feet at a time. If it moved up the slopes, it could easily double its speed…

Randy threw an armload of gear into the back and climbed in, shotgun. I cranked the engine and spun dry dust behind us before we reached the highway.

“So you and Ember never really answered my question…” he said, settling in and tossing his helmet over the back of the seat. “It’s pretty fucking obvious that you two are…” he broke off. “Let’s just say the old fires are still burning,” he finished, looking out the window.

“I love her, Ran. Nothing’s changed there.” I rubbed at the bristle on my jaw. “And I’d have married her a long fucking time ago… if she’d let me.”

We drove on in silence for a while, each lost in our own thoughts. Action, rather than words, had always come easier to us.

“It took her a hell of a long time to get over you,” he said finally. “This isn’t exactly easy for me either… she’s my little sister, for god’s sake… But it’s pretty clear the fucking sparks are still flying between you guys.” He swallowed and looked out the window again, studying the distance intently. “You’re my best friend, you always will be, Jace. And I don’t think Emmy could find a better man…

“But I don’t think she can take another breakup. She wants to look a hell of a lot stronger than she really is. But she wandered around that fucking cabin like an empty shell for the better part of three years. She gave up as a photographer and she’s just been sitting there all alone with that broken-down typewriter. She’s only just started to seem like her old self again.” He turned and I could feel his eyes on me as I drove.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, turning to meet his look. “I promised her… and I’ll make the same promise to you now. Not even if she were to run again. I’ll quit the job before I let her go this time.” I smiled at him and he exhaled. “I didn’t survive so well without her either, you know. I want a home and a family, Randy. All the same things you have. I want a houseful of babies and I want to climb into bed every night with my wife… not share a fucking cot with a goddamn fireman who stinks of sweat and smoke. No offense…” I grinned and punched his shoulder. “When I get back, I’m going to tell her this was my last job.

“And I’m marrying her the first chance she’ll give me.”

We pulled up a good two hundred miles short of our destination, and the horizon that should have been clear, instead dissolved into a blanket of haze.

“Shit, shit… shit…” I hissed, reaching over Randy’s long legs to drop the radio back in place. “Cap says it jumped the fucking break and is heading for Dovetail Creek. If the winds shift again, it’ll hit an entire range of white fir by morning.”

“Goddamn ladder fuel,” Randy shot out and I knew exactly what he was thinking before he said the words, “if this turns into a canopy fire…”

“It’ll hit the national parkland and head straight up the Rocky Mountains,” I said, hauling the truck around. “They’re calling up every man we’ve got,” I said, hitting the gas hard. “They’ll haul ass to knock down what they can… to keep it from reaching the ponderosa pines. We need to get the fuck back to our own crew and set a line of backfires and triple the crew on thinning. Then, if it still can’t be contained, we might at least have a shot at shifting its direction.”

“Jace…” Randy already had the maps pulled out and was studying them. “You know we need to get word back to Connie and Ember…”

“Hey, Ran… it’s not that big a fire… it’s less than two thousand acres and it’s still hundreds of miles from Cradle Creek. By this time tomorrow we’ll have fifty more men on the lines…”

“I’m not saying the valley’s in any danger, Jason. But you know as well as I do, we’re going to be working this one a lot longer than the two or three weeks we thought. It’d take one hell of a snowstorm to stop this thing in its tracks, especially if it reaches here…” he pointed to the map. “The forecast’s dry as a fucking bone… and the winds could pick up. I’m just saying… they’ll both sleep easier if they know the truth.”

I sank my teeth into my bottom lip, chewing thoughtfully and nodded, knowing he was right. “Well, somebody’d better be getting some sleep,” I said, holding my empty coffee cup out for another refill.

“Cause I can guarantee this;

"Anytime soon, it sure as hell isn’t gonna be us.”