“Exactly my point. You wore it out.” He picked up a stick. “It needs a new muffler, maybe a timing chain. I want to work on it a bit before I head down to the Keys.”
Tiger turned in Darek’s arms. “I wanna ride on the ’cycle, Daddy!”
“Daddy doesn’t ride the motorcycle anymore, champ.” Darek was still trying to corral Tiger’s hands.
“Then I want to ride the dozer! Please!”
“The dozer?” Ivy asked.
Darek finally had his son’s hands captured in front of him. He looked up. “I took out the old bulldozer to widen the logging trail around the property. Just to get rid of any extra wood fuel.”
“It’s because he likes to drive heavy machinery,” Grace said. “Don’t let him lie to you.”
“Me! I’ll drive the dozer!”
Darek caught Tiger’s eyes. “No. It’s too dangerous.”
“Do you really think the fire could come this far south?” Ivy asked.
“It could,” Casper said. “I was talking with Jed today. He says they are bringing in four type-two crews, two more hotshot crews, and three Beavers for transport.”
“Beavers?”
“Floatplanes,” Darek said. “Jed said they’ve got a virtual tent city set up on 153, just east of the fire. There’s a couple hundred fire personnel hunkering down there. Jed’s letting the pilots and some of the supervisors bunk in the cabins, but pretty much everyone’s on the line now, twenty-four hours a day.”
“Really? They fight through the night?”
He smiled, twirled his marshmallow in the flame. “There’s something about watching a fire at night, the glow against the blackness. It’s alive, and it sees you—”
“You’re scaring me, Dare,” Grace said.
“I guess you have to see it. But there’s an eerie magnificence to fire, especially in the woods at night. The line of fire simmering in the darkness, the trees like torches. And it hums and crackles. Like I said, alive. It’s almost magical.”
“Except that it can kill you,” Amelia said.
“And burn down your home,” Ingrid added.
“But . . . it couldn’t really come all the way here, to Evergreen, could it?” Ivy asked again.
Silence.
“It could come all the way to Deep Haven if it isn’t stopped,” John said. “Fire does what it wants if it’s not contained. It can consume anything and takes no prisoners.”
Ivy watched the campfire flicker, sparks dissolving into the darkness.
“But don’t you worry, Ivy. Evergreen Resort knows how to survive,” John said quietly. “Like the flood back in ’87. And about ten years ago, three cabins were destroyed by the blowdown. Don’t worry. No forest fire is going to wipe us off the map.”
“Owen called, by the way,” Ingrid said. “He was worried about the fire. I told him that Darek had cleaned up around the resort.”
“Darek and Casper, sheesh,” Casper said, rolling his eyes for effect.
“Darek cleaned up?” Ivy asked.
“I thought I’d widen the logging road around the property. It’s just a precaution, but we have about three miles of property back into the woods and, well, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”
“Such a Boy Scout,” Casper said.
Darek threw a marshmallow at him.
“Eden’s working on an article about the fire, hoping to pitch it to her editor,” Ingrid said.
“Poor Eden,” Grace said. “It’s tough to work so hard for a degree and then be relegated to the obits.”
Ingrid’s marshmallow was browning to a beautiful amber. “See? Our weekly campfire keeps us connected. Checking in with each other’s lives. A family.”
A family.
Ivy wedged her hands between her knees, wishing she’d brought a jacket.
Tiger moved over to Ingrid. “Can I have your mellow, Gran?”
Ingrid laughed. “I think you forgot to eat the last one, kiddo. It’s all over your face. Let’s get you cleaned up.” She glanced at her husband as if hoping he’d be willing to take her fork.
“I’ll take him to the house,” Ivy said. She held out her hand. “C’mon, Tiger.”
Indeed, he was covered in marshmallow—her hand glued to his as they made their way to the house.
“I like you,” Tiger said, looking up at her. “Are you going to be my new mom?”
Oh. Uh . . .
She scrambled for words, not sure how to answer. Thankfully, the dog emerged from the deck where she’d been hiding/digging/chasing squirrels, and Tiger let go of Ivy’s hand to race after her.