Scorch by Dani Collins Page B

endless, despondent blue. The kind that pierced into her heart and made her think a yearning, anguished, “ Yeah. I know exactly what you mean.”
    She held his gaze and they were trapped in a moment of poignant accord, both sad, but not alone in it. Her throat ached and the backs of her eyes stung.
    He looked away, dark brows pulled low, and rose abruptly to take his plate to the sink. The noise of the cutlery was jarring as he gave the plate a rinse and a scrape, then put everything into the dishwasher.
    Her heart tremored in a kind of panic, like she’d bashed it into something and had to catch her breath while she waited for the pain to subside.
    “Dishes into the dishwasher?” she managed to say, and bit back an ironic, Will you marry me? “This is definitely the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
    His glance was sardonic. “Until we sign papers, I’m your guest. I’ll try to be a considerate one.”
    He didn’t want to believe her about the house. She didn’t blame him, but she was serious about it. She understood in her heart that she had to move on.
    It was time.
    *
    The base was big. Even the actual station house was a spacious seven thousand square feet. There were plenty of places to get lost in, including the loft, the ready room with its speed racks full of gear, locker rooms, toilets and showers and barracks. There was the work out room, a training area, and even a library full of manuals on first aid and fire suppression techniques.
    Vin had come in the fast exit off the ready room and was in the men’s locker room, far from where Jacqui had reclaimed her desk. He couldn’t even see or hear her, but he knew she was there.
    This was the time of year he had to keep busy or go nuts. Fire season wouldn’t heat up for another few weeks, but they were predicting an active one right out of the gate, so he ought to be grateful for the calm before the storm.
    He had cabin fever from winter, though. The seasonal full and part-timers were starting to gather like rams on a mountainside, helping prep gear and cargo boxes, getting ready for the season. Rookie selection was in full swing and training camp would begin shortly. Without that to keep everyone hopping, they’d all be bashing each other’s heads in.
    Given how things were up in the air with Jacqui’s house, Vin was even more antsy than usual. He was training as much as possible, heading out on hikes with Dodson and whoever else wanted company. He took a weekend refresher to renew one of his certifications and even volunteered time to clear trails and fall dangerous trees at a kids’ summer camp.
    Yesterday, he’d climbed trees to harvest pinecones for some federal biologist. Tomorrow, he and a few others were assigned to a prescribed burn in a stand of trees killed by the beetles that were decimating forests across the Western side of the continent.
    It all kept him occupied during the day and, if not out of the house overnight, tired enough not to do anything stupid between dinner and bedtime at Jacqui’s.
    She was a hell of a cook. He kept offering to share that chore, but since it was still pre-season, she was working regular office hours and invariably arrived home first. He was pretty sick of eating his own cooking so he was grateful she’d taken on the duty and he usually washed up.
    She brought work home, stacks of filing that she sorted into accordion files and piles of receipts that she spent the evening coding while watching TV. She was hooked on one of those singing shows and a law drama, but was happy enough to watch sports or whatever he chose if her programs weren’t on. Now that the snow was gone, he stayed outside until dark, cleaning up the yard, raking needles and ensuring the gutters were clear. After dark, he finished up some indoor chores like baseboards in the basement and oiled the squeak in the garage door.
    No, the evenings weren’t the issue.
    Mornings were. He’d taken to rising well before she stirred, to run