Page 105 of Not Mine to Rescue

The glare she shot me was brief. “You sound like my therapist.”

“Hippie parents. I blame them.”

She snorted. “We are not naming them—shit.” She broke free from my grasp and walked all the way to the end of the living room. It was almost as far as she could go without leaving the building.

“Shit is not an option. I don’t care how new-age you want to be. It ain’t.”

Another giggle. Then, in all seriousness, she squared off with me. “We’re not picking out names.”

“But you’re going to get checked, right?”

A nod.

Good girl.

Her eyes shot to mine.

Did I say that out loud? Or did she know me that well? I winked at her.

Her coyness pretended she’d not seen that. So I stalked her into a corner. The moonlight played on her cheeks. A soft glow lit her face. I bent in to kiss her, then froze.

That glow? It was orange, not silver. I looked out the windows and swore.

“The barn’s on fire. Call 9-1-1. Go get Lemon. If Fry’s there, get him, too.”

I lit out of the house and grabbed the garden hose. I don’t know what I was thinking. It would do nothing against the flames. They’d already crawled up one side of the building.

That pissed me off and shoved me into action. I picked up the trough of water we left out and let the icy splash freeze my nuts into cubes. Then I slipped off my outer shirt and wrapped it around my face.

I got the goats out first. Stupid assholes ran in every direction but the damn door. The donkey only took one slap to make him hightail it out the door. Whoever said they were dumb was damn wrong.

The cages of rabbits went next. Thank goodness most of them had been released or were still in the house with the five litters of kittens we had. Lemon joined me and tried to run back into the barn to save some of the grain. I stopped her. “Round up the animals.” I glanced over at Honor. She was on the phone with someone. Hopefully, the fire department.

I turned the faucet on and doused myself one more time. I was shivering and half insane, but there was one more animal I needed to rescue. I ran inside and stood in the middle of the span. I searched the rafters, but they were already dense with smoke.

“Hoot!” I tried to whistle, but my lips were already dried out from the heat. “Hootie-hoot. Too-too-too-too-too.” My mimicry of his call wasn’t perfect, but usually he’d flutter down and hit my shoulder.

Unless…

“Hoot!”

Lemon ran inside and tugged me backward. “Move it, dum-dum!”

“Hoot!”

“Asshole. I’m not losing my brother over some damn bird.” She coughed against the smoke that was filling the space.

I grabbed her and carried her out, intent on setting her ass down and going back in, but as I emerged, Honor threw herself on top of me and pulled me down. The weight of them both working against me was too great. I hacked up smoke and tears as the barn glowed an angry red against the sky.

“Hoot?”

Lemon tried to console me. “He probably flew out. You know he’s not caged.”

“Yeah? But he’s stupid.” I coughed deeper because the snot and pain was drowning me. “Why couldn’t he leave?”

Honor hugged me from behind, rocking as the fire department arrived and until the paramedics stuck an oxygen mask on my face. Then she dealt with the questions along with Lemon.

Both of them were soot-stained.