CHAPTER 3
Ethan
We’re killing time at the station after drills when Calvin sets down a tray of lasagna.
“Who the hell made this?” I ask, spitting the bite back onto my plate.
My colleagues burst into laughter.
“Courtney brought it earlier, just for you, Ethan,” Asher says, grinning like a devil.
I groan. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I went on one date with Courtney last year. One. I didn’t even kiss her goodnight after she spent the entire dinner talking about her makeup routine and her follower count. I was relieved when it ended, but she clearly wasn’t.
Every week she drops something off at the station or “stops by” the ranch with an excuse to talk to my mama.
“That girl does not read between the lines,” I mutter, grabbing a soda to wash the taste out of my mouth.
“Did you tell her directly?” Calvin smirks.
“I told her more than once,” I say, cracking open the can. “Said we should be friends. Told her I don’t see her that way. Hell, last month I even told her I was starting to have feelings for another woman.”
Asher laughs. “Let me guess, she still didn’t get the hint?”
“Not even close.” I sigh, remembering that night at Midnight Rodeo. I’d gone after a long ten-hour shift, hoping, stupidly, that I might see Summer. She wasn’t there, so I was leaving when Courtney stopped me. I looked her dead in the eyes and said, I’m falling for someone else. I’m sorry.
Something flickered across her face, hurt, maybe, but it disappeared fast, replaced with the same practiced smile. Like I hadn’t said a damn thing.
“Ever since Cas got engaged, women in town have gotten bolder,” I mutter. “Everyone’s trying to catch the next Hawthorne.”
Calvin snorts. “Like you mind the attention.”
I shake my head. “I’ve got my eyes on someone else.”
Just saying it makes Summer’s face fill my mind, her smile, the curves I dream about, her soft baby-blue eyes that undo me every time she forgets to avoid looking at me.
“The only woman in town who doesn’t want you,” Asher says, cackling.
I throw a piece of bread at his head. “Shut up.”
“Summer? The coffee shop owner?” Calvin asks, grinning.
“She’s off-limits,” I growl.
Not because I don’t want her.
Because I want her too damn much, and she’s been hurt enough.
They both howl with laughter, but the sound is cut sharply by the alarm blaring through the station.
Everything inside me goes still.
We sprint toward the trucks. Dispatch crackles through the radio.
Then the address hits.
Summer’s address.
A cold jolt punches straight through my chest.
Asher’s climbing in beside me. “Bro, you’ve gone pale.”
“It’s Summer’s place,” I manage, already shoving on my gear. “And Mia’s with her.”
The truck tears through the streets, sirens shredding the night, and I swear every second feels like a lifetime. By the time we pull up, flames are already ripping through the cabin, smoke curling into the freezing Wyoming air.
“Jesus,” Asher mutters.
I don’t wait for orders. I run.
Through the smoke, I catch movement upstairs, Summer, hair wild, face streaked in soot, pounding on the glass.
“Mia!” she screams. “She’s still in her room!”
“Summer!” I shout, but she shakes her head violently.
“Get her! Please, get my baby!”
That’s all I need.
“Asher, get her away from the window!” I yell, then sprint around the back. Heat slams against me, flames crawling up the siding. The smoke burns down my throat as I break through the back door and duck low.
“Mia!” I shout.
A faint cry answers.
I push toward it, coughing, heat pressing against my gear, and reach the bedroom. She’s curled on the bed, tiny body shaking, coughing, eyes red from the smoke.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper, scooping her into my arms and wrapping my jacket around her. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”
I crash back down the stairs, wood cracking beneath my boots.
“Got her!” I shout into my radio, pushing through the door and into the cold night.
Paramedics rush forward. One takes Mia from me, checking her airway as she coughs hard but steady.
“My baby, please, save my baby!” Summer’s voice tears through the noise. She tries to lunge toward the paramedics, stumbling, and I grab her before she collapses.
“She’s okay,” I tell her, gripping her arms gently but firmly. “Summer, look at me, she’s breathing. She’s okay.”
Her eyes flick to Mia, then back to me, watery and desperate. Her knees buckle, and I steady her into the ambulance.
I climb in beside her, and she grabs my hand like it’s the only thing keeping her upright. I hold it tight, keeping my other hand on Mia’s back as the medic works.
At the hospital, everything becomes lights and voices. Mia is wheeled toward pediatrics , and Summer tries to follow, panicked.
“I’m not leaving her! She needs me!”
I step in front of her, hands on her shoulders, firm but soft. “Summer. You need a chest X-ray. Mia needs you healthy. You go with the nurse, and I’ll stay with Mia. I won’t leave her side. I swear it.”
She’s crying, shaking. “I can’t…”
“You can.”
I cup her cheek gently. “Trust me?”
A beat.
A breath.
“Yes,” she whispers.
“Good girl.”
I watch her disappear with the nurses, her eyes glued to Mia until the doors close.
Then I turn and follow the paramedics into pediatrics.
“I’m staying with her,” I tell the doctor.
He nods. “She’s stable. Another few minutes inside and smoke inhalation could’ve been critical.”
I sink into the chair beside her bed, taking her tiny hand.
“You’re safe now, sweetheart,” I whisper. “I promise.”
When she falls asleep, I call my brother. “There was a fire at Summer’s place. She and Mia are at the hospital. They’re shaken, but alive. Can you get everyone here?”
“We’re on our way.”
I hang up and look at Mia again, her chest rising softly under the blankets.
Relief hits me so hard I have to brace myself with a hand on the chair.
I could’ve lost them.
Both of them.
And that thought alone makes one thing clear:
I won’t ever let that happen again.