by Karen Foley
Callie thought of the wolves still at the sanctuary. They had come through the wildfire, but they still needed human intervention in order to survive. “Is there any possibility that your men could at least check on the animals, and ensure they have enough food and water?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” the captain finally said. “I have crews working on line construction south of your property. I’ll have them check fire spread around the sanctuary. Is there any food on the premises for the wolves?”
“There’s a concrete outbuilding that Tyler said is still intact, and there’s food inside, but I’m not sure if it’s still good.”
Captain Gaskill was quiet for a moment, considering. “Bring a cooler of food by in the morning,” he finally said, “and I’ll make sure it gets to the wolves. If we can get ahead of the fire, you might be able to return to the sanctuary tomorrow, or the day after.”
Callie nodded, and some of the tightness that had settled between her shoulder blades eased. She wouldn’t relax until the wolves were safely removed from the sanctuary, but if the firefighters could bring them food and ensure they were okay, she could wait one or two more days to get back in and bring them out.
“Thanks,” she said. “And please tell Tyler I said thank you, too.”
Captain Gaskill gave her a speculative look, and one corner of his mouth turned up, as if amused. “Sure. See you tomorrow.”
Callie walked back toward her truck, feeling his eyes on her. She skirted a group of men coming out of the campground shower facilities, and weaved her way through the maze of trailers and tents. The tourists were almost entirely absent now, with only a small cluster of campers at the far end of the campground. Once the wildfire was contained and the Way to the Sun Road reopened, the summer hordes would return.
As a child, Callie always wondered why the sanctuary was so far from town, where her father might have capitalized on the tourists who frequented the area. They would have paid good money to visit the sanctuary and view the wolves. As she grew older, she came to understand that her father didn’t want tourists coming to the sanctuary. He disliked strangers tramping around the pens and stressing the wolves, and believed visitors to the sanctuary were an insurance liability. Only after her mother left them, did he break down and hire several assistants to help with the care of the wolves. Even that had been done reluctantly.
After Callie had left Montana to pursue her veterinary degree in California, Frank had slowly started extending invitations to the local schools to bring their students to the sanctuary for a day of awareness and understanding. The school field trips brought in a little extra money, but the biggest benefit was that they also resulted in additional donations from the local communities. Callie knew the residents of St. Mary and Browning viewed Frank as something of an eccentric, but they had always been good to him, checking on him during the extreme winter months, and helping him care for the wolves.
Now, with everything gone, he’d have no choice but to return with her to California. She wouldn’t give him a choice. As soon as he was strong enough to travel, they’d leave Montana for good.
*
Tyler was up and dressed the following morning before the nurses made their first rounds. He felt pretty much back to normal, except for a residual wheezing when he drew in a deep breath. It was no big deal, and would clear up soon enough. He was anxious to get back to work. Twenty-four hours in a hospital had not been part of his plan, and he wasn’t staying a second longer than he needed to.
Ace was waiting for him by the nurse’s station as he came out of his room. He straightened as he saw Tyler. “Hey, bro.” Ace greeted him. “You done being a skater? Ready to get back to work?”
A skater was a derogatory term for a lazy firefighter, so Tyler ignored the comment and continued walking past the nursing station. “I signed the discharge papers, but I have one thing I need to do before I leave. You can stay here, Romeo, or go pull a truck around and meet me out front.”
Without waiting for Ace’s response, he followed the signs to the cardiac unit, and located Frank McLain’s room. He was no longer in the ICU, but in a shared room. Tyler stood in the doorway and looked at the man who lay sleeping in the nearest bed. The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor and the soft whoosh of the oxygen machine were the only sounds. Frank’s jaw was slack, and IV tubes protruded from his arm. He looked elderly and frail, and Tyler had a tough time picturing him fully recovered, never mind returning to the sanctuary to continue caring for the wolves. He bore no resemblance to the man who had grimly clung to the wire fencing of the enclosure, refusing to leave his property even in the face of a deadly wildfire.
As he turned away and made his way to where Ace waited for him, Tyler admitted he’d hoped to see Callie again before he left. She hadn’t come by his room a second time yesterday, and he acknowledged some disappointment.
Ace was waiting for him in one of the Glacier Creek base pickup trucks, and Tyler climbed into the front seat.
“Where we headed?”
“Over to the incident command center,” Ace replied. “We’ve got a couple of tents set up. I figure there are about a hundred or more response crews, but they have showers and grub.”
“Are we jumping today?”
Ace shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen the list yet.” He looked over at Tyler. “Sure you’re ready?”
“I was born ready.” Tyler quipped and then grew serious. “I feel good. I just pushed myself too hard, but I’m back.”
He didn’t want anyone thinking he couldn’t do his job, or that he wasn’t fully recovered. Smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion were job hazards. Most of the crew had suffered from one or the other during their firefighting career, but the experience had been a first for Tyler, and one he wasn’t anxious to repeat.
“Some of the crew was trucked up into the mountains this morning.” Ace offered.
Tyler’s attention sharpened on the other man. “Oh yeah? So the access roads are open?”
“Seems so.” Ace glanced over at him. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m not sure yet. Do you happen to know where Callie McLain is staying?”
This time, Ace grinned. “About a hundred yards from our command tent, dude. They gave her one of the cabins on the campground so she can be close to where they’re bringing in the rescued animals. Did you know she’s a vet?”
“A veterinary physician.” He corrected. “Yeah, she mentioned that.”
The knowledge that Callie might be at the incident command center caused a rush of anticipation. But if the access roads were open again, that meant the ground crews could handle the wildfire, and there might not even be a need for any more jumpers. If that was the case, they could be returning to Glacier Creek soon, and he might not even have the chance to see pretty Callie McLain again. He found the thought depressing.
Chapter Eight
Callie spent the day at the animal rescue tent, glad for the activity that kept her mind off the wolves…and Tyler Dodson. Was he recovering? Had they released him from the hospital? Would he come to the campground first, or head directly back into the teeth of the wildfire?
She crouched beside the dog that had been brought in two days earlier with burns and an infected bite wound. As she spoke gently to him, he lifted his head and licked her hand. They had named him Napi, which meant Old Man in the native Blackfeet language. So far, nobody had come forward to claim him. He was quickly becoming a favorite among the volunteers, with his gentle nature and happy spirit.
“C’mon, old man,” she said, as he licked her hand. “Let’s get you up onto the table and check your wound.”
He pushed himself to his feet, and obediently followed her out of the wire pen and over to where the examination tables had been set up. Napi was still heavily bandaged, and still favored his injured leg. Callie might have been able to lift him herself, but didn’t want to put any pressure on his injuries.
“Can I have a hand here, please?�
� she called out.
“Sure.”
Callie snapped around at the sound of the deep voice, and found herself looking directly into Tyler’s blue-green eyes, as he bent and easily lifted the dog onto the table. Her pulse quickened and gladness surged through her. She hadn’t thought she would see him again, and certainly not so soon. The knowledge he’d sought her out made her want to dance.
“Hey.” She greeted him, hoping her voice didn’t betray her pleasure. “Should you be out of the hospital so soon?”
He kept one hand firmly on the dog’s ruff to prevent him from jumping down and grinned at her. “I’m good. How’re you doing?”
His eyes swept over her, missing nothing, and Callie was aware of how she must look. Wearing jeans and an old jersey, with her hair scraped back into a ponytail, Callie was pretty sure she couldn’t look any less attractive.
“I’m okay.” She grimaced. “Not looking too glam, but that comes with the territory, I guess.”
Keeping one hand on the dog, Tyler spread his other arm and looked down at himself in cheerful deprecation. “Trust me, I get it. This is about as glam as I get, even on a good day.”
Instead of putting her at ease, all he did was draw her attention to his amazing physique. His tee shirt was faded and worn, and sported a couple of frayed holes across his rugged shoulders, and his arms bulged with muscles. Beneath the soft fabric, she could see a hint of washboard abs. The rugged nylon belt, threaded through the loopholes on his cargo pants, only drew her attention to his trim waist and lean hips.
“Yeah,” she said sarcastically, “you look really terrible.”
“So what’s going on with this guy?” he asked, turning his attention to the dog on the table, and gently ruffling his fur.
Callie dragged her own attention away from Tyler and bent over the dog. “This is Napi. He was brought in a couple of days ago with burns, and what looked like a bite wound on his leg.” She stroked the dog’s neck. “But he’s a fighter, and he’ll be fine in a couple of weeks.” She rubbed behind his ears. “Won’t you, my handsome boy?”
“Anything I can help you with?” Tyler asked.
“Sure. If you don’t mind holding him while I check his bandages, that would be great.”
Callie was acutely aware of Tyler’s big hands holding the dog, while she carefully unwound the gauze and checked Napi’s injuries. As she applied more ointment, he stroked the dog and spoke gently to it, soothing it.
“You’re a natural at this.” She smiled, reapplying fresh bandages. “Maybe you missed your calling.”
Tyler helped lift the dog from the table, and watched as she walked Napi back to his enclosure. “Animals like me,” he said when she returned. “And I tend to like them. Most of them anyway.”
She gave him an inquiring look as she peeled off her exam gloves, and put away her supplies. “What does that mean?”
“I came across a grizzly bear once, while I was hiking through the park. Thankfully, it was October, and this guy was getting ready to hibernate, so he wasn’t hungry and he wasn’t too interested in me.”
“You’re lucky,” she said. “I met a man once, when I was a kid, who’d survived a grizzly attack.” She gave a shiver of recollection. “It wasn’t pretty.”
“It never is.”
She leaned back against the table and looked at him. In her medical opinion, he still looked tired, and she thought he might have benefitted from another day of rest but, overall, he looked a lot better than he had the last two times she’d seen him. His eyes were clear, and now that he was no longer covered in soot and dirt, she could see how handsome he really was. She’d thought his face was hard, but when he looked at her like he was doing now, all she felt was awareness. Of him.
Of herself.
“So, I went over and talked to your captain this morning,” she said in a rush. “He thought there might be a chance I could return to the sanctuary in the next day or so.”
“That’s actually why I’m here,” he said. “The access road has been reopened, and we need to bring some supplies up to the guys who are working the construction line.” He folded his arms across his chest, which only made his shoulders and arms seem even bigger. “I thought we could bring your truck, and try to get the wolves out of there.”
“Are you serious? Oh, Tyler, thank you!”
Before she could think twice, she pushed herself away from the table and gave him a swift hug. His arms came around her, and she found herself pressed up against all that solid warmth, with his surprised laughter huffing into her hair. He smelled good, like clean male, and his arms felt wonderful around her.
“Wow,” he said, his voice a rough rasp against her ear. “You’re welcome.”
Stepping back, Callie self-consciously tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Thank you. It’s just that I’ve been so worried, and it didn’t seem like I was going to be able to get back there anytime soon, and the fact that you’re willing to go with me—” She broke off, aware she was babbling. “Thank you.”
He inclined his head. “You’re very welcome.” He glanced at his watch, a rugged sports model with a durable nylon strap. “I have some stuff I need to go over with the boss, so why don’t I meet you back here in an hour? Does that give you enough time to get whatever it is you need?”
Callie nodded, smiling. “Yes. Absolutely. I’ll see you in an hour.”
She watched as he walked away, admiring his easy, loose-limbed stride. He seemed to know most of the other rescue personnel at the campground, and stopped frequently to exchange a greeting or a handshake. Callie gave herself a mental kick and turned away, determined not to stare after him until he was gone. He was way too sexy for her peace of mind. She shouldn’t even be interested in him, because what was the point? Once the wildfire was under control he’d return to Glacier Creek, which was easily a three hour drive from St. Mary, provided the park road was open, and she didn’t have to take the longer route around the perimeter. Not that she intended to stick around.
She’d stay just long enough to get her father back on his feet, and then she’d bring him with her to California. She had no intention of staying in Montana. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing here for her, at least not long-term, and she was pretty sure guys like Tyler Dodson didn’t do long-term, anyway. Or long distance.
Nope, like the wildfires he fought, it was best to keep a safe distance, or she might find herself badly burned.
*
Tyler sat in the cab of the kennel truck with Callie as they followed the supply convoy up the access road toward the sanctuary. She’d loaded some emergency medical supplies into the truck, along with a five-gallon pail of raw meat and three catchpoles.
Tyler was accustomed to seeing the ravages of wildfire, but he could see how much Callie was affected by the sight of the charred, blackened trees that lined either side of the road, for as far as they could see. Every so often, plumes of smoke spiraled upward out of the ground, evidence of smoldering duff. When that happened, the convoy stopped and a couple of guys jumped out to dig up the area, kicking it over with enough dirt to ensure any live coals were smothered.
When they reached the intersection where the private road leading to the sanctuary branched off to the right, one truck continued straight, and the second truck turned toward her father’s property.
“We thought it best to bring a truck with us,” Tyler explained. “That way, if there are any spot fires still burning, we can take care of those while you round up the animals.”
Tyler could have handled it on his own, but Sam had been adamant that two others go with them to the sanctuary. Ace and Vin had volunteered, and now Callie followed their vehicle up the winding road.
“My God,” she breathed, peering through the windshield. “There’s nothing left.”
The road opened into a clearing that had once been the sanctuary. Where the house had once stood, there was now only the freestanding, stone fireplace, surrounded by a pile of
blackened rubble. The forest behind the house looked skeletal, and the dense underbrush that had surrounded the property was gone. Only the concrete outbuilding remained, with its twisted, metal roof.
“The pens are intact,” Tyler reminded her. “Your father was smart to build everything out of metal, including the posts.”
“That was Randy’s idea,” she murmured, still staring in horror at the devastation. “I just can’t believe everything is gone. I mean, I knew it was gone, but it’s not the same as seeing it gone.”
Her hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Reaching over, Tyler covered one of her hands with his own. “C’mon,” he urged quietly. “Let’s get the wolves and get the hell out of here. There’s nothing left here for you, or your dad.”
She turned to him, her face reflecting her loss. “You’re right. There’s nothing left.”
Pulling her hand free, she climbed out of the truck and went around to the back to retrieve the supplies she had brought. Tyler got out and went to join Ace and Vin, who were surveying the damage and kicking at ground with their boots.
“Looks okay up here,” Vin commented. “I don’t see any visible hot spots, but we’ll take a walk around just to be sure. You two okay?” He glanced over at Callie as she stalked toward the enclosures, the bucket of raw meat in one hand and a catchpole in the other.
“Fine,” she said.
Tyler watched her, so determined to be strong, and felt a grudging respect for her. It couldn’t be easy to see the house and property completely destroyed. Even if she could rebuild, it would take years for the landscape to recover.