Page 24 of Ash on the Range
CASS
Waiting sucked.
Waiting in someone else’s home when I had no idea when any of Red Hart’s impromptu fire crew would be back was worse. I migrated from the kitchen to the veranda and back again before Eve called me over to the sofa in front of the fire once dark fell in full.
“Sit,” she instructed me, passing me a full bowl of noodles with vegetables and a boiled egg floating on top. “Eat. You’ll feel better.”
I poked the egg with my finger and accepted the spoon she passed to me, then the chopsticks. “Ah, I’m not so good with those.”
Eve laughed at me outright. “You go to college, right? Aren’t college students still broke?”
“Well, yes, and no.” I shrugged, uncomfortable as always with the topic of my family. “I get a pretty decent allowance as long as I attend classes. If I don’t…no income. No income, no food.”
Eve studied me for a moment. “And yet you’re not riding the easy street and studying, despite that Will tells me you have a passion for what you do.”
“Will should learn not to divulge my secrets.” I changed from poking my boiled egg with my finger to poking it with my chopsticks. Maybe I could impale it and manage to catch it that way? The spoon looked twice as dangerous. I doubted Eve would appreciate me slinging my dinner halfway across her sofa.
“He talks when he thinks someone is listening.” Eve watched me play with my dinner and sighed. “Hold out your hand.” She fixed my chopsticks and my grip so I had pincers going. “Is that better? I have animal ones for kids in the drawer if you need them.”
I giggled. “I mean, I could, just for the hell of it but…this seems to work.”
I managed to eat my noodles and even conquered the egg after a few false starts, one of which included dunking the smooth object straight into the middle of the bowl. Thankfully that happened just as Jude called, and Eve turned her back as I splashed myself in the face with miso soup.
“...if you say so. When? Alright. I’ll tell her.” Eve wandered past and I caught a part of her conversation with Jude. I knew I shouldn’t but my ears straightened as I finished my soup. “No, it’s fine. I said fine. Yes, She’ll be fine.” Eve’s voice dropped an octave as she wandered around the other side of the kitchen and out of sight.
Even I knew better than to argue with Eve when she used the ‘F’ word after working with her for the past weeks. Iffinecame into play, then the world was about to end.
I carried my bowl to the sink and washed it up, turning to place it in the cupboard and found Eve standing right behind me.
“Fuck,” I muttered, and clamped a hand over my mouth. I’d never sworn in front of her before. “I’ m sorry.” I frowned. Her face was unusually still. I wondered if we were still in a ‘fine’ moment. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good.”
“Okay.”Goodwas a short graduation formfine, but only a short step along the chain. I rolled my lips inward. “Is everyone else okay?”
Will.
Oh, fuck. Please let Will be okay. Please, please, please let him be okay.
My mind raced through everything that could possibly go wrong during wildfire hour. A tree branch fell on him, and he was injured. His clothing caught fire and he got burned. He inhaled smoke. That could cause plenty of problems of its own. Wait, he wasn’t asthmatic, was he? I ran back through everything I knew about Will Kirk, which, admittedly, was not a whole lot.
He’s a generous lover who holds me afterwards when I cry.
He spends hours sitting beside me when I'm busy just to spend time together.
He works hard, and will take me anywhere I want to go, when I want, even when it’s got nothing to do with him.
He can’t stay on a bull for eight seconds.
I huffed at that last one despite the truth in it. I had seen him ride and seen him tumble.
I’d also seen him get up and climb that railing to an arena full of cheers that turned into chants of his name. Because Will Kirk, with his infectious smile and easy nature, was a crowd pleaser, and everyone loved him.
Including me.
Definitely me.
I squeezed my eyes shut, unwilling to hear whatever Eve had to say, but needing to know all the same.Waiting really does suck. “What happened?” I pushed out.
