Page 137 of The Fire Line

“Sure it did.”

“The point is, you were new, I was bossy, and the system failed.”

The corner of Harris’s mouth moved, and Jay reached over to push his sleep-flattened hair sideways.

Harris frowned. “What’re you doin’?”

“Your hair is doing something deeply unfortunate.”

Harris dragged a hand through it, making it worse. “Better?”

Jay laughed. “Much.”

For a little while, neither of them moved. That was the strangest part: how easy it was. Jay had expected awkwardness after the night before—Harris retreating, both of them finding urgent reasons to locate their clothing. Instead Harris lay beside him in his underwear with terrible hair, looking irritated before seven in the morning. No uncomfortable well, that happened. No sudden discovery that opposite sides of the room urgently required occupation.

Jay liked him like this. He liked the lack of performance, the fact that Harris did not appear to be waiting for an exit or rehearsing regret. He had slept with an arm around Jay. That was another subject worth postponing until coffee.

Harris reached for his phone. The screen lit his face, and every trace of sleep disappeared.

“What?” Jay asked.

“Red flag warning got upgraded.” Harris sat up and scrolled. “Winds shifted overnight.”

“What does that mean?”

“Means we’re goin’ home.”

Jay reached for his own phone. Three weather alerts waited, along with two missed messages from Priya. The newest read: Call me. Fire jumped containment north of Bridger. They’re canceling the regional session.

“Shit.”

Harris was already pulling on his jeans. By the time Priya answered, the private version of him had vanished beneath the rancher who needed information and work.

“Please tell me you’re awake,” she said.

“We’re awake.”

Harris glanced at Jay at the we, but the situation erased whatever response it might otherwise have earned.

“They canceled the regional session,” Priya said. “Emergency-management people are getting called back to their counties. Evan called. They’ve started moving cattle out of the north pasture.”

Harris held out his hand, and Jay passed him the phone.

“Priya. Don’t send anybody toward the fire. Fuel everything, back up every drive twice, and get the equipment ready to load if the warning expands.” He listened, his face tightening. “Where’s Evan?”

Another pause. “Okay. Tell him I’m on my way.”

He handed the phone back and finished dressing.

Jay pressed it to his ear while shoving clothes into his bag. “What do you need from me?”

“Get here safely. I’ve got the backups running. Eli’s packing the camera bodies separately from everything replaceable. Elise is clearing the remaining guests, and Della is packing food because apparently evacuation requires feeding the entire county.”

“That sounds right.”

“Evan asked us not to film yet.”

“Then don’t.” Jay disconnected, then turned to Harris. “How fast can we get there?”