Water Under the Bridge || Evan Buckley [2]

chapter seventeen

a trip to san angelo

The weeks long battle against the San Angelo fire continues at this hour, with officials now saying the blaze has consumed more than 180,000 acres with less than 5% containment. Resources here in West Texas have been stretched to their limits, but help is now arriving from neighboring states. Fire companies from Oklahoma, New Mexico, and as far away as California are sending equipment and manpower to aid in this fight, a welcome sight to the embattled Texans on the front lines of this blaze, one that has to look a lot like the arrival of the cavalry.

Several firetrucks pulled up to the site after a long journey from home. Once parked, Eddie nudged a sleeping Josephine who fluttered her eyes open. The two jumped out of vehicle unlike Buck in deep slumber on the other side. Hen stepped out of the passenger side seeing the blond snoring and his slobber against the window.

"Buck." She banged on the door causing his body to startle at the loud noise. "Wake up. We're here."

He blinked rapidly, "Oh, we are?" He burst through the door and jumped onto the ground feeling the whiff of heat slap him in the face. "Ooh! What's up with the air?"

"The wildfire, remember? That's why we're here." Hen reminded him.

"I mean the way it feels. Like getting slapped with a wet towel."

Josephine and Eddie rounded from the back meeting the latter. "It's called humidity." Josephine informed.

Eddie chuckled at his dumbfounded friend. "Welcome to Texas, Buck."

"I'm Deputy Chief De Leon of the San Angelo fire Department, acting incident commander. For those of you just joining the party, welcome."

All the first responders that have been enduring the wrath of the wildfire and the ones just joining gathered around the tent. They were prepared to hear the orders of their assigned roles unlike Buck clearly distracted by another presence.

"Buck, stop staring." Hen hissed, elbowing him next to her.

He tore his lingering gaze from the woman, "I'm not staring." He argued.

Eddie interjected, "You're staring."

"Who is he staring at?" Josephine popped her head beside Eddie at the trio.

Without sparing a glance, TK leaned into Marjan. "I think that guy is staring at you." She maneuvered her eyes towards the blond man on the other side of the crowd. He dropped his eyes to the ground quickly.