Take a Chance on Me(112)

“We gotta get back to the line—it’s too late to save Gibs’s house!”

Jensen didn’t stop.

Darek reached out to grab his arm but Jensen broke away, turned on him. “That’s Claire’s car!”

Claire.

Jensen whirled back around, then cut off the road through the forest toward Gibs’s place, still ahead of the fire. Darek followed him, his boots running over smoldering pine needles ready to ignite. Smoke choked his vision, his lungs.

Jensen wasn’t slowing, instead hitting away branches with his shovel, shouting Claire’s name.

They emerged at the front of the house. The fire had already ringed the edge of the yard, spitting hot spots into the grass, edging toward the house. They rounded the far end of the house, into the backyard, and found the fire there, too, rushing out like a wave toward the beach.

“Claire!”

“Over here!”

Darek turned. Froze.

No.

Ivy stood with Claire in the doorway of the house, at the apex of a ramp, clutching what looked like Tiger’s stuffed animal.

Jensen ran to the ramp. “C’mon!” He held out his hand and Claire took it. But Ivy stayed glued in the house, shaking her head.

Darek ran up the ramp. “Ivy, we gotta run!”

She just stared at him, her eyes wide, breathing hard.

“Ivy!”

“No. I can’t—”

“Ivy. I’m right here. I’m right here. You’re going to be just fine. Take my hand.”

Around them, more trees torched, another crashing across the yard, spitting embers.

“No—” She clutched the tiger, shaking.

“Please, Ivy. Trust me.”

She looked at his hand, back to him, her green eyes locked on his. Then she reached out her hand.

He got a good grip on her. “Stay with me and don’t stop running.” Then he pulled out the hose attached to his water backpack. They ran down the ramp, following Jensen, who had the same idea, dousing a path to the lake.

Around them, sparks lit the ground like a minefield. The flames reflected in the lake, dropping cinders onto the water’s surface.

Another log fell, this time hissing at their feet, and Darek doused it, steam rising in protest. He leaped the log and Ivy followed him, their feet hitting the sand.

Jensen was already in the water, pushing Claire out past the shore. Darek had once taken shelter in a lake during a firestorm that had sucked the oxygen right out of the air and seared the lungs of those above the surface.

“Run for the water!” he said and pushed Ivy ahead, veering toward the canoe on shore. He grabbed the end, started to drag it.

And then Jensen was right there on the other end. He lifted it and chased Darek down to the water, dropping the canoe in. Water seeped into his pants, cool against his hot skin as he splashed deeper.

“Turn it over!” Darek said, but Jensen already had his hands on the gunwale, the keel, still reading his mind. Together they flipped the canoe and dragged it out into the water. The girls were bobbing away from shore, treading water.

Darek held his end up over his head. “C’mere, Ivy. Get under it!” His backpack of water began to float and he shucked it off as she swam to him. He caught her to himself, pulled her shaking body against him. She still held the now-soggy tiger. “Let it go, Ivy, and hold on to me.”

She obeyed. He pulled the canoe down over them, seeing Jensen do the same. Claire had ahold of the stern thwart, managing for herself as the murky shadows trapped them inside.

Outside their aluminum covering, the forest fire howled, raging itself to a frenzy.

Jensen was kicking them farther out into the lake. Probably to keep away from any trees landing on them, crushing them in the water.

Smart.

Darek hung on to the bow thwart with both hands, the lake bottom disappearing beneath his feet. Ivy was small against him, trembling, and as they drifted farther from shore, all he could think was to press his lips against her forehead, any remaining anger, the touch of her betrayal, gone. “What are you doing here?” he whispered in the darkness.

“I . . . I came to say I’m sorry,” she said softly, her mouth against his throat. “I came to tell you that I talked to Nan, and I convinced her that Tiger needed to be with you.”

She did? He couldn’t see her, but he longed to search her eyes. “When did you do this?”

“This morning. After I resigned.”

“You resigned?”

“Yes. I don’t know what else to do. I love it here—I really do. And a big part of me wants to stay, but I care too much, Darek. About this town and about you. And I will always run into these sticky, horrible situations as assistant county attorney.”

But that’s not what hit him, not what tightened his chest. “Are you leaving?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just let the words emerge as they should—desperate and raw. “Don’t leave, Ivy. Please. I . . . I’m in love with you. I want to be with you.”