They didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, though, and once on the beach, Liam began to wonder if someone had been there at all.
“All that glass,” he began as they stood over the gear they’d left at the firepit. “Any chance you saw your own reflection back there?”
“He threw a rock. Smashed one of the windows.”
Liam swore again. He wasn’t sure what to do. The sensible thing was to pack up and get the hell out of there, but what then? Go to a cheap motel?
Go home?
He’d appreciated this time with Tory. He couldn’t see how they could get together again if they went back now.
Tory broke from his grip suddenly and dashed the last few steps to the firepit. “I smell smoke,” she said. “But we doused the fire good—and it’s still out. Where is it coming from?”
Liam lifted his chin. She was right; he smelled it, too. He spun around on his heel, taking in the lodge, the trees around it—
“There!”
Smoke was billowing out of the forest near the lane that led out to the highway. He started running, and he heard Tory’s footsteps pounding after him. He was already pulling his phone out of his pocket when they rounded the bend before the bridge.
Liam stopped short.
This was far worse than he’d thought. Flames already licked up the trees on either side of the lane, and the hot wind blowing was wafting sparks ahead of it, spreading the fire. He lifted the phone to dial 9-1-1 and swore. “No reception!”
And the only road out was a gauntlet through an inferno.
“There were hoses back near the house!” Tory took off the way they’d come. Liam ran after her. In a pinch, they could grab the canoe from the boathouse and paddle around the fire to the other side. By the time they did that, though, the blaze might be unstoppable. Hundreds of acres of forest—dry timber—stood between the resort and Silver Falls proper. A fire whipped by these winds could take out the whole town.
“Look—there’s an extra hose over there,” Tory called when she reached the one connected to the lodge. “Can we join them?”
Liam was already working at it. His hands shook as he tried to thread one end of the hose attached to the house to the other one.
“The water might be turned off,” he warned. If it was, the canoe was their only hope.
“Rod must have set the fire.”
Liam nodded. There was no time to talk. An instant later he had the hose lengths joined and Tory turned on the tap. They both held their breath, waiting—
“It’s running!” Tory pointed to water spilling out the open end of the joined hoses. There was no nozzle, though. This wasn’t going to work—
“Come on.” Tory gathered up a coil of hose. Liam grabbed the rest, and they ran awkwardly back the way they’d come, letting out the hose as they went, stumbling and tripping over their unwieldly bundles. To Liam’s relief the hoses extended to the fire, but seconds later he realized it was like pissing in the wind. Even in the short time they’d been gone, the flames had grown.
He tossed Tory the keys. “Get the truck—bring it as close as you can.”
She caught them and ran toward the lodge as he kept the water pointed at the blaze. A minute later the roar of the truck’s engine alerted him she was back.
“Close the windows!” Liam hosed off the truck—as if that would help. He jumped behind the wheel, Tory scooting into the passenger seat. “We’re going to gun it. We’ll be over the bridge and out the other side in a flash. We’ve got to get to where we can call it in—get the fire department out here. If we have to paddle to where we can get reception, it’ll take too long.”
Tory nodded. “I’m in. Let’s do this.” She gripped the door’s handle and shut her eyes. Was she saying a little prayer?
Good.
They needed all the help they could get.
Tory whispered words she didn’t know she knew, praying that Liam’s plan worked. This fire was the trouble everyone in the area had been dreading all summer.
It was so dry. So hot. So windy today. She already feared the lodge and treehouses—and the greenhouse she’d just toured—were goners. The fire was close to being out of control. If it wasn’t stopped—fast—it could sweep up the hill and into Silver Falls. How many people would lose their homes, livelihoods—maybe even their lives—then?
Liam gunned the engine, put the truck in Drive, and they sped toward the fire, the lane—and the bridge beyond.
The bridge was concrete, she thought wildly as they careened toward the fire. It wouldn’t have burned or melted in the inferno. All they had to do was get across—
She cried out involuntarily as they plunged into the flames, but Liam had been right—they were over the bridge and then out of the fire in a matter of seconds. Safe on the other side.
Liam drove halfway up the hill before stopping. It was smoky here, but no fire in sight. He parked at the side of the road and pulled out his phone again, and Tory wanted to kick herself for not calling the fire department herself.
“I’ve got a fire out at the Hunts’ lodge,” Liam said into the phone. “It’s growing fast. Send everything you’ve got!”
He put the truck in motion again, but they were almost to town before they heard the sirens. Three fire engines passed them as they made the turn onto the main road. Liam drove to Thoughtful Coffee and parked.
“Can you get home from here? I’ll go back to the lodge. Tell them what I know. I won’t mention that you were here.”
“But—” Understanding dawned. “You’re giving me an alibi?”
“No one has to know about us. Not if you don’t want them to. You know how our families are…” It
