Page 19 of Falling for the Hotshot

“No, no. Do what you want, please,” I laughed. She never did crack a smile. I went back to monitoring the humidity, which was the lowest I’d ever seen it in the desert-like area that we lived in.

Northern Wyoming was dry as a bone most of the time, but this was one for the books. In all of my years monitoring conditions—which I started doing with my dad as soon as I was old enough to understand—this was the most extreme I’d seen.

This region got thirteen inches of rain on average, but this year, the gauges were dry. Even the passing storms, charged by our extreme heat, didn’t produce enough rain to moisten the gauges. It really was a miracle that the ground outside wasn’t blazing right now. When the cooler temperatures of fall made their appearance, it would be welcomed by most in our community. The emergency alert noise snapped me out of my monitoring.

“Weather alert for Maple Haven—Doppler radar is tracking a strong thunderstorm traveling east at 25 miles per hour. It’s bringing heavy rain, lightning, and golf-ball sized hail.”

“Did you hear that? Heavy rain!” I exclaimed to Melody, who shrugged it off.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Deep down, I knew she was right, as I looked out the window to the west.

*****

Thunder struck, and we knew the storm had arrived. It was so loud down here on the ground, my thoughts traveled to what Autumn was hearing in Tower Three. I pulled up one of the weather stations we had in her region. It was only about twenty miles away from here. A half hour drive at most.

The weather station was reporting high gusts and lightning. No moisture yet. No hail was hitting the sensor pad. Lord willing, we would get a little moisture to fight off any risk of fire. Just then, the wind gauge went down and stopped functioning altogether.

“Dispatch to Tower Three, do you copy?” My request went out on the radio waves. Melody gave me a look that was somewhere in between annoyance and curiosity. I didn’t even know why she was here— Stephanie used to work alone. Maybe it was because I was new to the desk, but I wasn’t new to the industry. No answer from Autumn, so I tried again. “Dispatch to Tower Three, Autumn, are you there?” I could feel Melody’s eyes on me. Kerry was also now standing at her desk off in the distance, but she looked like she was about to leave the building for the day.

“Tower Three to Dispatch, over,” Autumn answered my call. I let out the breath that I didn’t realize I was holding.

“Tower Three, it appears the nearby weather station has gone down. Can you give me a weather report?”

“Oh, okay, sure,” I caught her off-guard, that much was clear. Perhaps this was out of the norm, but it felt very much relevant to the stakes at hand. “Well, it’s rather treacherous out there right now with lightning and—” A loud crack and boom took over the line. The thunder was so loud over the radio that it sounded like cannons going off. “Sorry, uh, yeah. It’s bad up here. Do you need me to go down there and investigate or—” I cut her off.

“No!” I was surprised by how protective I felt of this woman I didn’t know. “I mean, that won’t be necessary, Tower Three. Over.” Silence followed. I considered following up, but what would she say to that? ‘Okay’?

“Is everything alright, Blaze?” The woman’s voice held real concern. I felt Melody’s eyes on me as the firewatcher was asking dispatch if they were okay.

“Sorry to disturb you, Autumn. The nearest weather station to you has just gone down and...” I couldn’t believe my eyes when the weather station came back up and was functioning normally again. “And it’s back up. Again, I’m sorry for the drama.” A long pause filled the moment.

“Are you sure you’re not just looking for a reason to talk to me, Blaze?” My cheeks reddened as I readjusted in my seat. I could hear Melody’s eyes rolling but was thankful when she decided to get up and go to the break room. I bounced around a few things in my head before responding.

“Would that have worked? Getting federal equipment to fake a malfunction?” Her giggle filled the void. Thunder was clapping in the background. Suddenly, the fall-scented candle was the coziest thing ever, and if my leg wasn’t propped up on a stool, perfectly pain-free at the moment, I would have gotten up to search for a dessert and a lap blanket.

“I’ve been alone in a lookout tower with no cell phone service for several weeks. No gimmicks needed— I’d have a conversation with a bird if it complied. In fact, I think I see one that just landed on the railing. Let me call you back—”

She was funny, and I found myself covering my mouth and talking low so Melody couldn’t hear me. “What kind of bird is it?” A pause, long enough to wonder if she really did step out onto the porch, filled the air.

“Not a talking bird, apparently. But Polly does want a cracker. The thing just flew off with half a sleeve of Ritz. Now, I have a can of spray cheese that has nowhere to go.”

“I’ve always preferred to consume spray cheese straight out of the can.” Melody re-entered the room and I realized I didn’t care if she heard me talking to Autumn. This was the most fun I’d had since I was fighting fire.

“So, other than spray cheese, what else do you like, Blaze?” Autumn was a conversationalist compared to the other lookouts.

“Fire,” I said, nodding with the assurance that God placed in my heart. “Firefighting, fire science, bonfires—I’ve been obsessed with it all my life.”

“I was going to ask you how you got your name. Is it a nickname? Or divine intervention that you are named after the thing you love the most?” I smiled at her question.

“It was also the thing my dad loved most. Hence, he named his only child after it.” A short pause, followed by a question.

“Loved? As in—”

“Yes. He died in the fires of 08’. I was just six years old.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, her voice full of kindness. Suddenly, I felt the emotion of losing my dad run through my veins. I thought about him constantly, but for some reason, when Autumn just said that, it felt new again. I swallowed away the lump in my throat and thought of what I could change the subject to.

“Thank you. So, what about you? Is autumn the thing that you love most?” At that, Melody got up again, grabbing a phone from her purse and taking it back into the breakroom.