Sweet Fire by J. H. Croix

Author:J. H. Croix [Croix, J. H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Jesse

A few days later, I sighed as I leaned my hands against the tile in the shower at the station. We’d had a tough afternoon. There’d been a fire in a nearby town where multiple crews had been called from surrounding areas because it was big and out of control. A massive old mining building had caught fire. Unfortunately, a man had been exploring in there and had gotten trapped. We got the fire out, but he died from smoke inhalation before we could reach the area where he was trapped.

It didn’t matter what I told myself, it hurt to lose someone. I let the pounding, steaming hot water wash away the day. I was physically exhausted and emotionally weary. As I dressed with a few of the other guys alongside of me, we were all quiet. I sat down on the bench, snagging a water bottle from my locker and draining it. When I tossed it into the recycle bin in the corner, Ward came walking into the locker room.

He leaned against the lockers across from Caleb and me. Caleb and I shared foreman duties on Ward’s crew.

“We did all we could guys. Before we even got called out, it was probably too late,” Ward said, his voice low.

“I know, man, but it still sucks,” I replied, running a hand through my hair with a sigh.

What got to me the most was if we had been able to get there in time, we could’ve saved the man. By no means was this the first fatality that I’d dealt with as a hotshot firefighter over ten years. I’d even experienced the death of a crewmember who’d gotten trapped during a wildfire. That had been awful. In this case, the man had been in the back part of the mine, trapped behind the fire in the front section of the building. Every death weighed on me.

“Yeah, it sucks no matter what,” Caleb said bluntly.

Ward sighed and nodded slowly. “I know. All we can do is what we can do.

We still have the weekend duty. Either one of you need to call out?”

“Nah, I’m good,” I replied with Caleb nodding along with me.

He and I tended to approach these things in the same way, both of us preferring to throw ourselves back into the job.

As I drove towards home, all I could think was I wanted to see Charlie. In fact, I would’ve given just about anything to fall asleep with her tonight. When I turned onto my road, I started to go down my driveway and then stopped. I wanted, no needed, to see Charlie. Slipping my phone out, I sent a quick text.

Thought I’d stop by. Pizza?

I drove the remaining way down my driveway and stopped to feed Waffle before loading her up in the truck. Returning to town, I picked up three pizzas. I hadn’t even waited for Charlie’s reply, but I was relieved when it came in.

Sure. Em’s kind of in a mood. She would probably love some pizza.

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