Firewolf

“Anyway. Phillip is a CEO. Miguel is a doctor. So is Connie, Consuelo. Rosalie is an attorney and Kat has a business degree from Berkeley, undergrad and a law degree from...” She tapped her chin. “I forget where... Anyway, just passed the bar. They all went to private school here. Me, too, for a while. I got kicked out. I also got kicked out of schools in Westchester, Greenwich, Boston and Vermont.”

“That’s a lot of schools.”

“What can I say? I’m good at what I do.”

“So you cause trouble. Make a big fuss so everyone notices you.”

“That’s it.” Only they didn’t. Not often.

But getting sent home was the one sure way to get her father’s attention.

“Oh, and colleges, too. I went to NYU for film. My dad made a contribution because my grades, well... I tried to be a chip off the old block. But my brothers have that gig all tied up. So I went to Berkeley for economics and then UCLA for marine biology.”

“How’d you do?”

“I got mostly A’s on the tests I took. Problem was I didn’t take enough of them. I had trouble getting to class.”

“Failed out?”

“Every time.”

“But all A’s. You’re smart.”

“If I was smart, would I be lying under an Apache hotshot in the middle of a wildfire?”

“Good point.”

“Maybe I’ll go back to school. They have some in Hawaii. I could learn to surf.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-six, but I’ll be twenty-seven next month. Just in time to join the 27 Club.”

“What’s that?”

She turned to stare at him in disbelief. “You got to get off your mountain. Get your brain out of the smoke.”

“Maybe. So...the 27 Club?”

“It’s all the musicians who died at twenty-seven. Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, Cobain, Winehouse. Only they were famous for creating something and I’m only famous for being the screw-up daughter of a rich man. Creating scandals. I haven’t done anything else.”

“Not too late,” he said.

“Yeah. I’d like to see twenty-eight, even thirty.”

He tugged her closer to him, adjusting his body to hold the shelter.

“Can I help hold it down?” she asked, and then realized this was the very first time she’d offered to do anything. She’d drunk his water, complained about the lifesaving shelter and whined about how hard it was to breathe. She sagged. Maybe he should have rolled her out from under the shelter like a log. She knew she would have been tempted if their situation had been reversed.

“You’d need gloves. The edges get hot.”

Yet the thing had been flapping against him for what seemed like hours. He’d never uttered a word of complaint.

“How old are you?” she asked.

“Twenty-eight.”

He seemed older, acted older, she realized.

“I’m going to lift the shield,” he said. “Hold your breath.”

Meadow drew as deep a breath as she could in the scalding hot air as Dylan lifted the edge of the shelter.

Chapter Five (#u14c721b8-bff3-5fae-b9ac-a24d6df9f612)

A blast of hot winds rushed in below the fire shelter. The burning air made Meadow’s eyes tear.

“Everything is black,” she said, releasing her breath and then gasping at the heat of the air now rushing into her lungs. She hurried to be rid of it. The next breath seemed just as hot.

“Good. Did you see any fire?”

“No.” She pressed her hands over her stinging eyes and rubbed. “Hot.”

“Don’t rub them. Just keep your eyes closed.”

After a few minutes he asked her to hold the edge of the shelter. She tried but the metal was too hot. He piled some sand on the inner edge and she was able to press down the lip with her palm.

He used his free hand to retrieve his radio. She gaped at the melted top to the antenna. What did her car look like? It was miles to anything. A new fear tripped her heart rate. They couldn’t walk out. It was too far.

“Help is coming. Right?” she asked.

“Someone will be here as soon as it’s safe.” He lifted the edge again. The air was hot, but not as hot. “Stay here.”

“What! No!”

“Meadow, I’m wearing boots, a fire-resistant shirt, cotton jeans. You’re naked.”

That was true.

“Stay here until I tell you.”

She nodded. “Be careful.”

He slid off one glove. “Put that on. Use it to hold the shelter down. Use your feet to hold the bottom edge.”

With that, he lifted the right side and rolled away. The edge flapped as she tried and failed to catch it. She felt as if her skin blistered. From outside the shelter the edge dropped and she was able to get her gloved hand down on the perimeter.

“Feet!” he yelled.