Chapter 2 - THE ROAD THAT DISAPPEARED
The evacuation bus never came.
The road was already closed by flames.
Smoke covered everything.
I pulled my shirt over my mouth and followed the firefighters toward an emergency shelter.
There were dozens of people.
Some were carrying children.
Some carried pets.
Some carried nothing at all.
They had left too quickly.
I kept looking at the sky.
Waiting.
Hoping.
Angry.
Ryan had promised to come back.
But promises meant very little when the person making them had already decided who mattered.
My phone rang.
Ryan.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“At the shelter.”
“You're safe?”
“For now.”
A pause.
“Caleb is with me.”
“Is he okay?”
“He's scared.”
“Put him on.”
Another pause.
“He's sleeping.”
I closed my eyes.
“Ryan.”
“What?”
“Why did Brooke need that seat more than me?”
Silence.
Then he said something that I would remember for the rest of my life.
“She was in danger.”
“So was I.”
“You don't understand.”
“No. I understand perfectly.”
He became defensive.
“Natalie, I was flying into an active fire zone. I had seconds to make decisions.”
“You had time to choose.”
He hung up.
I stared at the phone.
Then someone touched my shoulder.
It was Mason's mother.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“I heard.”
“Heard what?”
She hesitated.
“That Ryan flew Brooke out.”
My jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“I thought you went with them.”
“No.”
She looked shocked.
“Why?”
I almost laughed.
Because my husband chose his ex.
But saying it aloud made it real.
So I simply said:
“There wasn't enough room.”
That night, the fire destroyed three cabins.
The flames came within half a mile of the shelter.
Nobody slept.
At 3:17 a.m., my phone rang again.
This time it wasn't Ryan.
It was Caleb.
“Mom?”
His tiny voice broke something inside me.
“Baby, are you okay?”
“I'm at Grandma's.”
“What?”
“Dad took me there.”
My heart stopped.
“Where is your dad?”
“He left.”
“For where?”
“I don't know.”
“Is Brooke there?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
I sat up.
“What?”
“She's here too.”
I looked around the shelter.
Everything suddenly felt unreal.
“Caleb, listen to me. Stay with Grandma.”
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Dad said he had to help Brooke.”
My eyes burned.
“He said he'd come back.”
“Mom?”
“I'm here.”
“Did Dad leave us?”
I couldn't answer.
May you like
Because I knew the truth.
And for the first time, I was afraid that my nine-year-old son knew it too.
