The silence in the room engulfed him.
Riley wrapped her other hand around his as he struggled against his emotions. Two. Two small hands keeping him tethered. After a minute, he continued, his voice breaking.
“I was dazed—shouting for him. But the weight of the boys and the wave of heat from the fallen tree drove me back, and I had to go. I had to leave him there.” He swallowed hard. “I got the boys out and set them down. I somehow missed the emergency vehicles arriving, missed the rest of my crew holding me back as the copse collapsed on itself. Didn’t matter. I shook them off and charged back in there. I managed to find the tree, and Jay, in the smoke and heat. He was so still. I pulled and . . .” He shook his head. “Another crack. I heard him again—in my head. ‘Go!’ It felt like everything moved in slow motion. I couldn’t breathe. I managed to turn and fall, but another tree came down. Smaller. But I was trapped in the burning branches. I tried to get out—had to pull my hand out of my glove, but I didn’t get any farther. I was going to die with Jay. Part of me was okay with that.”
He paused, trembling, lost in the memory. Something drew him out. The press of her hand on his.
He swallowed, blinking his way back up. “I woke up in the hospital a week later. And then again a few days after that.”
“And the boys?” she asked quietly.
The boys. “We got them out. They all recovered.” He shook his head. “We’d pulled them all out, and I went back in there.”
“For your friend.”
He nodded. “That’s the one thing—when I realized what I’d done to myself—that could console me. For a long time after.” He met her gaze. “He’d have done the same thing.” He shrugged, fighting his emotions. “He’d have done the same stupid thing.”
She nodded, wiping away a tear. She leaned into him, put her arms around him, drawing him closer. He rested in the cocoon of her arms and blanket and let her run her fingers through his hair. The knot in his chest loosened, and he closed his eyes.
They stayed like that for a long time.
“Who got you out?” she asked quietly.
Some time passed before he could answer. “My crew. All of them. They piled into one of the big rigs and drove in there—hoses, full masks. I wasn’t hard to find.” He didn’t say it was because of his screaming.
She squeezed his hand again. “They risked their lives for you.”
He struggled to speak. “They could have died. Because of me.”
“They knew that as much as you knew it when you went after Jay.”
He breathed that in. After a moment, he slowly sat up, raising his arm around her, tucking her into his side.
“Thanks, Riley,” he whispered.
She nodded. Soon, her eyes closed, her skin reflecting the flickering light from the fading fire.
“Mark,” she mumbled just when he thought she’d fallen asleep.
“Yeah?”
“I’m no good in relationships.”
He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand as her grip relaxed. “Yeah, I know.”
“I’m so glad you got out.”
He pressed his lips to the top of her head, breathing in her peace.
She didn’t stir.
When he woke, he was more reclined, and she was tucked into his side, between him and the back of the couch. His arm had fallen asleep all the way to his shoulder. The fire had burned out, and the room was dark as coal.
He looked at the desk where he’d set his wallet, phone, and keys, and grimaced. Carefully, he moved so he could see his watch.
The watch blazed, and he blinked.
3:40 a.m.
Inwardly, he groaned. His dad would be worried about him, and his truck outside would spur rumors.
As gently as he could, he eased himself off the couch, pulling his arm from under Riley’s head without disturbing her sleep. She sighed deeply, and he froze. When she’d resettled, he managed to free himself without falling.
His fingers tingled as circulation returned, and his eyes adjusted to the dark. Riley’s arm dangled over the edge of the couch, her cheek smashed against the cushion, her lips parted as she slept.
She took a sudden deep breath. “That’s my fortune cookie . . .”
“My mistake,” he whispered, pulling her blanket up higher.
She nodded and settled.
As he collected his things from the desk, his eye caught the shine of one of the glass doorknobs he’d broken off. He took it and returned to her on the couch. He folded her arm up and tucked the knob into her hand. “See you soon,” he whispered. He quietly got his coat out of the closet, and then locked the front door behind him.
Before starting his truck, he paused, looking back at the house. His eye roamed over the other dark homes in the neighborhood. He took a deep breath and fired up the engine.
This wouldn’t go unnoticed. Not in this town.
Snowflakes fell fat and fast as Mark’s truck climbed the road to his house. Sure enough, when he pulled up, the lights were on downstairs and a police car was parked in the drive.
Great. He checked his phone and found a dozen texts, missed calls, and several voice messages. The texts had stopped around one a.m. He took a deep breath, then went in to face the blitz.
When he opened the door, though, he found his dad and Lester playing cards at the dining table.
“Hello, son.” His dad adjusted the cards in his hand, his poker face on.
Lester nodded. “Hey, Mark.” He dropped a card on the table.
“Hey,” Mark said. “It’s snowing out there,
