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base.”
    Something flickered in his eyes for a moment, but he continued on with a light tone. Chase had only told me bits and pieces about his decision to end his rising firefighting career. I knew a lot of it had to do with the night he spoke of. They were working a fire in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and came across a few campers. The situation went downhill quickly due to weather and limited resources, and both a civilian and a firefighter had died that night.
    “His leg was in bad shape, like I said, so they medevacked him out to a big hospital near Seattle and I hadn’t seen him in months. But we ran into each other as I was settling a few things up near the base. His leg is still giving him problems so he decided to take a little time off and get well. We hung out for a few days and he didn’t have any big plans, so I thought, why the hell not? C’mon home with me and see how we do Texas!”
    My mind raced at this new information. Fox was really hurt. Or at least, he had been. He looked to be in perfect physical shape when I met him tonight, but once again, apparently looks were deceiving. An injured wilderness firefighter with no real ties to anything, friends with my new/old boyfriend, and an intense look that made my heart skip a beat. Great. As if my life wasn’t complicated enough.
    Chase sprawled back on the couch, tipping his beer into his mouth. He looked so at home in his parents’ living room, like the years hadn’t changed everything three times over. But that was Chase. His carefree nature wasn’t a front, that was him. Even four years of emergencies and infernos would have a hard time changing that.
    “He doesn’t have any family? Where is he from?” I pressed, surprising myself. Real smooth, Avery . And also… why did I want to know so much about someone I’d met for three seconds? Because he looked right into your eyes and something shifted , I admitted to myself. But that can’t happen again.
    “Um, he told me his brother and his folks live in California. His dad is a retired General. I think he graduated from UCLA, then headed to CAL FIRE, paramedic training, and on from there.” Chase lowered the beer bottle, his expression curious. “Why so many questions about Fox?”
    I laughed nervously. “I’m just trying to figure it all out! You know we don’t have very many new people in town, and he’s your friend, so I want to make sure he feels welcome.”
    “Sure babe, that’s nice of you. I saw him talking to Heather, but I’m sure he’s not good enough for Her Highness,” Chase snickered.
    Wonderful. Apparently, Chase’s attitude toward Heather hadn’t matured in the last half-decade. In high school, Chase and my best friend had never clicked. He typically wanted to avoid Heather, calling her stuck up and bitchy. I tried to run interference, but Heather hadn’t seemed to mind. “Whatever. He’s just jealous that we spend so much time together when you could be worshipping his throwing arm,” she’d laughed.
    Chase shifted on the couch, drawing my attention back to him. He moved his beer to the coffee table and reached for my hands, setting my bottle aside as well.
    “I know I’ve been gone for a long time, Avery,” he said seriously, his chocolate eyes looking earnestly into mine. “And I’m real sorry about how I left. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how. You understand, right?”
    “Um.” Chase had never addressed this in any of our emails aside from just repeating how sorry he was, and I didn’t push it.
    “I felt like everything was happening so quickly, you know? College, football… it seemed all planned out already, like I didn’t have any choices left.” He paused and looked away. “Then I met that old smokejumper and he told me I had potential, that I could be something else, something unexpected, on my terms. So I left the only way I thought would work, without telling anyone.”
    Coward . The word sprang unbidden to mind. I