Sweet Burn (20 page)

It only took him a moment to swing himself up on top of a card table and give a loud whistle that caught everyone
’
s attention.

“Here
’
s the deal,” he said and then he laid it out for everyone.

What they would do.

What they would
not
do.

So strong. So absolutely sure that he could and would keep every single person inside the building safe. You didn
’
t have to justify yourself to Mack or earn his approval. If you needed help, he gave it. For him, it was that simple.

She wished she were the same.

She
’
d never really thought much about dying, but funny how a wildland fire bearing down on her made those thoughts take precedence. She wasn
’
t sure if she was supposed to be having some kind of personal epiphany or watching Technicolor flashes of her life
’
s highlights reel, but neither of those options were happening. Instead, she had an urge to stand up and chant
fuck you, universe
. That was definitely more her style.

Letting the people around her know that she was scared…

Nope. That wasn
’
t happening. Life had taught her early on to never show vulnerability. It was kind of like showing white belly to a predator—life would take a big ass bite and, even if it didn
’
t kill her, it sure would hurt. She could spend all the time in the world trying to be perfect, but it wasn
’
t going to work.

She was damned imperfect.

In fact, now she thought about it and did one of those personal inventories the self-help books recommended (in all of ten seconds because, hey—wildland fire headed her way), she
’
d never had a future as the poster child for good.

Waiting had never been something Mimi did well. The strange mixture of light and dark outside made her feel on edge and uneasy. When she snuck away from the group and peeked outside through the front doors, the sun was trying to come up while the smoke from the fire choked out all the natural light, leaving only orange and black. The fire chief had herded everyone onto the casino
’
s main floor minutes later. His radio crackled, broadcasting updates from the field. Many of the clusters of people seemed nervous, clutching cell phones and dialing frantically. She supposed it was interesting to see who was snapping selfies and documenting the fire, versus who was waiting it out with a loved one on the other end.

She didn
’
t have anyone to call.

Other than Mack, who was right here.

There was no one who needed to know she was sheltering in place in a casino that was about to be overrun by a wildfire front and that someone should check and make sure she was okay. And didn
’
t that feel like yanking a Band-Aid off feelings she
’
d pushed down and pretended were a-okay? All those people had someone to call. Someones who cared about them and were worried and who would be praying, cursing, hopping in their cars, because they
’
d do anything to bring their loved ones home.

She had a bar.

And maybe she had Mack. She leaned back against Mack, his knees up and braced on either side of her. His chest would have made the perfect pillow but resting was out of the question.

“How long?” she asked.

“Jack estimates fifteen minutes tops.”

“You really think this is going to work?” She didn
’
t ask her question too loudly. She didn
’
t need to start a stampede. The fire chief had made it plenty clear what would happen if someone popped a door when the firestorm passed over.

“It
’
s not my first choice but, yeah.”

The chief had stationed his firefighters on the outer perimeter. Mack wasn
’
t over there with them, which struck her as odd. Usually, wherever the firefighters went, there went Mack. “You need to go stand with them?”

She couldn
’
t interpret his expression. “You want me to go?”

Absolutely not. If she had to do this (and clearly Mother Nature wasn
’
t giving anyone here a choice), having Mack by her side was the only way she wouldn
’
t turn into a gibbering basket case.

“Stay,” she said and he nodded.

He pulled back the collar of her jacket and fished for the tag on her T-shirt. “You wearing any synthetics?”

“Is it going to matter?”

“It shouldn
’
t.” He hesitated. “But if something goes really wrong, Mimi, you need to strip off anything that isn
’
t all-natural, okay?”

He
’
d been given a jacket from the fire engine and he tugged off her leather jacket, substituting the firefighter gear. The casino floor was singularly lacking in windows, which was a win for them. No windows meant no glass to blow out. Unfortunately, it also meant no way to look out, either. She hated not knowing what was coming.

“The tankers can go up in another ten minutes. The IC is sending two our way.”

Ten minutes plus however long it took the planes to get here and dump their load. What if they missed? What if they couldn
’
t dump enough water? She needed to not think.

“Distract me?” She didn
’
t want to imagine the building burning around them.

He scooped her up and deposited her on his lap. “We could get married now.”

“With a fire coming?” She hated excuses but, really… this wasn
’
t the time to stage a wedding.

“
Five minutes.
” He sounded certain. “That
’
s all the time it would take.”

“You need a license.” A guess on her part, but she was fairly certain that no one could just up and get married in five minutes.

He patted the pocket of his jacket. “I
’
ve got one.”

Right. Because most guys carried a marriage license around in their pockets. Of course, this was the same man who
’
d produced the most beautiful engagement ring she
’
d ever seen. She twisted the ring on her finger. This was crazy. Even Mack couldn
’
t pull off an insta-wedding with a fire storm bearing down on them. Could he?

“You also need a priest. Or an officiant.”

She had no idea why she kept manufacturing excuses. Mack always did things on his own terms. If anyone could hold off a fire and get married at the same time, it would be Mack. Rio and Gia had gotten married in the middle of freefalling, after all. She could imagine Mack doing that. Not to her, of course, because she wasn
’
t jumping out of a plane for anything. But she could definitely imagine him speaking his vows in mid-air, all laughing daredevil as the plane fell away and the ground rose up.

Mack nodded towards a man leaning against a bank of slot machines. The man was on the far side of sixty, his skin weather-beaten and bronzed by the sun. Dark hair hung past his shoulders in a neat braid. He was wearing a jean jacket, T-shirt, and cowboy boots. On the outside, he didn
’
t look much different from many of the casino
’
s guests and employees. He certainly didn
’
t look like a priest or a minister or even any justice of the peace she
’
d ever seen.

“He
’
s a medicine man. He can do it.”

She opened her mouth. For weeks, she
’
d run from the guy and now that he had a ring on her finger, he wanted to take their relationship to the next level in less than an
hour
?

“Think about it,” Mack said, brushing a kiss over her mouth and sliding her off his lap. “I
’
m going to go over there and give him the license just in case. He has to read it before he can marry us.”

Wow. Mack had done his research. She watched him go, watched him come back with the alleged medicine man in tow. She had no idea what she was going to say. She
’
d spent so much time saying
no
that anything else wasn
’
t possible, was it? She looked at Mack.
Really
looked. He was the same hot guy with an amazing body and all the right moves in bed—where he was still holding out for a ring—he
’
d always been, but he was something more. Being near him heated her body right up, but he was also the kind of man she actually could imagine spending the rest of her life with.

Approximately all fourteen minutes of it.

Getting married was what Mack wanted, and maybe it wouldn
’
t hurt her to be a little less selfish. Getting married didn
’
t mean they had to stay married, after all. He could have his ceremony and, if the firestorm didn
’
t pass them over, then they could annul the marriage. After all, she knew plenty about annulments. These were just words, words that would make Mack happy. She could do married for thirteen minutes, forty…she had no idea how long it took to die in a firestorm.

Mack paused and squatted down beside the dealer who had handled their bet. The older woman was curled up with a man wearing a matching uniform. Mimi could just make out the sweet expression on her face as she whispered something to the guy. Her husband, Mimi realized. She hadn
’
t thought about how many people did that, growing older together. Weathering life
’
s ups and downs, the good and the bad. It was…sweet. Sweet and powerful and something that made her throat close up just a little.

Or maybe that was just the smoke. Mack had ordered the HVAC system shut down, because they didn
’
t want to pull smoke and ash inside the building, but something had to have slipped through. She curled her fingers into her water-soaked hand towel. She was ready. She could do this.

Mack roundtripped it, bringing the medicine man, the dealer, and her husband with him.

“How about it?” Mack extended a hand to her. “Simone and Alex here have agreed to stand as our witnesses. Roy will marry us.”

She looked up at the dealer, who had a big smile splitting her face as she leaned into her husband
’
s side. Sure enough, the name tag on the woman
’
s shirt read
Simone
. A corresponding grin stretched across her husband
’
s face. The two of them were clearly and completely on board with Mack
’
s crazy plan.

It was crazy.

Completely irresponsible and ridiculous.

And yet when he held out his hand, she took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

“Okay,” she said. There. She sounded confident. Sure. Not like she
’
d temporarily promised away her freedom (and possibly her heart, although she was not going to think about that now). Four letters, two syllables—and everything changed.

A ring of faces turned towards them. A last-minute wedding was clearly the distraction everybody needed to take their minds off what might be happening outside. Mimi looked around, registering curious, scared, happy, terrified. There were plenty of emotions in her audience.

Roy spread a hotel towel on the carpet. “
Pretend,
” he said and she thought:
I can do that
. She was so very good at pretending. “This is your wedding blanket.”

Before she could really take in that she was going to do this, Roy got started. Of course, they didn
’
t have much time. In fact, they might not have any time, so clearly he wasn
’
t planning on wasting whatever might be left. All too soon, Roy was leading Mack through his vows.

“I, Mack, take you Mimi as my wife. I solemnly swear my love for you.”

The words were familiar yet strange. This was
Mack
making her promises. To comfort and keep, to love and defend.

“For better, for worse, in riches or in poverty, sadness or happiness, until death do us part.”

It was the
death
part prompting all this. This wasn’t about living together. It was about dying together, about doing something to pay back for all the wrong things she’d done. She didn’t know how this could possibly work out, even if the odds hadn’t been high that they were all dying in the next twenty minutes. Mack was smiling at her with his eyes, though, as he held her gaze, his hands curved around hers.

“This I promise you,” he said and she knew he meant it.

She was good at ignoring problems, at moving on and leaving disaster in her wake. She was a short-term lover and she’d never played for keeps. Mack actually made her want to be different, which was almost more dangerous than the fire outside. If she tried, she’
d fail.

“We’re not dying any time soon. That’s another promise,” he said in his rough voice, like maybe he’d gotten inside her head for just a minute. She hoped not. There were plenty of thoughts in there that she’d rather he never knew about. His words were endearing, but some things were beyond even Mack’
s control.

Roy looked at her. “
Your turn,
” he said.

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She could do this, she told herself. She wasn’t chickening out.

“I, Mimi, take you, Mack,” Roy prompted, still smiling.

She tried again and, this time, the words came out, more croaky than she would have liked, but she said them. Behind her, someone sighed. Probably Simone.

Roy nudged her closer to Mack and draped the towel around their shoulders. Then he held out his hand and Mack set two rings into his palm: the gorgeous diamond band she’d discovered in the ring box and her mood ring. She didn’t even have a proper ring for him.

Roy looked up at them. “Usually, I’d say a native blessing, but I think we’re running short on time.
Aho
.”

Mack slid the diamond band onto her finger. “Accept this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. With all I am, with all I have, I honor and love you.”

All she had to offer him was a five-dollar piece of plastic that turned the colors of the rainbow. Mack deserved more, but Roy was right about one thing. They were out of time. They could be dead in a matter of minutes.

She worked the mood ring onto Mack’s finger, as far as it would go. When it wouldn’t fit onto his ring finger, she switched tactics and slipped it onto his pinky. She’d done the right thing. A grin split Mack’s face as he held her hands, rubbing his thumb over her new rings. The mood ring slowly turned pink on his hand. Too small, not enough, she thought.

“Now as Mack and Mimi have agreed to live together in sacred matrimony and have pledged their faith to each other by the giving and the receiving of these rings, according to the powers vested in me by the State of California, I declare you to be husband and wife.”