Chapter Twelve #2
“I know. I promise I’ll be very careful with your car.”
“Be sure to fill the tank every chance you get.” Fallon smiled before pulling Nora close. “Be careful with yourself. Tell Tyler I’m thinking of him.”
“I’m sorry we won’t be able to pick up where we left off,” Nora whispered.
“I’ve been waiting since the first day I saw you. I can wait a little longer.”
Meeting Fallon’s gaze, Nora found herself overflowing with hundreds of things to say, passionate things, funny things, sentimental things.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Instead, she pulled her camera out of her overnight bag.
She always had it with her, but now she handed it to Fallon. “Hang on to this for me.”
Fallon’s eyes widened, and she touched Nora’s cheek. “We’ll both be here when you get back.” She took a step away, clutching the camera to her chest.
Nora nodded, appreciating that Fallon understood how much the Canon meant to her.
She waved to the rest of the crew and got in the car.
As she drove, she remembered Hannah’s comment about gratitude.
Right now, she was grateful it was light later and that summer meant she didn’t have to worry about driving in snow.
Mostly, she hoped she could be grateful that Tyler would be all right.
Ranger Upshaw raised an eyebrow when she pulled up. “I see you were able to talk Fallon into using her car.”
“Yes, she was very gracious about it, but you know Jade needed her to stay at camp.” Upshaw gave her a look, and she added, “Fallon met Tyler when we found her on the road to Firecamp. They hit it off quite well, so I’m sure she’s concerned about him too.”
Upshaw nodded. “Come on.” She left Nora in the office. After long minutes of waiting and lots of static, she was connected to her mother’s cell phone. The voice that answered was weak and nervous.
“Mom? It’s Nora. What’s wrong with Tyler?”
“Nora? Oh, thank God. I don’t understand exactly what happened, but the doctors say your brother has a broken arm and a concussion.
He’s already been given a mild sedative, but he keeps fighting them and insisting he has to talk to you first. We’ve already been here for at least three hours, and if you can’t convince him to let the doctors set his arm, they’ll have to put him under, and that won’t help the concussion. ”
Nora knew she should sympathize, agree with her mother about how terrible the situation was, but she simply didn’t have the stamina for it. “Put him on.”
After some shuffling, she could hear her brother crying in the background. Her mother must have covered the phone because she couldn’t make out anything that was being said, but after another long minute, Tyler breathed, “H…hello? N…Nora? Is it really you?”
“Hi, buddy. Yeah, it’s really me. Mom said you broke your arm.” Tyler started crying again. “Hey, hey now. Talk to me, Ty. Let’s figure the angles out together, the way we do for my pictures.”
“It hurts real bad, but I’m afraid they’ll make it hurt worse.”
“But what if they don’t? What if setting it makes it feel better? Besides, you’ll probably get a cast, and everyone can sign it or draw something on it.” Nora thought she’d made a good point, but Tyler started crying again. “What’s the matter?”
“I’ve been doing a lot of drawing this summer, but now I won’t be able to,” he blubbered.
“Maybe you won’t, but maybe you will. It depends on where the break is. They might be able to leave your fingers out of the cast.”
He quieted. “You think so?”
“Yeah. That’s something you can ask the doctor.”
“I don’t think he likes me,” he whispered. “He always looks mad the way Daddy does.”
“Maybe he’s worried that you don’t like him since you won’t let him help you.”
Tyler breathed quietly. “If I let him fix me, will you come home and sign my cast?”
“I’ll sign it as soon as I can, but till then, you’ll need to draw a big square and write ‘Reserved for Nora’ outside it.”
“Okay—” He started to say something else, and then he was crying again. “No! No, I’m not finished.”
After more muffled sounds, her father came on. “Nora, you need to come on home now. I’ll be there in the morning to pick you up.”
Nora knew better than to simply refuse. “What about the nearly six weeks I still have in my hitch here?”
“Well.” He hedged, clearing his throat as if he’d forgotten. “That’s too bad, but you can try again next year. We’ll let our wager stand until then. But your mother and your brother need you.”
Nora felt her temper rising. “You’re perfectly capable of helping my mother and my brother. I’m going to finish my hitch this summer, not next year. That was our deal.”
“Nora…” His voice had that warning, practically threatening tone that had made her give in so often before.
Not this time. “I’m not leaving until I’m done.
In case you don’t remember when that is, I’m sure Mom has the date circled on the calendar.
Don’t bother coming before then because I won’t be here.
” She started to end the call but added, “Tell Tyler that Fallon said hi. She wants to sign his cast too.”
“Who? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Tell him what I said. I’ll see you in six weeks.” She disconnected, lowering herself on shaking legs into the chair behind the desk. She worked to control her breathing, stunned that she’d stood up to him at last. A discreet knock sounded after a few minutes, and she stood.
“All done?” Upshaw asked, sounding surprisingly gentle.
“Yeah.” Nora looked at the wall clock. “I guess it’s too late to drive back.”
“I’d say so. Why don’t you get cleaned up, and we’ll find you a cot.”
“That sounds great. Thank you.”
They started out into the cool evening. “Jade tells me your crew has been doing quite well,” Upshaw said conversationally. “Is this situation with your family anything we need to worry about?”
Nora understood the question. Would this phone call mean she might get herself into trouble again? “I promise you, as long as I can be back with my crew tomorrow morning, there won’t be anything else to worry about.” Except possibly a very angry ex-smoke jumper showing up.
“I think I’ll come with you,” Upshaw mused, studying her. “Things are pretty calm here, and Hal can cover for me until the end of the week. I could do with some field work.”
Nora would have paid to see her father trying to take on Hal, but getting back to Fallon was even more appealing.
They left at first light and made it to camp as the crew was finishing breakfast. After Fallon hugged her in the same friendly way as everyone else, Nora assumed it was the presence of Reva Upshaw that inhibited their greeting. “How did it go?” Fallon asked.
Nora sighed. “My mother was a wreck, as usual. I think Tyler will be okay, though he was crying when I talked to him.” Fallon touched her heart in sympathy, but Nora shook her head. “It’s just a broken arm and a concussion.”
“Just?”
“Well, he’s fourteen now. And intellectually, he’s super smart, but emotionally, he’s still immature sometimes. I got him to calm down by promising to come sign his cast. I didn’t say exactly when, though.” She crossed her arms. “I’m sure those tears are why my father wanted me to come home.”
“He did?”
“Yeah. He informed me that he was coming to get me and said we could wait a year before settling our bet. I told him not to bother because I wouldn’t be there.”
“How did he take it?”
“Not very well, I imagine. But I hung up on him, so I can’t really say.” Nora couldn’t tell if Fallon was shocked by her behavior or relieved that she wasn’t leaving. Leaning in, she whispered, “At least we can pick up where we left off.”
Fallon took a step back. “I don’t know, Nora. With Ranger Reva here, maybe we—”
Jade called from the kitchen, asking if Fallon could make an extra breakfast for the new arrivals. Nora tried to hide her dismay. Her return wasn’t going at all the way she’d imagined.
Jade, on the other hand, was ecstatic, declaring, “We’ll finish that clear-cut now for sure,” drawing a pleased expression from the normally stoic Ranger Upshaw.
Once they got to work, Nora saw that Upshaw indeed had serious cutting skills.
The whole crew picked up the pace as sawdust flew, and the sound of tree trunks cracking as they fell was almost constant.
By evening, everyone was even more exhausted, but their progress was evident.
As they ate dinner, enjoying Hannah’s long-promised stroganoff, Ranger Upshaw told stories of the best and worst of Firecamps past.
“Where do we rank?” Kennedy asked, leaning forward.
“Oh, absolutely among the best.” Upshaw winked at them. “Maybe even number one.”
Everyone cheered. When Delores got the group singing during cleanup, Nora put her hand on Fallon’s knee. “Can you at least walk me to the bathroom?”
Before she got a reply, Upshaw called, “Fallon? Could I speak with you please?”
“Sorry,” Fallon said before hurrying away, but Nora wasn’t sure she was. What was different? Yes, the arrival of the almighty Ranger Upshaw, but there seemed to be something else.
She had all night alone to think about it.
While tossing and turning, she’d almost decided to forget about anything more with Fallon, though kissing her was the nicest thing that had happened in a long time.
The answer came to her early the next morning as she replayed the conversation they’d had when she’d returned to camp.
Everything she’d said about her family had sounded cold and hard.
Her mother was a mess. Tyler was too emotional for his age, and she didn’t want him to need her.
And she’d practically gloated about hanging up on her father.
Fallon was sweet and kind and eager to care for those she considered family, while Nora had shown herself to be none of those things. Maybe she never would be.
“Nora,” Fallon stage-whispered outside her tent. “Nora, are you up?”
She rolled toward the opening, answering quietly, “Yeah, I’m awake.”