Chapter One #3
He lifted a scarred hand from the steering wheel in casual acknowledgment of her gratitude, but a smile softened his weathered face.
Tyler called good-bye from the passenger’s side, his open expression and friendly grin making her think he was perhaps less jaded than his sister.
Fallon peeked into the back seat, hoping Nora might walk over with her, but when she didn’t even look up from her phone or make a move to get out, Fallon took the hint.
Apparently, she wasn’t going to get another glimpse of those rich brown eyes and full lips right now, but that wasn’t what she was here for anyway.
Trying to contain the excitement and nervousness bubbling inside her, she headed in the direction of the women who were gathered outside the biggest building.
Being an outsider had defined most of her life experience, but as she tugged at the pants that had gotten too big for her since she’d had to cut back to one meal a day and pulled at the frayed hem of her T-shirt to straighten it, she let herself hope that things would be different this time.
As she approached, a compact woman with short, dark, curly hair stepped forward and motioned to her. “Hi, I’m Jade. If you’re here for the Women’s Plus Crew, I’ll be your group leader.”
Jade’s voice was cordial and confident. Fallon’s anxiety eased as they shook hands.
She didn’t think of herself as shy, but limited interaction with her peers had made her feel awkward around them.
And despite the hits her heart and finances had suffered, her first instinct was still to assume the best of others.
Relieved that Jade seemed genuine, she turned to meet the rest of the group. Hannah, a blonde from California, had a funny nervous giggle, and Kennedy, a black woman from Cleveland, spoke with a slight lisp. They were joined by a younger Latina from Texas who was introduced as Delores.
“Obviously, you’ll be in charge of trimming the high branches,” Delores said, looking up at her.
Fallon’s cheeks and ears burned. Her height, combined with years of a substandard diet of gas station junk and fried diner food, had made her self-conscious about her body.
Having almost no opportunity to exercise properly, she felt lumpy and graceless.
She forced a grin. “I’m happy to help out wherever I can. ”
“You’re each going to learn everything about being both sawyers and swampers,” Jade said. “But Fallon, I think you have some paperwork to finish up in Mae’s office.”
Fallon nodded, knowing from her last phone conversation with the supervisor of the camp that since she hadn’t given a permanent address, there were a few details to be filled in on her application.
“Who’s Mae?” Kennedy asked.
“MaryAnn Elkhart,” Jade said. “She coordinates base camp here. We all call her Mae. You’ll meet her before long.”
Before heading into the building, Fallon glanced at the Palmers’ Jeep, seeing Nora gathering her gear.
Clearly, Fallon had overstepped a boundary earlier when she’d shared her thoughts on the importance of family—something Nora evidently didn’t agree with—but Nora’s obvious affection for Tyler had emboldened her.
She hoped Nora would take a moment to say good-bye to them.
Three months wasn’t forever, but it was a long time to be apart from those she loved.
Nora probably wouldn’t admit she cared about them, but people didn’t always appreciate what they had until it was gone.
Fallon peeked into the first room as she passed.
When Ranger Reva looked up from a large desk near the window and nodded, Fallon couldn’t hide her smile.
Reva Upshaw was the reason she was excited to be at Firecamp, eagerly anticipating what it could offer.
They’d met at the diner in Yuma, a small city on the eastern plains of Colorado, where Fallon had continued to work even after her whole life had been turned inside out.
She and her mother had been forced to stop there after the steering coupler on their previously reliable Geo Prizm had gone out and the local mechanic had informed Fallon’s mother that parts for that model were hard to find and would also cost way more than the change jingling in her purse.
So they’d fallen into a new kind of routine: working and waiting.
Fallon’s mother had waited tables for two shifts at Yuma’s Sunshine Diner most days while Fallon, seventeen by then, had bused tables and washed dishes or did odd jobs in town once her schoolwork was done.
Her mother had signed her up for online homeschooling not long after their odyssey had begun, and she had been close to completing her high school degree.
She’d liked Mr. Jamar, the big black man who was the cook.
He’d made her mother laugh and sometimes gave Fallon suggestions about someone in town who might be willing to pay for a few hours’ work.
Making money of her own felt good, but some of the groups who came to the diner made her gut twist with longing.
Observing a world so different from her own was like reading a utopian story.
The idea of living in one place and caring about people who cared about her seemed like the most implausible fantasy.