Chapter Fourteen
Jasper
Getting back to reality was going to be a bitch.
Summer was a busy time in Search and Rescue. Hot, dusty days filled with missing and injured hikers. One eye was always on the weather and the fire risk.
Search and rescue didn’t fight fires but we could be called on to help evacuate or find missing people in a fire zone. It had happened not long ago to our dispatch operator, Emily’s daughter.
There were fires in a few areas around Springwood. Nothing close enough to be on high alert about, but the smell of smoke was in the air and the potential for a flare-up was there.
I arrived at the station the morning after flying home trying to switch my brain back to what I did best.
“How was the trip?” My coworker, Aaron, asked me, slapping me on the shoulder as he sank onto the wooden bench beside me. He pulled off his sneaker and slid his foot into his hiking boot.
“Good,” I said vaguely, digging through my locker for my own boots.
He cocked an eyebrow and I met his blue eyes with my dark brown ones. “That’s it? Nice views? Good food? Hot bridesmaids? Details, man.”
“Yes, yes, and yes.” I joked.
He laughed. “Gatekeeping all the fun, huh? Well, I’m going on vacation in a few weeks and I won’t be telling you shit.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Wren hadn’t been far from my mind even though I knew we both had a very short-term view of relationships. “Can I ask you something?”
He shrugged. “Of course.” He pulled the cuff of his pants down over his boots then turned to face me.
Aaron and I were similar age, late thirties but we were opposites in a lot of ways. I wore my dark hair and beard long whereas he kept his blond hair buzzed shorter. He was pale and had muscles like a bodybuilder, never far from the gym.
My skin was darker, reflecting my Indigenous Canadian grandparents and although I had muscle, it wasn’t as carefully crafted as his were.
“Do you avoid relationships because of your job?”
He studied me for a moment. “Just haven’t found someone I was willing to commit to.” He avoided my eyes as he said it, an uncharacteristic move for him, making me think he wasn’t telling me the whole truth.
“If you did, though?”
He took a deep breath and pursed his lips. “I’ve seen relationships fail a lot when one works as a first responder. Clay, Flynt and Ash seem to have it figured out but their better halves work crazy jobs too. Maybe that’s the key. I don’t know.” He paused. “I’m fine on my own, but if you’re not—”
“I am,” I said too quickly then cleared my throat.
“I mean I always have been.” I picked at the callus on my palm and Aaron waited me out.
“I met this bridesmaid. She fights wildfires so she understands how this job works. She said she doesn’t go for relationships because of her job and I totally understand that but… ”
He nodded. “But she has you questioning things.”
I nodded.
Aaron leaned his elbows on his knees, watching me. “You gonna do anything about it?” he asked finally.
I snorted. “Do what? Chase her down? I don’t even know where she’s working. Don’t have a phone number. Besides, she made her intentions pretty clear.”
“So give up and mope then, awesome plan,” he said, flashing me a sarcastic thumbs-up.
I shot him a look. “It’s not that easy.”
“It never is, man.” A look crossed his face as if he had an impossible situation of his own brewing. Before I could ask, the radio on the desk crackled to life.
“Base, we’ve got a report of an overdue hiker on the south ridge. Last contact was yesterday evening. Solo. No check in this morning.”
Aaron was already on his feet. “No rest for the weary.”
I shoved all my swirling thoughts aside and snapped into rescue mode, gathering supplies and preparing to head out.
My boss, Flynt, was barking orders as I grabbed my pack, and we all piled into two trucks.
The smell of smoke hit me as we got to the trailhead.
It brought Wren back to my mind and I forcefully shoved the thought away.
“Our hiker has been out here since last night, be ready for an injury. Cliff is on standby in case we need a heli rescue. Aaron and Jasper will take the north trail. Clay and I will take the east. Ash you’re on standby for a potential medical emergency. Radios on channel two, let’s go.”
I fought not to get lost in my head as we made our way over the dusty terrain and up the familiar trail. There were a lot of places to hike in this area and I knew most of them like the back of my hand. It wasn’t uncommon for someone to overestimate their ability or underestimate the mountain.
Aaron and I were quiet as we hiked except to call out the hiker’s name. We scanned the terrain for signs of the missing person. Life and death have almost become routine some days and I held onto that familiar feeling to keep any new feelings from breaking through.
We found the hiker about an hour later.
“Hey,” I said, crouching down beside him. “Are you hurt?”
I was already assessing the situation. My eyes landed on his swollen ankle and empty water bottle.
Hopefully dehydration and a sprain were the worst of it.
“I got turned around, then tripped over a log. I thought I was going to be stuck out here all night again.”
“Not happening,” I said, handing him a bottle of water from my pack. “We’ll get you out.”
I called it in and we did what had to be done.
It was routine after that. Once he was hydrated we stabilized his ankle enough so that we could help him limp out.
A happy ending to a job well done.
When we got back to the parking lot and transferred the hiker off to a waiting ambulance I stared out over dry hills.
Even when things worked out I was always aware they could have been worse.
I’d seen the aftermath of animal attacks.
I’d helped locate what was left of a person who tripped not over a log, but over a ravine.
Then there were the ones who were never found at all.
I shook off the melancholy thoughts.
This was my life: unpredictable and dangerous. It was Wren’s too.
There was a good chance she was smelling the same smoke I was but from a more dangerous vantage point. Not exactly the kind of thing you build a future on.
Acknowledging that fact stung, but it was something I’d made my peace with a long time ago and would just have to do again.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot at headquarters Flynt and Ash pulled out their phones. “Checking in with your better halves?” I asked.
Flynt grunted and Ash nodded. “Sara and I always check in with each other since her work in the ER and mine here both have crazy hours.”
“Aww, you big sap,” Clay said, slinging an arm around his neck.
Ash shoved him away. “As if you and Emily aren’t on the radio constantly? We all noticed she checks in with us twice as much when you’re in the field than when you’re not.”
His neck colored, but a smile split his face.
“Isn’t that a pain in the ass? Checking in all the time?” I asked.
All three men whipped around and stared at me at the same time. “She’s worth it,” Clay said.
“She matters enough that I don’t want her to worry,” Ash added.
Again Flynt just grunted but that was basically a love poem coming from him.
Maybe I should be taking advice from them, not another single guy like Aaron. Maybe they knew something we didn’t. Or maybe I was kidding myself because I wanted her.