The pickup truck hit a rut at what would be considered full speed on a country highway.
“Ouch!” Skylar clutched the side of the truck bed and bounced. Even with a thick layer of blankets beneath her, she felt every bone jarred loose.
Danny’s arm rammed against hers. “Lexi always did have a lead foot. The story goes she almost outdrove the fire that night.” He half turned and banged on the back window. “Lex!” he shouted. “Slow down!”
His sister and her friend Nathan rode inside the cab, Lexi at the wheel. They both looked over their shoulders at Danny and Skylar, cupping a hand at their ears as if they couldn’t hear.
Danny turned back. “Two pods in a pea.”
She raised her brows in question.
“Lexi used to call us twins ‘two pods in a pea.’ I think the phrase applies to them now.”
“You mean those moony, gooey-eyed lovey-doveys?”
He grinned.
Skylar couldn’t help but smile in return.
Dog tired, guilt ridden, and spooked at the thought of her old acquaintance Fin being in the same city, she smiled. What was it about these crazy Beaumonts that got to her?
Indio loved on her like she’d been hurt as badly as Jenna. Claire fed her and reiterated that she was not to cook or clean for others, no matter how many people showed up that weekend. Everyone accepted her at the breakfast table as if she were family. They talked freely in front of her about deep hurts and tragic events and their plans to address those things.
Last night—
No. Smiling had nothing to do with last night and Danny’s holding her while she bawled. It had nothing to do with his concerned voice on the phone later when she had called him as promised after getting home. It had nothing to do with his invitation that she join them on this hike that began with a bumpy truck ride.
For certain it had nothing to do with his dark eyes peering at her now from under the brim of his ball cap. Or the way his curls stuck out every which way. Or the mouth that really did have Wally Cleaver’s smile down to a T.
He broke eye contact and looked toward the end of the truck bed. “We’ll be parking soon. The trail gets too steep and rocky for driving.”
Skylar studied the rough terrain. Every shade of green vied with blacks and grays. New life was forging its way through death and destruction. But there was evidence of old-growth chaparral killed. Manzanita that looked from their breadth to be maybe a hundred years old lay broken. Thinking about the loss of vegetation and wildlife added weight to her heart already heavy with grief.
“How did the fire start?” she asked.
“Wind blew down a power line in an uninhabited area. Conditions were just right for one spark to take off before anyone spotted it. Actually it started several miles from here, going a different direction. Then the wind shifted.”
“And Lexi, your mom, and grandparents were trapped?”
“Yeah. Along with three firemen.” He looked at her again. “Let’s jump to the happy ending. They all got out safely.”
“Where were you?
“In some sort of limbo hell. There was no communication with them. Dad, Jenna, Kevin, Erik, and I got up as far as that lookout turnout along the highway. We could see entire mountains on fire.”
“How awful! And they were out here, in the middle of the night, fire all around them, trying to escape?”
“Yeah.”
She shuddered involuntarily. “Why couldn’t they get out?”
“There’s just the one road in and out, the driveway. The fire had circled around and felled trees across it. Hindsight says they should have left sooner, even though there was no direct threat.”
“It could happen again.”
“Sure. It’s happened often. The fires just never hit the house or barn. Papa grew up here, you know. He’s evacuated plenty of times. Nana, Dad, and Uncle BJ too. Based on past experience, Papa thought they were okay. I remember evacuating once when I was a kid staying up here for a couple weeks. We could hardly see the smoke, but Papa said he knew best.” Danny smiled wryly. “It’s one of the perks of living surrounded by all this peace and beauty.”
She bit a fingernail, seeing that night in all its vivid horror. It did not take much effort to imagine. She knew firsthand the roar of fire . . .
“Skylar, what’s wrong?”
“N-nothing.”
“You look scared.”
“I’m fine.”
“The night did have a happy ending.”
“So you said.”
“And this year we’ve had above-average rainfall. Conditions are nowhere near what they were. Papa and the neighbor are working on a path between the properties. It really is safe to live here, I promise. Safer than going to a protest. You won’t leave, will you?”
“What?”
“You won’t leave the Hideaway? Mom says she’d have to close up shop if you left.”
Skylar’s throat tightened. She was on overload and dangerously close to spilling again.
“You are upset.”
“Stop telling me how I feel—”
“Did you sleep last night?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“You could have stayed home. It’s obvious you’re worn out.”
“Danny, don’t you ever shut up?”
“Not much.” He went quiet.
In the silence between them she heard something. Like birdsong that was there all along but undetected until a noisy lawn mower was turned off, she heard it.
It was the sound of Danny’s unspoken thoughts.
The guy liked her.
Skylar scrunched herself as far into her corner of the truck bed as possible. Next time she’d let him yap as long as he wanted.
Five minutes into their hike in some far-flung corner of the estate’s three hundred acres set in the middle of nowhere, Skylar accepted the fact that avoiding Danny was not a possibility. She didn’t exactly have anyplace else to go for the time being.
Like a tour guide, Lexi led the way up unmarked rock-strewn, almost-vertical paths and described—not without a few tears—what had happened the night of the fire. Nathan stayed close beside her. They all carried water bottles; the guys carried lanterns as well.
Skylar liked the lovey-doveys. Lexi was quiet; when she spoke she had something to say. Nathan was, in Lexi’s words, the boy next door—simply an all-around nice, solid guy.
The strenuous climb tired Skylar. The emotional story pouring from Lexi zapped every last ounce of her energy. She should have skipped the whole thing.
But sitting back at the hacienda would have meant wallowing in regrets and fears about Jenna and Amber. Which she was not doing now. God, please.
God?
Oh, man. She was losing it.
Danny appeared at her side. “Don’t bite my head off.”
“Don’t have the breath for it.” She opened her water bottle and took a swig.
“I’m not saying you look ready to keel over, but tell me if you need to sit for a while.”
“Sure.” She watched in her peripheral vision. He took off his cap, wiped sweat from his brow, replaced the hat. The gesture had a hint of anxiety in it. “You haven’t come up here before?”
“Not since the fire. Lexi and I used to play up here as kids. I came partway once, got as far as the back there.” He referred to his grandfather’s other truck, the one driven the night of the fire. It was a burned-out shell. Because of its remote location, they’d put it last on the postfire cleanup list.
She said, “No further?”
“It seemed like, I don’t know, a sacred ground or something. A place closed off until Lexi was ready to take me to it.”
“You two are really close.”
“Most of the time.” He smiled softly at his twin’s back a short distance ahead of them. “Excuse me.” With the grace of a deer, he bounded up to Lexi and Nathan.
They were too far ahead for Skylar to overhear what he said to her. She saw Lexi smile and slip an arm across Danny’s back.
Danny had a bit of all-around nice, solid character himself.
Sometime later they reached their destination at the top of a steep incline. Danny and Nathan knelt on the ground before a pile of rocks against the hillside and began pulling them away.
Lexi and Skylar sat down nearby and drank water.
Skylar said, “This is it?”
“Yes. Behind those rocks is the mine. Do you want to come inside?”
She shook her head. The sight of Lexi’s tear-streaked face affirmed her decision not to follow that far. Lexi’s revisit to that spot should be a private scene between her, Danny, and Nathan.
Lexi nodded.
“You’ll be okay.”
She nodded again and wiped the corner of her eye. “Happy tears. I’m so grateful that God kept us safe that night. I’m so grateful for the whole awful thing, even.”
“Why?”
“It forced me to face some hard truths about myself and learn how to trust in God. I am in such a better space than I was a year ago. And, in a roundabout way, it brought Nathan into my life.”
Skylar smiled.
“There it is.” Lexi nodded toward the hillside. A hole no larger than a crawl space had been opened.
“It doesn’t look like a gold mine entrance.”
“It was a back way in, probably a hundred years ago. The tunnel ends at a cave-in where our great-great-something grandfather was killed. Danny and I discovered the place when we were kids. If Papa had known what we were up to, he never would have allowed us beyond the barnyard. He almost caught us once when we didn’t put his flashlights back.” She chuckled. “We had so much fun playing ‘gold miners’ inside here.”
“Just the two of you?”
“Yes. Erik preferred hanging out with the horses. Jenna was always sitting in the sala with a stack of books.”
“You and Danny sound like the holy terrors of the family.”
“In my defense, I have to say he was. I just tagged along.” Lexi stood, resolve written evident in her stance. “And I’m really glad I did. Otherwise we probably wouldn’t be here today.”
Skylar watched her step over to the entrance, pick up a lantern, and then drop to her knees. Lexi crawled into the opening and disappeared from sight. Nathan followed with the other lantern.
Danny looked back at her. “You’re sure?”
She nodded. “I’ll wait here.”
“Okay.” A moment later he was gone.
Skylar was left alone in the hush of high desert broken by dissonant echoes of sorrow. How could she ache so strongly for something she’d never had?
Maybe it was because now she understood that growing up within the safety net of a loving family would have made all the difference. All the difference in the world.