On A Night Like This (Callaways #1)

some ice out of the freezer and then applied it to his face.
    Lynda entered the kitchen a moment later, her brows pinching together as she took in the ice and the bruise on his face.
    "I didn't realize you'd injured yourself," she said.
    "It's fine," he said, not choosing to explain.
    He sat down at the same large, rectangular table where he'd once done his schoolwork and let the feeling of being home run through him. The large country-style kitchen had oak cabinets and hardwood floors. His mother had had the kitchen redone when he was in high school, adding tons of cupboard space to accommodate the amount of food eight children could consume in any given day. There was also plenty of open counter space including a center island that had often served as ground central for his sisters' baking adventures. He'd usually tried to stay out of those, at least until the batter could be tasted. He smiled at the memories.
    This house had always been a safe harbor, but he wasn't sure it would be now. Lynda might be cheerful and welcoming, but he suspected his father and older brother, Burke, would have a different attitude. He'd already received several phone and text messages from both of them and they'd gone from initially being worried about his health to being extremely pissed off that he wasn't trying to counter some of the negative reports that were out there.
    "Are you hungry, thirsty?" Lynda asked, worry in her eyes. "What do you need?"
    What did he need? He couldn't begin to tell her.
    "Just sit down," he said. "I don't need anything."
    "Don't you?" she challenged as she took the chair across from him. "You're hurt, Aiden, and I'm not talking about that bruise on your face, although that looks more like the handiwork of someone's fist than a fire."
    Lynda had always been perceptive, sometimes more than he'd appreciated. She'd been his stepmother since he was eight years old. It had taken him a while to connect with her; he'd been really close with his biological mom. But Lynda was the one who had been there for him when he needed a mother.
    "Who hit you?" she asked. "And don't waste my time denying what happened."
    "Ray Hawkins."
    Her lips tightened. "Kyle's friend."
    "Yeah. His cousin, Dave, was on my crew when Kyle died. He hadn't been jumping with us very long. He'd just transferred from Missoula. He wasn't a big fan of mine, either."
    "Can you tell me what happened to Kyle?"
    Her words brought with them a flash of memory, the roaring forest fire, the whipping winds, and the fear on the faces of his fellow smoke jumpers. Fire season was supposed to be over. It was the beginning of October. They'd been packing away their gear, preparing to move on to their off-season jobs. But a hundred unexpected lightning strikes in the Shasta-Trinity forest had changed their plans.
    "Aiden?" Lynda's persistent voice brought him back to the present. "What happened to Kyle?"
    "He died." The words felt as unreal now as they had three weeks earlier.
    "How?"
    "Does it matter?" He set down the ice pack. "It was my fault."
    "I don't believe that."
    "Everyone else does. I'm sure Dad or Burke or someone has already told you that I'm responsible."
    "I want to hear what you have to say," she said.
    "And you've heard it."
    She stared back at him. "I've heard nothing. You're different, Aiden. Harder, edgier, angrier—I barely recognize you."
    Sometimes he barely recognized himself.
    "You're going to stay for a while," she said, as if daring him to argue. "You need to be home with your family. You need to heal."
    "Is there room?" he asked, not sure which of his many siblings were staying in the house these days.
    "There's always room for my children," she said.
    "I'm thirty-two," he reminded her.
    "When I look at you I can still remember the nine-year-old who wrapped up his lizard and gave it to me as a birthday present."
    "You should have been honored. It was my favorite lizard," he said, relieved with the change of subject.
    "You were testing me."
    "Well, you passed. You weren't at all scared. I was impressed."
    "Thank goodness it wasn't a snake. You can have your old room over the garage if you want. Shayla, Colton and Emma are in the other rooms right now."
    "That's fine." He'd be happier out of the main house. There would be less chaos and hopefully fewer questions if his siblings or parents had to walk down the driveway and up the stairs to talk to him.
    As he rose, the side door opened, and his sister Nicole walked in with her