Imagining the look on her face if she lost the vineyard was almost enough to break me in two. I couldn’t let it happen. I wouldn’t. The flames doubled in size, creating its own weather, making wind from within itself as if it needed little else to help fuel it. I continued to spray at it from every direction, moving my body in angles that fucking ached as I held the weight of the hose in my arms. I realized in that moment that there was no way I was going to win this battle, but I refused to quit.

The sirens grew louder, and I knew they were here, but I was afraid to stop fighting and look back to check.

“James, we’ll take it from here.” A handful of firemen suddenly fanned out around me, gallons of water spraying out from all directions as the vineyard lit up. “We got this. Get back,” one of them said, but I was afraid to stop. “James! Get out of here,” he shouted, and I finally dropped my hose and took a breath, my arms shaking.

The flames were already starting to back down with the amount of pressure and power they wielded against it at once. It could have been so much worse. Fires had the ability to destroy entire towns without a second thought, and they had burned half of this one once in the past.

I started to walk away, feeling a little dazed.

“James.”

Julia came to a running stop in front of me, and I stopped walking, too. Whatever existed between us zinged to life, and there was no way she didn’t feel it, too. Her hands reached for my shoulders, and I couldn’t remember the last time she’d physically touched me.

“Are you okay? What are you doing all the way out here? Are you hurt?” She swiped her thumb across my forehead, and I winced. “You’re bleeding.”

“I am?” I wiped at my head and noticed the blood on my fingertips. I had no idea how that had even happened.

“What happened?” She reached inside her purse and pulled something out, pressing it against my head.

I let her take care of me—not only because she was offering for the first time in our lives, but also because I wanted her to.

“I don’t know, but I tried, Julia. I’m so sorry,” I told her, wanting so badly to hug her and never let go.

“Sorry for what?” she asked. Her eyes were on mine, filled with concern for what I believed was me and not her vines.

“I tried to save your vines,” I said.

A surprised gasp escaped her lips as she looked over my shoulder and took three leaping steps past me, as if only now realizing that they had been in danger.