Chapter 1
One
Two years later
“I want to ride in the truck!”
Jane smiled at her six-year-old son, Logan, as she watched him in the rearview mirror.
His eyes were wide as saucers and energy radiated off his body in waves.
He couldn’t stop fidgeting in his seat and even his voice shook.
She knew he couldn’t wait to get to the fire station.
“I don’t know if they’ll take you for a ride, but they’ll definitely let you check out the truck. ”
“Yay!” Logan raised his arms and pumped his fists, looking pleased as punch.
His older sister, Lexi, on the other hand, had a sulky expression on her face, her arms crossed in front of her. Three-year-old Sophia slept blissfully in the car seat between them, with not a care in the world.
“I don’t wanna go,” Lexi said for what felt like the millionth time. “I don’t care about stupid trucks. I wanted to go to Kylee’s house and play.”
Sighing, Jane turned onto the road that led to the fire station. “I know, but this was Uncle Mac’s idea. We don’t want to disappoint him, do we?”
“No!” Logan shouted, nearly bouncing out of his seat.
“I don’t care. He won’t be mad if we change our minds,” Lexi said. “Kylee was so sad when I told her I couldn’t come over.”
Jane ignored Lexi’s complaint. She’d been going on about Kylee’s hurt feelings since breakfast that morning. “The firefighters are doing this specially for us. Giving us a tour, letting us check out the station and see what they do. We have to be respectful, Lexi.”
Her daughter didn’t answer, just turned to stare out the window, her arms still crossed in front of her, lips pursed. Jane let her wallow in her misery and instead, concentrated on the winding road that followed along the southwest side of the lake in her little hometown.
It was still hard for her to believe she’d permanently moved back to Lone Pine Lake. Of course, she never thought she’d survive a horrific house fire, either. Or that she’d be left alone to raise three children under the age of eight.
Well, she wasn’t really alone, and that was the reason she was back —most of her family was still living in Lone Pine.
Her parents could help her, along with her brothers and sister.
She needed her family’s help, though she was loath to admit it.
It had been almost two years since the devastating fire that had taken her husband’s life, and her body was still recovering.
As was were her heart and mind.
She shook her head, pushed the memories away, and looked around. Jane rarely came over to this side of the lake. A few restaurants and boat launches, along with cabins for rent, proved this part of Lone Pine was clearly for the summer folk. And Jane was once again a townie.
Nerves ate her insides and she tugged at her hair, bringing it across her right cheek as best she could.
The scars weren’t as noticeable anymore, at least to her.
Most of the burns she’d suffered on the right side of her face had been second degree.
She’d looked as if she’d been horrifically sunburned for months on end.
But along the left side of her face, her temple, and down across her cheek to her jaw, she had third-degree burns, which had necessitated skin grafting.
And skin grafting meant scars. They’d warped and marbled her skin.
She tried her best to hide them, styling her hair a certain way, holding her head at a tilt so maybe no one would notice.
She didn’t like to think of the scars that marked the rest of her. Her left side had taken the worst hit. Her arm, her torso, down her thigh, stopping at just above her knee, she was covered. Her back, too.
And then there was the all-consuming guilt that hung over her like a dark, foreboding cloud. She’d survived. Stephen hadn’t. She’d put her family through years of torture and misery…
“Are we almost there?” Logan’s voice rang so loud in the car that Jane winced when she saw Sophia give a startled jump in her sleep.
“Almost, Logan, yes,” Jane said, using her best quiet voice, even though she knew it wouldn’t matter. Logan had only one volume—loud.
He gave another shout and Lexi yelled at him to be quiet. “You’re hurting my ears!”
They were both hurting Jane’s ears, but she tried to ignore them.
Chose to focus instead on the gorgeous fall Saturday, the vivid red, orange, and yellow shades of the turning leaves.
A breeze rustled through the trees, even the surface of the lake rippled with the wind, and she was thankful she’d made everyone wear a sweater—much to the protest of Logan, who, it seemed, would spend every season clad in a short-sleeve T-shirt and shorts if he could.
Her younger brother, Mac, had organized the trip to the state wild land fire station as a way to combat the strong fear her children had for fire.
Fire was what took their dad and damaged their mom, and it scared them tremendously.
The captain of the station was a good friend of his, Mac had said.
A little tour would help ease their fears, he was sure.
Jane wasn’t so convinced. Her children had every right to be afraid.
She was afraid of fire, too: she didn’t burn candles anymore, though she used to.
Her family liked to get together for giant bonfires in the fall, but she avoided them now.
And the house they were living in, her brother Patrick’s home that he kept for his family’s holiday visits, had a grand, majestic river-rock fireplace that demanded to be lit during the cold winter months that were ahead.
She couldn’t even look at a lighter without flinching, let alone try to start a fire.
Up ahead, the station loomed, an older structure painted in faded shades of industrial pale green with forest green trim.
It was a large building, standing right off the side of the road, directly across from the lake.
She pulled into the gravel lot, parking her SUV in front of the building.
A porch ran the entire length of the front of the station, and Jane immediately envied the view.
Large lounge chairs carved out of smooth wood were scattered across the porch, and she imagined those who worked there sat on the porch on a daily basis watching the lake.
Lexi unbuckled her seat belt but didn’t move, while Logan tugged and jerked against the restraints of his booster seat. Jane climbed out of the SUV and went to the passenger door behind her. Going for Sophia’s car seat first, she unbuckled it carefully so as not to disturb her.
No point in being so careful, though, since Sophia’s big brother wouldn’t stop shouting or moving, and the flurry known as Logan woke his baby sister. Jane hurriedly undid Logan’s seat belt and he scrambled out into the parking lot, his little feet kicking up gravel as he sped toward the building.
“Logan, wait!” Jane yelled as she helped Sophia out of the car and then stood up straight. Logan was already zooming up the steps and onto the porch, his little feet pounding a booming rhythm on the wood rafters.
Shaking her head, she slammed the door but realized Lexi was still in the car.
She rounded the end of the SUV and opened the back passenger door to find Lexi sitting in her seat, her arms crossed in front of her, little hands clutched into tight fists.
The typical pose her child had held since she’d first heard of this idea.
“Are you coming inside or are you sitting out here in the car?” Jane asked, trying to hide the irritation in her voice.
Lexi’s eyes widened. “You’d let me sit in the car? All by myself?”
Jane shrugged, adjusting her hold on Sophia. “If you really don’t want to go in, then okay, I guess.”
“But someone could…” Lexi swallowed hard. “…snatch me.”
“I’ll lock the doors.”
Lexi’s eyes went wider. “And you’d leave me alone?”
“If that’s what you want, but…” Jane paused. “You don’t want to hurt the fire captain’s feelings, do you?”
Lexi was quiet for a moment, absorbing her mother’s words.
“So what’s it going to be? We need to get going before Logan busts into that fire station by himself.” Wasn’t that the truth? She wouldn’t be surprised if he started pounding on the front door.
“Fine, I’ll go. But only because I don’t want to hurt the captain’s feelings.” Lexi trudged out of the car, dropped onto the ground with a little hop, and then ran up to the front porch like her brother had.
Jane’s lips curved into a faint smile as she hit the lock button on the keyless remote.
Her feet crunching noisily on the gravel she headed toward the porch, noticing how quiet it was.
The wind whistled faintly through the pine trees that towered behind the station, and the sound of an occasional car driving a few miles away shushed in the distance, but there was no traffic on the main lake road.
Tourist season was long over. The fire station probably saw very little action. Mac had told her the seasonal staff had already been laid off, and only those who worked year-round remained—they were few. No wonder they didn’t have a problem giving a local family with big fears a quick tour.
“Anybody home?” Just as Jane predicted, Logan knocked on the front door, his tiny fist beating a mighty tattoo against the wood-trimmed screen door. Jane practically ran up the steps, ready to stop Logan from his antics before he took it too far.
“Logan, stop,” she hissed as she reached out to grab him and yank him away from the door…
The very same door that suddenly swung open with a cranky groan of hinges.
Jane took a step backward, jerking Logan along with her and bumping into Lexi in the process.
Her gaze zeroed in on big, booted feet as they crossed the threshold, the hem of navy blue uniform pants curled around those dusty dark shoes.