Everleigh narrows her eyes, then walks away and tugs me with her. That’s when I see Dana standing on the sidewalk, watching the disaster unfold.
“What’re you doing here?” Everleigh asks, shocked to see her.
“Oh hey. You know I live just right down the street. Wanted to see what all the commotion was about. I can’t believe this, Everleigh.”
Her face softens, but I can tell her guard is still up. “Me neither. It sucks more than I can even say.”
While I find it odd that Dana’s here, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities considering how small this town is. News travels fast, and she’s not the only person out here watching. A small crowd has gathered outside.
Though I’ve been here for seven months now, it’s not something I’m used to, and I’m not sure I ever will be. By tomorrow morning, everyone will know what happened.
Once more people arrive, the police tell people to leave, but no one listens. They’re on public property, so it’s their right to stand there.
After another hour, the fire is finally out, and everyone disperses.
“Show’s over, folks,” one of the firemen says.
A man approaches and flashes his badge, introducing himself as the detective who’ll be overseeing this case. “Do you know what started the fire?” she asks.
“Without a proper investigation, I can only speculate from what we’ve noticed so far. It looked like the back door was broken into and the fire started there. Typically windows will break with high heat, but the door was wide open and feeding the fire oxygen. Since it’s past closing hours, I thought it was odd.”
“That is strange. My closer said she locked up before leaving.”
“You have cameras inside the shop, but do you have any in the back rooms?”
“Not where the door is shown. Just where my inventory is stored. There’s a major blind spot for the security camera back there.” I can see the wheels spinning in Everleigh’s mind and different scenarios flood through mine too.
“Does anyone else know that?” he asks.
Now that Natasha has been arrested, I can’t think of anyone who would want to harm her, other than Krystal. The thought makes me sick to my fucking stomach. But I find it almost impossible that she’d know something like that about Everleigh’s shop.
“The only people who would know that are my employees, if they were paying attention,” Everleigh states.
“We’ll be getting all the security footage from the company, but if you think of any other information that could help, here’s my number.” He hands her a business card. “And here’s the case number for the incident report. You’ll need to give it to your insurance company. If we find out anything else, I’ll reach out to you.” Everleigh gives him her number and we thank him before he leaves.
When we walk toward the car, Officer Proctor stops us. I’ve seen this man too many times in the past year and after tonight, I hope to never run into him again. When I do, it’s not for good reasons.
“You’ve not had the best luck lately.” He frowns, holding his keys in his hands.
She lets out an exhausted laugh. “I know. It seems like every two or three months something dramatic happens. First, I get stabbed. Then I nearly get run over by Natasha. And now my shop gets broken into and goes up in flames. What else could possibly happen?”
He offers a kind smile. “That is a lot. Hopefully, things will start lookin’ up for you.”
“It better,” she says, groaning.
Once we’re back in the car, she leans her head against the seat and closes her eyes. “This is a fucking nightmare.”
“Baby, I’m so sorry.” It’s all I can offer, wishing I could fix it all and make everything better for her.
We drive home and talk about going back to the B&B tomorrow to get our bags. I tell her I’ll call them and let them know we had to suddenly leave.
Once we’re home, Everleigh crashes down on the couch and buries her face in her hands. She’s still wearing her bridesmaid dress, a reminder of how the night started on a high note, but ended in disaster.
I sit next to her.
“Who would do this?” she mutters. “And why?”
“Krystal. She’s crazy enough to want to destroy everything in my life along with the people I love,” I say, feeling guilty as hell that she’s been dragged into my past.
“I don’t think she’d know about the camera’s blindspot, though.” She lets out a frustrated sigh. “I knew I needed more back there but just haven’t done it because I trust my employees. I didn’t even think about someone breaking in. I’m so stupid!”
“Sweetheart, no, you’re not. This isn’t your fault. I promise we’ll get to the bottom of it and figure out who did it. Maybe we should ask surrounding businesses if their cameras captured anything suspicious. And if it is Krystal…then we’ll have proof.”
“That’s a good idea,” she says, but she still looks defeated.
“We’ll figure it all out together, baby.”
She meets my eyes and forces a smile. “I know, but it’s just a lot to process and deal with. My to-do list just grew five miles long, and I have inventory arriving at the end of this week. The timing couldn’t be any worse.”
“When is timing ever right?”
She sucks in a deep breath. “Never. This year has sucked for me.”
Her words are like a knife to my heart. I know she’s not directing her anger at me, but it seems these problems of hers didn’t happen until I arrived.
Everleigh’s business is her life, and anyone who paid attention for longer than a minute would know that. Seeing her like this is heartbreaking, and maybe that’s what Krystal was trying to accomplish in the first place.
The next morning, I wake up and cook us breakfast before I drive back to the B&B for our bags. She tossed and turned all night, and right now, we’re both mentally and physically exhausted.
Before we went to bed, I texted Tyler and let him know what happened. Everleigh texted the girls and gave them an update, then apologized again for having to leave early. Of course Katie wasn’t upset and was more sad to learn about what happened. Relief temporarily covered Everleigh’s face, but it was short lived. No one could make her feel better, not even me.
“Biscuits and gravy with a side of crispy bacon,” I present, setting a plate in front of her at the table along with her sugary coffee. Today, she looks like she’s ready to kick someone’s ass.
“Thank you,” she says. “You made a true Southern breakfast. I’m proud of you.”
“I watched a YouTube video,” I admit with a shrug. “That’s homemade milk gravy, not any of that package stuff.”
A small smile plays on her lips. “Color me impressed.”
While we dig in, I try to keep the conversation moving, but I can tell she’s not in the mood for small talk.
“When I get back, want me to stay home with you today?” I ask.
“No, it’s okay. You should go in to work. I have errands to run anyway. I gotta meet with my insurance agent, and then I was gonna call the detective to see if I’m allowed to go to the shop yet. I want to see the damage and write down what I need to do to clean it up. That’ll probably take me all day, and I don’t want you to cancel with your clients again over my problems.”