Wildfire: A Novel (The Maple Hills Series)

The tent wasn’t one of my better ideas and somewhere around two a.m. I got so annoyed with the noise it made when I moved around that I dragged us both back into the house.

I thought the tent would be romantic but for the first time, we really did struggle to make it fit. It was stuffy and annoying and I entirely misjudged how cute it would be. There was also a massive spider that Russ claimed he removed, which I truly believe he did not, and now I’m worried I ate it in my sleep.

I hear the sound of the front door opening while Russ is in the shower and I know that I have a short window to join them as the water shuts off. Pulling on some shorts under the Callaghan jersey I stole from Russ’s wardrobe until we go to the campus store and get me my own, I head downstairs to what I hope is going to be his favorite surprise.

It feels weird wandering around Russ’s house like I live here, when the people who actually live here just arrived. Bobby and JJ are fighting over the “happy housewarming party” banner that appears to have been edited with a sharpie to say “happy housecoming party.”

“Housecoming?” I ask as I reach the bottom step.

“It’s the closest we could get to homecoming on such short notice,” JJ laughs.

Bobby holds it up. “You could have made it say homecoming, you just didn’t want to.”

A smaller woman I recognize from all the pictures steps in front of me and reaches out for a hug. “Hi! I’m Stassie, it’s so nice to meet you. Nate told me all about you, but he has hockey stuff and can’t leave Vancouver. He’s really sad he’s missing out.”

“Maybe he should have stayed this side of the border then instead of moving then moaning about it every two seconds. Hi, I’m Lola. I am already obsessed with everything I know about you and I’m planning for us to be friends.”

“Russ has told me really nice things about you both,” I say honestly. “It’s really nice to meet you and thank you for getting everyone here.” Why am I being so formal?

“If Muffin is saying nice things about me, then I’m not working hard enough to scare him,” Lola says, looking confused.

“You definitely are, babe,” Robbie says. “You’re doing a great job with everyone.”

“Rory?” Russ calls from upstairs and everyone instantly goes quiet. “Are you talking to someone?”

“Yeah,” I call back upstairs, “the ghosts.”

“Okay! That’s not at all creepy and unhinged, thanks. I’ll be down in a minute.”

The guys move in silence to quickly pin the banner to the wall at an angle that is definitely not straight. Henry produces a massive bag, when he empties it balloons flood across the floor. Our half-assed decorations look like the world’s saddest birthday party, but in reality, it’s the sweetest thing his friends could have done for him.

While Russ was at his parents’ house yesterday, I received a call from an unknown number that turned out to be Stassie. She hadn’t talked to Russ herself, but she knew if he was missing JJ’s housewarming party because of family trouble it was likely going to be bad. She wanted to know if it was okay for them to come here and throw Russ a homecoming party.

And so, the housecoming party was born.

“I feel like all my kids are home,” JJ whispers proudly as we hear Russ’s bedroom door open.

“You don’t live here,” Robbie whispers back.

My heart feels as loud as Russ’s footsteps and the more stairs he comes down, the more we see of him through the banister. Ankle, calf, knee, thigh . . .

“Is he naked?” Mattie whispers, panicked.

“I did not sign up for seeing anyone’s dick today but my own,” Kris mutters.

Upper thigh . . . boxer shorts. Thank God. The group does a collective sigh of relief and when he gets far enough down the stairs he can see into the living room, he freezes.

“Surprise,” Henry says in the most unexcited way possible.

Russ’s jaw drops. “What the fuck?”

I’ve heard about the guys’ trip to Miami so much I feel like I was actually with them.

“We should all go next year!” Mattie says excitedly.

“No,” Henry and Russ say at the same time.

“I think I’m going to go back to Honey Acres next year, so I’ll have to politely say no.”

“If they’ll have you,” Henry says, taking a bite of a chicken wing. “You got caught breaking their number one rule and it’s not like you two will grope at each other less in a year’s time. We learned that one from Nate and Robbie.”

Russ, who is currently resting his head on top of mine with his arms draped over my shoulders ensuring as much physical contact as possible, scoffs. “Nate and Robbie groping each other?”

Stassie’s eyebrow quirks. “That sounds about right, yeah.”

They all launch into different stories, stopping to explain the significance to me so I don’t feel excluded and Russ’s arms tighten around me. “You okay?” he whispers into my ear. I nod, continuing to listen to a story about the time Robbie and Nate fell out of a ski lift.

This group dynamic is new to Russ too, but I can see why it’s so important to him. This group is a family more than they’re friends and they’re so welcoming that it’s impossible to not fall in love with every single one of them.

That’s what we both desperately need, I think. To be surrounded by people who make us feel loved and wanted. We’ve spent the summer getting used to it with Xander, Jenna and Emilia . . . and the dogs, of course. My relationship with my mom feels like it’s healing and Russ is on a path with his parents that will hopefully give him peace.

All the pieces of our lives are fitting together like a jigsaw and I finally have the inner pieces.

Bobby finishes telling a story about an away game that left him locked outside the hotel naked getting screamed at by their hockey coach, which gives me the opportunity to ask a question I’ve been wanting an answer to for weeks.

“Guys, why do you all call Russ ‘Muffin’?”

Robbie opens his mouth to answer me immediately, but then closes it and frowns, looking to Kris. Kris has the same confused look on his face as Mattie and, one by one, they look to each other with the same look of uncertainty before JJ finally answers. “I literally have no idea.”

I turn in his arms to look up at him and he’s hiding a grin. “Do you know?”

“Yeah. Long story short, I used to work in a bar and Stassie was there one day on her own. These horrible customers were harassing her and I didn’t really know her at this point, so I pretended to be her boyfriend. Basically I fake dated Stassie for an hour and that’s the nickname she gave me.”

“I love fake dating.”

“Fake dating? That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Henry says.

“It was cute. Very creative under pressure, I’d say,” Stassie adds.

“One night I picked Stassie and Lola up from a bar and she was super drunk. She called me Muffin in front of everyone and it, uhm, stuck I guess.”

The groups goes quiet at the same time and I watch all their faces still sporting the same look of confusion. Mattie clears his throat and reaches for his beer. “Yeah, that is not why I thought it was. I thought you just liked muffins a lot, I don’t know.”

“Rory, did Jenna ask about me after we visited?” Bobby asks giving me a wink.

When the guys visited Honey Acres for Russ’s birthday, we realized that Bobby and Kris would have been at camp at the same time as me. We didn’t remember each other thankfully, which I’m extra grateful for because I was probably being annoying and dramatic. Character traits I’d like to not reveal to them until they already like me.

“Would you like me to lie to you so your feelings don’t get hurt?” I ask carefully.

“Yes. If that’s an option, I’d like you to always take it,” Bobby says.

Before I even have a chance to answer, Henry beat me to it. “You’re really good at hockey.”

The guys play fight and while everyone’s distracted, Russ kisses my neck and whispers into my ear. “You’re doing so well. They love you.”

Calm quickly resumes and Bobby looks back to me for confirmation. I nod enthusiastically. “She absolutely asked about you.”

When I told Jenna about Bobby’s long-lived crush on her response was less than happy. “Fantastic. I love it when people return as adults and want to fuck me like I didn’t literally look after them as children.” She made a loud and dramatic retching noise. “I hate men.”

“Maybe I really will work there next year,” he says, much to the disapproval of his friends.

“I hope you’re better at fixing toilets than Russ,” I laugh.

Learning how much Russ likes to touch me when there aren’t any rules prohibiting it has been my favorite discovery of coming back to Maple Hills.

My brain is frazzled trying to suppress my natural instinct to overshare and, despite being a somewhat confident person, the pressure to make sure the people Russ loves so much like me is a lot.

The homewarming—or housecoming, whichever one it is—party is less of a party and more of a chilled day hanging out together. It’s needed after a dramatic couple of days and I love seeing Russ ease me into it all.

I take a break from the action to video call Emilia and Poppy in the backyard. They’re both big fans of my tent and can’t believe I convinced Russ to sleep in it with me. I’m pretty sure Russ would sew a tent from scratch if he thought it’d make me happy.

The back door opens and JJ appears, spotting me on a deck chair on my own. He ambles over, hands in his pockets and sits down beside across from me. “Pops and Emilia send their love,” I say as he sits.

“I saw Emilia’s story. They look like they’re having fun.”

“This feels very formal,” I say awkwardly, shuffling on my seat. Shielding my eyes from the sunlight, I try hard to focus on JJ’s very serious face. “Are you about to give me a lecture? A pep talk? Life advice?” Oh God, the rambling is back.

“A thank you. This is the happiest I’ve seen Russ in the two years I’ve known him.”

The butterflies that live in my stomach dance around happily. “He makes me happy too. Thank you for teaching him to fake being confident long enough for him to talk to me that night.”

“Thank you for letting him see himself the way we see him.”

“This got really fucking deep,” I say. “I think I prefer you making me do Jenga dares.”

“Yeah, it was a bit unnecessarily emotional wasn’t it. I’m trying this mature thing out, don’t think it’s going to stick.” He stands, holding out his hand to me to stand too. “Are you interested in being introduced to drunk Hungry Hippos?”

Walking back into the house, JJ announces he wants to play the new game and disappears to find what he needs. Walking into the kitchen, I spot Russ getting two glasses out of the cupboard. “Stop, thief.” He puts the glasses on the counter, turning to lean against it with his arms folded across his chest.

“I’m the thief?”

“You look familiar. Have you burgled here before?”

He reaches out and pulls me closer, nudging my chin up with his hand, kissing me in a way that makes my knees go weak. I don’t need to search for validation or attention, because I have everything I need right here with this man.

“Tell me a secret, Callaghan.” He brushes my hair out of my face, staring at me like I’m the only thing he sees in this world.

He doesn’t even hesitate. “I’m falling in love with you, Aurora.”

Ten million butterflies. “I’m falling in love with you too.”