Flashover

Chapter 3

There wasno time to be wrong. Not when her horse was in danger, and they all had to get out of here.

Sophie clutched the reins in her hands until her fingernails pricked her palms. Even with her eyes watering—from the smoke, not from seeing Houston, thank you very much.

What was the man doing here?

And in a hotshot uniform.

Oh, how the teenage boy from her memories had grown into a man. Even with his scars, he was handsome. Maybe more so. Somehow.

Didn’t matter. She’d worry about her Rachel and Sophie worlds colliding later. All she cared about right now was getting Frank and the rest of her horses to safety. Then she’d figure out how to save her ranch.

And then, maybe, she’d ask Houston a few pointed questions. Like why?

The breeze carried more ash the deeper she and Daisy moved through the trees. But she couldn’t abandon Frank. She would not allow him to feel helpless when she knew all too well what that felt like.

She glanced over her shoulder. Tall pines blocked the view of her ranch. Frank might have circled back and returned to the barn. Her newest horse was smart enough to sense the danger in the air. She couldn’t fault him for running.

Her valley hayfield was off to her left, and she eased Daisy up the hill toward the first level of plateaus that surrounded her property. A cough rumbled through her body. Her throat burned, and her chest pulled tight on her next intake of murky air. What if she’d made the wrong choice to come out here? Chasing instead of waiting. All because she was afraid.

Again.

Her legs stiffened in the stirrups. She needed to inhale slowly through her nose. Remain calm. She closed her stinging eyes, and her mind slipped to a memory of another time, long ago, when her lungs had needed more air.

“Mom.” Sophie reached for her throbbing ankle.

She pushed something wooden and heavy off and tried to move her foot. Agony shot through her leg. “Dad! Are you guys all right?”

Surely her parents hadn’t slept through the earthquake.

Sophie’s thunderous heartbeat was the only reply. She hopped toward her darkened doorway but stumbled. Her palm landed on a hard and splintery object.

“Ow!” She pulled her shaking hand toward her face but couldn’t see much in the shadows. A trickle of something wet raced down her wrist.

“Rachel.” Her father’s voice was faint on the other side of the debris wall outside her bedroom door.

She wrapped her palm in the bottom of her pajama shirt and pressed it to her stomach. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Dad, I’m here. But I?—”

“We’re…trapped and”—there was a grunt—“can’t?—”

“My door’s blocked. I think the ceiling fell.” She wheezed in two quick puffs of air, but it wasn’t enough. She pulled the collar of her favorite silk pajamas away from her neck. “Dad, I’m scared.”

“Honey,” Mom’s voice filtered in like a whisper.

“Rachel Sophie, I need you to listen.” Dad sounded closer. Had he gotten free? “If you can’t get through your door, you’ll need to climb out of your window.”

Her second-story window, with the porch roof below.

Sophie licked her lips and leaned against what was likely one of the fallen boards from the roof. The pain in her ankle and wrist toyed with a round of dizziness.

Dad mumbled words, and then, “…you have to find help.”

Sophie pushed herself up with her left arm. Each hop toward her desk brought tears to her eyes. She opened her blackout curtain, and the sliver of moonlight revealed that the roof had not only collapsed in front of her door, but a tree limb poked through the top of the windowpane. The only way to exit her window was through the half-broken section at the bottom.

“Dad, I can’t do it!” More tears rolled down her face. If only her brother were at home.

She wasn’t the answer. Help would have to come to them.

Sophie blinked at the trees swaying in front of her. The bend of the saddle beneath her. She was outside, not in her bedroom. Not trapped. No longer helpless.

She tightened her legs around Daisy. With a deep inhale, she put her hand to her mouth again and whistled. She scanned the hazy field below them in the valley and then, as she swung her gaze up the hillside, Daisy’s ears twisted.

“You hear him, girl?”

Leaves crunched. Then once more. It came from behind. Sophie steered Daisy back toward the barn, only to pull up on the reins. Houston.

And he was on…Peanut?

If Frank wasn’t lost, and wildfire wasn’t coming to destroy all the things she loved, seeing Houston bend his legs up in the stirrups so as not to drag along the ground would be humorous. And maybe a little bit like revenge.

Instead, Sophie shook her head. He should be doing his job by trying to stop the fire. Out here on Peanut, he wasted both of their time by trying to stop her from saving Frank.

She turned Daisy. “I’m not coming back until?—”

“Let’s find Frank.” He didn’t stop Peanut as they neared. He simply shifted the reins in his hands, far better than Jonah had done this morning, and directed Peanut to climb up the incline deeper into the forest. “I’ll get on top and look down on the other side.”

That actually was a good plan. Except…“Frank doesn’t know you. He’ll get even more spooked. Which is why he ran in the first place.”

Houston sent her a look as if that was a given. Then he and Peanut climbed to the flat plateau section out of her viewpoint.

She clicked her tongue to go straight through the young pines growing in the shadows of the mature trees. The murky smoke resting in the low branches blocked the treetops.

“I don’t see him, do you?”

She squinted out over the valley and inspected the trees on the opposite side. Had Frank gone over there? Usually, he ran toward his right. “No. Let’s try down in that valley. There’s an apple tree there he likes to search for dropped fruit.” The horse was ever hopeful, even out of harvest season.

She nudged her horse down a rocky path.

“I’ll take the higher route above as you lead.” Houston directed Peanut upward with a little grunt. Then his soft tone drifted to her. “How long have you lived here?”

Was he for real? After what he did to her in high school, did he really think she wanted to be all chummy now?

“Houston.” It was easier to express herself when she couldn’t see his face. And it had nothing to do with his scars. “There’s no time to chitchat. We aren’t friends. You made that clear before. I have to find Frank. And like it or not, I don’t have to explain anything else to you.”

After a beat, he said, “I was trying to get you talking so Frank might hear you and feel safe enough to come your way.”

“Oh.” Was all she could manage.

“And I assumed he could tell whether your tone is calm or not. Horses are smart.”

Horses weren’t the only smart thing around. Houston may have once been her reluctant, borderline delinquent chemistry class lab partner—one she once thought was her friend—but he could never be classified as dumb. “That’s…a good idea, actually.”

Seeing him here, in a fireman’s jacket, might be the last thing she expected. Clearly this was her day for the past to haunt her. But just because he’d walked back into her life didn’t mean she needed to let him in.

Sophie steered Daisy around a hole in the dirt up ahead and refused to think about Frank possibly stepping in such a hole and getting hurt. “Frank! Come on, bud.”

Only the steps of Daisy and Peanut’s feet stomping over the leaves and fallen sticks filled the silence. Normally, she loved the sound of peace. The stillness quieted her fears, but right in this moment, she felt anything but that comfort.

Sophie traced her thumb over the worn leather on Daisy’s reins. They were running out of time, but perhaps Houston’s plan could work.

After a few moments of quiet scanning, Sophie pressed her lips together. “Umm, how long have you been on the hotshot team…or crew?” That was the last job she pictured him wanting after what happened to him. “I’m not sure what they’re called.”

Daisy took five more steps.

Still no answer from her previously unwanted partner. Only what resembled a humming noise. Another blast of smoke filled her nose. The path in front of her narrowing from the amount of smoke staking its new claim. Not good. The fire was moving toward them, creeping through the brush like a stalking predator.

Her throat constricted. “Houston?”

“I see him,” came his hushed reply. He edged into view and nodded his chin over the rise of the plateau where she couldn’t see. “I’m going to try and push Frank down toward you.”

“Wait,” Sophie hissed between two coughs.

Houston and Peanut disappeared into the smoke.

Frank should see her first beforeHouston’s presence here surprised him. The last thing they needed was a galloping chase through uneven, root-filled ground. Farther away from escape.

She could not deal with another horse’s death.

She’d already lost enough.

Her chest squeezed. She wasn’t sure if it was the air quality, the situation, or both. Before Sophie could manage a decision, Frank’s face popped into view over the hill. Peanut’s head came right beside her previously rogue horse.

Sophie sent Daisy climbing up the incline. “I can’t believe…”

Houston was not on Peanut. He was actually sitting on Frank. Without a saddle.

Sophie’s mouth gaped open.

Obviously, she knew little about this version of Houston, the hotshot firefighter.

He wasn’t the selfish teen boy she’d known.

“How did you…” Get Frank to trust you. Switch from Peanut to Frank. Learn to ride so well. Arrive in Ember.

All of those questions begged to find answers, but none escaped her mouth.

“Let’s get back.” Houston held Frank’s reins in one hand and petted her runaway horse’s neck with the other.

Most women thought a man in uniform was a sight to behold. But for Sophie, there was something about a man on a horse who understood what he was doing that she couldn’t look away from.

Not fair. He’d stood her up without a backward glance. But one moment back in her life, and she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

Nope. She didn’t know why fate—or God—had brought him back into her life. She wasn’t biting. This time, she’d be the one who didn’t look back.

She blinked. “Right. Yes. I’ve got to get everyone loaded, but I think you should ride Daisy, and I’ll ride Frank. Just in case he tries to pull anything again.”

She forced her shoulders back, ready for a fight. Houston’s posture proved he’d ridden more than she expected, however she couldn’t chance Frank freaking out again.

Houston lifted his eyebrow, the one that wasn’t scarred, but then nodded.

Sophie slipped off Daisy and grabbed onto all three of her animals. “How did you get Frank to come up to you?”

Houston gave her his crooked grin that once made her stomach flutter. “It was more Peanut than me. That and I…prayed.”

Prayer. Right. Something she should have been doing this entire time.

“I hummed an old hymn. Frank came nose to nose with Peanut, and I grabbed his leads.” Houston dismounted right in front of her. Only a few inches remained between them. His eyes were a deeper brown coloring than both Pudding and Chestnut’s fur, with a dusting of gold flaked throughout.

“Thank you.” Aw, her voice came out all breathless. Like he still had an effect on her.

He leaned closer. The smell of smoke disappeared for a moment, and in its place, hints of cinnamon and honey hung in the air. She had never smelled such a combination on a man before.

Unfortunately, she didn’t hate it.

Houston lowered his head. “Sorry for spooking Frank. And for what happened that night?—”

“You’re right. We’ve got to get out of here. Thanks again for helping find Frank.” She pulled herself up onto the wayward horse. “You have no idea what it would have been like…to lose something else I love.”

Houston looked away. “I think everyone can relate to losing things.”

He climbed up on Daisy and headed down the slope toward the field, giving Sophie nowhere else to look except the back of his head. Right at Houston’s burn scars.

Of course, Houston understood what it was like to suffer loss.

Up ahead, he steered Daisy to the left of a hole in the dirt. As Sophie took Frank and Peanut nearer the pile of dirt, Frank’s ears twisted back, and Peanut stopped walking.

“What is it, guys?” As they rounded the dirt pile, Sophie gasped.

Houston spun around. “You okay?”

There was no time to understand why her pulse fluttered at the compassion in Houston’s voice. Her finger shook as she pointed at what stuck halfway out of the dirt pile.

Two very charred human feet.

Sophie blinked. “There’s a body in the dirt.”

* * *

Apparently, today was that day. The kind of day where one problem found the next. And he was the collector.

“What do we do?” Sophie voiced Houston’s thoughts.

The fire roaring their way was trouble enough, but the good news of finding Frank had been extinguished. And, for a second, they’d actually been working as a team. He’d thought that maybe God had engineered this crazy meet up to give him another chance. To apologize, and maybe make things right with Rachel. If he hadn’t stood her up, his entire past might have been different.

But for now, they had a dead body to deal with.

He went to pull his phone out of his cargo pocket, until he remembered he left it charging in his locker. “Do you have a phone? First, we’ll call 911.”

“There’s no point.” Sophie had paled as her gaze remained on the charred feet poking out of the dirt. “There’s no signal out here. Only closer to the barn.”

“That’s okay, I have something better.” He grabbed for his radio. But it wasn’t in his other pocket. It had either dropped out, or it was in his pack. The pack he shouldn’t have left at the barn.

Now, they had no way of contacting anyone.

“What do you think happened?” Sophie whispered.

Houston turned Daisy in a circle. The trees stood watch but gave no hint as to what they might have witnessed. Whether accident or murder. “There aren’t any footprints or tire tracks.”

Sophie’s question still hung in the thick and hazy air. And that’s when he heard it, the thing he’d somehow forgotten. Not the branches creaking in the breeze, but the sizzle of sap in the distance burning in flames. Dead body or not, the fire wasn’t stopping. There’s no way the police would arrive here before the fire. Which meant that anything left in the crime scene would be obliterated—including the body. Better to salvage something.

“We’ve got to get out here. Now.” He pointed to the mound of dirt. “And we’ve got to take the body with us.” He jumped off of Daisy and looped the reins around a tree branch.

“Houston, we can’t. The sheriff has to?—”

“Rach…I mean, Sophie.” Houston’s voice was softer than his boots on the leaves on the ground. Why had she changed her name? There was plenty about this woman he’d missed since they last saw each other. And part of him wanted to learn it all.

Except there was no time.

“If you have your phone, take a few quick pictures and video of the area. I’m going to put the body on Peanut.” The mule would have no problem carrying the weight. “If we don’t evacuate with the body, the police may never identify the person, let alone what happened.”

“I hate that you’re right.” Sophie held up her phone. “No offense.”

Right or not, there wasn’t even time for a plan. Instead, Houston dropped to his knees. He had to get the body uncovered. As he pushed the dirt away, his watch scratched along a blue tarp.

A cough from Sophie quickened Houston’s movements. The air grew thicker. Grayer. More troubled. They didn’t have a minute to waste, and if a tarp was wrapped around the body, Houston wouldn’t contaminate anything with his hands.

He shoved off the dirt. However, when his palm knocked dirt away, part of the tarp unwrapped, revealing half of the body’s scorched face.

The man’s eyes were missing but his teeth were there, and his skin had been singed.

Houston’s eyes squeezed shut, but darkness didn’t erase the flashback to when he was eighteen and was awakened in an ambulance by screams. His screams. There had been so many flames. Smoke. And the searing pain. All from the house fire he had accidentally helped start.

Houston’s hands went to the back of his bald head, where his hair no longer grew because of his scars. The pain was over, but the consequences of his actions remained.

He knew exactly what this man had been through.

“Houston.” Sophie’s voice and hand on his shoulder anchored him in the present. “You don’t have to do this alone. I’ll help lift.”

Houston exhaled. The tautness in his chest eased. “It’s going to be heavy.”

She squatted beside him. “The things that are worth doing usually are, aren’t they? I’ve pulled Peanut right behind us. You ready?”

Houston stared at her for a second before he nodded. “Together. On three. One…two…”

Sophie groaned out, “Three.”

A coppery, sour odor reached his nose.

“Just one step at a time.” Houston adjusted more of the weight toward his side.

They took two more steps. He dug his fingers into the slick plastic, except the bottom of the tarp was wet. From blood or moisture from the ground. Probably both.

Despite his recent past, Houston still believed God didn’t create accidents or coincidences. But surely there was someone far better qualified to find a dead body. One of the guys on the crew used to be a cop, didn’t he? He was pretty sure Dakota had mentioned being a SWAT officer. Then again, there was never a great day to find someone dead. And Houston had been the one to volunteer for this evacuation mission.

Houston shifted the body higher. They were almost to Peanut. But then a gust of air thrust against his back, a cloud of dark smoke circled around them, and the tarp flapped open, revealing more than they ever wanted to see.

Another cough jarred Sophie, and her end of the body sagged. “I-I can’t.”

Houston arched his back, took the extra weight, and heaved the body over Peanut’s back.

Sophie bent over. Her hands on her knees. “I’m sorry, Houston. I…”

He rested his hand on her shoulder. “I promise you just being here helped.” He squeezed his fingers, then released her.

The pop of the flames grew louder. He didn’t know how close the fire had reached on the other side of the plateau, but no matter where it was, they had to leave. Now.

After unlooping Daisy’s reins, he climbed up on the saddle while Sophie pulled herself onto Frank and hung on to Peanut’s leads.

Traveling back to the barn, they kept a steady pace. At least he prayed they were heading in the right direction. The air resembled a blizzard, only grayer, and pieces of ash collected in Sophie’s ponytail.

Houston stayed as near to Peanut as possible in case the body might slip off. Finally, the peak of the barn roof came into view. “Do you have a signal yet?”

Sophie passed him Peanut’s leads and pulled out her phone. “I’ll try the sheriff’s office directly.” She pushed a couple of buttons, and then the phone rang over her speaker.

A man answered. “Hello, Ember Sheriff.”

“Sherrif, it’s Sophie Lamb.” She glanced at Houston. Then the body. “Sir, I don’t know how to tell you this, but we’ve found a dead body at the ranch. The fire’s coming, and we had to move it.”

Jumping in was one way to tell it how it was.

“I’m sorry.” The Sherrif’s voice pitched higher. “One more time.”

She moved her phone out toward Houston.

“Sir. This is Houston James. I’m with the Jude County Hotshots. Sophie and I moved a dead body due to evacuation orders and?—”

“Dead body. I was afraid that’s what you said.” The man mumbled something that Houston couldn’t understand. Then he said, “I can’t spare any of my guys to send your way. Even if I could, if you’re in the fire’s line, we won’t get to you in time. But most importantly, get out. And second, can you get the body here safely?”

“Yes, sir.” Sophie nodded. “We’ll get into town as soon as we can.”

“Then I’ll see you when you get here. Be careful. We’ve already dealt with too many incidents today.”

Sophie pocketed her phone and steered them toward the back of the barn. “I’ll load up Frank and Daisy first.”

Houston kept his attention on the deep gray smoke swirling above the treetops. The corner of the barn’s siding flapped in the wind that was picking up speed. Which meant the fire could reach them even sooner. “I’ll unload the body in the back of your truck bed. Then Peanut.”

And his pack. He never should have left it. A rookie mistake. Hopefully, he could find his radio if it had dropped out of his pocket.

They made it past the pasture gate and around to her parked truck and horse trailer. Everything went as planned for once today. Houston slid the body off Peanut and closed the tailgate. As Sophie loaded Peanut in behind Frank and Daisy, Houston ran for his pack inside the barn, and there by the stall that had held Peanut’s saddle was where his radio rested in the straw.

With gear on, he met Sophie at the horse trailer as she shut the ramp. “Let’s get you out of here.” There would not be any more chasing things. “Are you driving, or am I?”

She headed to the driver’s side. “Of course I’m driving. It’s my truck.”

He hopped in the other side, and she pulled away from the barn.

“I’ve got to radio my boss.” Houston fished out his radio and reached out a call to update his chief. He didn’t answer. Probably too busy fighting the flames. Houston rerouted his call and radioed HQ.

“Sounds like you’re exactly where you need to be,” Commander Dafoe’s tone rang with confidence. “Stay safe, James. Over and out.”

Exactly where he needed to be?Houston tapped his fist against the truck’s dash. He was supposed to be fighting fires, not running into Sophie and finding a body.

But right now, he had a task to complete. Get her to safety. Get the body to the sheriff. Then he could get back to what he was hired to do. Battle fires.

“You all right?” Sophie asked with her eyes on the road.

Houston shifted in the passenger seat. “Fine. Do you have somewhere safe to ride out the fire? If not, there’s temporary shelter at the high school. Hopefully, my crew will have the fire under control soon and you can come home.”

She glanced at him then, her eyes big and beautiful. Hazel was definitely an underrated color. But strangely, they weren’t filled with irritation or disgust as he probably deserved for their high school past.

“You don’t have to keep worrying about me, Houston. After we take the body to the sheriff’s, I’ll be out of your hair.”

And maybe that was the other problem. He was running out of time. Perhaps God had provided this reunion for a reason. God had given him a second chance at life when He’d saved Houston from the fire. He didn’t want to mess up this chance between him and Sophie. And based on the tightness in his stomach, Houston knew exactly what he should do with the quiet cab time.

But instead, his mouth had its own plan. “Had you always hoped to leave Last Chance County?”

“Not exactly.” She shrugged. “Short story is I inherited this ranch.”

One of the truck tires hit a pothole on the road, and Houston steadied his hand against the passenger door. “That actually makes sense of why you have the horses.”

She whipped her gaze his way. “They weren’t inherited. I rescued them.”

Houston studied the inner green of her eyes that matched the trees blurring past his passenger side window. The slight raise of her tone made him well aware that there was definitely a longer version of her story. And he wanted to hear it.

He loosened his seatbelt across his chest. “They are lucky to have you.”

Sophie turned the radio down. “What about you? How did you end up here in Ember?”

Houston glanced out the window. What he could see of the trees, their tops were not only bending but their middles were swaying too. The wind needed to stop.

“Recently, I guess I wanted to become a hotshot to understand more of what my brother goes through. Macon’s a firefighter. And it seemed like a good plan to help me save enough money for my upcoming seminary schooling.”

She kept her gaze on the road. “Firefighter and seminary. Guess we’ve both changed a lot since high school.”

Pride tasted sour as he swallowed. “I was a self-focused idiot back in high school, Rach—Sophie. I need to explain what happened. And I’m sorry for?—”

“Really, Houston.” She held up her palm. “Please, leave the past alone.”

Her knuckles tightened around the leather steering wheel. A crease formed along her forehead. One he’d caused. No, the easier option was to leave the past alone. Didn’t make it the right one.

He turned toward her. “I was shocked to find your letter in my locker wanting to meet me that night.”

Sophie grunted. “So shocked that you didn’t know how to let me down gently, so instead you sent your brother in your place. If you meant for him to ease the blow of your rejection, it didn’t work like that. Then to be denied visiting you at the hospital.” She slashed her hand through the air. “The past doesn’t matter. I’m more concerned about saving what I have now. I can’t lose my ranch.” Her mouth formed a thin line and then she mumbled, “And I have to make sure I’m not going crazy.”

The city limits sign came into view, and Houston peeked over at Sophie. “I’m also sorry I had the nurse prevent you from visiting.” When he’d first awakened from sedation in the hospital, the pain from his burns had been too much for him to be able to focus on any conversation. Not that he should have ignored her after sending his brother in his place for what she must have thought would have been a date. And it wasn’t like Houston had not wanted to date her, it was that he shouldn’t have.

He rubbed his thumb along his forehead. She didn’t want to deal with the past. But he could at least help her with her future. “Turns out, I’m a good listener. Not as good as you always were, but?—”

Sophie slammed on the brakes and stared at the red stoplight as Houston stole glances at her. A variety of vehicles were parked along Ember’s downtown, and people bustled about as if a forest fire wasn’t knocking on the town’s door. Even though the arrows posted on the street posts for the temporary shelter at the high school were as real as the nightmare in the back of the truck bed.

As if she heard his thoughts, her gaze drifted to the rearview mirror. “This day has been…first Thunderbolt. Then I-I thought I saw my brother today, but they say that can’t be. And now you and the dead body.”

At the tremor in her voice, he reached for her, but then fisted his fingers. He remembered she had an older brother. One that served as her guardian after her parents’ deaths, but Houston had never met him. “Why can’t you see your brother?”

Sophie pulled up to the curb in front of the police department and put the truck in Park. The silence in the cab heated hotter than the fire Orion had stomped out in the woods.

She unbuckled her seatbelt. “Three years ago today, Homeland Security told me that he’d died. But with no body to bury…” She combed her shaking fingers through her ponytail. “Looks like you’ve gotten your act together since high school, and I’m the one left being a stubborn fool.”

At that, she hopped out of the truck and slammed the door.

Teenage Sophie had had a golden heart. The quiet girl who convinced him that being her chemistry lab partner would make science more fun. She’d been right. And now, her heart was breaking not only due to the fear of losing her ranch, but also from losing her brother.

Houston may not be able to make the past up to her, but he would do everything in his power to save her ranch.