Chasing Fire

along in a strong, smoky alto while keeping the beat with her knife.
    Her Native American blood—from her mother’s grandmother—showed in her cheekbones, but the Irish dominated in the mild white skin dashed with freckles and the lively hazel eyes.
    Those eyes caught Rowan’s now, and rolled toward the woman washing greens in the sink.
    Rowan lifted her shoulders, let them fall. “Smells good in here.” She made sure her voice carried over the music.
    At the sink, Dolly froze, then slowly switched off the water and turned.
    Her face was a bit fuller, Rowan noted, and her breasts as well. She had her blond hair in a high, jaunty ponytail, and needed a root job.
    But that was probably unkind, Rowan thought. A new mother had other priorities. The rose in her cheeks came from emotion rather than blush as she cast her gaze down and dried her hands on a cloth.
    “We got pork roasting to go with the rosemary potatoes, butter beans and carrots. Veggies get three-cheese ravioli. Gonna put a big-ass Mediterranean salad together. Pound cake and blueberry crumble for dessert.”
    “Sign me up.”
    Rowan opened the refrigerator and took out a soda as Marg went back to her potatoes.
    “How are you doing, Dolly?”
    “I’m fine, and you?” She said it primly, chin in the air now.
    “Good enough. Maybe you could take a quick break, catch a little air with me?”
    “We’re busy. Lynn—”
    “Better get her skinny ass back in here right quick,” Marg interrupted. “You go on out, and if you see her, send her in.”
    “I need to dry these greens,” Dolly began, but shrunk—as all did—under Marg’s steely stare. “Okay, fine.” She tossed aside her cloth, headed for the door.
    Rowan exchanged a look with Marg, then followed.
    “I saw a picture of your baby,” Rowan began. “She’s beautiful.”
    “Jim’s baby.”
    “She’s beautiful,” Rowan repeated.
    “She’s a gift from God.” Dolly folded her arms as she walked. “I need this job to provide for her. I hope you’re Christian enough not to do anything that gets me fired.”
    “I don’t think about it being Christian or otherwise, Dolly. I think about it as being human. I never had a problem with you, and I’m not looking to have one now.”
    “I’ll cook for you just like I cook for the rest. I hope you’ll show me the respect of staying clear of me and I’ll do the same. Reverend Latterly says I have to forgive you to get right with the Lord, but I don’t.”
    “Forgive me for what?”
    “You’re the reason my baby’s going to grow up without her daddy.”
    Rowan said nothing for a moment. “Maybe you need to believe that to get through, and I find I don’t give a shit either way.”
    “I expect that from you.”
    “Then I’m happy not to disappoint you. You can claim to have tripped over God or to’ve been born again, I don’t care about that either. But you’ve got a baby, and you need work. You’re good at the work. What you’re going to have to suck up, Dolly, is to keep the work, you have to deal with me. When I feel like coming into the kitchen, I will, whether you’re around or not. I’m not going to live my life around your stipulations or misplaced grudges.”
    She held up a hand before Dolly could speak. “One more thing. You got away with coming at me once. You won’t get away with it again. New baby or not, I’ll put you down. Other than that, we won’t have a problem.”
    “You’re a heartless whore, and one day you’ll pay for all you’ve done. It should’ve been you instead of Jim that day. It should’ve been you, screaming your way to the ground.”
    She ran back to the kitchen.
    “Well,” Rowan mumbled, “that went well.”

6
     
    R owan slept poorly, and put the blame squarely on Dolly. She’d checked the radar, the logs, the maps before turning in. Fires sparked near Denali in Alaska and in the Marble Mountains of Northern California. She’d considered—half hoped—she’d be called up and spend part of her night on a transport plane. But no siren sounded, no knock banged on her door.
    Instead, she’d dreamed of Jim for the second night in a row. She woke irritated and itchy, and annoyed with her own subconscious for being so easily manipulated.
    Done with it, she promised herself, and decided to start her day with a good, hard run to blow the mood away.
    As her muscles warmed toward the first quarter mile, Gull fell into step beside her.
    She flicked him a glance. “Is this going