Some Cowboys Brave the Flames (Keagans of Copper Creek #10)

Chapter 20

20

Charlie

S till no rain in the mountains. No rain in the valley. And now there was smoke in the sky from some area up north. No matter how many times Charlie had reminded herself of the conversation she’d had with Carter, and with Ash for that matter, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Ash had done a great job of talking her off a ledge, but he wasn’t present in her dreams. And sleep was still hard to come by. It wasn’t fair to bring it up to him again, so she did her best to hide her worry whenever they were together.

His concern only added to the guilt she felt over her insecurities. He was a literal hero, and she couldn’t scrape together enough courage to support him in his happiness.

“What’s your problem?”

She jumped and looked up from her horse. Mason rested his folded arms on the stall door. His brows were furrowed, and his eyes dipped to her horse. “Nothing,” she ground out. This was one of the few times he’d spoken to her in the last couple of months, and he didn’t look at all pleased about it. “What are you even doing here?”

He ignored her question. “If you keep brushing her like that, she’s going to go bald.”

Charlie’s hand stilled. She’d just come back from taking her horse on a quick ride. Normally it was soothing to do a brush down while she allowed herself to ignore all her concerns, but this time that hadn’t happened. “I’m fine,” she said.

“No, you’re not.”

“Why do you all keep saying that?” she snapped, tossing her brush into the grooming basket at her feet with more force than was necessary. Thankfully her horse didn’t seem bothered by her mood.

Mason lifted a brow. “You wanna talk about it?”

She snorted. “Not with you.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “Can’t say I didn’t try.” He turned to leave, but she stopped him.

“Try? Is that what you call this? Is that how you would describe the last several weeks? You have either been entirely absent or you’ve ignored me completely. You only come here to hang out with Daniel, and I get the feeling that’s because you two are exactly alike.”

Mason shrugged. “Could be worse.”

She wanted to smack him. His nonchalant behavior grated against her last nerve. “You want to know what’s bothering me? Fine, I’ll tell you. The brush out there…” She flung a hand in the general direction of the fields surrounding their property. “It’s all dried out. The only green you see is the stuff we water from the well.”

“Okay…” Mason drawled. “And?”

She dug her fingers into her hair. “ And … have you forgotten how bad those fires were at the beginning of the season? That was when everything was still at least a little wet. The news says this is the worst year for rainfall that we’ve had. It’s like a ticking time bomb. All that needs to happen is one idiot dropping a cigarette in the wrong place or a loose chain dragging against the asphalt for disaster to strike.”

His flat and yet smug expression softened. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh .” She shook her head before throwing her hands into the air. “And no one seems to be worried that Ash will inevitably be called into the fray. No one cares that this could mean he gets seriously hurt.”

“Charlie—” he said softly.

“No! No. You can’t stand there and pretend to care when you haven’t cared for at least a month. You severed your friendship, and for what? Because you didn’t like that we found love?”

Mason grimaced, and his lips curled with disgust. “Please don’t say that.”

She folded her arms. “I love him, Mason. I care about him more than I’ve cared about anyone. And if he wasn’t your friend first, then you wouldn’t have cared at all.”

“That’s not true,” he ground out. “I’m mad because he took something from you that wasn’t his to take. When he kissed you?—”

“It was wrong. I know. But it’s in the past, and nothing else happened. It wasn’t even as bad as you’re trying to make it out to be. He barely even touched me.”

“He shouldn’t have touched you at all!” Mason’s voice rose, and then he sighed and ran a rough hand through his hair before he started pacing. “You’re too close to the situation for you to understand?—”

“I understand, Mason,” she said quietly, cutting him off. “I really do.”

“It sure doesn’t seem like you do.” His voice remained hard, and his agitation only grew. “When it happened, you should have told me.”

“And what would have happened? Would you have turned him into the sheriff? Would you have beaten him bloody? Because you already did that !” Charlie’s self-control was slipping again. She had to take a deep, steadying breath in order to get back on track. “That’s not the point of this conversation. I’m not going to rehash what happened in the past. I didn’t feel violated. If I had, I would have told you.”

He shook his head, making it clear this was a hill he was prepared to die on.

She stared him down, unwilling to change her opinion as well. They were at an impasse. “Look, whether you want to rekindle the friendship you had with him is up to you. Regardless, you’re still a good guy, and you should be worried about him just like I am.”

Mason’s hard expression faltered. It was in that small moment she could see there might be a chance for the two friends to return to what they used to be—in time.

“I know that I shouldn’t be overthinking this,” Charlie said. “But I can’t help it. There’s this poisonous feeling I have in my gut, telling me that something bad is going to happen. I can’t explain it, and I don’t know what to do.” There, she’d said it. He was probably going to think she was crazy for her fears. Maybe he’d even suggest she get medicated for it.

And maybe that was her only option.

But at least she’d gotten it off her chest.

“Have you talked to Ash about this?” Mason asked.

Charlie’s sharp eyes narrowed, then she relaxed and sighed. He wasn’t being judgmental. This was Mason’s attempt to help her through whatever it was that she couldn’t shake. Nodding, she glanced away. “I did.”

“And what did he have to say about it?”

She shrugged.

“If you don’t tell me, I can’t say whether he was being full of it,” Mason said flatly.

“He said that he’s been trained. That there are protocols in place to ensure they don’t lose anyone. He also said that if he were to ever get seriously hurt, then it would be because he’d broken those rules.”

Mason snorted, and she gave him a concerned look.

“Was he lying?”

Her brother dragged a hand down his face. His muscles weren’t as tight as they’d been before. It was as if he’d told himself he had to accept what was going to happen between her and Ash whether he liked it or not. “He was telling the truth—about the protocols.” Mason gave her a side-eyed glance. “But Charlie, there’s no way to guarantee someone won’t get hurt on the job. Yes, they’re going to put those rules in place to help, but it’s not a sure thing. Accidents happen. That’s why businesses have worker’s comp insurance.”

Her stomach dropped, and he must have seen her reaction to his words because he sighed again.

“Sis, there’s nothing you can do about it short of asking him to find a new career. Is that something you’re willing to do?”

“Of course not,” she snapped, her defenses rising again.

“That’s what I thought. As long as I’ve known Ash, it’s been obvious how much he loves the work he does. And he’s never gotten hurt. I think that’s a pretty good sign that he’ll be fine—both of you will.”

“But I’m literally sick to my stomach whenever he gets put on call—whenever he has to go out for even something small.”

“I know.” Mason nodded. “It’s going to be hard. It probably always will be. But if you care about him like it appears you do… then what other choice do you have?”

That was the million-dollar question right there, and she hated it. She hated that it always came back to her fears of losing him. It was irrational, right? Was it healthy for her to power through it like she was? Fires happened all year long. It was only the summer ones that seemed to have her drowning in her own fears. Only a few months out of the year. Maybe it would get easier over time.

“You gonna be okay?”

Her gaze dragged back to where her brother stood. He was watching her again. The look on his face was reminiscent of the way he used to look at her before Ash had become a variable in their family dynamics. Concern etched his handsome face. Her soft-spoken, sweet bookworm of a brother still loved her—though that was never a question. He didn’t offer her a smile, however.

“You think you might ever forgive him?” She didn’t have to say his name. There was only one person Mason seemed to despise lately. To her, this whole thing was rather silly. Mason was a grown adult. He should be able to let something go when it had nothing to do with the events currently going on.

“I don’t know,” Mason finally answered. “He was my friend, and he betrayed my trust.”

That line of thinking was what really frustrated her. Once again, Mason was making this about him. She couldn’t help but wonder if it would even matter if the man who had kissed her wasn’t his friend at all. Would he have even cared that she’d been kissed by someone who was six years older than she was?

Mason shoved his hands into his pockets and peeked at her. “Have you heard from him today?”

She shook her head.

“Do you know if he got called out to that fire up north?”

Her stomach knotted. She didn’t want to think about it. The effort it had taken to ignore the smoke had practically drained her. Again, she shook her head. “But he would have told me, right? He would have let me know he got called in.”

By the hardened expression on Mason’s face, she wasn’t so sure she would be able to keep convincing herself of what she’d just said. His worried gaze was enough to make her second-guess everything.

“He would call. Or message. Surely, he wouldn’t just go off and fight that fire without telling me he was heading out that way.”

“I don’t know,” her brother finally said. “Based on how antsy you are, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was trying to shield you from it.”

He was right.

Oh no! There was a big chance that Mason had hit the nail on the head. Ash was the kind of guy who didn’t want to give her any unnecessary worry. He was the kind of man who would jump into that fire and when he came out unscathed, he’d be grinning wide and telling her he was right that she had nothing to worry about.

“Charlie!” Daniel barreled down the aisle of the barn, panting. His eyes landed on Mason, and he careened to a stop. Then glanced to Charlie again. “There’s been a casualty.”

For a moment she couldn’t register what he was talking about. Then, all at once, it hit her, nearly knocking her to her knees.

“Daniel—” Mason warned, but Charlie burst from the stall she’d been in, barely managing to shut the stall door with shaking fingers.

“The fire?”

Daniel nodded.

“What happened? Do we know who it is?”

Daniel glanced to Mason again and moistened his lips. “The news just said that there was an incident on the ground. They’re still getting details, but one smoke jumper has lost his life.”

Her heart exploded with pain. It was all she could do to cling to the stall door so she didn’t crumble. It wasn’t Ash. It couldn’t be. She refused to accept that Ash would let this happen, that he’d do this to her.

“Charlie,” Mason whispered, “it’s probably not him.”

“You don’t know that,” she snapped. “We don’t know anything.”

“What do you want me to do?” It was Daniel who asked. “Whatever you need, I’m here.”

She lifted her eyes to him, but before she could answer, Mason’s phone rang.

They all jumped and then stared at the phone when Mason pulled it from his pocket. He answered without hesitation and lifted it to his ear. “This is Mason Keagan.”