Chapter One

The dry grass crackled in the evening breeze. Pale green streaks at the base of the stems were all that showed it was alive, struggling against the heat of the summer sun and a rainless afternoon. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but the clouds refused to release their water. A large sign with a bear in a hat declaring the fire danger “extreme” glared out over the road. A car sped by, the taillights fading into the setting sun. A red glowing cigarette ember flicked out of the open window, landing on the dark asphalt. It rolled gently, swirling in odd circles until finally resting on the edge of the road. The parched breeze puffed, pushing the small glowing light into the grass. It only took a moment for the spark to ignite on the dry tinder, small flames hungrily feeding on the thirsty weeds. The spark of disaster had been lit.

***

I leaned back against the checkout stand, waiting for something to happen. I had straightened the gum, organized the gift-cards, and even wiped the conveyer belt twice, but there was nothing left to do except wait for a customer.

Conifer Grocery was the biggest grocery store for miles, but by industry standards, it was still a small store. It carried most of the items that the small town's inhabitants needed, and it was actually one of the local hotspots for teenagers to hang out. In the small town of Conifer, Colorado, the grocery store was practically the center of the town. It was a forty five minute drive east and out of the mountains to get to Denver, so most people just stayed in town. Today, though, it was dead quiet. I glanced at my watch. Only fifteen minutes left until the end of my shift. Fifteen minutes of torture. I adjusted my apron and smiled as one of the old regulars, Mr. Snyder, purchased a single loaf of bread.

"Hello there, Holly!" he bellowed. He was always overly friendly.

"Hey there yourself, Mr. Snyder. Lovely weather we're having," I replied.

He frowned, his gray bushy eyebrows knitting together. "Too lovely, if you ask me. I tell you, I've been living up here a long time, and I've never seen a winter with less snow."

I nodded to be polite, but I was pretty unconcerned. It had been unseasonably warm, and the lack of snow was disturbing many of the local residents. It was one of the most frequent things I was told while working the cash register.

"I tell you, in a mountain town like this, the snow is vital. The whole forest is like a tinderbox, ready to go," he added.

I agreed with him and finished checking him out. The old man thanked me and walked slowly to the exit, clutching his loaf of bread under his arm. I watched him walk out, wishing I could follow. Fourteen minutes left.

I didn't mind the warmer weather when I woke up to scrape the ice off my car to get to work, but I did keep hearing on the nightly news that if this heat wave continued, the summer fire season would be terrible. Summer seemed a long way away from now, though, so I was just enjoying the ice free car.

“Bored to tears yet?”

“Crying my eyes out.” I recognized the voice and turned back with a grin for my childhood friend. Andrew was one of the few bright spots about moving back home. He grinned at me, his blue eyes twinkling. He began piling food onto the belt in unorganized heaps. I quickly started scanning and sorting it, bagging it quickly as we easily fell into a conversation.

“Have you heard about Luke and Tyler's parents?” Andrew asked as he plopped down two gallons of milk.

“The divorce? Yeah. It sucks, but knowing Ray, I'm not really surprised. The guy works way too hard, and Barb was just too high maintenance to put up with that. I hear it was pretty ugly when they started figuring out how to split up their stuff, especially who gets custody,” I said with a grimace.

Andrew nodded. “Luke says the judge is going to rule tomorrow on what is going to happen to Tyler. Poor kid. Luke is hoping the judge will let Tyler stay with Ray, but it doesn't look good. They usually side with the mom in cases like this.” Andrew shook his head sadly as he put some cereal up on the belt.

“How is Tyler handling it?”

Andrew shrugged. “If it was possible for that kid to get any quieter, this did it. He was actually looking forward to starting high school next year. He was even going to be in the school play.” He paused, lowering his voice before continuing. “Barb wants to move to California to be with her parents. He's going to have to go to a big school. The kid is so shy that he won't ever come out of his shell there. Luke is really worried about him.”

“Luke has always been a better parent to him than his actual parents. The judge should let him stay with Ray just so that he can stay with Luke,” I replied as I bagged the last of his items, hitting the "Total" button on the register.

“You want to get together tomorrow with everybody for Luke? We can either celebrate or mourn. Either way he will probably appreciate the support,” Andrew said as he swiped his credit card through the reader.

“That sounds great. I'll ask around. Say hi to your mom for me.” I smiled as I handed him his receipt. I wished I could come up with something more clever to say to him. Something that would make him laugh, something that would give me a reason to spend more time with him. Since coming home, I hadn't been able to see much of him. He was always busy with work or something. He didn't know the real reason for me dropping out of school and moving home, but I hadn't seen him enough to be able to tell him.

“I'll tell her. She was supposed to come do the shopping today, but she didn't feel up to it.” Andrew suddenly looked years older, as though time had played a cruel joke by making him the parent to his mother. He shook his head, the age shaking off of him like water from a dog. “Luke should be back up from Denver by three o'clock, so how does three- thirty in the usual spot sound?”

“Sounds great. I'll see you then!” I answered a little too cheerfully. He didn't seem to notice as he picked up his bags and headed for the door. I watched him leave, feeling the butterflies dancing in my stomach at the thought of seeing him again tomorrow. When I could no longer see him through the door, I glanced back down at my watch. Only eleven minutes left...