Page 1 of The Firefighter's Angel
Chapter One
Cindy
Outside the car window, pine trees blur past like an endless row of sentinels guarding the road to Yellowstone. My headphones are pressed tight against my ears, but I’m not even listening to anything anymore. Just wearing them like armor.
Lenny is driving with one hand on the wheel, the other resting too comfortably on my mom’s thigh. She doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she hasn’t stopped smiling at him since we pulled out of the driveway. It’s that tight, overcompensating smile she started using when she married him six months ago. Like she’s trying to prove something to the world. Or maybe to herself.
Beside me in the back seat, Lyle shifts. His knee is pressing against mine again, deliberately this time. I inch away, pretending to adjust my seat belt. He doesn’t say anything—he rarely does, but I can feel his eyes on me. It’s like he gets off on being subtle. On watching.
I focus my gaze out the window, where the trees open up to a brief stretch of blue sky and distant peaks. My chest tightens.
Yellowstone.
This place has been on my bucket list since I was twelve, way before things got messy. Before everything turned upside down.
Dad and I were supposed to take this trip after my college graduation. We planned it for two years, mapping out trails,geysers, wildlife sightings. I had a whole Pinterest board of things to see and do. He even promised to take me horseback riding near Lamar Valley. And now he’s just…gone.
He used to make me wood carvings, little animals that are now lined up along the top of my dresser. A bear. A moose. A bison. He was halfway through carving the wolf when he died. And even though I’ve picked up the skill a little bit myself, I’ve left that one unfinished, its hind legs still stuck in a block of basswood.
The grief doesn’t hit as hard anymore. Not like a punch to the stomach. Now it lingers in quieter places, in all the plans that never happened.
Mom doesn’t mention him much. Not since Lenny came into the picture. She says talking about the past only holds us back. But sometimes I wonder if she just can’t face how fast she moved on. One minute we were crying over Dad at the kitchen table, and the next she was dating Lenny, smiling like she was seventeen again.
Lenny’s not terrible. That’s the frustrating part. On paper, he’s decent. He pays the bills, fixes things around the house, doesn’t yell. But there’s something about him that makes my stomach twist. Something I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s the deliberate obliviousness. Or the fake cheer in his voice when he talks to me, like he’s auditioning for “World’s Best Stepdad.”
But Lyle? There’s no pretending there. He’s only a year older than me, but he gives off major predator vibes. His eyes linger. His smile feels wrong. I caught him staring at me through the crack in my bedroom door last week. And when I asked, he said he was “just passing by.”
Sure. Passing by and breathing like a damn serial killer.
I talked to Mom about how there’s something creepy about Lyle, but she just doesn’t see it. She thinks I’m just being unreceptive. She suggests I be “more open,” and “give them a chance” since we’re a “family” now.
Family.
Thethought leaves a bitter taste in my throat.
Lyle bumps my leg again. This time, there’s no pretending it’s accidental. I glance down, and he quickly turns his head, acting like he’s super into the trees outside. My skin crawls.
I look up front. “How much longer?”
“Not long. Thirty minutes, give or take,” Lenny replies without turning his head. His voice is smooth, practiced. The kind that knows how to charm and manipulate at the same time. “There’s a gas station up ahead if anyone needs a break.”
“I’m good,” I murmur, even though my bladder is screaming. No way am I getting out of this car alone with Lyle hanging around.
Mom turns halfway in her seat to smile at me. “Isn’t this exciting, honey? Yellowstone! Can you believe it?”
I force a smile. “Yeah. It’s great.”
Because what else can I say? That the national park trip of my dreams is being overshadowed by the nightmare of our new “family”? That I’d rather be home alone watchingNaked and Afraidthan out here with them?
I lean back and close my eyes, letting the hum of the car take over. In my mind, I picture the wide valleys, the steaming geysers, the wolves and bears roaming freely. That’s what I’m here for. That’s what I’ll hold on to.
Even though Dad isn’t here to remind me that Yellowstone is home to over half the world’s geysers, or point out every single bird we come across, or mess up my hair the way he always did when he told a dumb joke, I’m going to try to make the best of this trip.
If I can just make it through this week without losing it, maybe I can salvage something real. Something good. Something that still feels like mine.
Soon, we pull up to the Airbnb where we’ll be staying for the week. It’s a rustic, two-story cabin—all timber and stone with wildflowers pushing up along the steps. For a split second, my breath catches.It’s gorgeous…
But I can’t savor the magic of the place for long, because as soon as the engine shuts off, Mom and Lenny start to fight.
