“I can’t believe I wasn’t even aware of it,” Jack said. “I can see for miles from my front yard.”
“Winds have been from the southwest, it’s up the mountain and we’ve had it curtailed to a slow, dense burn for twenty-four hours. I think we’ve got it now. We can’t be recalled for at least twenty-four hours, so we’re probably done with that fire. We’ll be headed to the Mogollon Rim in Arizona, if it’s still hot in two days.”
“Where exactly was this last one?” Jack asked.
“Only about twenty-five miles back there. Just over the mountain.”
Twenty-five miles was uncomfortably close; Jack and Preacher had a lot of questions for them about the winds, the weather forecasts, any controlled burns in the area. “There aren’t any controlled burns near the redwoods right now,” one of them said.
Jack set them up one more time, given they were on the way home and wouldn’t be going back into the forest. Of course he wouldn’t take a dime from them. “You keep our towns safe—you eat and drink on the house anytime you’ve been working a fire. It’s the least we can do. As long as you have a designated driver…”
They all laughed, a couple of them slapping one comrade on the back. “We always try to keep at least one Mormon on the crew—the designated good influence.”
As the hour grew later, Jack kept the bar open a little while longer so the firefighters could unwind. Joe sat up at the bar facing Jack. “You can pour me one good-night pop, then I’m getting out of your hair.”
“Sure you’re okay at that cabin?” Jack asked, pouring him a shot. “There’s room at the house.”
“Oh, Jack—it’s terrific. I’ll have the sheets washed and back on the bed in the morning before I leave. Then we’ll get Preacher’s family in there and start tearing up his apartment.”
“It’s really not necessary to do laundry. There are a lot of women around town who like a little housekeeping work…”
“Nah, I’ll handle it. I appreciate the hospitality.”
“And that other matter?”
“What other matter?”
“The woman. The one who has you all fucked up.”
He laughed. “No change,” he said. “I’m still fucked up. But I’ll get over it. I have experience getting over women. I had a wife I loved once—she ripped me up good.”
“I’m sorry, Joe. There’s practically no one I’d rather see happy…”
“You know, that’s one of the problems with this place,” Joe said. “You guys. When you opened this bar, there were five of us at loose ends, and not looking to settle down. The only ones settled with women were Zeke, Corny, Phillips and Stephens. The rest of us were getting well into our thirties, pretty damn happy to be single. Plenty of women out there to keep us busy for a little while. Then you guys—Jesus. You not only hooked up, you found these incredible…”
Jack poured himself a shot to join his friend in commiseration. “We got lucky,” he said.
“It goes way past luck,” Joe said. “Some god was smiling on you.” He looked into his glass. “I’m just an idiot. I had my arms around this woman for one long, incredible night and I thought—this is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life. And she slipped away from me that fast,” he said, snapping his fingers. “I woke up alone.” He lifted his drink to his lips.
Chairs scraped back as the Hot Shots got up to leave. They all hollered their thanks, a couple of them coming forward to shake Jack’s hand, then filed out the door.
Alone in the bar, Preacher in the back with his family, Jack said, “How about going after her?”
“I tried. She’s gone.”
Jack leaned on the bar. “I’m sorry, man. I thought that was going to happen to me with Mel. From the second she hit town, she said she was leaving.”
“When did you know? Or think you knew? With Mel?”
“Oh, man,” he said, and laughed. “It was real slow. Took me five or ten minutes. It was the jeans. Have you ever noticed how my wife looks in a pair of jeans? Maybe you shouldn’t answer that…”
“With me it was a pink dress…”
Jack’s eyes widened. “Whoa, damn.”
“You shouldn’t give me alcohol,” he said. “Makes me talk.”
“Nikki,” he said, and it wasn’t a question. “Yeah, buddy. I saw her. And I think I saw you see her.” He shook his head. “I feel your pain.”