Reduced to Ashes

by Kay Gordon

  “Simon Owens! Put me down before you break your back! I can walk just fine!” She swatted at her husband but he just tightened his hold with a grin.

  “Stop or else I’m going to sling you over my shoulders.” He looked over to the rest of us. “Sorry to eat and run, guys, but we’ve got to meet our son.”

  “I’ll be right behind you guys,” Kelly called out as Simon strode inside the house amidst our well wishes.

  As soon as he was out of sight, the younger Gold sister rounded up her sons to explain where she was going and then kissed the head of each kid.

  The second she was gone, the group of older kids ran up to where Nick was sitting and it was Elias who spoke.

  “Hey, Dad… How did the baby get in Aunt Megan’s tummy?”

  “And how does Mommy get him out?” Elizabeth chimed in with her little brows furrowed.

  Nick looked at all of the kids with a panicked expression and then turned to glance at the rest of us.

  “Holy shit. How do I answer that?”

  “Dad said a bad word!” Jason yelled gleefully at the same time the other kids let out a chorus of “Oohs!”

  In the end, it was Victoria who stepped forward and told the kids that the baby was made by a Mommy and Daddy loving each other and that the doctor would get it out. The explanation was so simple but it was enough to satisfy the kids.

  I stared at my wife as she brushed the hair off Eli’s face and then straightened up with Natalie in her arms. She gave our daughter an adoring look before kissing her nose and setting her down so she could run away.

  When she turned back towards me, our eyes locked and we just stared at each other for a moment.

  I was still in awe sometimes that I was able to call that beautiful and amazing woman mine.

  The journey was hard and sometimes as out of control as a wildfire. They say that when you play with fire, you end up burned but sometimes it’s more than that and everything around you goes up in flames, too. Loving Victoria and being loved by her made me realize that once the fire was out and the burns had healed, the possibility of new life was left hiding under the ashes.

  I wouldn’t have changed our story for anything, not even the worst parts, because they brought us to where we were.

  And life couldn’t get any better than that.

  The End

  Acknowledgements

  Don’t say it, I know… I finished this book in the summer and am now just finally releasing it.

  I’m sorry! New job, plus grad school, plus additional evening classes on top of my real life makes me a slacker. I absolutely promise to do better in 2019. In fact, it’s one of my resolutions!

  Tori’s story closes the New Hope Fire Department series. I think I’d originally intended for it to go a bit longer but I have other stuff I really, really want to work on. Maybe one day I’ll come back to it but have no plans to do so right now. I’m so happy that I got to write her book in the first place, though. Victoria went through some shit and she let it change her so it was fun watching her find her way back. Plus, I adore Evan to pieces!

  Thank you to all of my patient readers. You’re the absolute best! I write because of you guys- seriously!

  Thanks to my family and friends who tolerate my writing and encourage me to keep going. I couldn’t do it without you!

  And thank you to all of my fellow authors who have become my friends. You guys are inspiring, supportive, and so glad I found you!

  Also by Kay Gordon

  Available on Amazon (Kindle Unlimited) now!

  The Scars Series

  Scars of the Past

  Scars of the Present

  Scars of the Future

  Scars of Denial

  Scars of Hope

  Scars on the Surface

  The New Hope Fire Department Series

  Playing with Fire

  Up in Flames

  Reduced to Ashes

  Other Titles

  Summer by the Lake

  Finding a Hart

  Our New Normal

  Two For Holding

  Keep reading for a sneak peek of Summer by the Lake.

  Available on Amazon (Kindle Unlimited) now!

  Sneak Peek

  Shaylee Butler spent her childhood summers at Camp Holcomb, making friends, singing bad karaoke, and raising hell. Now as an adult, she’s back for the first time in years but this time to be a counselor instead of a trouble maker.

  In between camp activities that run them ragged, cabin pranks that cause hysteria, and way more teenaged angst than Shaylee can handle, she finds herself drawn to another counselor.

  The second she meets Drew Moore, Shaylee knows that he’s a cocky, obnoxious bastard. They start the summer as rivals but soon learn that the line between love and hate is a thin one. The person who drove her the craziest is also the one who can make her laugh the hardest.

  What happens when the summer is over and it’s time to leave the lake behind, though? Is it just a fling? Are Drew and Shaylee strong enough to overcome the secrets that don’t stay hidden at Camp Holcomb?

  Summer by the Lake

  Available Now!

  Summer by the Lake: Chapter One

  The second the plane stopped moving, the sound of a hundred seatbelts being unlatched could be heard all around me. I followed suit, letting my seatbelt drop as I attempted to stretch my stiff neck. The flight had only been about five hours but I’d slept the last hour in the most uncomfortable position while trying not to drop my head onto the shoulders next to me. I hated middle seats.

  That’s what I got for waiting until the last minute to book my flight.

  I watched as people deplaned slowly and the woman next to me finally stood, pulling her bag out of the bin before she walked towards the exit. I tugged my backpack out from the seat in front of me and stood up, following her down the narrow aisle. I smiled and thanked the attendants who stood at the cockpit before stepping onto the jet bridge. The muggy air seeped inside the small hallway, a downside to the humid environment, and I had sweat beading on my forehead by the time I made it inside the airport.

  I followed the massive crowds in the direction of the baggage claim but stopped to duck into the restroom. After I came out of the bathroom stall, I washed my hands and looked at myself in the mirror. My reflection looked tired, which wasn’t a surprise since I had been at the airport at five that morning.

  My light brown eyes were droopy and my mocha-colored hair was pulled into a messy ponytail. The green t-shirt boasting some band’s name was wrinkled and my jean shorts were sticking to my thighs in the damp air. Despite my tired appearance, though, excitement shined through and I could hardly wait to get on the shuttle to Holcomb Lake.

  By the time I made it to the carousel, the alarm was going off to alert people to the incoming luggage. I stood back and watched different bags move through on the belts, my fingers toying with the charm on my necklace as I did.

  People spoke to each other as they grabbed bag after bag and I watched a young boy cry when his mom wouldn’t let him pull the big suitcase they’d just retrieved. Next to them, a man tried to handle three suitcases at once, arguing with his very pregnant wife that she couldn’t carry any of them.

  I finally spotted my huge suitcase, made visible by the electric blue ribbon I’d wrapped the handle with, and grabbed it from the belt. I spotted my second piece of luggage and reached for the duffel bag at the same time another hand did. As my fingers clasped around it, I expected the other person to retreat, but they just gripped the bag, too.

  “Excuse me,” I said quietly as I tugged gently on the handle. I let my eyes run from the hand up the arm decorated in colorful tattoos, each one more detailed than the other. I had to force myself to keep moving my gaze to the face of the stranger in front of me and a smile flit to my mouth as I took him all in. His full lips were curled into a small grin and his turquoise eyes sparkled as he looked at me.
>
  “You’re excused.” His voice was deep, smooth, and almost distracted me from the fact that he hadn’t let go of my bag. In fact, he tugged on it instead.

  I pulled back and shook my head. “Can I have my bag?”

  He cocked an eyebrow at me and his grin widened. He brought his free hand up to dislodge the blue Los Angeles Dodgers hat on his head slightly, showing off an unruly mess of brown hair before he readjusted it. “This is my bag.”

  “Um. No.” I tugged on the black duffel again, harder that time. “I don’t think so.”

  “Then you think wrong.” His grip didn’t slacken but his grin faded a bit when he realized I wasn’t kidding. “Honey, I don’t blame you for wanting into my pants but can I recommend we do it in a less literal way?”

  I frowned and let go of the duffel bag so I could put my hands on my hips. I gave him the most scathing glare I could muster as I narrowed my eyes. “Are you kidding me right now?”

  Dropping the bag in front of him, he crouched and grabbed the zipper. He pulled it down, reached in, and produced a pair of folded jeans. He stood to his full height, which was a good four inches taller than my five-eight, and held the jeans in front of him for me to see.

  They were men’s jeans, worn and faded with a hole in the knee.

  I felt a blush creep along my face as I brought my eyes to meet his twinkling ones and I noticed that his grin was wide again. I glanced back at his bag before looking over my shoulder at the conveyor belt that had stopped moving. Sure enough, a duffel bag that looked similar to the one in front of me sat on the immobile belt. Blue ribbon, like what was tied to my suitcase, adorned the handle so I could easily recognize it. Something the bag I’d played tug-of-war for had lacked.

  “Shit. I’m sorry,” I said quietly as I looked back to the guy in front of me. “I guess our bags are alike.”

  He bent over to put the jeans away and closed the zipper before bringing the duffel over his shoulder effortlessly. He waggled his eyebrows at me for a second. “There’s an easier way to get into my pants, just so you know. I’d love to show you sometime.”

  “Oh, my god,” I replied with a scoff as I rolled my eyes. I quickly turned and grabbed my bag off the belt before extending the handle of my suitcase. I twisted back to look at him and shook my head with a patronizing glower. “Hard pass.”

  I caught his wink and heard his low chuckle as I whirled around and stomped towards the shuttle area, not bothering to turn back to glance at him.

  I pushed the obnoxious stranger out of my mind as I stepped through the sliding glass doors and out onto the sidewalk of the airport. I looked around, trying to find the shuttle I needed amongst the airport and hotel buses, and my eyes finally landed on the white shuttle van that read “Camp Holcomb” on the side. Excited butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I walked towards it quickly, a smile stretching along my cheeks as I got closer. A familiar couple stood next to it, the woman fussing with the collar of a man’s polo shirt.

  “May. Howard.”

  They turned and matching smiles lit up their faces almost instantly. It was May who reached out first and put her arms around me, forcing me to drop the handle to my suitcase and my duffel bag.

  “Shaylee,” she said affectionately as she squeezed me tight. “Oh, it’s good to see you, baby girl.”

  May smelled like pine trees and cookies- two smells that brought back memories of summers as a child. Suddenly, I was eight again, homesick and being comforted by May Holcomb.

  When she let up her grip around me, May pulled back and placed both hands on my cheeks as she inspected me. Her warm brown eyes that once matched her short, now greying hair moved quickly before meeting my own.

  “We can’t go this long without seeing you again. You’re all grown up. When did that happen?”

  I grinned beneath my mashed cheeks and shrugged. “I don’t feel too grown up sometimes.”

  “Quit hogging her, May,” Howard said to the left and his strong arms wrapped around me as soon as May had released my cheeks. “I’m glad to have you back in Maine, Shaylee.”

  Howard and May Holcomb were the owners of Camp Holcomb, a summer sleep away camp outside of Harrelsburg, Maine. The same sleep-away camp I had been sent to, unwillingly, at the age of eight with my older sister. After that summer, I’d happily come back every year for eight weeks until my last one when I’d turned sixteen.

  Since that summer, I hadn’t been back to Maine to visit once despite having a close relationship with the Holcomb family. They ran the camp very hands-on but our families were close outside of that. May and my mother had grown up together and were more like sisters than friends. May and Howard might not have been blood but they were my aunt and uncle in every way that mattered.

  The last time I’d seen them was two years before when they had come to Arizona for a visit. They’d come out to see us many times since I left Maine five years before and I spoke to May on the phone often. They had been trying to get me to come back since the moment I turned eighteen but it had never worked with my school schedule up until that point.

  I’d finally found time to accept the counselor job for the summer, though. Arizona State University allowed us to do a five week internship in lieu of three elective credits in the Family and Human Development program. When I approached my advisor to get ready for my senior year, she mentioned traveling for some of the remaining credits I needed. Camp Holcomb had immediately come to mind and she had petitioned for me to do six credits in eight weeks instead. May and Howard had said ‘yes’ the second I asked and here I finally was.

  Howard released me and gave me a quick once over. He nodded in satisfaction before reaching down to grab my big suitcase. “I see you’re still packing for a full year, huh?”

  I shrugged and gave him a wry smile. “A girl has to have her things.” I moved to grab my duffel bag when a hand beat me there and gripped it first. My eyes darted upward before scowling for the second time since my plane had landed.

  “Are you kidding me right now?”

  The guy from earlier, with that grin still on his smug face, slung my bag over his shoulder and shrugged. “You grabbed mine. It’s only fair that I grab yours, right?” Another wink.

  I opened my mouth to retort when Howard spoke behind me.

  “Drew. Son. Good to see you.”

  I watched as Howard came forward and embraced the guy, apparently named Drew, tightly. I didn’t move as I stared, my mouth hanging open as the cocky jerk hugged my pseudo-uncle. When they finally pulled apart, they spoke quietly and I forced myself to turn to where May was shifting the luggage that was in the back of the van.

  “Who’s that?” I asked quietly as soon as I knew she could hear me. May looked over at Drew before glancing to me.

  “Him? That’s Drew Moore. I’m surprised you don’t remember him. He was here a few of the same years that you were. He’s been a counselor for the past three years.”

  I groaned and helped May turn my luggage so it was sideways. “Great. It’s going to be a fun nine weeks.”

  “It sure is, sweetheart,” Drew said from behind as he dropped my duffel bag into the van. He grinned as he loaded his own bags before turning to me. “Lots of opportunity to get to know each other.”

  “Fantastic,” I muttered under my breath before walking around to the side of the van. Howard was greeting another girl and he gestured me forward.

  “Shaylee, come meet Hannah.”

  I stepped forward and shook hands with the girl who looked to be about the same age as me. All of Camp Holcomb’s counselors would be college students who were there working for credit like I was. None of the counselor positions were actually paid.

  The newcomer’s hair was platinum blonde and fell past her shoulders with the ends a hot pink color. It was straight and shiny- something mine would never be in the humidity. The smile on her face was genuine and she reminded me of my best friend from home. I liked her instantly.
>
  “Hey. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Hannah nodded and adjusted the bag on her shoulder as she dropped my hand. “You too, Shaylee. Howard told me that you used to come to Camp Holcomb.”

  I gave Hannah my basic backstory as we climbed into the backseat of the van. We chatted for a few minutes and I learned that Hannah had never been to summer camp in her life. Her little sister wanted to go to camp, though, and Hannah had agreed to be a counselor to make her sister feel better about going. Hannah was twenty-one, like myself, and from Florida. Her little sister was flying up in a few days when all of the other campers would arrive.

  After about fifteen minutes, we’d gained one more girl and another guy. Once the luggage was loaded and the new girl, Joanne, was in the backseat with Hannah and me, Drew and Jordan sat in the middle seat while May and Howard took the front.

  As we pulled out of the airport, the van buzzed with conversation. I stared out the window for a minute and let the happiness wash over me. I was finally home and I just hoped that the next nine weeks would move by slowly so I could soak it all in.

  I peeled my eyes from the passing scenery and chanced a glance to Drew’s profile. He was talking to Jordan about something I couldn’t hear so I took the opportunity to inspect him while he was distracted. His jaw was covered with a short, neatly trimmed beard that matched the hair peeking out from under his cap and his shoulders were muscular, as if he did physical work for a living.

  My gaze moved back up to his face and his lips were turned into a smirk. His turquoise eyes met mine and he raised his eyebrows slightly in arrogance. I rolled my eyes before turning away to look back out the window.

  I was suddenly very glad that the cabins for the boys and girls were on opposite sides of the camp. Being around Drew was obnoxious and I knew that he’d turn my carefree summer upside down.