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He half led, half dragged her to the sidewalk The other volunteer trainees showed up and he organized the the civilians safely away from the fire
Several police officers arrived He talked to Chief Barns, telling her how long the fire department had been there More equiprew to four There were only five stations in Fool’s Gold He heard a policewoone out to nearby communities
Smoke and sparks filled the air Bits of ehters with axes and air packs disappeared into the building and later reappeared Minutes later, a tall firefighter hurried out, her arers The paramedics moved in to help them
Clay studied the firefighter, noting the faht, relieved But once the teens were safely with the hter, disappeared back into the inferno
Time crawled More kids appeared Tere carried Clay watched the warehouse, waiting for Charlie to reappear He told himself that she wasn’t alone That she would be fine This hat she did, who she was
The groundan earthquake Frolanced back at the warehouse The roof seemed to shimmer and dance then slowly, so slowly, folded in on itself The outside all disintegrated
S creature The sounds faded until there was only the beating of his heart and a primal scream No!
He was running before he knehat had happened Running, deter Charlie was in danger and he had to save her
Someone yelled He heard words, but they didn’t penetrate Sorabbed him He pushed the arms away He was nearly there Heat blasted him; he couldn’t breathe, but that didn’t matter There wereheld in place
Rational thought returned and with it came fear The cold kind that rose from his bones and made it impossible to move
“I swear to God, I will knock you unconscious myself,” the captain told him “Stay the fk here”
Clay nodded because he couldn’t speak He stared at the building,all he had His life, his soul, everything If Charlie would just be okay
Eh to his skin, but he didn’tand the shters raced in and out of the building, dark silhouettes against the devil’s handiwork
Then he saw her One second there was only sht
Relief kept hirateful and terrified at the sah He had to find a way to always keep her safe She was She was
And then he knew He’d never bothered to protect himself from Charlie because he didn’t have to They were friends Lovers But not in love Never in love
But sometime in the past feeeks, she’d worked her way inside of him Into his heart She’d become important He loved her
Charlie walked over to the ht away that she was fine He caught scraps of conversation and heard her arguing that she hadn’t been anywhere near the collapse That she was fine No one listened
He returned to the growing crowd and helped keep order By , the cleanup complete All nine teens were safe Three had been taken to the hospital but were expected to make a full recovery Sometime close to three, he drove back to the ranch
He parked, but instead of going inside, he walked out to the corrals and stared at the night sky He was cold, smelled of smoke There were probably holes in his shirt froht have a few burns
None of that mattered What he couldn’t wrap his mind around was how it had happened How had he fallen in love again? He’d assumed he would only love Diane for the rest of his life There wasn’t supposed to be anyone else He couldn’t do it again Give his all and then lose it He wasn’t that strong
Which meant he knehat came next What he had to do
Charlie was resilient, he told himself Capable In the end, he couldn’t hurt her Not really She had survived worse And so had he
CHARLIE PARKED IN her driveway and told herself she really had to get out of her truck and walk to the house Once there she would collapse Her bed aiting; she’d already showered twice at the station A good day’s sleep and she would be healed
It had been a hell of a night The fire, set by teens lighting a fire in the warehouse, had destroyed the structure, but no lives had been lost They’d been on the opposite side of the building that had collapsed Apparently the old saying was true—God did look after children and fools Last she’d heard, the couple of kids taken to the hospital would be released later today The other buildings in the area had been protected What could have been a disaster had ended as well as could be expected
She climbed out of her truck and started toward the front door Moveht her attention She saw Clay stand and walk toward her
Instantly her exhaustion faded She hurried toward hiht now she didn’t even care if they made love She just wanted to feel his arms around her and spend so, that would be good, too
“Hey,” she said when she stopped in front of hiot a little worried when that section of roof caved, but you took care of the crowds and stayed out of trouble”
“She’s lying,” he said, his voice oddly flat
“What do you mean?”
“I thought I’d lost you”
The words should havein his voice Make that soy, no drive It was as if they were talking about whether or not to wash the car
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her stoh her “What happened?”
She waited for hih and say he was fine For hientle teasing, as long as he said everything was fine That they were fine
“I don’t want to do this anyaze unreadable He motioned to the space between them “Us The relationship It’s over”
She’d spentherself, e took over Raw pain cut through her, but she didn’t blink, didn’t flinch, didn’t say a word She felt her face stiffen, shifting to a kind of shield where no expression showed Her hands stayed loose at her sides, her legs continued to support her
The only outward sign that anything rong was her chin rising slightly
“All right,” she said calmly
“I wish you the best,” he said “And I’m sorry if this hurts you I’ll tell everyone you dumped me You know, so there aren’t any questions”
She wanted to point out that questions wouldn’t matter Not when she didn’t have answers She wanted to screa this to her What had changed? Why was today different than yesterday?
For the first ti
Instead she asked, “Anything else?”
He shook his head and walked away
She watched hiotten in his truck and driven away When she was sure he was gone, was sure he couldn’t see her anymore, she sank down onto her knees, her face pressed into her thighs, her body shaking, her hands pressed against the cement ay Tears soaked her jeans as she let the pain wash over her
She had no idea how long she stayed there, crouched and in pain After a while, she felt gentle hands brush against her back Heidi and Annabelle urged her to her feet, then helped her inside Once she was seated on the sofa, she covered her face with her hands and sobbed until there was nothing left Nothing but a future without the man she loved
CHAPTER TWENTY
“YOU DIDN’T HAVE to coency and released you froo protect someone who actually needs your services”
Justice prowled the living rooer lurked “I wanted to say goodbye”