Page 106 of Hometown Hottie

52

CARSON

The sound of sirens pierced through the roaring noise of the fire. The blaring came closer with every beat of my heart, and yet, I already knew they were too late. A portion of the ceiling had just collapsed and the rest of the building probably wasn’t far behind.

At this point, the firefighters would put it out to prevent it from jumping to the surrounding landscape, but the bakery was beyond saving. Despair trickled into me, and I fell back, getting into position next to Ryan to aim my extinguisher at the embers that were being spat toward the permanent market stalls.

We were trying to stop the fire from reaching even more fuel, which the wooden structures Nova had erected for the original market vendors would certainly provide. Working together to fight the fire, Ryan and I were in sync once more, as if we could read the other’s mind and knew exactly where to go to provide backup, but not even that helped.

The blaze was out of control, and at this rate, it would be a miracle if it only took the bakery with it. With a loud honking of horns, the fire trucks finally arrived. The firefighters hit the ground running, throwing open hatches and seamlessly taking their places.

Watching them was fascinating until I remembered what they were here to do and who this place belonged to. A thud at my side alerted me to Ryan setting down his extinguisher, and I did the same. Our work here, however useless it might’ve been, was done.

As I looked around, I saw that we’d at least managed to save the market stalls scattered around, but the rest was definitely a total loss. I turned toward my friend and my heart wrenched at the look of utter devastation on his face.

Ryan’s cheeks, neck, and brow were smeared with black and shiny with sweat, his jaw slack and his mouth twisted in pain as he watched the firefighters fan out. They were calling out to each other, running with hoses and trying to contain the blaze, and I sent up a prayer that they would manage to do it before it engulfed the entire ranch.

George ran up to Ryan, as filthy and heartbroken as his son. Together, they strode toward the fire captain and I turned, frantically looking for Nova. She wasn’t in my truck anymore, the cab of it lit enough by the fire that I could see it was empty.

My heart tripped over itself. Horror spread through me. Had she somehow tried to make it inside? The pain of that thought threatened to bring me to my knees. My chest squeezed with unbearable pressure and my entire body was on high alert.

I never stopped looking for her, though. Never gave up hope that she was still somewhere outside here with us.

The tiniest flash of movement behind the truck caught my eye and I sprinted toward it and skidded on the dirt as I circled around back. And there she was. Safe and sound, her hands clamped over her mouth with tears streaming down her cheeks as she watched a group of strangers trying to save not only her livelihood but her home.

Without hesitating, I wrapped my arms around her waist, hauled her closer to my chest, and held her up. Her knees buckled and her body shook but not a sound escaped as she stared at the devastation.

I just held her, not saying anything for the longest time. My chin rested on top of her head and I kept her tightly gathered in my arms. She didn’t try to get away from me. Didn’t tell me to shove off or even really seem to realize that I shouldn’t have been holding her.

Instead, her fingers wrapped around my forearms and dug in like she was trying to keep me close. Like she needed me to stay exactly where I was.

The fire cracked and roared. Various alarms and shouts came from the fire trucks. But somehow, it was all distant. Even the intense heat seemed to be separated from us by some kind of invisible barrier.

Also known as shock.

It was only when I saw approaching movement in my periphery that I finally snapped out of it. The world crashed back into focus. The sounds were suddenly deafening, and the acrid scent of smoke in the air was so much thicker now than it had been before.

The movement turned out to be Ryan running toward us. I let go of Nova, keeping a hand under her elbow to steady her but needing to put some space between us before Ryan threw me into the flames. I didn’t know if he’d go that far tonight, but emotions were running high.

“Are you okay?” I asked her as we both glanced at her brother jogging over to us.

Those blue eyes came up to meet mine, so wide and sad that I almost reached for her again. Instead, I just squeezed her elbow to let her know I was here and that I wanted to support her.

“I’m okay,” she said quietly. “I’m fine. Thank you for your help.”

Ryan skidded to a stop in front of us, breathing hard. He shoved his hands into his damp, matted hair. “Captain Adams thinks they’re going to be able to contain it. I’m so glad we cleared a parking lot for the market. If we hadn’t…” He trailed off, his head shaking before he tipped his face back toward the sky.

Ash was raining down on us, but he didn’t even seem to notice it. When he looked at us again, his gaze dropped briefly to where I was still holding Nova’s elbow, and he definitely noticed that, but he didn’t say anything, looking up into her eyes instead.

“Are you okay? You stayed back, right?”

“I did and I’m fine. Or at least, I’m not hurt. You?” She looked at both of us as she asked the question, her own face dotted with black ash. The worry in her eyes was intense. “You were much closer to it than I was.”

Ryan reached out and pulled her into his arms, giving her a tight hug. “I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m okay. Don’t look at me like that. I’m not about to drop dead.”

“I’m okay too,” I said, itching to pull her into my arms next when he released her, but still not wanting to risk igniting his temper in addition to everything else.

“Where’s Dad?” Nova asked, craning her neck to look past her brother. “I thought he was with you.”