Chapter 43
forty-three
FINN
I ’m at the fire station on duty when my phone buzzes in my back pocket. I’m expecting it to be Harper—or more accurately, I’m hoping it’s Harper—but when I look at the screen, I see that it’s my dad.
Got a big surprise for you. We’re in Lake Starlight.
They are? I can’t believe they wouldn’t tell me they were coming, but I’m glad they’re here.
For real? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?
It was kind of a last-minute thing. We’ll explain when we see you. Are you and Harper free for breakfast tomorrow morning?
I’ll just be coming off shift, but yeah. Let me check with Harper and see if she’s free.
I pull up her contact and dial her number.
She answers on the first ring. “Hey, you.” I can hear her smile through the phone.
“Hey, you’re not going to believe this, but I just got a text from my dad. He and my mom are in Lake Starlight. They want to know if we can meet them for breakfast tomorrow.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, I had no idea they were coming. My dad said he’d explain when I saw him. Are you free?”
“Yes, of course. I can’t wait to meet them. But oh god, what if they don’t like me? What am I going to wear? I need a haircut and a manicure and?—”
“Harp, they’re going to love you, and wear whatever you feel like. You look beautiful in everything.”
“Thanks, Finn.”
“I’ll tell them eight thirty at Lard Have Mercy. Sound good?”
“Works for me,” she says.
“All right. I’ll see you then.”
I hang up with Harper and text my dad back.
She’ll be there. Meet us at 8:30 at Lard Have Mercy. It’s a diner on Main Street. I’m at the fire station right now so I have to go.
Sounds good. See you guys then.
I’m excited that my parents are finally going to get to meet Harper, but I can’t help but feel as though there’s something more going on than I realize. My parents are about the least spontaneous people in the world, and it’s ski season.
* * *
The blare of the alarm wakes me in the middle of the night. As it always does, it takes me a split second to realize where I am—on shift at the firehouse. As soon as I do, I get my ass in gear and get moving.
Within minutes, we’ve all donned our gear and are on the truck, pulling out of the station. Apparently, a call has come in about a building fire just outside of town. The guys tell me it’s an old factory that’s been abandoned for a decade and that sometimes teenagers go out there to party.
By the time we arrive, flames are visible on one side, and the captain doles out the orders. We all get to work, and within a few minutes, we have a hose on the fire.
“Finn. Shane,” the captain barks over the noise. “Go check out the other side to make sure there’re no flare-ups over there.”
We do as we’re told, navigating through the few inches of snow on the ground and the dead grass that’s been left to grow through the cracks in the pavement.
The two of us use our flashlights to navigate, and when we come around the corner, we’re met with a group of teenagers all huddled together.
The girls are crying while the guys look as though they might throw up.
I know those looks.
Shane must too because we rush over to them, no small task with all our gear on.
“You kids need to get out of here,” Shane says.
“Did all of you get out?” I ask.
“No.” One of the girls shakes her head frantically. “Kelly’s still in there.”
Fuck.
“Where did you last see her?” I ask.
“We were partying on the second level,” one of them says. “We thought she was following us, but when we got out here, she wasn’t with us.”
“All right, you kids go around to the front where the fire trucks are and stay there,” Shane says while I take my radio and report what the kids just told us, letting the captain know that we’re heading in to look for her.
The two of us don our oxygen masks and head inside. The smoke is thick, and smaller flare-up fires are starting on this side of the building. We need to be quick.
“Any idea how to get to the second floor?” I ask Shane, breathing heavily.
“Yeah, I’ve been here for a call before that turned out to be nothing. This way.”
We look around as we make our way through in case Kelly made it down to the first floor and got disoriented or passed out because of the smoke, but we don’t find her.
When we reach a pair of rickety, old-looking stairs, I get a tight feeling in my chest. Only one of us can go up at a time.
First because of the width of the stairs and then because I’m concerned the weight of both of us and our gear might send it crashing down.
“All right. Let’s do this,” I say.
Shane heads up first, and once he’s at the top, I start up. The entire staircase feels as though it rocks side to side with every step I take. Once we’re both on the second level, we don’t waste any time doing a sweep of the place. The smoke gets thicker, and all I can hear is my heavy breathing.
Finally, I see something. “Shane! Over here.”
I rush over to the patch of white that I see through the smoke. It turns out to be Kelly’s T-shirt. By the looks of it, she tripped on a piece of metal splayed out on the floor and either hit her head and passed out or was overcome by smoke.
I lift her into my arms and straighten up while Shane reports in with the captain to let him know that we found her and to have the paramedics and oxygen waiting.
We find our way back to the staircase. There’s no way I’ll fit carrying her like this, so I slump her over my shoulder and start down the stairs while Shane waits at the top so that both our weight doesn’t have to be supported by the already rickety stairs.
I’m about halfway down when a crack echoes out, the world drops out below my feet, and I’m free falling.
The last thing I think about before it all goes black is Harper and our unborn baby.