The backburn had worked.
For a second time, Scarlet’s smoky streets echoed with cheers.
Chapter 20
The sweet soundof Vicki’s voice drifted over Eric, a hand stroking his hair. “I’m right here, Eric. Can you hear me?”
Was she crying?
He wanted to answer, wanted to open his eyes, but couldn’t.
“He’s still a little out of it from the anesthesia,” said a voice he didn’t recognize. “He’ll come around soon.”
“I don’t want him to suffer. He’s been through enough.”
“We’ll do all we can to keep him comfortable.”
Then he was off again, drifting in and out of awareness.
When at last he opened his eyes, he found Vicki still beside him.
She smiled, stroked his hair. “Welcome back.”
“Vicki.” He reached for her with a bandaged hand.
She took her palm in his. “I don’t think we’ll be able to hold hands for a while.”
“Is oral sex out?”
She smiled, laughed. “As soon as you’re home again, you will getallthe head.”
He liked that idea.
Sadly, he wouldn’t be leaving any time soon. “Did you talk to the doctor?”
She nodded. “He explained all of it—the temporary skin grafts, how they’ll eventually take some of your own skin for permanent skin grafts on the two worst areas. He says you’re probably going to be here for a month with physical therapy and possible follow-up surgery after that. He also said he expects you to recover and to walk normally once you’re healed.”
They had stitched sheets of lab-cultivated pig skin onto his leg to cover the deep second-degree burn area—the biggest part of it. Those would protect him from infection and help his skin heal faster and scar less. They’d done the same with the worst areas of full-thickness burns, but those would have to be replaced with sheets of his own skin from donor sites. The doctor had warned him that it was going to be painful, and he was going to spent a lot of time in this bed.
But, hey, he was alive.
He raised his hand to Vicki’s face, the weight of his own failure weighing on him. “I let everyone down, Vicki.”
She smiled, shook her head. “No, you didn’t. Your plan worked. You saved Scarlet. The fire isn’t out, but it is contained.”
Maybe it was the morphine, but Eric could hardly believe what he was hearing. “Contained?”
She held up her phone so that he could see the photo she’d gotten from Megs of the 747 Supertanker dropping retardant on spot fires above town. “Check this out.”
It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
He closed his eyes, relief sweeter than morphine.
The town was safe. Scarlet was safe.
Then he remembered. “What about Taylor?”
“Austin is fine. He sheltered in a lake and became hypothermic. Bear found him. He’s at a hospital in Boulder, but Lexi says he’s going home soon.”