“It’s possible. I’ll know the moment they upgrade us to evacuation status, and there’s plenty to do with the time until then.”

  Shelly slowed so she could walk beside Jayne. “Has the camp ever burned down before?”

  “A long time ago.” The year Orion turned seven. “Since then, we’ve reconfigured a lot of things and made it as hard as possible for any fire in the area to reach the structures.”

  It meant the space around the buildings had little shade from trees, but the tradeoff was that fire had nothing to jump to between the trees and the buildings—all of which had metal roofs.

  “My dad is a hotshot for the team where I live in Alaska. Their whole headquarters burned down last year, so the firefighters set up camp in the field behind our house.” She grinned. “I made coffee all day and all night for, like, three weeks until they’d suppressed the fire enough to start rebuilding.”

  Jayne said, “A lot of people think they have to do big things in order to make a difference in the world. Sometimes it’s small things, like making coffee for a group of firefighters, that keeps everything running.”

  Alexis snorted behind her. “The firehouse where my dad works always smells like coffee. But it never tastes any good. More like it’s been sitting there too long.”

  “You hang out there when he’s working?” She hadn’t said much about her dad, who had dropped her off at camp the morning Jayne was in town picking up the groceries. She’d said more about her mom’s tough battle with cancer, though she’d cut off the conversation as soon as they got close to the grief.

  Jayne didn’t know who Alexis Martin’s father was, but the girl acted a whole lot like she had no one in her life to support her. She’d like to chat with the guy when he picked her up at the end of summer. Maybe even give him a piece of her mind.

  Jayne’s phone started to buzz in her pocket. “Looks like we’ve got our signal back.” Much of the area had no cell signal, but this ridge got them within the tower’s coverage. She pulled it out—and so did every single teen on the trail. “Don’t trip ’cause you’re staring at your phone.”

  Her notifications loaded. Missed calls. Text messages from Orion. A weather update from NIFC⁠—the National Interagency Fire Center headquartered in Boise. Notifications from the BLM and the Ember Incident Commander.

  She looked at the ones from Orion first.

  Orion

  Fire headed to camp. On our way.

  Then another:

  Saw you’re up at the river today. Headed to you on ATVs.

  He was coming here?

  She could text back, but if he was driving one of the ATVs they kept at camp, she didn’t need to distract him.

  She went into her maps app and shared her location with him, just so he would get an accurate update while she had connection.

  “Lake!”

  The shout came from the front of the line so the kids would know they were in sight of the lake.

  Immediately the line started moving faster. A couple of kids—the twins, Samuel and Joshua Masterson, whose parents were on a search and rescue team based out of Benson, Washington, where they lived—raced to the lake with another boy, Tiger Christiansen, and they all waded in fully clothed so they could cool off.

  Others stood by the bank so the ones in the water could splash them. Mostly it turned into the boys flinging handfuls of water and the girls squealing.

  Jayne stuck to the dirt path between the storage sheds and the rocky shore, smiling at their antics. They kept the kayaks locked up most of the time but took them out often to let the kids take a break from training to blow off steam. They all had work to do at the camp, but she never begrudged them a second to cool off. They’d worked hard today.

  One of the boys pulled himself up onto the floating dock at least a quarter mile toward the middle of the lake and pumped his arms in the air. He did a backflip off the dock back into the water in full view of the girls.

  Jayne dropped her pack and leaned against the shed in the shade, doing a quick head count of teens and staff.

  The camp was another mile down the trail, which most of the boys would run in their wet socks, carrying their boots so they didn’t get damp.

  Her phone buzzed with a text.

  Orion

  You’re closer than I thought. Doubling back.

  She scanned around the lake.

  A helicopter crested the mountain on the far side of the lake, carrying a water container. It flew low, left to right, behind her designated swim area, and picked up water.

  The kids on the bank, and the two on the dock now, all cheered as the helicopter lifted up and headed to dump the water on fire nearby.

  Jayne waved.

  She spotted movement on the opposite edge of the lake, where a trail snaked around the bank in the trees.

  Moving fast, like an ATV—two of them.

  She kept scanning and didn’t see movement at the cabins she rented out—no sign of the mysterious resident who had shown up a few weeks ago with barely an explanation as to why he couldn’t have booked online. She’d thought about contacting the sheriff, but the guy seemed exhausted more than anything else. He’d left the camp alone and they’d reciprocated.

  Though, she had sent a copy of his driver’s license to the sheriff. Hutchinson hadn’t called her back with any issues on the guy’s name.

  An ATV emerged from the trees. Orion. Behind him, another firefighter drove the second ATV.

  She pushed off the shed but didn’t go far out of the shade as they headed toward her down the trail. Alexis turned from the group she stood with and strode over for some reason.

  Jayne lifted her hand and quietly thanked God for the chance to speak with her son after so much silence.

  She got a look at the man behind him, and her legs nearly gave out. She stumbled back a step. Dark-brown hair that needed cutting, a day or two of beard growth that made him look grizzly. Those shoulders he’d had at seventeen were broader now, even if he was slender.

  No. Why was he here? That uniform. He filled it out like a man comfortable with who he was. Charlie Benning was a hotshot with Orion. They had to have been working together all summer. Did that mean he knew…

  Alexis came to stand beside Jayne. “I guess you’re surprised to see him. The boyfriend from your cautionary tale.”

  Jayne choked on a whimper. Charlie.

  “Mom?” Orion hopped off the ATV.

  Charlie killed the engine on his and did the same, still lean and muscled like he had been at seventeen. But where the boy she’d known used to be, now there was a man.

  She put her hand on her front. He was really here, and after she’d spent years wishing he would show back up. Wishing she could tell him. Lord… Did she have the right to ask for help?

  “Dad?” Alexis stared as he walked over. “Why are you…how much weight have you lost since fire season started?”

  He didn’t answer her. He stared at Jayne, and she surveyed his dark hair, threads of silver on his temples. The lines of decades of firefighting on his face. The shadow of loss she knew well. My mom died right after Christmas. She stared at him, knowing what he saw. She was dirty from the hike, covered in ash, her hair braided back and probably all disheveled by now. Old boots and worn hands.

  “Okay, so this is Charlie’s daughter. What else is going on? Mom, you okay?”

  Orion’s question jerked her attention around. “Ry…”

  Before Jayne could say anything else, Alexis did. “We should probably talk.”

  Orion glanced at her, giving a tight shake of his head. “Why is that?”

  Alexis set a hand on her hip. “Because I think you’re my brother. The son of Jayne and the boyfriend in her cautionary tale. My dad.”

  Her son turned around to her. The man who was once the boy who had torn her heart to shreds did the same. Charlie looked at Orion, and then back at her, a kind of wonder on his face mixed with anger. A sick feeling roiled in her stomach.

  Charlie said, “Jayne.”

  “Mom.” Orion’s face reddened. His hands balled into fists by his sides. “Is she right? Is…is Charlie my father?”

  She could see the matched expressions on their faces. You never told me.

  Jayne’s stomach clenched. “Yes. Charlie is your father.”

  She looked from him to the man beside him. “Charlie, this is your son.”

  THREE

  Charlie blinked against the red haze of anger he’d tried for years to tamp down when it threatened to overtake him.

  An older woman headed toward them, looking at each one in turn before she said to Jayne, “The propane delivery will be here soon. I’ll take the kids.”

  Jayne nodded, her face pale. This older, more mature version of the girl he’d loved was still stunning. No less than she had been at seventeen. Blonde hair, blue eyes. A smile that had made his knees weak. Hands he’d held, fingers he’d stared at, wondering how they could be so strong and so soft.

  Charlie looked at his daughter, aware of his son’s attention as well, but he had to know if she was all right. He tried to communicate that with his expression.

  How much weight have you lost?

  She knew. It wasn’t surprising, considering how astute she was. And the question hadn’t been concern so much as an accusation. Maybe there was care underneath somewhere…

  Deep underneath.

  But the bottom line was the thing he’d been avoiding since the beginning of summer. She knew now that he wasn’t okay. He hadn’t hidden it from her.

  The older woman cupped her hands around her mouth. “Let’s go, everyone! Back to camp!”

  Jayne called out, “Thanks, Bridget!”

  Kids started toward the trail behind Alexis, which led to the camp. A couple waded out of the lake. Overhead, a tanker plane flew past, too high to read which one it was.

  Bridget turned back. “Alexis, do you want to come with us?” She spoke as though she hadn’t noticed the tension between the four of them, standing off against each other. Then her gaze flitted from one to the other, and he realized she knew there was something very wrong.

  Charlie looked from his daughter, who had figured this whole thing out first, to Jayne, who’d lied to all of them. Orion was more of a victim, like Charlie. Lied to. Anger spilled from his lips with the words as Charlie said, “Or you can stay here, with your family.”

  Jayne flinched.

  Orion glanced at him. “Did you know?”

  Alexis was the one who said, “He didn’t know.”

  She looked about as mad as he felt. “Lexi⁠—”

  “He had no idea.”

  She hadn’t said that because she cared. More like she was capitalizing on an opportunity to make him look clueless—a shadow of what her mom had taught her.

  Alexis walked away, catching up to the other teens.

  Orion probably wanted to go as well.

  Jayne squeezed the bridge of her nose. “That’s why she’s been so standoffish since I told that story.” She dropped her hand back to her side. “I messed up. I told the kids your name.” She shook her head. “I never do that. She must have put it together.”

  “And you?” Orion turned to face Charlie. “We’ve been working together for weeks.”

  Charlie had wrongly assumed Jayne started a relationship with someone quickly after the end of that summer, too busy trying to fix his other problems. “I didn’t see what was right in front of my face.” And he’d wasted time he could’ve used to get to know his son.

  Time he would never get back.

  He looked at his son now. “She never told me she was pregnant.”

  Jayne said, “She is standing right here.”

  Orion turned to her. “You lied to both of us.”

  “I asked if you wanted to know.”

  Orion looked like he wanted to say something else, then he turned and just walked away, following the others who were out of sight now.

  Charlie stared at his son’s back. Then he looked at her. He could hardly believe what he’d heard, so much that he had to ask again.

  “He’s really my boy?” Fire burned in his gut that had nothing to do with the land around them. “You were pregnant when I left?”

  Tears spilled from her eyes. “I didn’t realize until two months later.”

  “And you didn’t find me.” Never told him. Never called or wrote a letter or email. Not once. “So I had no idea that when I met Orion Price, I was coming face-to-face with my son.”

  She winced and more tears came. “I’m sorry. Is that what you want to hear?”

  “You’re unbelievable.”

  “You think it would’ve been better?” she said. “That you’d have stuck around and been the man we needed you to be?”

  “You never gave me the chance.” He turned away, reeling so much that the world spun around him. Pain sparked in his lower back. He took a couple of steps so he could sit on the ATV, but he’d moved farther from it than he thought.

  She’d made the choice for him, regardless of whether he’d have been able to settle down at that age. Be a father. Maybe a husband, as well. He’d never know if he’d have had it in him back then to do the right thing.

  “Charlie—”

  His foot snagged on the ground, and he stumbled but didn’t go down. He slammed a hand down on the ATV Orion had ridden and caught himself on the metal over the engine. Hot. He pulled his hand back and grabbed the handle instead. He shifted and got his behind on the seat, sideways. But that put her in front of him while he leaned against the ATV.

  “Are you okay?” Jayne frowned, swiping at her damp cheeks.

  “I’m fine.” The refrain popped from his mouth, like he’d trained the response on repeat all summer. And even before then, back at the Eastside Firehouse. Trying to convince everyone he was fine, despite the doctor’s report. He’d kept the news from the department and cut out before it came to light.

  Jayne jogged to a pack leaning against a shed. She came back with two bottles of water and handed one over.

  He chugged the entire thing, trying to figure out when he’d eaten last. Lightheaded and hot from exhaustion and fighting fires. Anyone would understand his need to rest. Didn’t mean anything.

  Certainly wouldn’t cause a person to jump to the truth as a conclusion.

  Not before the aftermath of his plan.

  Jayne took a sip of hers. “We should take the ATVs back to camp.”

  He studied her. This stranger he didn’t know, and the upset on her face. She should be upset, considering what she’d done. He lowered the bottle. “You didn’t think I needed to know?”

  Fresh tears sparked in her eyes. “It wasn’t…when I found out, it was bad.” She winced. “My mom screamed at me and kicked me out.”

  He knew her father had died when she was a kid, then her grandpa. She’d been at the camp the summer before her senior year, even though her mom told her she would disown Jayne over it. She’d told him that she only wanted to feel close to her dad while she could. Not to actually fight a fire.

  Her mom hadn’t understood that.

  Why was he remembering all this now? It had been twenty years. Twenty-two considering the age of his son. Nearly twenty-three.

  Charlie shut his eyes. He needed to take a breath or he’d let out all this anger. Even if he wanted to, what would it change? What was done had been done, and they couldn’t go back and change it now. He could spend the rest of the summer with his son.

  “I had nothing.” She sniffed back tears. “The camp director saw me on the side of the road, hitchhiking. He picked me up and then let me stay here over the winter. I helped out. After Orion…I never left. I found a home here.”

  “And you couldn’t have called?” He knew she was the director now, but back then he’d have tried, at least, to be there for her. He knew that much.

  “I didn’t want to get the same treatment my mom gave me.” She brushed blonde flyaway strands from her face. Still as beautiful as she’d ever been. Wise. Caring. Smart. The kind of person who’d complete the task and help the person beside her at the same time. “I couldn’t take the risk you wouldn’t want anything to do with us. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made, and I second-guess myself sometimes. But the bottom line is that neither of us were ready for marriage.”

  “So you raised him alone.”

  “I had a family here.” She motioned in the direction of the camp. “You got married…and had Alexis.”

  He looked down…at the pocket where he’d tucked the letter he’d written to Jayne. The past and the present, colliding. “You’re right. I did do that.” Charlie got up and went to the other ATV. “Let’s go.”

  He tucked the bottle in his pocket and drove away from her.

  She was going to ruin his entire plan.

  Jayne parked the ATV under the carport, behind the other ATV. She used the side door, figuring she knew where Orion had gone. She didn’t want to talk to Charlie. Not after he’d jumped on the other ATV and left her there. Speeding off, spraying dust behind him so that she had to tie a handkerchief around the bottom half of her face. She didn’t need to breathe it in.

  She tugged the handkerchief down and used the back hall to get to her office. A hundred things rolled through her head. Thoughts about Charlie—and the anger that had been clear on his face. Orion. Alexis. The fire heading toward them. The campers, and the occupant in one of her three rental cabins.

  Bridget had taken over management of the teens. When Jayne drove her ATV past the sheds, Bridget had them all gathered around so she could give them instructions.

  Ready to leave meant exactly that. She’d have them pack but leave their things in their rooms.

  The door to her office was ajar.

  Orion sat behind her desk, working on her computer. The camp dog, Sparky, a mutt who’d wandered in one day and bonded to her son, lay beside the desk.

  “Did you see anyone in the woods when you and Charlie were looking for me?” Oh, saying his name actually hurt.