Some Girls Don't (Outback Heat Book 2) (10 page)

It felt good having him close like this—like old times—and she slipped her arms round his shoulders. He slid his hands around her waist again; she buried her face in his chest and they hugged for long moments.

“Sorry,” he grimaced after a minute, pulling back from her. “I have to see to that.”

Selena dropped her arms. “Of course.” She hadn’t said what she’d really wanted to say, but things felt different between them. Easier. Maybe that was the best she could hope for considering how volatile they seemed to be together these days.

“Thank you for dropping by,” he said. “It was good to …” he smiled, “clear the air.”

Selena quirked an eyebrow. “It was
my
pleasure.”

He chuckled as he unlocked the door and reached for the door knob. “After you.”

‡

S
elena was two
hundred kilometres north-east of Jumbuck Springs four weeks later, covering another fracking story, when she got word that a massive bushfire was burning out of control and bearing down on the tiny hamlet of Abbotsville, two hundred kilometres west of their current location. There were reports that it had been deliberately lit and Channel Four wanted her at the nearby town of Barabbery, where the disaster response was being coordinated. ASAP.

She and her crew were in the vehicle and on their way within the hour. Relief that the fire was far enough away from Jumbuck Springs and Jarrod’s firehouse made the trip easier. Her thoughts had been with Jarrod so much this last month. Thoughts that had made her smile and filled her with the pleasant buzz of nostalgia.

Thinking about him out there, staring down a monster bushfire, was too much to bear.

They drove into Barabbery two hours later, smoke just visible on the horizon. A large park in the centre of the town had been co-opted for use and it was a hive of activity as Selena was directed by a controller to an area that had been designated for the media.

A huge array of emergency vehicles were parked haphazardly around the site near canvas tents with rolled up sides that had been hastily erected for shade and cover as people in uniforms pored over maps. Police and paramedics rushed around. Weary-looking firefighters in their now-grubby yellow suits sat eating and guzzling water as fresh new recruits in bright yellow uniforms loaded up and headed out.

They finally entered the media area where at least a dozen vehicles from a handful of different media outlets were parked and equipment was being sorted. Selena got out of the vehicle the second they pulled up, hit first by the hot dry wind that whipped her hair back and then by the omnipresent smell of smoke. John, her cameraman, started unpacking the equipment from the back and Arnie, her sound guy said, “I’ll find out what the go is.”

Selena just nodded as she took in the controlled chaos going on all around. A finger of fear stroked down her spine. She’d never covered a bushfire emergency before. Hell, she’d never
been
in a bushfire, although growing up in outback Australia the threat was always there.

It hung in the air now along with the pervasive feeling of danger, thick as the stench of smoke. Just thinking about the monster wall of fire out there, heading their way, had her primal response to flee kicking in hard.

Was Jarrod ever frightened in his line of work? Part of his job was to go in when everyone else was running away. To fight the fire, not flee from it. Do the opposite of what his survival instincts must be telling him to do. Where did someone get that kind of courage?

How
did
he do it?

She wished he was here so she could reassure herself that he was out of danger.

She dialled Grandy’s. Jumbuck Springs was still a long way from the fire front, but she didn’t have any confirmed news on the wind direction and weather conditions and she wanted to check in to make sure her grandmother had an evacuation plan in place.

“Grandy,” Selena said when she picked up on the third ring.

“Selena. How lovely.”

“I’m at Barabbery, covering the fire,” she said, skipping the pleasantries. “Everything’s okay there? Are you being kept up to date?”

“Yes, yes. I’m watching the news for regular updates. Goodness, I’m more worried about you, now. You’re closer where you are.”

“Don’t worry about us, they’re not going to let us in anywhere that’s dangerous. Just, please don’t be one of those oldies who want to stay to defend their homes if they advise you to evacuate.”

Her grandmother laughed. “I may be old but I’m not senile, darlin’. They say move and I’ll be outta here. I already have a small box of items to go if it gets to that. But it’s not heading our way according to the news.”

Selena didn’t need to tell her grandmother bushfires were notorious for changing direction, but relief that she was going to be sensible diluted the hot dread in her belly.

“Just be guided by Jarrod, okay?” She’d never been so thankful for him and his close relationship with her grandmother in her life. Jarrod would look out for her and Grandy would listen to him.

“Oh no, Jarrod’s somewhere near Abbotsville helping out with the fire. But Ethan and Marcus are checking in on me.”

Oh God
. The dread intensified as Selena looked out to the horizon at the wide wall of smoke.
Of course he was.
What on earth had made her think he’d be sitting idly around Jumbuck Springs when a fire was raging out of control in the area?

Her pulse thudded hard in her chest and she shut her eyes against the urge to panic. It didn’t matter how often she told herself he was careful and good at his job, sometimes firemen died fighting these suckers. “Do you have his number?” she asked.

Grandy gave her the number then hung up. Selena dialled again straight away, her fingers trembling.

“We’re over there,” Arnie said as he approached, pointing to a spare patch of ground. “First debrief by the onsite coordinator in half an hour.”

Selena nodded as the call went to an automatic voice mail message. She hung up, dread settling further into her bones as she tried again.
Pick up. Pick up damn it, Jarrod
. It went to voice mail again.

Shit.
“Jarrod. It’s Selena. I’m in Barabbery covering the fire. Grandy tells me you’re somewhere near Abbotsville … I … just be careful. Okay? And ring me when you get a chance.”

She hung up, looking out to the horizon again. Knowing Jarrod was out there in the thick of it didn’t surprise her. That was the kind of guy he was.

But it still made her want to throw up.

*     *     *

It was clear
from the very first debrief that they were dealing with a massive fire. It had started out as several different fronts and had converged due to the dry and windy weather conditions into a colossal wall of fire sweeping everything in its path.

Abbotsville was the most pressing concern and where a lot of the resources had been deployed. Tens of thousands of acres of forest and bushland had already been destroyed, as well as a handful of houses on properties. The good news was that there hadn’t been any loss of life as yet. But the tiny hamlet of Abbotsville, population forty-two, was right in the fire’s path.

An evacuation order was currently being carried out and firefighters were working on containment lines and fighting to control it. Ember attack was a real threat and if they weren’t able to push the fire back, huge property losses were expected.

It was also clear that the weather was not on their side. The modelling from the meteorology bureau showed that hot, dry, windy conditions were predicted for the next three days before a cool change and possible rain.

Everyone at that first debrief, no matter what their religious belief, sent up a quick prayer for rain.

*     *     *

Selena was not
prepared for the emotional tumult of the next few days, following the highs and lows of the no-holds-barred fight with nature. The fire jumped containment lines at Abbotsville and every house but two was razed to the ground.

Selena was there with the rest of the media when residents were allowed back in; the scenes were heartbreaking. Broken people, hugging and weeping, grateful to be alive but openly mourning the loss of their houses and their community.

The fire constantly changed direction, threatening a host of different communities along the way. Each time, due to the dedication and commitment of the firefighters on the ground and the water bombers in the sky, it was pushed back. Selena and her crew, along with the rest of the media, were kept busy filing reports, getting in to talk to people who had been affected when they could, interviewing those who’d had lucky escapes or those who had stayed to defend their properties, as well as local mayors and other officials.

Selena had filed a particularly heart-wrenching report on the loss of native animals; pictures of fleeing kangaroos bounding away over scorched ground, along with koalas and other animals being rescued from the black, smoky bush, had apparently caused a switchboard meltdown at the station.

But the most harrowing stories were told by the faces of the men and women who were on the frontline, saving homes and communities from destruction. Blackened uniforms, lines of sooty sweat running down faces etched with exhaustion, but also grimness and determination to beat this monster back.

Selena asked after Jarrod whenever she saw a sooty-faced warrior. But so many firefighters from outside the region and even interstate were helping out that no-one she talked to knew him. She’d rung him several times, but he hadn’t replied and the only way to stop herself from going mad worrying about him was to keep busy and take heart from the casualty reports that no-one, including firemen, had been seriously injured or killed.

Considering the enormity of the menace it had been a miracle.

On the afternoon of the third day, with no let-up in the dry, windy conditions, the mobile command centre moved to Jumbuck Springs. It had shifted twice already in response to the changing nature of the fire and, with the front now changing direction east towards Jumbuck Springs, fire command in Brisbane had ordered the move.

Selena was both worried and relieved about the development. It was great to see for herself that Grandy was fine and to be able to stay at the house with her crew and have the luxury of a shower instead of sleeping rough on the ground or in the vehicle in between chasing down stories. The threat to Jumbuck Springs was real, though, and while she’d fled her hometown fifteen years ago, it was still as much in her blood as it ever was.

The township was currently under a watch-and-act alert; all stops had been pulled out to halt the fire before it could become a real threat to the town. Everyone was holding out hope that the predicted weather change would come in time. With two thousand residents it was the biggest community threatened by the fire so far and the loss of property should the fire go through the town would be on an unimaginable scale. Already many of the residents of the outlying properties, those who’d decided not to stay and defend their homes, had been evacuated to a centre in Jumbuck Springs.

One of the first people Selena ran into at the command centre was Marcus. He was in his paramedic uniform and was standing near his ambulance reporting to a guy with a clipboard.