Chapter 11 Callum
CALLUM
Reaching inside the water tank, I feel around for a break in the seal—it’s been leaking all morning, and that’s the last thing we need if we’re going to leap into action on short notice like we did before.
The air is clear for the time being, the fire seeming to have burned itself out around the edges of town.
The incoming backup from the nearby city has been cancelled, but I don’t exactly trust this place not to take a turn for the worse at any moment.
It’s blazing sunshine all week, drying out the trees and the grass and the earth, and one wrong move is all it would take to have this place turned to kindling in a matter of hours.
The residents are still being held at the motel nearby, and that’s where I want them to stay for now.
I’ve heard they’re getting a little antsy about being kept away from their homes, but it would be that much harder to move them out again if we let them back and then the fires come back in.
One evacuation, you can manage, because it serves as something of a novelty, but the second is much harder.
People just want to get back to their regular lives, and dig their heels in if you try to get them out.
Finally, my fingers rove over a piece of the water tank that has cracked. The sharp edge of the plastic nicks my hand, and I pull it back sharply, pushing it into my mouth to try and salve the discomfort.
All at once, it strikes me that I can feel someone watching me. I glance around to find Angelie leaning in the doorway of the cabin, her eyes fixed on me as I work on our equipment while the others work out our tactical response to another potential threat.
“Hey,” she greets me, a little shyly.
She’s still clearly trying to find her feet here, and I don’t blame her.
Carlisle was reluctant to let her stay at all, and it took her defending herself and insisting that she knew what she was doing and what she was getting into, making it a matter of handling the fires with more efficiency that he couldn’t deny.
I know it’s going to bring some tensions to the surface, having her so close to us again, but she loves this town too much to let anything happen to it, and I admire that about her.
Not the only thing I admire about her either, and I can’t help but be reminded of that fact as she makes her way toward me across the grass.
Being alone with her feels a little dangerous, like all the dormant memories are stirring to life before I can get hold of them—her bare feet on the earth, the shorts she’s wearing showing off her long, tanned legs, her top skimming her in such a way that I can see a strip of her navel peeping out.
Does she know how she looks right now? Is this some kind of test?
I don’t know, but as I straighten up, I do my best to keep my mind on the matter at hand.
“Hey,” I reply.
“What are you doing? Can I help?”
“Just fixing up one of the water tanks.” I slap the top of the empty tank and send a few errant drops spraying to the ground. “Thing’s been playing up all morning, so I figured I would look into it while I had the chance.”
“Oh, right,” she replies, furrowing her brow. “You need two people for that, or…?”
“I think I can manage it, but I appreciate the offer.”
She pulls a face. “I feel like I’m just getting under their feet in there,” she says, nodding toward the house. “They’re updating the maps, and I tried to give them some more information, but…”
“But Carlisle’s a stubborn asshole,” I fill in for her.
She manages to laugh. “Yeah, something like that,” she agrees. She comes over to me and hops up on the bed of the truck where I have some tools laid out. “So what’s wrong with it? Sprung a leak or something?”
“Got it in one.” I flip the tank over in my hand, pointing to the minute crack that runs along the side. “You see that? It’s been causing us a lot of trouble.”
“I don’t see anything…”
“Yeah, that’s how it went unnoticed for so long.” I grab the industrial glue gun from the truck and switch it on. “Can you push these pieces together? Make sure they’re sealed before I go in…”
“Of course,” she agrees at once, clearly glad to have something useful to do. Honestly, I could manage it without her, but I’m glad for the company. I always get restless when we find ourselves waiting for the next thing to happen, and any distraction is a welcome one.
Especially when her long legs are draped out in front of me, her bare feet swinging in the air.
When the glue gun is fired up, I bring it to the edge of the break, carefully dragging some of the sealant over the crack so it won’t spring a leak again.
She applies pressure on either side, her delicate fingers keeping everything where it needs to be.
I do my best not to get distracted, narrowing my gaze to try and keep my focus, and then, at last, I’m finished.
“That should be it,” I remark, straightening up again. “Just need to make sure it’s out of the sun while it dries, so it doesn’t melt in the heat.”
“What about over here?” she suggests, pointing to a small patch beneath the boughs of a tree that’s cast into shadow. “Here, let me help you carry it…”
She tucks her hand under one end and I do the same at the other, though it’s hardly the kind of job that would call for two people. Honestly, I’m glad to have a little time with her to myself, though I would never admit it out loud.
It’s been a long, long time since I was last with a woman.
I’m not like Dylan, who seems to be able to charm his way into a woman’s bed in any city we stop in.
No, it’s never been that way for me, and truthfully, I think it’s because I know deep down that there’s nothing that will come close to the passion I felt on the night I shared Angelie with the other guys.
“There we go,” she announces, dusting off her hands as we plant the tank down to dry. “How long will it take, do you think?”
“A couple of hours, maybe? We’ll need to fill it, make sure the sealant’s worked.”
“I can handle that,” she offers.
“You don’t have to—”
“I know I don’t have to, Callum,” she replies, shaking her head. “But I want to. I don’t want to just be sitting around here doing nothing all day, it’s not my style, you know?”
“Hey, you’re the one who volunteered,” I remind her with a shrug. “Not our fault that this job can go through long stretches of being really, really boring.”
“No, not your fault,” she agrees with a slight laugh, hopping back onto the bed of the truck.
The sunlight dapples down between the branches, downright idyllic, or at least it would be if it weren’t for the threat of the fire hanging over our heads.
“So what do you do now? Just wait for another fire to break out?”
“Something like that.”
“That must drive you crazy. All that go, go, go and then just…nothing for long periods of time.”
“Trust me,” I mutter, memories of our time in the military nagging at my head. “Nothing is better than something more often than not.”
She tilts her head to the side curiously, clearly not sure what to make of that.
I don’t want to dump all of this on her head, but she’s in our midst now, right in the center of everything that we’ve worked so hard to make.
She’s going to have to come to terms with being exposed to at least some of it, whether she likes it or not.
“I guess so,” she murmurs, not pushing for more. “So, what are you doing now? Checking the rest of the equipment?”
“Yeah,” I reply. Truthfully, I had intended to head back inside and help out the guys, but if she’s offering me a chance to spend a little more time alone with her, I am going to jump on it.
It’s been a couple days since she first joined us here, and she’s only really been around all four of us when she’s not retreating back to her room to rest. There’s so much I want to say to her, so much that I want to ask her, and being with her and her alone might be the way to crack open that door and catch a taste of everything I’ve been holding back.
I crack open the van and lift out a couple more pieces, her eyes still on me from where she’s sitting in the bed of the truck.
“You know, my mom was texting me today, asking when they’re going to be able to go back to their place,” she remarks.
I cock an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me we’re going to have to send someone up there to save them again…”
“Oh, hell, no,” she laughs. “I think she learned her lesson the first time. It’s more…
I think that’s the mood of everyone down there at the moment, actually.
Wondering when everything is going to go back to normal, especially since the fires are out right now.
Probably doesn’t help that my family is taking care of four kids in a tiny hotel room either, but you know… ”
“I don’t know when they can go back,” I admit. “None of us do. Could be that the weather settles and they can come back in a couple of days, but if another fire breaks out…” I shake my head. “Might not be so lucky.”
I drag the water tanks to the back of the truck, where she’s sitting. Her long legs dangle next to me as I check the other tanks for any signs of damage, and she continues the conversation.
“I can’t wait to get the kids back home,” she admits with a sigh.
“It’s been difficult, having them away from home.
I hate feeling like they don’t have somewhere they can just relax, you know?
I know it sounds silly, saying that about a bunch of toddlers, but I always want them to have consistency in their lives, even if there isn’t much else I can give them. ”
“Bet there’s plenty you give them that you don’t even realize,” I reply, glancing up at her briefly.
She smiles slightly, her hair falling into her face. “You think?”