Page 117 of Ignite

“Whatever you need, I’m not going anywhere unless it’s with you and our horses.”

“Ourhorses?“ My eyebrows raised and I pressed my hands to his chest. “You lead Wildfire to the float and suddenly she’sourhorse?”

“Something we can argue about for the next twenty or thirty years.” Ethan bit his lip and looked to where our trucks had miraculously survived. Driving them into the shallow end of the dam had been a stroke of genius, not that I’d tell Ethan that. “But we should at least let everyone know you’re safe.”

“We’re safe. You’re part of us now.”

“Well, I will be as soon as Reece streamlines the application process for the RFS.”

“You don’t have to, not for me.” I’d moved past setting unrealistic expectations on Ethan. He didn’t need to volunteer for the RFS to prove his character. He’d already done that in so many other ways.

“I’m doing it for me and for us.”

As we made our way back to land, checked on the horses and found our phones that had been buried in the ground in case fire came through and they survived, Ethan told me about his father and the epiphany at the pub that his father’s life hadn’t been wasted.

“He was true to his moral compass. He was a good person and a great dad. I just wish I’d realized in time to tell him.”

I squeezed his hand, not having an answer or a response. Ethan needed time to process the new way of thinking about his father, and I’d be there to listen when he wanted to talk.

“It doesn’t look damaged.” I brushed off the dust from my cell phone. I looked to Ethan with my contacts open. “Who should I try first?”

“Felicity told me where to find you. You could start there?”

I pressed call and stared at Ethan, willing someone to answer and not send me through to voicemail.

The first ring, I held onto my breath and hope.

The second ring, I closed my eyes and prayed that they’d all survived.

The third ring and I braced to be sent through to voice mail and Ethan held my trembling arms. I pressed the speaker button so I didn’t have to repeat whatever awful news I would probably hear. Was it worth surviving if others didn’t?

“Rylee. Oh my world, Rylee. Thank God.” Felicity didn’t wait for me to respond before calling out to a noisy room. “Quiet. Quiet. It’s Rylee’s phone. She’s alive.”

“Flick? Tell me …” My tears of relief that people had survived were overwhelming. “Where are you, what happened, who’s there, are you all okay?”

“Oh, Ryles, you’ll never believe it …”

As Felicity talked, Ethan checked over the horses and we decided to leave my truck and horse float here while we headed back into town.

It took us almost five hours to get back to Meringa. We had to drive off road and avoid fallen and still burning trees and shrubs. But our need to get home had become primal.

The entire drive, his hand gripped mine and we listened to news reports that treated towns like statistics and people facing homelessness as they survived on beaches as entertainment.

Bushfires had a way of exposing people for who they were.

Ethan had every reason to drive away, but had literally faced down a wall of flames to keep me safe.

But neither of us were ready for what faced us back at town.