by Bev Prescott
He’d never said those words to her before. Alex expected to be angrier, but she wasn’t. Maybe she was too tired.
“I’m sorry I didn’t keep Jake safe. I’m sorry I let you run away without going after you. For not trying to make you understand I never chose Carolyn over you, despite what you think.”
“But you did. You heard what she said to me. Why didn’t you say something? Why couldn’t you ever stand up to her?”
“Please try to understand.” He hung his head. “She’s been sick a long time. The thing I wish more than anything is that I could’ve convinced her to get help. Her sickness consumed her and Jake, and it’s trying to consume us with it. I don’t want it to take you too. I always knew that out of all of us, you’d be the one who would be okay. That’s why I didn’t go after you. Your mother needed me in a way that you didn’t. I do love her with all of my heart. She wouldn’t have been okay without me. For what it’s worth, I just said good-bye to my best friend in the whole world.”
Alex stared at the dry grass under her feet. The only thing she felt was numb.
Chapter 31
Zoe pressed the gas pedal down farther. Her truck’s engine raced as she sped around a curve in the road. Embers from the fires blew across the pavement and onto the hood. The heat and the smell of her soot-covered clothing tempted her to open the window, but she didn’t dare.
“Come on.” She pushed the truck to its limits, unconcerned about getting a ticket for going over the speed limit. With the number of forest fires that had broken out in the area, and everyone racing around trying to stop them, a police officer wasn’t likely to pull over a state vehicle.
A sign ahead indicated another sharp curve in the road. She let up on the gas. Ticket or no, she didn’t want to end up in an accident. Alex needed her.
Shortly after Alex and Daniel left for the nursing home, the decision was made to cut Parents’ Day short in light of the fires. Everyone was sent home early. The camp had been quiet.
The cell phone call from her boss came while she helped the camp staff with cleanup. “All hands on deck,” he’d said. She had been needed to assess whether to evacuate some of the raptors’ nests in harm’s way. Once that was done, she was let go for the evening but instructed to be on call.
Now she continued to speed southeast toward the camp. About an hour later, she pulled onto the dirt driveway. Daniel’s car was parked in the lot next to Hiccup. She flew out of her truck and met him as he stepped from the main building with Sally. They each wore the same grave look. Penny stood protectively at their heels.
“Where’s Alex?” Zoe asked. “Did something happen?”
“She went to the chestnut tree,” Daniel said. “She said she couldn’t be here right now.”
“Mr. Marcotte, what happened today?”
“I never should’ve pressured her to go. Carolyn rejected her, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I didn’t know how to do it and protect them both.” He seemed paralyzed.
Zoe glanced into the sky just as Terry soared above the camp, still testing his fledgling wings. One of his parents flew nearby, teaching him. Some eagle parents were innately good at teaching their young, some weren’t. No one knew why. Human parents were the same. Fortunately for Dac, his parents had so far proved top of the line. If he had it in him to fly, they would see to it that he learned all he needed to know.
“I’ll call her cell phone and tell her I’m coming to find her,” she said.
“She doesn’t have her phone with her,” Sally said. “I think she left it here on purpose so she couldn’t be found. Do you want us to take you over in one of the boats?”
“No.” Zoe pointed at the western horizon. “There’s talk of evacuating several more towns. Glasgow may be one of them if the winds shift, which they very well might. The boats might be your best means of escape. I’ll take my kayak. I’m assuming Alex has one of the camp’s boats already, right?”
“She does,” Daniel said.
“Don’t take any chances. If they tell you to go, you go,” Zoe said. “I’ll find Alex and stay with her.” Even though night had yet to fall, the heavy, ominous smoke hanging over the fires raging in the hills had blocked out most of the remaining daylight.
“Well, let’s get you loaded up with a couple of sleeping bags and food in case you have to spend the night across the lake.” Sally headed toward the main building. “You be sure to call us one way or the other.”
“I will.” Zoe followed Sally into the building.
Not long afterward, Zoe pulled her kayak onto the dock along the shore that led to the chestnut tree. She was relieved to see the camp’s boat tied there too.
The evening was pitch black now that the sun had set and smoke covered the moon and stars. She unclipped the flashlight attached to her kayak and grabbed the backpack that Sally had made ready for her. She ran down the dirt path through the woods toward Alex and the chestnut tree.
Alex must’ve seen the flashlight. In the darkness, her silhouette stood as Zoe approached. “Who’s there?”
The sound of Alex’s voice washed over her. Somehow, the wall of despair that threatened to silence Alex’s voice had to be brought down once and for all. She picked up her pace. “It’s me, Zoe.”
When she was a couple of feet from Alex, she tossed the flashlight and backpack down on the ground next to the blanket spread beneath the chestnut tree. Four large citronella candles in metal buckets spaced around the blanket kept the mosquitoes at bay. She threw her arms around Alex.
Alex hugged her. “I prayed you’d come. I was so worried when Claire said you’d been sent to the fires.” She kissed her cheek. “My mother…”
“I know.” Zoe wiped away a tear running down Alex’s face, and another. “Stop being afraid of the past or things in the future that haven’t even happened yet. Stop long enough to just be with me in this moment.” She cupped Alex’s face in her hands. “Let it all go and be with me.” She pulled Alex’s face down to meet hers and kissed her.
Alex opened her mouth and pressed her tongue to Zoe’s in an uninhibited kiss. “Make love to me,” she whispered when the kiss ended.
Zoe caressed Alex’s breasts and closed her eyes, relishing the feel of Alex’s nipples hardening under her touch. Heat surged between her legs.
Alex stepped out of her reach.
The sudden separation sucked the wind out of her. “Please, don’t pull away again.”
“I couldn’t if I tried.” Alex grabbed the bottom of her tank top, pulled it over her head, and tossed it near the blanket. She reached behind her back and unclasped her bra, leaving it loose. She reached for Zoe. “Come here.”
Zoe stepped to within inches of Alex. She slipped her fingers underneath the straps of the silky bra and slowly slid them from Alex’s shoulders. The bra fell to the ground. Her breath caught. Alex stood motionless, naked, tempting. Zoe’s mouth watered at the thought of tasting her.
Alex’s breathing grew heavy. She placed a hand to the back of Zoe’s head and pulled her in.
“You are so beautiful.” Zoe marveled at the body in front of her. Alex’s lovely breasts were hers for the taking. She sucked in a nipple and kneaded the other with her fingers.
Alex yanked at the bottom of Zoe’s T-shirt and pulled it free from the waistband of her work trousers. “I want to feel your skin on mine.” She undid the pants’ button and zipper.
A whiff of smoke reminded Zoe how filthy she was from the fires. “I’m hot, wet, and dirty. Maybe I should rinse off in the lake first.” She jumped a little when Alex’s hands slid into the back of her pants.
“I don’t want to wait. We can rinse off together later.” Alex rubbed her buttocks. “I’m just as hot and wet,” she breathed. “I think that’s a good thing, don’t you?”
Zoe kissed her hard with an open mouth. She pushed Alex’s shorts down the length of her hips as far as she could reach, and Alex pushed them the rest of the way down and stepped out of them. Wearing only her un
derwear, she lay down on the blanket beneath the chestnut tree. The flickering candles illuminated her beautiful body.
“I want to touch every inch of you.” Zoe bent over, untied her boots, and kicked them off. She took off her shirt. Her bra followed. Her nipples hardened as Alex gazed at them. “If you keep looking at me like that, I might come before you even touch me.” She grinned and removed her trousers and underwear. Standing naked in front of Alex, she was hotter than the fires blazing in the hills.
Alex pushed her underwear off. “Please, Zoe.” She spread her legs invitingly.
Zoe knelt down next to her. She brushed her hand between Alex’s legs, determined to go slow. She kissed Alex softly as she ran a fingertip between her breasts, down her belly to the wiry hair wet with desire. She rested up on an elbow and scooted down until her fingers brushed the swollen clitoris.
Alex trembled. “Go inside me.”
Zoe pushed two fingers inside of her. Slowly, she thrust her fingers in and out, letting Alex set the rhythm. Without stopping, she massaged the slippery clitoris with her thumb. Alex groaned. “That is heaven.”
Zoe continued, edging Alex closer to climax. She needed to have all of Alex. She pulled her hand free and nestled her body between Alex’s legs. “I want to taste you.” She kissed Alex’s neck, then each breast and her belly before she dipped her head and put her tongue where her thumb had been. She pushed Alex’s legs farther apart and thrust her fingers back inside while savoring the sweet, salty taste.
Alex didn’t try to hide her pleasure. She moaned and panted while holding Zoe’s head tightly in place. Her hips thrust and her body quivered. Entangling Zoe’s hair in her fingers, she screamed when her climax came. Her body jolted in aftershocks.
When she let go, Zoe rolled onto her back. She found Alex’s hand and held it tight as they lay on the blanket, trying to catch their breath. “I love you,” she said.
Several seconds of silence passed. Alex rolled toward Zoe and caressed the side of her face. “This time with you has been perfect. I don’t want anything to ruin it.” She cupped Zoe’s breast.
The pleasure of having Alex make love to her blunted the sting of rejection. Zoe closed her eyes and moved Alex’s hand down lower on her body. If she couldn’t have a life with Alex, if she couldn’t have Alex’s love, at least she could have this time.
She and Alex continued to make love to each other long into the night, together under the dark sky and the protective canopy of the chestnut tree. A warm wind, no doubt kicked up by the fires raging across western Maine, snaked over their bodies.
Zoe fell asleep in Alex’s arms.
Sometime later, she stirred and wondered where she was. The smell and feel of a warm, soft, naked body spooned against her back refreshed her memory. This was definitely not a dream. She pressed the arm draped over her waist more closely to her. She breathed in deeply. The air was heavy with smoke. She coughed.
Alex whispered, “Are you all right?”
Zoe opened her eyes. A thick wall of smoke, much bigger than the day before, hung over the western sky like an ominous wave threatening to overtake them. Flames rose from the hills in the distance. The cell phone inside her backpack rang. As painful as it was to extricate her limbs from Alex’s, she sat up and reached for the phone. “The fires must be a lot closer. I’d better answer this.”
Alex fumbled for her clothes while Zoe took the call. She let her head fall back in frustration at what she heard from the caller. “I’m not in Glasgow. I’m across the lake with Alex.” She pounded a fist on the ground next to her. “Oh, my God. Okay.” Her mouth dried.
“What’s happening? Who was that?”
“It was Rob. He was wondering where I am.” She put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “We have to go find your father and Sally. Glasgow’s being evacuated.”
Alex stood and tugged on her clothing. “Will you call my father and tell him not to worry? Tell him we’re coming to help.”
“Sure.” Zoe tugged on her dirty clothes. They’d missed the rinse in the lake. She didn’t mind. Alex’s scent lingered on her skin.
Once Alex left Maine, and especially if the camp burned, she’d probably never see her again. Alex’s non-response to Zoe’s declaration of love spoke volumes. The most perfect summer of her life would soon end. Unlike the summers of Maine to come, she couldn’t look forward to Alex’s return. It would always feel like winter without her.
Chapter 32
Sirens blared in the distance. As her boat neared shore, Alex realized the air was thick with smoke—not only from trees burning, but also from the acrid smell of chemicals in buildings being ravaged by the fire. She saw Zoe crane her head in the direction of the nest tree. “Any sign of Dac?”
“I can’t tell through the haze. I was hoping I’d hear him or his parents, but there’s nothing.”
“Maybe he flew away with them to get away from the smoke and fires.”
“I don’t know. But after we check on your father and the camp, I’m grabbing my climbing gear and coming back out here. I need to get him out of the tree if he’s still up there. He’s been spending a lot of time on the edge of the nest and nearby branches, but I haven’t seen him fly at all. I think he’s still up there and doesn’t know what to do.”
Alex throttled back the motor. “I’m coming with you. We’ll keep your kayak tied to the back of the boat so we don’t have to leave it here.”
“Good, because I need you.”
Alex glanced from Zoe to the shore as the boat slid onto the sand. Frenzied people were taking things out of the main building and loading them into trucks at James’s direction. She jumped over the side of the boat and ran toward them. Anger welled inside her. “What are you doing? Shouldn’t we be trying to save the building instead of taking everything out of it?”
“There are fires all around us now,” James said. “The wind is spreading embers everywhere. We can’t save the building. All we can do is save what we can carry and pack into those trucks.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Sally interrupted. “He’s right, Alex. We can’t save the camp this time. In fact, Glasgow is being sacrificed to stop the fire. If the firefighters can keep the fire moving in our direction, it’ll run out of fuel when it hits the lake.”
“Where’s my father?” Alex asked, already moving toward the main building before Sally could answer.
James blocked her path and put his hands on her shoulders.
“Don’t you ever fucking touch me,” she said in a grating tone.
He put his hands up and took a step back. “I’m sorry. There’s something you need to know before you go in there. I’m only trying to help.”
Alex rubbed her eyes and tried to make sense of what was happening.
Zoe put a hand on the small of her back.
“Really? You’re trying to help. Don’t you have any clue what you’ve already done to my family? How dare you.”
“Listen, Alex. You can hate me all you want. But it isn’t going to do any of us any good, especially not your father.”
“Since when do you care about my father?”
“Unlike you, I always have.” James glared at her.
Alex’s hands balled into fists. She took a step forward to strike him, but Sally and Zoe each grabbed one of her arms.
“I’m sorry for what happened.” James’s face contorted into a mask of grief. “Remember my dad, Alex? The town drunk? Everybody hid from him when he came around because he was so goddamn mean. While everyone in this town looked the other way, he beat my mother and me relentlessly. My only escape was this camp. Daniel Marcotte was the father I always wanted.” He hung his head. “I love your father. I always will.”
Alex lunged at him and banged her fists against his chest. “Why did you do what you did to Jake? You destroyed my family.”
Zoe pulled her away from him. “Alex.”
“I was jealous.” James’s tone was flat. “I wanted what you and Jake had. If I
could take it all back, I would.”
Alex put a hand to her mouth to stifle a cry. A veil lifted from her eyes. A memory flashed in her mind. James as a boy. In her anger, she’d forgotten, but now she saw an image of him coming to school with a black eye that he’d blamed on wrestling with his dog. The bully and the bullied weren’t all that different, she realized. She, Jake, and James had been crushed by their parents, who were supposed to love them unconditionally.
“What do I need to know before I see my father?” she asked him.
“Your mother’s dead. She died last night,” James answered.
The words echoed in her head. Your mother’s dead. An eagle screeched. Alex looked at the sky. Dac’s parents circled the nest, calling to him, coaxing him to fly. No doubt they sensed the imminent danger. She let everything sink in, the ground seeming to vibrate under her feet. It hummed with the memories of so many things she held dear, happier times during her childhood with Jake. She saw her mother’s smile before it was buried under years of bitterness and sickness. The brightness of her father’s eyes before they were dulled by the things he couldn’t fix. She ached to free them and herself.
She studied the camp’s buildings, trying to memorize them. They would be gone in hours. Only scorched ground would remain.
“I wish you could forgive me.” James’s voice was quiet.
“I do.” Alex never imagined it would be so easy. Maybe because she understood that he’d been a victim too. The burden of hate left her. Her body felt lighter, free of its weight. “I’m going with Zoe to save Dac. Make sure my father and Sally leave here soon and are safe.”
“I will, and, Alex? Thanks for understanding.”
Alex hugged Sally, who whispered into her ear, “Don’t worry about us, honey. You stay safe too, and we’ll all meet up again soon.”
“Where’s Buddy?” Alex asked.
“I sent him off ahead of me with Doc Parsons. He’s safe and sound,” Sally answered.
“Will you do me a favor?” Alex asked.
