“You didn’t know.”
“Maybe we should have had it checked before now. Cause is not confirmed, of course, but I have little doubt it’s the wiring. That shop is so old . . .” She trailed off, then shook her head again. Her bloodshot eyes met mine. “I’m just glad you’re okay. If this had happened while you were sleeping, or if you hadn’t been able to get away, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”
The minutes before I’d noticed the fire replayed through my head again. “I smelled something but couldn’t figure it out. It . . . smelled sharp. I was only outside like ten minutes, but . . .”
“Long enough for it to get going. They think the fire began in the back and then moved up the back wall. Everything there was so old, the wood so dry, that it burned fast.”
“Everything is gone from the attic, isn’t it?” I asked.
She hesitated.
“That’s what they reported to Maverick,” Ellie said softly, casting a pained look my way.
Car. Home. Job. Computer. Clothes. Phone. All wiped out within days. All my books, most likely. How could they have survived? The fire climbed that wall.
Tears filled my eyes. What next?
Where next?
I literally had the clothes on my back. That was it. It seemed so ridiculous, I couldn’t even fathom that it was real. Of course I could stay with Bethany and Maverick. Would have to. But for how long?
They had a new baby, plus Ellie and her dog, chickens, and a goat. Could I move back here after living on my own?
Did I have a choice?
In the background, Maverick spoke to the insurance agency on the phone. Bethany wore a pair of his sweatpants and an old T-shirt. Her silky black hair was pulled away from her face in a messy knot. I’d never seen her this tired. Despite the humming chaos of a baby-filled house, she still wore a light swipe of lipstick. Her power shade.
We sat in the silence for several minutes more before Maverick joined us. He ran a hand over his bleary face and muttered, “Stupid insurance companies,” as he sat down next to Bethany. He put a hand on her shoulder with a questioning glance. She nodded as if to say she was fine. He didn’t move his hand.
This was the second call in the space of forty-eight hours he’d made that involved some major accident and me.
“Sorry, Mav,” I said, “I don’t know what to say. I swear, none of this was intentional. The car, the store. I’m a walking disaster.”
He sent me a sharp look. “Don’t apologize. This wasn’t your fault.”
“Still . . .”
“Are you okay?” he asked me pointedly. “I haven’t gotten a chance to check on you in all this. JJ said you were fighting it with a fire extinguisher until he pulled you out.”
I nodded reluctantly.
“That shop doesn’t matter at all,” he said. “Only you and Ellie, got it?”
Unable to speak for fear of sobbing again, I simply nodded. Bethany leaned toward him, bags under her eyes as she yawned. He scooted closer to let her rest against his chest.
“What did the insurance people say?” she asked sleepily.
“They’re sending an adjuster out next week.”
She murmured something, eyes at half-mast. “’Kay.”
Maverick squeezed her shoulder. “Go lie down, Bethany. Lizbeth, Ellie, and I will take care of the rest.”
“I need to make dinner.”
“I already started it,” Ellie said.
“I didn’t do the laundry.”
“I’ll fold it,” I said.
“Lizbeth needs to talk this out. I—”
A mega yawn cut off the rest of her response. Before she could refuse again, Maverick picked her up off the chair and carried her out of the room, his prosthetic leg thumping on the floor as he moved. I stood, arms filled with dirty baby bottles. After shoving the bottles in soapy water, I gathered up the rest of the dishes and pushed them in too.
A gentle growl came from Thor seconds before Ellie said, “Heads up.”
A knock sounded at the door. I glanced out the windows to see Mark and JJ standing on the porch. Even after all that had just happened, my stomach flipped.
They were the last people I wanted to see right now.
I motioned for Ellie to stay put and answered the door myself. Relief crossed JJ’s face the moment our eyes met.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.” A cold brush of air accompanied them, so I immediately pulled the door open wider. “Come on in.”
They stomped their heavy boots off before trekking inside. Mark waved toward Ellie. She didn’t reciprocate.
“We came to check on our new damsel in distress,” Mark said with a wink.
“Thanks,” I said wryly. “She’s fine.”
I motioned them farther into the room, closer to the roaring fire in the hearth that Maverick had installed himself a few years ago. He’d inherited this house from his grandfather and had been doing renovations ever since he moved in. Before they could settle onto a couch, Maverick returned.
“Greetings, gentlemen,” he said in his rolling baritone. The three of them shook hands in a gruff, manly way. Then Maverick turned the full power of his gaze on JJ. “Thank you for rescuing my daughter twice, JJ.”
Maverick ignored my dramatic eye roll.
“I didn’t rescue her this time,” JJ said. “Just helped her out.”
“How much of the shop is gone?” Mark asked.
“Over half, I think.” Mav ran a hand over his head. “The main area is fine except for smoke damage and some floor that got eaten up, but the area behind the counter is scorched.”
“Adjuster coming soon?”
“Yeah.”
JJ studied me while Mark and Mav fell into business talk about the fallout.
“Sure you’re all right?” JJ asked quietly. Concern filled his gaze.
I nodded. “Thank you again.”
He smiled in a gentle way that made my heart catch, like someone had just pulled a string through it.
He shook his head. “Rough week, right?”
“Yeah.” I managed a wobbly smile. “Very.”
The loss hit me again. Not only my car, which was mostly
