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Nicholas paused for a moment before he quietly added, “Although, you know what they say about common sense. It really isn’t so common.”

“Did you just tell me I don’t have any common sense?”

Well, Mr. Evans… you are telling a trained fireman that you’re thinking about running back into a building that’s literally on fire.” Nicholas quirked an eyebrow. “Does that really make any sense to you?”

“No… It doesn’t,” I admitted, sinking down against the end of the mattress. “Shit. Fuck.”

“It’ll be all right, Mr. Evans. These things happen.”

“Yeah, of course, you would say that. You deal with fires all the time.” I groaned and plopped back against the bed. “This was the last thing I needed to happen to me.”

“Don’t take it personally. Nature isn’t for everybody,” he replied. “Sometimes she takes some real getting used to. Sometimes people never get used to it.”

I let out a broken laugh, half amused, half insulted.

“Something funny, Mr. Evans?”

“Oh, Nicholas, you have no idea.” I laughed again at the concept of running an outdoors nature experience while being rejected by nature herself.

God.

The irony was killing me.

“Not to overstep…” Nicholas started and stopped, with hesitancy clear in his tone.

“Not to overstep but?” I pressed him to finish his sentence.

“Would you be interested in grabbing a drink?” he finally asked. “It’s a lot safer than trying to go back to that cabin. Besides, it seems like you’re having a pretty rough night and there’s a bar that’s not too far from here. You can always say no, of course. I just wanted to extend the offer to see if you were?—”

“Let’s go.” I was already halfway out the door before Nicholas finished his sentence, heading into the hall. “Drinks are on you, by the way! My wallet’s probably ash by now.”

2

NICHOLAS

Parker was already on his second whiskey sour.

He looked absolutely miserable, his overall demeanor radiating defeat. It was throwing me off, how disturbed he seemed over something that couldn’t have possibly been his fault, like someone was expecting him to see the future when it came to the weather, to predict when trees would be hit by lightning.

Besides, why would a tourist care so much about his cabin being on fire?

I assumed he would’ve been happy just to still be alive.

“You doing okay over there?” I asked, watching him sip away at his drink. “Still kind of recovering from the shock?”

“Yeah. I’m just…” Parker waved a hand, like he was waving away my concern. “I’m fine. It’s just a lot.”

“Whoever rented you the cabin isn’t going to hold you liable,” I replied, trying my best to give him some hope about the situation. “These cabins are always insured for accidents like that. You wouldn’t be the first victim of a dry tree hitting a dry cabin.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Sorry. I just thought that you were maybe concerned about the money aspect,” I explained with a small shrug. “Sometimes, tourists don’t always know the ins and outs of cabin rentals?—”

“I’m not a tourist.” Parker seemed to wince at the word. “I mean, I’m not from a different state or anything.”

“Oh. Sorry, again, Mr. Evans.”

“You’re going to sorry me to death, Nicholas.” Parker offered me a half-smile. “And please. Stop calling me Mr. Evans. My name is Parker.”

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