Page 26 of Burning Hearts

Sanchez held out her hand. “I’ll carry your backpack.”

Raine glanced at Jamie. “She was in the military or something. We don’t ask. We’ve just learned it’s best not to argue.”

“Okay then.” Jamie handed it over, and Sanchez slipped the straps onto her shoulders.

The girls led Jamie to the same stairwell she’d ascended to get up to the commander’s office, from which he could watch out the window as aircraft landed or took off from the base. While she’d been talking to him, a plane had landed that he’d told her carried foam retardant they sprayed on fires. He’d gotten on the radio and added some information about windspeed that’d helped the pilot land safely.

“Is it just me, or do you guys seem to know who I am?”

Sanchez, in the lead, didn’t turn around.

These women didn’t look like what Jamie would have thought firefighters would look like. But then, one of the fire lieutenants in Last Chance County was a blonde, so maybe she was just making sweeping generalizations. Even if they were girly, they were also clearly strong women who went up against the guys as equals.

Raine said, “Everyone knows Logan only came up here because of a girl. Some of the crew were at the Jude County base in Ember, Montana, last summer, so they know him pretty well.”

Raine probably had all the guys fighting over her at the Midnight Sun Saloon whenever they went into town. Her short brown hair was curly and messy and framed her face. “I got the feeling they were all pretty surprised to see Logan when he jumped on one of the open spots right before rookie elimination started.”

“When was that? Because I’ve been up here a couple of months.” If Logan had come up here because of a girl, Jamie didn’t want to bump into her and have to make awkward conversation. Maybe that was why he’d fallen back on politeness the second they’d gotten near the base. “Looking for my brother, Tristan.”

Probably by now, they’d all heard the story.

Sanchez stopped at the door. “He came up here looking for you.”

Jamie frowned.

“He knew you were up here looking for your brother.”

“Yeah, there’s no confusion over his opinion on that.” Jamie didn’t really want to talk about it. Logan had told her exactly how he felt about her brother, and nothing had changed since they broke up the last time.

“It’s pretty romantic if you ask me,” Raine said. “Dropping everything and coming up here to find you.” She flinched. “Oh! You should make him mac and cheese!”

Sanchez just stared at her.

Raine was about to say something else, but her phone distracted her. She moved a couple of steps away, talking on her cell phone to someone about hotels in Copper Mountain.

Jamie said, “You were going to show me around?”

Sanchez nodded. “Come on.”

Jamie stepped out, wincing against the sun, high in the sky. She trotted a couple of steps to catch up with them and slid her sunglasses out of the side pocket of her backpack. Much better.

Sanchez said, “This is the south side of the runway. Everything over by the mountains is the north side. The office is at one end, closest to the entrance. The top level is an observation room with a huge living area, if you want to get away from everyone and sit somewhere quiet. Parking is beside the office.” She paused barely long enough to take a breath. “We have one passenger plane for the smokejumpers, one retardant plane, and two choppers—one of which does water drops.”

“You sound like the promotional brochure.” Raine jogged to catch up with them. “Did we ask her about Logan?”

Sanchez just stared at Raine, then looked at Jamie. “On this side of the runway, we have three cabins around a central firepit. Beyond them is an area where you can park an RV or trailer, if you have one.”

Jamie said, “Logan told me there’s a women’s cabin and a men’s one. And one for couples.”

Raine nodded. “That’s the middle cabin. Ours is the closest one.”

Sanchez led them between the runway and the cabins, walking toward the sun that was still high in the sky even though it was after six in the evening. “You can see the hangars on the far side of the runway. Each plane gets its own. There’s a helicopter hangar on the right and two helicopter landing pads next to it. Behind the hangars we have a vehicle depot where they keep ATVs and the pushback vehicles that bring airplanes in and out of the hangars. Next to it—behind the hangars—we have a couple of Quonset huts no one really uses anymore. They’re pretty grimy.”

In contrast, the cabins looked brand-new. “Did you really build the cabins over the winter?”

Sanchez shrugged. “Can’t do much outside with all the snow, but we got the exteriors done before it really hit heavy, and then we just focused on inside.”

Raine said, “It was pretty impressive to watch. But I’m not complaining, since the Quonset huts were gross, and I was about to say something if we had to live another season in them. Although I don’t think anyone realized that the cabins are on the opposite side of the runway from the mess hall.”

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