Zack found himself watching the redhead as she moved towards the makeshift bar, ignoring the sarcastic comment Scott was trying to make. He hadn’t intended bringing her to the bonfire to feel like a date, but it did and he couldn’t place why.

Well, he could, but he wasn’t sure how he’d let it happen.

She was stunning really. Long wavy chestnut hair and creamy skin, slim hips and a neat backside he wanted to pinch. Fuck, he wanted to do a lot more than pinch. The images he’d had flicker through his head had been enough to light the bonfire by themselves. Now he wasn’t mad at her he was finding her attractive. Hot. And his brothers would catch onto that quickly, if they hadn’t done already.

Unless he could find a distraction.

“Keren,” he shouted over to the town dentist. He gestured for her to come over. She looked grumpy and harassed, a potent antidote to the shit Scott was probably about to spout.

“For fuck’s sake,” Scott moaned. “Why did you have to bring her over?” He was hardly quiet about it.

“She’s Sorrell’s friend.” Zack glared at him. “And I don’t know why you have to be so fucking rude to her.”

Scott turned his head away, muttering something unintelligible.

“Hey,” Keren said, smiling around at them until she got to Scott, then she practically growled. “There’s a lot out tonight.”

“One too fucking many, if you ask me.” Scott pulled at his beard.

Zack shook his head. As much as Jake pissed him off with the alpacas and other weird breeds he was introducing, Scott pissed him off more when he was being a dick around Keren. They’d all gone to school together, hung out in the holidays, been in and out of each other’s houses and until Keren left to go to university, they’d been good friends. Zack had no idea what had happened, but they hadn’t been civil to each other since.

“Let me know when you need an extraction,” Keren said to Scott. “I’ll make sure to do it without anesthetic.”

“I wouldn’t let you anywhere near my mouth with pliers.” Scott’s expression remained irritated. “Or anything else. I’m going to get another fucking drink.” He stropped off, still muttering something.

“Apologies for that,” Alex said. He was off duty, if Zack remembered correctly, for a couple of days. Alex was a dog handler in the police, owning two German Shepherds who Zack figured he preferred to any of his family members. He said little, only commenting when he figured it was necessary, preferring to watch. “Maybe one day Scott will look in the mirror and see that he’s actually an adult.”

Keren shook her head, her stare still on Scott. “That’ll be the same day Satan declares a weather warning for icy conditions. Stupid man.” Her attention was refocused on the others and the pint sized mug of hot cider she was holding.

“Keren.” Zack glanced down at her, eyes narrowed. “You’re still wearing your white coat thing.”

She glanced down beyond the long padded jacket she was wearing. “Had an emergency on the way here. Some kid with horrific toothache that needed a filling.”

“I thought you were using a locum service to cover evenings and weekends?” Alex said.

Keren shrugged. “I am. However, he’s taken leave over bonfire night. Apparently, the smoke plays havoc with his asthma.”

Sorrell returned with two mugs of hot cider, both filled to the top. “She did try to ration it,” she said. “Gran caught her though and said a few words.”

“Were any of them polite?” Keren asked. “Gran’s known for her vocab.”

“A few were choice,” Sorrell said. “What time do the fireworks start?”

“I think they’ve already started,” Jake said.

Zack used his elbow to dig into his cousin. Jake just grinned.

“For fuck’s sake.” Zack glared hard. “Aren’t you meant to be bothering someone else? Or don’t you have some alpacas to tend? You know, make sure they’re not scared by the fireworks?”

“No. I’m here all night.”

Zack lifted his hand to touch Sorrell and then pulled back. She wasn’t his to touch. It wasn’t a date and she should’ve been getting married. “They should be starting soon. Do you want to head outside? Find somewhere to watch them from?”

Her smile was small but genuine. Sweet. He liked it. He didn’t get why her ex had let her go. “Sure. How long does it last for?”

He led the way out, Alex, Keren and Jake following them. Scott was lurking in a corner, talking to Naomi Garrett, his semi-regular hook up. “About twenty minutes, half an hour, depending on the budget and if the committee have bought the big blasts that last about three seconds.”

“Committee?” Sorrell said. “You have a committee for this? Or is it just an events thing that does everything?”

Zack shook his head. “There’s a specific committee for bonfire night. And several for Christmas. It’s a small town and there’s not a whole lot to do all the time. Having committees like this gives people a reason to not just be in the bars.”

“Although a lot of the committees meet in the bars,” Alex chimed in. “Or at Gran’s house, which is worse.”

“Why’s it worse?” Sorrell asked.

“Because she brews her own beer and distills her own gin,” Alex said. “And she disguises its strength. If you get invited to a poker night there, decline and run away fast.”

“He had to send his dogs in last time. Poor Hansel came out looking drunk off just smelling the fumes from the gin,” Keren said. “Actually, you should go once. Just to sample it. Just make sure you’ve got a clear diary for the following couple of days.”

“And some spare cash. The woman’s a shark.” Alex stopped. “I can see Victor the bully trying to terrorise someone smaller than him again. Want to come and help me have words?” He shot a grin at Keren.

She nodded without smiling. “Absolutely. He’s shit scared of me since I threatened to pull his teeth out.”

“Did you threaten to make him swallow them too?” Alex asked.

“That would’ve been unethical.”

“Shame.”

They headed over to a darker corner of the field, only lit by the shadows of the flames that were now climbing high over the wood and the wicker guy that had been atop the bonfire. Jake had made himself scarce, possibly not deliberately. When he wasn’t working, he had the attention span of a goldfish with ADHD. Zack knew the chances were he’d spotted a pretty tourist who was in town for the night and fancied his chances.

So he was alone with Sorrell and he was trying not to feel nervous about it.

“Let’s stand here,” he said, guiding her over to a space that wasn’t overcrowded and she’d be able to see without other people getting in her way. He wanted her to have a break from being stuck in the manor house, away from the centre of town, and see some of what Severton could do.

Everyone seemed to be leaving the clubhouse and congregating outside, some announcement having been made. Then the lights in the clubhouse went out and crackling could be heard above the lulled noise of the crowd.

There was a whoosh as five identical pink streams of colours sliced the black sky, and he heard Sorrell gasp, her attention captivated immediately.

It wasn’t the fireworks though that Zack watched; it was the woman standing next to him. Her face lit up when she smiled and laughed at the fireworks and he saw the girl she’d been, or maybe the woman before her ex had called it off and left her with a hotel that had been his dream, not hers. He studied her as her face lit up with the flashes of light from the fireworks, her hair reflecting their greens and golds. Her expression lost some of the anxiety he’d noticed and instead she relaxed, her attention purely focused on what was going on there and then. Zack didn’t notice anything, his focus taken by just her until the crowd exclaimed as the finale burst in a cataclysm of sound and colour. He was slightly delayed in joining the applause that marked the end of the display, but he hoped that no one had noticed.”

“That was amazing,” she said as the clubhouse lights went back on and some of the crowd started to disburse. Others stood near to the bonfire, sparklers dancing through the dark and hot food and drinks steaming into the cold air. “I wanted a fireworks display at my wedding.”

Zack thought about what to say, unsure. “Did you have one planned?”

She shook her head. “No. Mark thought it was too crass.”

“Maybe it’s a good thing it isn’t going ahead then. Gives you more opportunities to enjoy fireworks in the future.”

She turned to look at him. “Maybe you’re right.”