Page 58 of Some Like It Hot
He’d looked up once, and the entire shelter had turned an eerie, burned orange. The fire had stopped roaring, but the crackling and snapping evidenced a world in flame around them.
“Maybe we should run to the lake.”
He wished he knew how long they’d been huddled together. Ten minutes? Twenty?
“No, we can’t. The air is unbreathable—”
“I can’t breathe here!”
He turned his head and pressed his lips to her hair. “I know.”
She stilled, as if trying to clamp down on her panic. Outside, a wind howled, the weather from the firestorm, and it shook the shelter.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s just… It’s so hot.”
His entire body sweated, his hair soggy, his forehead dripping.
Maybe he should have run for the lake. Grabbed her up and fled. But his instincts told him to throw down, hunker down, and…pray.
Pray.
Oh God. Please help us.
He didn’t know where it came from, maybe desperation, maybe because he had nowhere else to turn—but the words formed like a wave, crashing over him.Please, please, don’t let me have screwed this up. Keep us alive.
His breathing was coming fast, and Larke reached under her body and found his hand. She threaded her fingers through his and squeezed.
Apparently, he wasn’t radiating as much calm as he hoped.
A gust of wind washed sauna heat over them.
Larke moaned.
Riley closed his eyes. His legs and arms burned, the lactic acid building up, his shoulder achy and raw from lying on it. He felt his own moan building and shoved it back down, clenching his teeth against it.
You are their good shepherd. Protect them. Guide them. And bring them home safely.
Barry’s words picked right then to thread through him, coil around him, but he leaned into them.The Lord is my shepherd…
Riley’s breath trembled out, the heat pressing into his bones, his flesh nearly on fire.
And it had to be worse for Larke, her nightmares replaying all over again, him pinning her to the ground, turning her helpless, even if it was to save her life.
“Say it with me, Larke. I don’t know it all— ‘The Lord is my shepherd…’”
“‘I…I shall not…want.’” Her breaths were choppy. “‘He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters…’”
He closed his eyes. “‘He restoreth my soul…’”
I think your dad would still be proud of you.
His eyes burned, his throat filling.Dad…I’m sorry.
“‘He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake,’” Larke whispered.
For his name’s sake.
For a moment the old man walked into his memory. Garbed in his uniform, the dress whites, the rows and rows of medals. Packed and ready for deployment. But first a stop at church.Never go to war without God, Riley. Only when you belong completely to him can he truly use you.