Page 17 of One More Time

I followed him down the rest of the short hallway, which opened into a large room. A kitchen area had several round tables and chairs nearby. Two large sectional couches sat in front of a TV mounted on the wall. Beyond that was a glass-enclosed workout room. All of this was fairly standard for fire stations.

A few guys were working out, and some lounged on the couch. “Hey!” Hudson called out to the room at large. “Jack’s here.”

The two guys seated on the couch glanced over. “Hey, hey,” one of them said as he stood from the couch, approaching to shake my hand as we walked over.

“Leo, Jack. Jack, Leo,” Hudson said as he pointed back and forth.

Leo grinned. “Nice to meet you in person.”

The other guy turned off the TV and stood. He held his hand out to shake mine. “Kincaid,” he said simply.

“Jack. Good to meet you.”

“These guys are on the hotshot crew,” Hudson explained. “We used to work together up in Fairbanks.”

“You should come with us tonight to locals’ night at the winery,” Leo said.

“I’ve heard about that.”

“Food’s good, drinks are good, and it’s always a good place to hang out. Hope you don’t mind being in a small town,” Kincaid chimed in.

“Not at all. I grew up outside of Seattle in a small town in the foothills of the Cascades. This is my first full winter in Alaska. I have family in Diamond Creek, so I spent the first half of this winter with them.”

“Nice,” Leo replied. “So you’re technically local.”

I chuckled. “I don’t know about that. Alaska is pretty big.”

“It’s big geographically but small otherwise,” Hudson said.

“Nice ski lodge in Diamond Creek,” Kincaid added.

“That ski lodge happens to be owned by my cousins.”

Kincaid let out a little whistle. “Sweet. Pretty place.”

“It sure is. It was impossible for me to get out of shape while I was there. I helped out as one of the first responders for their emergency team. They’ve got hundreds of miles of cross-country ski trails in addition to the downhill ones. I stayed busy. Nice work, though. View’s always a stunner every way you look.”

A few other guys wandered in before Hudson took me on a full tour. After that, I worked out. I needed it.

Just as I climbed into my truck to leave a while later, my cell rang. I glanced at the screen and answered immediately. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Derek replied.

“You know, people get worried when you don’t call back.”

My heart burned a little at the sound of his voice. It was strained. I knew my brother was tired. My plan was to bring him up here to stay with me. I had already confirmed we could get the medical monitoring he needed. After his last miserable bout with chemo, he decided to just face his odds.

“I know,” he said, his voice thready. “I was just getting all my ducks in a row. I think I can be up there in about two months. I might be pretty sick by then. Are you sure you want me to do this?”

“Yes.”

I’d honestly never been more certain of anything in my life. My brother was my best friend, and it was going to hurt like fucking hell, but I was determined to be there for him. If he wanted to spend the last months of his life in Alaska with me, then that was what we would do.

“If you change your mind and want to do treatment, I’m there. We’ll figure it out one way or another,” I added.

I hadn’t told my brother that I’d gone behind his back to confirm we could get him the help he needed in Juneau if he changed his mind. “I close on the house next month.”

“I’ll be there. All right. Love you, man,” he said, clicking to end the call before I could return the sentiment.