FIVE
Aspen
Why am I so worried about him?
He’s a firefighter doing his job, he literally runs into burning buildings for a living. He rescues people, it’s not like I’m anything special. This is strictly business for him.
It has a name, doesn’t it, when you think you have feelings for the person who rescued you? Trauma bonding, that’s all this is.
He’s gorgeous, with the whole tall, dark and handsome thing going on, which doesn’t ordinarily do it for me but my god, I can’t look away.
Climbing down the ladder with him on the underside, so close I could kiss him through the rungs, I’m surprised I didn’t fall off the damn thing sooner than I did.
Not my fault, he instructed me to, and not a second too soon.
I could have stayed in his arms forever, preferably without our house burning up ten feet away.
Trauma bonding is the only logical explanation here.
That’s why I’m praying to every god I can think of, which is only like seven, begging all of them to keep him safe.
I’m not even thinking about everything we couldn’t back up out here on the island, where 5G is spotty at best. It kind of works on the ledge at the far end of the island by the beach.
Eight! Some people worship Thor, right? Not the one from the movies, though I know a lot of girls who would attend that church. I would have prayed there previously but right now, a certain firefighter is the only thing on my mind.
Why did I let him go in there? I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to him. I feel like I might hyperventilate at any-
“Oh thank god!” I race over to the window as he climbs through, wanting to throw my arms around him but his jacket is literally steaming and now that I think about it, it’d just be awkward. Right? We don’t know each other, he’s merely the guy who rescued me.
And our laptops!
He’s holding our computers! I expected him to come out dragging a green faced asshole who tried to end our lives.
“Trail of green footprints went out the door. But I thought you might want these.”
“You got them?” I wheeze, words barely audible over my relief. “Redford, oh my god, I don’t know what to say.”
“Tell you what, say nothing to no one and we’ll call it even. Slip these in your pillowcase and let’s get you out of here.”
“I can’t thank you enough. I’m so sorry, I can’t believe you put yourself in danger like that. For me. Again.”
“It’s my pleasure,” he says softly, cupping my shoulder with his gloved hand. Just the thought of his skin touching mine has me simmering like his jacket. Why does his glove have to be there? “Let’s get you to safety and I’ll do my damndest to stop this fire from spreading.”
“It’s a total loss, isn’t it?” I ask, knowing the answer before the words have left my quivering lips.
He doesn’t respond but his hand on my back as he walks me to the front of the house tells me all I need to know.
“It’s okay.”
I don’t remember saying it but I hear my voice so I know it’s me talking.
“We’re alive and you made it out safely, that’s all that matters. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you in there.”
Why did my voice say that? Why am I still talking?
“Or anyone else. It’s not like I’d be okay if other firefighters got hurt.
I was just praying for you because I know you.
Not that I know you know you but you know, we’re on a first name basis.
Except we’re not, are we? I just realized Redford is probably your last name.
Yep, there it is on your jacket. And now I feel even more stupid.
I’m gonna go zip tie myself to your boat and stay out of your way. ”
I don’t give him a chance to protest or laugh at me or whatever he was about to do, I don’t want to know. Slipping the laptops under my arm and disappearing into the night seems like the perfect way to bow out of this humiliating conversation.
“It’s Tom,” he calls after me, before I vanish into the forest of embarrassment.
“But there were two other Toms in my class so I’ve always been Redford.
Red or Reddy for short. Aspen, I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you either.
You should check your computers, make sure they still work, it got pretty hot in there. ”
Okay, way to bury the lede. What does he mean he’d never forgive himself?
Because he’s on the job and he doesn’t want to lose a patient, or whatever firefighters call the people they rescue?
Or because he feels even an inkling of what I’m trying to convince myself I haven’t been feeling since his handsome face popped up in the loft window?
Am I not the only one feeling it? Does it work both ways, can the one doing the rescuing develop feelings for the person they saved? Is that what’s going on here, or would I be fantasizing about kissing him if we’d passed on the street?
I feel selfish turning on my laptop while the cabin is burning behind me but it’d be really great if our entire world wasn’t going up in flames right now.
“It works,” I whisper before shouting it into the wind.
I can see the smile spread across Red’s face as he fist bumps me through the night, like there aren’t currently twenty trees standing between us.
If he wasn’t retrieving the ladder that saved my life while his partners are busy dousing the cabin, I’d have already hopped over every log and rock and not stopped until my body was wrapped firmly around his.
Unfortunately, that probably wouldn’t be appropriate. Right? Yeah, I really shouldn’t. I’m sure they need that ladder. It’s okay, at least I get to go tell Mer the good news. About the laptops still working, not the possibility this crush is mutual.
What’s that light on the water? Is it moving towards the island? I swear it’s heading straight for-
Oh shit.
“Meredith!”
It’s too late, an explosion sends a fireball shooting from the dock, hurling splintered wood into the lake.
Please, if anyone is up there listening, let her be on the fireboat.
It looks like they blew up our rowboat and the dock but it’s hard to tell in the darkness, all I know is the fireboat seems fine, as long as the fire doesn’t spread. No, no, this is exactly what can’t happen. Why is the fire spreading so quickly?
Redford’s at my side before I have a chance to process what’s going on.
“Aspen, stay right here, I’ll go get your friend.”
“Not without me you aren’t. I’m coming too.”
The look on his face tells me he wants to protest but I think he realizes it’s useless. “Don’t leave my side.”
“I can’t imagine ever wanting to.” Dammit, that was out loud, wasn’t it? It’s been a long night and I’m too exhausted for my filter to work. Not that it runs smoothly when I’m not exhausted but it’s certainly better than this.
The corner of his mouth curls into the most adorable half grin I’ve ever seen. He definitely heard me and I don’t think he’s offended. Not nearly as much as I am for letting something like that slip out.
Laptops in one hand, his hand in the other, I follow Redford down the path to the dock, not nearly as defined as it had once been. We planned on adding gravel so it looks like it did when we were kids. Something we’re still going to do because Meredith will be fine, she has to be.
It’s damn near impossible to run in the darkness without tripping over rocks and roots but a stubbed toe is nothing if it means getting to my best friend before it’s too late.
We didn’t make it this far to lose to a flaming cocktail we would have thrown back in our college days, no chaser needed.
I might be embellishing our prowess at the bar just a tad.
“Red, is it just me or is the fire on the dock spreading really fast?”
“Old dry wood ignites quicker. Charlie,” he shouts into the radio on his shoulder, a hint of panic he can’t hide tinging his words. “Tell me you didn’t zip tie the girl inside the boat!”
“No, she calmed down. Shit, is she still in there? I’m coming.”
“Negative! Knock down that fire before it takes out the whole island. I gotta move the boat away from the dock or we’re losing it. How much slack do you have?”
“Ten feet, maybe. Redford, if those flames hit the boat, we are royally screwed.”
“I’m not letting that happen. We’re not losing the girl or the island. Or Crazy Gerty, not like this. She belongs in a museum, not a pile of ash.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Redford.”
I can tell by his mischievous grin, my firefighter is about to do something stupid.
I doubt it’d be a day on the job if he didn’t.
As someone he’s rescuing, I love that. As his girlfriend, I can’t say I’m too fond of it.
Not that I think I’m his girlfriend but if I was, which I’m not, it would terrify me.
“Aspen, wait right here,” he says, slipping out of his jacket and boots. “Use this to wrap up your computers, just in case the fire spreads, it’ll keep your stuff safe.”
“How are you gonna get onto the boat? I want to tell you it’s okay to do something stupid if it means saving Meredith but you have to promise nothing is going to happen to you.”
“The dock’s engulfed, I’m gonna swim around the boat and climb up the rear ladder.”
“Okay, that sounds safe enough. You get the greenlight. Wait, why is the boat moving? It’s moving away from the dock.”
His face says it all, and it’s nothing I want to hear.
They’re stealing the fireboat with Meredith on board.
Who the hell are they and what are they doing out here on this island? To try to kill not only us but three firefighters as well. To burn down our house, our boat, our island. For what? What are they protecting?
And why don’t they realize what I’ll do to them if they hurt a single hair on my best friend’s head?