Chapter 2
Fireline
Blaze
“I just don’t think I can do this long-distance thing after all.” Kimberly’s voice rang through my ears. The sentence was the first out of her mouth when I picked up the phone, as if she felt she might lose her nerve if she waited any longer.
“I’m only gone for a few weeks at a time, Kimberly.
” I couldn’t understand where this was coming from.
Kimberly seemed over the moon at the fact that I was a hotshot firefighter when we met.
She loved the idea so much that she took it upon herself to design our merchandise that we sold at fundraisers for the fire department.
As a graphic designer, she did a wonderful job at it, too, and I was really proud of her.
“You say that now but with everything I’ve been hearing, we are due for a huge fire, and I just don’t want to be waiting around. I’m too young for this. I want someone who’s here,” I sighed.
“The news likes to make it seem like since we are in peak fire conditions, that we are going to have one. But God is in control, and we might not have any fires. You never know.” Kimberly snorted on the other end of the line.
“I’m sorry, Blaze.” The dial tone filled the other end of the line.
*****
“We’re going to the store. Why don’t you stop moping around and go on a snack run with us?
” Nash, from my hotshot crew, stood in the wildland firefighting base, bouncing a pickleball around on a paddle while he waited for my answer.
He could entertain himself for hours with this same routine.
We had just finished our shift on a prescribed fire and had a little bit of a break until we swapped out with the other crew.
“You want to play a game of pickleball instead?” I asked, in hopes that I could avoid going into public in fear of running into Kimberly.
We had only dated for a few weeks, but the rejection still stung.
I was ready for a serious relationship. Ready for the commitment.
But for some reason, being a guy, that automatically made me seem desperate if I said that out loud.
Which was never, ever a good look. So, while the guys teased me for feeling a little low after my breakup, I knew I needed to perk up a little.
I needed to act like my feelings weren’t still a little hurt.
“Nah, man. I’m jonesing for some apple crème br?lée, or whatever the heck that thing is called that they make down at the grocery bakery. We can play when we get back.”
“Apple pie creme br?lée,” Jimmy piped up from the back.
“And I want some, too, dang it.” He stood, throwing down the newspaper that he had been reading.
Jimmy’s wife had him on a pretty strict diet, but the moment he was here, all of that was out the window, and he was playing calorie catch-up.
I sighed, knowing I had lost the battle, as I followed my co-workers, my friends, out to the truck.
Fairy Falls Grocery was a pretty big store in the center of Maple Haven.
Sure, there were a few much more convenient stores located at gas stations that carried a few essentials, but no one on the crew went there.
It was unspoken that the drive to Maple Haven was always worth the extra time because of the options.
It wasn’t just a grocery store; it was like an on-demand restaurant.
The bakery made fresh hoagie rolls that were handed over to the deli nearby where you could order a club sandwich that would rival any shop in town.
The deli would use locally-sourced ingredients, such as the maple goat cheese from the Last River Ranch and their infamous cranberry sharp cheddar, which was a local favorite.
The coffee selection here rivaled any market in Seattle with its bean selections representing almost every country that grew them.
Short of getting a coffee made for you at The Pumpkin Perk Cafe, buying beans here and grinding them fresh was what all of my crew did.
I didn’t drink coffee myself, but it did bring up a lot of memories of my childhood.
Today, we were here at Fairy Falls Grocery for the bakery.
Right when we walked in, our senses were overwhelmed with the fragrant fall scents.
We might’ve still been lingering around the last days in July but fall in Maple Haven didn’t end; it just gave other seasons and holidays a little breathing room.
Pretty much between the Fourth of July and Christmas, we celebrated all things Autumn in Maple Haven.
“While we are here, we better get some more water for the fridge,” Nash said, so we walked to the back of the store where he and Jimmy each grabbed a 48-pack of bottled water. “Blaze, can you grab the br?lée?” The guys looked at me, each holding giant cases and waiting expectantly.
“Sure. How many am I getting?” I crossed my arms and gave Jimmy a cocked eyebrow. We all knew full and well that his wife, Stacy, would kill him if she knew he was getting dessert. But I supposed that was why he wanted to be seen buying water, not sugary carbs.
“Better get a dozen,” Nash said with a laugh. “So no one is left out back at the base.” I nodded, putting my hands up.
“Fine. But if Stacy asks, this wasn’t my idea.” Jimmy rolled his eyes but agreed.
“I’ve lost three pounds this month,” he exclaimed, as he walked down the aisle carrying the heavy water.
He wasn’t much overweight, and he was one of the strongest, fittest men I knew.
The stamina he had could lead him through heavy brush and fallen logs for hours.
But she was trying to lose her baby weight, and she liked the idea of him dieting, too, you know, in solidarity.
Returning to the front of the store, I could hear Nash and Jimmy get rung up for a dozen apple pie creme br?lée. I had to admit, they were absolutely delicious, and I was really looking forward to having one myself.
There was a woman in line ahead of me. I stared at the back of her head while she showed her receipt; she had ordered the pumpkin trifle.
Her hair was almost the color of a pumpkin.
No, that wasn’t it, I thought. It was the color of fire when it burned clean fuels.
The color of a dancing flame that’s contained.
A flame that wants to grow, to move, to travel across the land where it would eventually regenerate the dead land it consumed into a beautiful, thriving forest. Then, she turned and looked at me.
Her eyes were like a still reservoir in the earliest afternoon light, both pale and deep, holding back all of the secrets of the water.
A product of snowmelt, rain–moisture sent straight from the heavens above, after filling a desert-kissed reservoir.
I had never seen this shade of deep green.
Her lips looked soft, blushed, and I imagined that if her mouth was closed, they would be in the shape of a rosebud.
I felt my body redden as her beautiful face stared at me, and as she took me in, I also looked at her. Before I knew it, it was over.
The woman abruptly turned, retrieving her dessert.
It was larger than most of her. She was slender but not too thin.
She looked like she could handle a long walk in the brisk of autumn and not faint.
Like she could lift up a round pumpkin over her head.
She looked like she wouldn’t pick at her food, but instead, enjoyed it and stayed healthy, full of life and beautiful.
Yes, she was beautiful on the outside, and I found myself forgetting about anything else happening in my life as I wondered if she was also beautiful on the inside.
But before I knew it, she was gone out to the parking lot with her enormous cart of groceries.
At some point, Nash and Jimmy had joined me in line, but I hadn’t noticed until now.
“Hi.” The baker let out a breathy greeting with a sparkling smile as Nash held up his receipt.