I tossed and turned, waking myself and flopping over on my back, spread-eagle . As my mind climbed from the muddy recesses of sleep, I realized the pattering I heard was the sound of rain on the tin roof. Steady and rhythmic, the pings were broken only by the roll of thunder across the valley.

I lay a moment, thinking about what I’d found. It was time to get up and face the day. Swinging my legs over the bed, I sank my toes into the thick bedside rug, enjoying the feel of the soft knap for a moment.

The rain quickly cooled the mountains, and a chill crept through the cabin. When my feet touched the icy floor, I danced quickly to the dresser and pulled some clean clothes out. Then I returned to sit on the bed, pulled my thick socks on, and thought about what I had discovered yesterday.

Should I ask Liam about it? Should I pretend I never saw it?

Without meaning to, I had invaded his personal space. I slid my arms in the sleeves of an oversized button down, wincing as my shoulder pulled. The cold made it ache more than it had in several days. Because of my wound, I hadn’t worn a bra since arriving at the cabin, and I enjoyed the feel of the soft fabric on my unbound breasts.

I draped a blanket around my shoulders and shuffled out to the living room, pausing for a moment in front of the big glass windows to watch the rainfall in on the lake. The giant drops washed the dirt and dust off the vegetation, turning the leaves on the trees a brighter green. Altogether, it created a fine mist that hung across the water and the valley, shadowing nature’s depth from view.

The area around Liam’s cabin held a fresh-faced beauty. Unspoiled by man, it was harsh and raw, and I loved it. It inspired me. The music I wrote there came from a place I hadn’t been able to reach for in a long time.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Liam smiled at me over his glasses as he read something on the computer screen.

“Mmmmph.” I gave an unintelligible reply as I sleepily sank into an armchair facing the windows and pulled my legs up under me. I wrapped the blanket all around me, leaving nothing exposed but my face.

“It’ll warm up again when the rain stops. The mountains get cold quickly… even in summer.” He turned from the computer to face me. “If the rain doesn’t stop soon, I’ll take a look at the chimney and see if it’s clear enough to build a fire in the fireplace. There should be some dry wood stacked on the back porch.”

I nodded slowly. “A fire would be nice.”

He pushed back from his desk, removed his glasses and set them down before coming to sit in the chair across from me. “This is why I built here.”

I looked at him quizzically.

“This view… this feeling. Being able to sit here, make dinner in the kitchen, or putter in the yard and see this. It makes me feel closer to a higher power.”

I pulled the fuzzy blanket tighter around me, cutting off the stream of cold air that crept down my neck and made me shiver. “It’s so beautiful.”

Lightning streaked across the dark sky and was followed by a particularly loud crack of thunder that started at one end of the valley and rolled across to the other.

“That was close,” I whispered.

“Sometimes you can sit here and watch it strike trees on the ridge across the valley.”

The rain intensified, and I could hear the wind whistle past the cabin, an eerie, ghostly sound that sent chills up my spine.

“You want something to drink?” He glanced over at me. “Hot chocolate? No, wait—coffee.”

“Coffee would be lovely.” It would warm me from the inside, and I might just stop shivering.

“I should have known. I swear, you breathe coffee.” He chuckled as he padded across the living room and started filling the French press that on the stove.

“It’s an important part of my daily ritual.” I sniffed, tilting my nose in the air, and looked at him through narrowed eyes.

I stood in front of the gas stove, the French press slowly heating and filling the cabin with the aroma of fresh coffee. Maggie looked so cute curled up in that chair. I felt myself twitch at the thought of what we had been doing several hours ago.

Coffee steaming, I poured her a cup, flavored it with her chocolate creamer, and delivered it hot and fresh to her nest of blankets. I cocked my head and listened to the thunder echo across the valley as I sat back down, my hands warming around my own ceramic mug. “I’m guessing you aren’t in the mood for a run?”

She snorted halfway into her first sip. “Not hardly. I may not move from this chair all day.”

The sky lit up, and lightening turned the entire room white with a CRACK! The unusually loud thunder shook the house. Blinking away the spots in my vision, I came to my feet and migrated over to look out the windows. Shit! Lightning had struck the tall pine tree next to the house, and it stood charred and smoldering a little too close for comfort.

As I watched, the burnt top of the pine teetered and then fell. THUD! It landed on the roof of the cabin with its branches hanging over the edge, scraping the side of the house.

“SHIT!” I shoved my coffee into Maggie’s hands and slammed out the door to check the damage.

The acrid scent of burning filled my nostrils, and the air practically vibrated with electricity. The cold rain soaked me to the skin, plastered my hair to my forehead, and dripped off my nose. My bare feet splashed through puddles, mud oozing between my toes as I rounded the corner of the cabin to see the pine merrily burning on top of the cabin. Thank God the roof was metal, but I could see small tongues of flame licking the wood sides, the rough-hewn logs singed despite the rain.

“Maggie!” I hollered as I dashed back to the porch, scooping up a forgotten ax sitting next to the wood pile. “Maggie!” I turned to find her standing in the doorway, eyes wide, a deer-in-the-headlights stunned expression on her face. “MAGGIE!”

She snapped out of her daze with a shake of her head. “What happened?” she called, rushing toward me out the door.

“Lightning dropped a tree on the house!” I ran down the steps and back out into the rain, hollering back to her over my shoulder. “I need to cut it loose before the cabin burns.”

“WHAT?!” She gasped and grabbed the door jam.

“Yeah!” I shook my head as I stood looking up at the roof. “Get dressed. There are boots and raincoats in the closet. I need your help.”

“Liam?”

“What?” I barked, my mind already a million miles ahead, trying to figure out how to get an entire tree off the roof.

“Do you hear that?” Her voice rose at the end.

The crackling sounds of fire reached my ears and I swore again. “God damn it! The cabin’s on fire!”

Maggie sucked in a deep breath. “I’m coming!” As her face paled, she whirled around, dropped the blanket from her shoulders, and dove into the closet.

I left her there to get dressed and raced back around the cabin to the tree. It had splintered as it fell, cracking off about four feet up the stump. Burning splinters of trunk lay all around the ground, some a good six to twelve inches thick. Raising the ax high above my head, I took a breath and dropped it down on the burning timber with all my might. Smoldering embers splashed all around where the blade landed.

Thunk! Thunk! I swung the ax, severing the tenuous connection between stump and trunk. The crackling fire grew louder and brighter, and I started swinging faster. When I finally cut all the way through, the trunk slid part way off the roof, and the chopped end landed on the ground. I threw my arms in the air, ax still in my hands, and cheered.

“What can I do?” Maggie appeared out of the rain, shrouded in a coat several sizes too big. Her feet were practically swimming in a pair of my rubber boots while she held out a second pair to me.

“Thanks!” I shouted, shoving my filthy feet into them. The rain was helping slow the progress of the fire, but it was no match for the hunger of the flames as they consumed the dry wood and pine sap in the tree and my cabin.

“Help me get that ladder up against the house!” I shouted to her. “I have to get this tree off the roof!”

Maggie and I leaned the ladder up against the house, and I quickly scaled it. Before I even reached the top, I was already swinging the ax, cutting off the nearest branches, and tossing them off the cabin down to the ground. “Drag them away from the house so they don’t catch fire!” While she followed my orders, I continued to chop at the tree like a man possessed.

BANG!

A window blew out, sending glass flying in all directions. “Liam! The fire! It’s inside the house!”

“There’s a fire extinguisher in the closet where you found the boots, and another in the kitchen!” I yelled. “Pull! Aim! Squeeze! Sweep! Aim at the base of the fire, but be careful—if it’s too much for you or the smoke gets too bad, come back out!”

I had almost half the branches removed and could finally start on the trunk. I needed it in pieces small enough to push off the roof before I could help Maggie inside. I prayed the fire didn’t get too out of control before I was done. If I didn’t get the rest of the burning tree off the roof, the whole cabin would be lost.

Steam rose from my back as I began to sweat faster than the rain could fall. The fire’s heat dried the front of my shirt, my face, and eyes. Blisters rose on the palms of my hands from the friction as I swung the ax, but I kept going. “Watch out!” I shouted into the rain as I pushed a big chunk of burning pine off the roof. It landed with a thud on the wet ground below.

Time passed in a blur. When the job was done, I didn’t stop to celebrate the last of the tree falling from the roof. Instead, I flew down the ladder and into the house to find Maggie.

Coughing from the smoke, I grabbed the fire extinguisher from the kitchen and sped down the hall where I found her fending off the fire. She had successfully confined it to one room. While she hadn’t stopped it, she had managed to keep it from spreading to the rest of the house.

As I approached, the house creaked, and a giant ceiling beam fell, landing just inches to the right of where Maggie stood. She didn’t even flinch. Bravely, she turned the fire extinguisher on the new flames at her feet as she coughed and hacked.

I rushed to help her, advancing into the room I had avoided ever since we’d arrived. Grabbing the extinguisher from her hands, I shouted to be heard over the crackling flames. “I’ve got this! Go outside!” Aiming the nozzle, I began sweeping low and slow.

Again and again, I pushed the fire back. Sweat dripped from my brow, and sparks singed holes in my shirt and raised red blisters on my exposed skin. Swapping my spent extinguisher out for her partial one, I battled the flames for what seemed like forever until I was left standing in a ruin.

The roof overhead sagged and the ceiling was blackened. Wind whipped rain-heavy air through the missing exterior wall. It had burned completely away under the pine tree before I could stop it. Drywall from the ceiling hung in wet strips, and the hardwood floor was charred and buckled beneath my feet. The contents of the room were totally unrecognizable, sitting in soggy heaps, bent and twisted from the fire and heat.

I dropped the empty extinguisher with a clang, and it rolled to a stop against the one remaining wall. The wet, chilly wind cooled my scorched skin as I slowly spun around, taking in the ruin. Who would have thought a dream could end like this.

Maggie appeared in the gaping hole where the wall had been. Her face was black from the soot and smoke. “Liam?”

“It’s over, Maggie. Come back inside.” Shoulders slumped, I turned my back on the mess and walked back into the rest of the house.