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Don co his tie between the buttons of his shirt, and with his shaking thin hands, he sawed into the juicy meat on his plate He looked up and offered a quick nod

While he prayed over his food, I left him for just a moment to swipe the pitcher of sweet sun tea off the bar counter When I returned and picked up his cup, I held the pitcher sideways, so plenty of ice poured out with the light-brown liquid

Don took a sip and let out a satisfied sigh “As I live and breathe, Falyn I sure love it when Phaedra makes her sun tea”

His chin was attached to the bottom of his throat with a thin flap of loose skin, and his face and hands were dotted with liver spots He was a er, and he’d lost weight since Mary Ann passed

I offered a half smile “I know you do I’ll check on you in a bit”

“Because you’re the best,” Don called after me

Kirby guided the group of men to my last empty table All but one man was covered in soot smeared with a day’s worth of sweat The clean one see, his freshly washed hair barely long enough to hang into his eyes The others looked pleased with their exhaustion, a hard, long shift behind them

Only the tourists stared at the ragged men Locals knew exactly who they were and why they were there Theon their laps, bearing the Departuess—a hotshot crew, likely the Alpine division out of Estes Park

The spot fires had been particularly relentless that season, and it seeency crews fro and South Dakota Colorado Springs had been hazy for weeks The smoke frolowing bright red ball of fire We hadn’t seen stars since before my last paycheck

I greeted the ?”

“You sure got pretty hair,” one of the men said

I lowered my chin and cocked an eyebrow

“Shut the fuck up and order, Zeke We’ll probably get called back out soon”

“Daeted in ets cranky when he’s hungry”

“I can do that,” I said, annoyed with them already

Taylor glanced up at me, and for just a moment, I was captured by a pair of war familiar behind his eyes Then he blinked and returned to his menu

Although usually cute, , and alith a respectable a of ash on their boots were only to be adht dating one of those fascinating, brave tanned young men for two reasons They were seasonal, and they would leave you behind, pregnant or heartbroken I’d seen it so many times, and not just with the hotshot crews, but with the air s was a buffet of young girls just desperate enough to be fooled into loving someone they kneouldn’t stay