Chapter Sixteen
Jasper
My phone rang just as I was getting home from a long shift. Probably a telemarketer, but I pulled it out of my pocket anyway.
Kara.
I answered right away. “Everything okay?”
“I’m not sure.” Her voice sounded concerned and my nerves went on edge.
“What’s going on?”
I could hear barking in the background and pressed the phone closer to my ear. Her voice dropped lower, uncharacteristically tense.
“I heard that the fire near Lillooet was flaring up and that a firefighter was injured.”
“I heard that too,” I admitted, though why she was concerned enough to call, I wasn’t sure.
“Wren took a posting out there. I tried calling her and she didn’t answer. I know the odds of the injured person being her are low but… I’m worried.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “She’s there?”
“Yeah.”
“Text me her number. I’ll see what I can do from here. Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s not her.” I had no way of knowing that but I had faith in her abilities. Then again, all the skill in the world wouldn’t save you from dumb bad luck.
“Okay. Thanks, Jasper.”
I hung up. My cousin wasn’t the type to worry unnecessarily so if she was concerned, so was I.
I went out to my truck and drove back to search and rescue headquarters where I had just been, dialing Wren’s number over and over.
No answer.
Emily was just grabbing her purse out of her desk drawer when I came in. “Jasper, you realize you can go home now, right?” she teased. The smile fell from her face when she saw mine. “What is it?”
“There was a firefighter injured near the Lillooet fire. My… a friend is working out there and I’m just trying to find out if it was them.”
“Did you call?”
“I tried. Can’t get through. Maybe no service. Or maybe—”
Emily put her purse back in the drawer. “Maybe something worse. Okay. Hold tight.”
She pulled her headset on and grabbed her radio. I sat off to the side watching her, my leg bouncing hard enough to shake the chair.
Emily removed her headset a few minutes later and turned to me. “I know someone in dispatch out there. She’s going to call me back shortly.”
I nodded, my leg still vibrating.
“You want to tell me about her?”
“I never said it was a her?”
She smirked.
“Alright, it is a her. We met at that wedding I was at. Both of us agreed we didn’t want anything serious since our jobs are so unpredictable but I guess I’m still thinking about her.”
She studied me for a moment. “So you decided not to start something because you both didn’t want someone worrying about you… and now here you are worrying about her anyway.”
“If there’s irony in there, I don’t see it.”
“I don’t think it’s irony, Jasper. I think you got attached even when you didn’t mean to. I’ve been there. Trust me.”
“You’re not the first person to tell me that.”
“I’m not the first person on this crew to put it all on the line for something they really want.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I need to know if she’s okay first. Then you can psychoanalyze me.”
She held up her hands. “Fair enough.”
Her radio came to life and she snapped back into professional mode. I chewed the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood.
Finally, she removed her headset again.
“They can’t give names for privacy reasons but the injured firefighter was male.”
I let out a long, shaky breath, some of the tension leaving my chest.
“It wasn’t her,” she said gently. “But maybe you should take this as a sign.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “The universe had to make it a neon sign to get my dumbass attention but I get it.”
“Attaboy. Now I’m going home to my man. Go get some sleep.”
I did need sleep.
I had just gotten off a long shift and had another one tomorrow.
Instead I wandered out to my truck and sat in the driver’s seat, not starting it.
The radio prattled on in the background.
Just because I was off shift didn’t mean SAR stopped running.
There was always someone on the radio, someone ready to help.
I pulled out my phone and my thumb hovered over the call button beside Wren’s name. I hit it but again it went straight to voicemail.
Either her phone was dead or she was out of service range.
A male firefighter had been injured badly enough that word spread. I felt for the guy and his family. It was dangerous work. Just because the one reported on the news wasn’t her, that didn’t mean she was definitely safe.
I knew if I wanted to be with her — and the more time passed, the more I knew I did — I would have to trust her to do her job and stay safe. I couldn’t be the reason she hung up her uniform.
And if she wanted to be with me, we’d come up with a way for us both to know the other was safe but we hadn’t gotten there yet. In my mind, ‘not her’ wasn’t the same as ‘she’s fine’.
I needed to know one way or the other. I needed to tell her what was on my mind before I drove myself crazy. If she felt the same way, we would find a way for us each to do what we loved with the other person’s support.
For now, I just had to see her.
With that in mind I shoved my key into the ignition and started the truck.