8. Into the Smoke #2
He was already reading the situation around him.
He was an ARFF. He’d been in more fires and seen more than I ever will in my lifetime.
His face was serious, and he was in his element.
His training was faster than his thinking.
He got to Duke’s other side without a word, one hand on the halter, one at his neck, and we worked him forward together.
Duke’s hooves stomped and scrabbled on the barn floor until they found the dirt outside, and he lurched into the morning air.
We released him. And he ran for the fence line, tail in the air and huffing through his nose like a dragon.
I stood in the yard with my hands on my knees, smoke still in my lungs, and tried to find the bottom of a breath.
My eyes were stinging, and I’d started to cough a little.
Then, in true cowgirl fashion, I turned on the faucet and ran the water over my head.
I didn’t care about my hair, the fact that the little makeup I was wearing, only mascara, was running down my face.
I was loving the cold water washing away some of the smoke.
I used the shirt we had over Duke's face, washed it out, and then used it on my face.
The sound of sirens was already coming up County Road.
Bo’s hand landed on my shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” It came out rougher than I meant it to. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
He didn’t move his hand. Just stood there while I caught my breath.
Mason’s truck came in fast from the road, Levi right behind him, Austin a minute after that. Mason was already pulling gear from the bed before he’d stopped moving. Levi went straight for the fence line where the horses had gathered, talking to Chief with ease.
“Heya, Falon. Are your gates closed?”
I nodded, but Bo yelled out. “Yep, they’ll be fine. We’ll collect them later.”
Levi opened the gate between our properties and let the horses in so they’d be out of the way and away from the fire.
The fire crew arrived four minutes after that.
I sat on the tailgate of Mason’s truck while Millie checked my hands, she’d been on a farm call two properties over and had seen the smoke from the road. She worked quietly, checking for burns, checking my eyes, her vet brain running through the same checklist she’d run on the horses.
“Your lungs are going to feel like gravel for a day or two,” she said, having been through a barn fire a few seasons back, but that was a little different. Her uncle was trying to scare her away and managed to burn her barn and almost kill her in the process, but that was another story.
“They already do.”
“Here, drink water. Don’t push it. Doc Miller should be here soon.” She looked at me straight. “You got all five out, Falon. They're fine. You did.”
I nodded. Closing my burning eyes and holding back tears as the adrenaline started to fade.
She squeezed my hands once and went to check on the horses.
I heard the crunch of gravel and looked up.
Melodie was crossing the yard in her barn boots and a fleece jacket.
She just pulled a blanket from under her arm and put it around my shoulders.
I could hear the water from the hoses and the crackling of the fire as it hissed and protested.
Men were yelling, and from the corner of my eye, I could see John holding a crying Beatrice.
Mom stood beside me and looked at the barn, shaking her head. Dad hobbled over and brushed at my cheek with his thumb.
“Let’s not try to scare your mom and me. Heart attacks are not a good look on us.” He chuckled awkwardly.
“Sorry, Dad. I’ll try not to do the whole heart attack thing in the future.”
I looked at the barn and sighed.
The fire crew had it mostly contained. It would be a loss. The back wall, the tack room, and most of the hay storage, but the horses were out.
John Jenkins had arrived at some point. Even now, his face was still white and redoing the same count I’d done. One, two, three, four, five. He counted them twice.
Across the yard, Mrs. Winslow had appeared from somewhere.
Today’s outfit didn’t disappoint. I loved her.
Today’s designer choice was a pink long-sleeved shirt with yellow balloons, a blue tulle skirt, and sensible shoes, which was her standard.
She was directing two of the younger volunteer firefighters toward the water line while eating a sub sandwich.
One of them actually saluted her. She accepted it without comment, winking at me.
I watched her and almost laughed. She was a hoot.
When Mason, Levi, and Austin pulled up, Mason deferred to Bo because he knows things Mason doesn't. He knows fire behavior, structural risk, flashover points, and how to read a burn more than anyone in town.
The volunteer crew looked to him for instruction, even now, as the fire crew contained and put out the fire.
I was so proud of him. He was far more level-headed than I could have been.
Bo looked at me from across the yard.
And his eyes met mine. He raised his brows as if to ask if I was still okay, and I was.
I pulled the blanket tighter and looked out at the five horses standing quietly along the fence line, steam rising off their backs in the cold morning air. Chief. Ranger. Scout. Ace. Duke.
All five of them. And Millie. She was still checking them, her vet bag in hand and Oliver and Cooper at her side.
My parents were still beside me, and the water from the firehose had dampened my blanket, but I didn’t care.
I thought about the way Bo had come through that door without hesitation. I didn’t know if he knew I was in there, or just the horses, but I was grateful for his appearance.
After I was out and safe, Bo jumped right back into hero mode and battled the barn with practiced skill.
I’d heard from Tyler a few times about some of the missions he and Bo had been on, and, with it being so far away, I knew it was dangerous.
But watching Bo now, my heart raced, knowing how many times I'd almost lost him. A man who wasn’t really mine, and still, my heart hammered in my chest at how dangerous his job was.
I was definitely thankful to have him today.
A beam crashed down beside him when it gave out under its own weight, and I flinched and almost jumped off the back of the truck, but Mom held me there.
The beam was only a hair's breadth away, and Bo just stepped to the side and kept on working. Three times I’d seen things fall, crackle, and pop within five feet of him, and he moved and danced with the fire as if he’d done it a hundred times before.
And with each thought, I felt my chest tighten just a little more. Since I was fourteen, I’d loved Bo Gates, and for nine years, I’d been secretly waiting for him to finally see me, and if I lost him now, I don’t think my heart would ever recover.
By breathing, I quivered at the thought, and my mom wrapped a new blanket around my shoulders, thinking I was cold, and I was. Stiff as cold tar at what I’d almost lost. I didn’t say it out loud. I just smiled tightly up at my mom.
I just sat there in the smoke-smelling morning with my mother’s hand on my shoulder and my dad’s hand in mine, and watched Bo help fight a fire, and I let myself feel the full weight of it.
All five horses were out.
And I knew, with the same quiet certainty, that nothing about this morning was going to be just anything.