Nearly everyone was off the roof by then, and many were talking and shouting at once. He ran back a few paces to see if Lily was up there, but he didn’t see her.
A small hand grabbed the front of his shirt. Chelsea.
“Garrett and Lily are still in there!” she screamed. “They didn’t make it out!”
“Get everyone out of the way,” he said, and ran back to the truck. He got behind the wheel and slammed the door. The other door slammed too, and he realized Jeremiah had returned to his spot in the passenger seat.
They locked eyes. Something connected. His brother nodded, pulled his seatbelt on and said, “Hit it.”
So Ethan hit it.
Lily was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Even down flat on the floor, there was no good air. But she was conscious enough to hear the thunderous crash and see the blazing lights that suddenly pierced the darkness. She held her hand before her eyes and looked into the light.
Ethan’s truck, like a fiery red steed with blazing eyes. It backed up slightly, leaving a gaping hole behind. And then Ethan was coming toward her, a tall, broad, Stetson-wearing shadow framed in light. He crouched low and scooped her up into his arms. “I got you, Lil. I got you.”
“Your father,” she croaked, and managed to point limply.
He turned, dropped back to one knee, still holding Lily. “Dad.”
Garrett pushed himself up. “I’m alive.”
“I got him, Brother.” A bearded man pulled Garrett’s arm around his shoulder, gripped him around the waist, and helped him get up onto his feet. The flames roared closer, drawn by the fresh oxygen coming in through the gaping hole.
“Gringo Sombrero?” Lily asked.
“Ma’am.”
She let her head fall against Ethan’s chest, and rocked with his steps as he carried her out through the hole his truck had made in their beautiful honky-tonk. “Did my father get out?” she croaked, surprised her voice sounded so deep and hoarse.
“I saw him. He looked okay. Cat too.”
There were flashing lights and firefighters on the outside. There were hoses attacking the flames, and there were Brands everywhere. A medic came running and pressed an oxygen mask over her face. “Over here, bring her over here.”
A few more steps and Ethan was lowering Lily onto some EMT’s gurney and taking his arms away. She sat up and pushed off the mask, reaching for him. “Ethan!”
And then his arms were around her again. “It’s okay, I’m right here.”
“Ethan.” It was a whisper this time. Her cheek was pressed to his, and she felt a teardrop that was not her own. Startled, she drew back to look at his face. Flashing red-and-white lights painted it in the darkness, and made the tears on his cheeks flash like diamonds. “Ethan?”
He put the oxygen mask back over her nose and mouth and then smoothed her hair out from under the elastic band. He looked around, and she followed his gaze as best she could. The fog in her mind was fading, though, as the oxygen did its job. She saw Garrett in Chelsea’s arms, ignoring the medics who tried to get at him. She saw Elliot Brand, Trevor’s dad, sitting on the tailgate of a firetruck, breathing oxygen through a mask like she was. He’d been among the final group to escape out the window.
She pulled her mask off and said to the medic beside her, “His heart stopped in there,” she said, nodding Garrett’s way, and she heard Ethan gasp.
He looked his father’s way, as the medic spoke into a mic clipped to his shirt, apparently to the EMTs who were pestering Garrett, because they got very serious very fast and Chelsea looked suddenly thunderstruck.
“We need to transport her, Mr. Brand,” the medic said to Ethan.
“I’m ridin’ in with her if you think you can work around me.”
The guy nodded, and Ethan eased Lily’s arms from his neck. She lay down so they could collapse the gurney and rolled her into the back. Ethan climbed in after her, and the EMT said, “I’ll ride up front, but if anything changes?—”
“Got it.
Before he could close the rear doors, her father and brother were there, leaning in.
“Baby!” Hyram cried.
She lifted the mask again. “I’m okay. But make sure Garrett is.”
