Page 39 of Stuck With the Smokejumper

“You did not,” Trevor says.

“I suspected.”

“You suspect everything. You suspected Bigfoot lived behind the crew house.”

“That's still an open question.”

Ivy and I don't offer details. Thankfully, nobody presses too hard, though there's enough teasing and cross-talk it takes a solid few minutes for the room to remember it was supposed to be picking partners.

“So,” I say, finally, looking at Dani. “Are we still banned?”

“Absolutely.”

“Obviously,” Reid adds. “Nothing's changed. If anything, you're more dangerous now.”

“That doesn't make sense,” Ivy says.

“It makes perfect sense. Emotionally invested teamwork is the most dangerous kind.”

Nobody argues with that logic, mostly because everyone's too busy laughing, and the game resumes with Ivy and me banned as partners.

The evening rolls on, loud and easy, and if anyone's treating this like a big revelation, it doesn't show for long. Reid teases us twice more and then loses interest, more concerned with winning the game than with our relationship status.

Tessa corners me in the kitchen at some point, arms crossed, entirely too casual about it. “So.”

“So,” I respond.

“That's it? That's all I get?”

“That's all you get.”

“You're no fun.”

“I've been told.”

She narrows her eyes like she's deciding whether to push it, then decides against it, grabbing a soda and wandering back toward the table without further comment.

By the time the second game wraps up, everyone's back to arguing about rules and stealing snacks and generally behaving like this is a completely ordinary Saturday.

I look around the room. Reid, laughing at something Tessa said. Cassidy and Trevor, still arguing about Bigfoot. Dani, keeping detailed score. At some point I end up next to Ivy again, different game, different table arrangement, our chairs close enough our knees touch under the table.

I'm not going to pretend I know what any of this means yet, where it goes, what happens when the season ends. Reid's right. I don't have an answer for that.

But right now, in this house, with this crew, I like being part of it.

It feels like something that fits.

thirteen

Ivy

Beck's lacing his boots by the door when Reid comes down the stairs wearing the shirt.

Dark green, Bigfoot silhouette mid-stride, WORLD'S HIDE-AND-SEEK CHAMPION stretched across the front in block letters. Dani takes one look at him and stops mid-sentence.

“You actually bought that.”

“I did.”