“Is he out?” she asked when Zach returned to the living room.
“Like a light.” He sat next to her on the couch, close enough that their shoulders touched.
“I think we’re going to hear the word frog a whole bunch for the next few days,” she said. New words were like that. They got stuck on repeat in Austin’s brain. “It made an impression on him.”
“It was a great day,” Zach said. “One of the best of my life. Thanks for sharing it with me.”
She reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together. She didn’t know quite what to say to his declaration, but she felt the same way. He raised their joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of hers. She felt her insides melt a little and didn’t object when he pulled her onto his lap. As his hands slipped under the edge of her shirt, her phone rang from where she’d left it on the kitchen counter.
“Ignore it,” she said, locking her arms around his neck and bringing her lips to his. Just before they touched, the ring blasted again. “Damn. It might be something. I’ll be right back.”
Reluctantly, she got up and went to the kitchen. Her sister’s name showed on the screen, so she answered it. Before Charlotte could speak, the wail of fire sirens came through the phone. Carolyn gripped the counter as fear ripped through her.
“The store…the store’s on fire,” Charlotte shouted over the din, confirming Carolyn’s worst nightmare.
“Is everyone out?” She glanced at the kitchen clock. It was twenty minutes past their Saturday closing time.
“Yes, yes. Just come.” Charlotte hung up without saying anything else.
“What is it?” Zach said from behind Carolyn.
“All That Sparkles is on fire,” she said, the shock temporarily stunning her until Zach wrapped his arms around her, making her snap out of it. “I’ve got to get there.” She tried to push him away, but he held her.
“I’ll drive you.” His voice was calm and firm.
“Austin?” She couldn’t take him to a fire scene, but she did want Zach with her.
“Alex lives close by. He can be here in five minutes.” Zach already had his phone out to call his brother.
She rested her head against Zach’s shoulder as he spoke into the phone, telling his brother to be there ASAP.
“He’s on his way,” Zach said, hanging up. She felt his light kiss on her hair, trying to reassure her when she was possibly losing the store that represented twenty years of her family’s hard work.
13
“Oh, God,” she whimpered when Zach turned the last corner. The second Alex was in her driveway they’d bolted from the house and made the short trip to All That Sparkles. Emergency vehicles blocked the street, their lights flashing in the smoky air. Ahead, she could see flames pouring from the front of the store and reaching upward.
As soon as Zach pulled to the curb, she grabbed for the door handle, but Zach gripped her arm. “Wait for me,” he said. How could he be so calm when her world was on fire? “Rushing now could just get you into trouble.”
She hated that he was right. It was an active fire scene, with all the hazards that entailed. She wondered, though, if he ever lost his cool. The night of the robbery, when he’d confronted her about Austin, his mask of control had slipped—but that was a rarity. Even when she broke their engagement, he’d said nearly nothing, expressed nothing.
She would bet his heart rate wasn’t even accelerated. Hers was racing, but she waited until he was beside her before moving forward. Together they negotiated the maze of hoses, trucks, and firefighters doing their job. Despite the emergency service’s response, what she saw was devastating. The front windows and door were blown out, with flames licking up their frames. The recently refurbished interior was ablaze, fire streaking up the walls and across the carpet.
Firefighters kept a steady arc of water flowing in, but the flames seemed resistant to it. Black smoke rolled from the brick building. At least there was no wind to fan the flames and blow the smoke at them.
Zach’s hand never loosened on her arm as they made their way to her mother and Charlotte standing across the street from the store. Carolyn drew strength from his touch, because she had to be the strong one here. She saw that immediately. Grimy tears streaked her sister’s and mother’s faces. Zach let go of her when she put her arms around them, but she could feel him close behind her.
“What happened?” she asked Charlotte.
“We’d just closed for the evening. Everyone was gone but me.” Her sister’s words sent a chill down Carolyn’s spine. “I wanted to finish some paperwork. I was in the office when I heard a crash and explosion and then everything was on fire.”
“Are you hurt?” Carolyn grabbed her sister’s trembling hands.
“No. I made it to the back door. I almost forgot the new code for the mantrap, but I remembered and got out.”
“Were you here, too?” Carolyn asked her mother.
“I was parked in the alley waiting for Charlotte,” her mother explained. “We were going to have dinner together.”
“All the merchandise is safe in the vault, but the store…” Charlotte trailed off. The store was a barely controlled inferno.
The upsides were that their inventory was safe in the fireproof vault and no one had been hurt. Carolyn needed to cling to those two positive facts, because it would be so easy to succumb to despair. Instinctively, she looked around for Zach, wondering when he’d left her side. He was talking to a man wearing a white fire helmet with Chief written across the back. When he caught her gaze, he returned to her.
“The chief says the fire’s almost contained,” he said.
“It is?” Carolyn asked. It didn’t look it.
“From what he says, they were able to hit the fire from the back and drive it out the front, so the damage, he thinks, is all in the display area.”
“I pulled the doors closed on the office and repair room as I exited,” Charlotte said, impressing Carolyn with her ability to think under pressure. “Hopefully, that minimized the destruction there.”
“The brick of the building also slowed the fire,” Zach said, putting his arm around Carolyn’s waist as they stood watching. She resisted the urge to rest her head on his shoulder.
Within minutes, the flames lessened, and the charred interior began to show under the powerful floodlights from the fire trucks. Carolyn felt a wave of sickness at the sight, but she forced herself to stand taller. She managed All That Sparkles, so her family and employees would look to her. She had to put up a good front.
The fire chief was correct from what she could see as she stepped closer. The interior was gutted, but the building seemed structurally sound. It wasn’t a total loss, as she’d feared, and it hadn’t spread to the businesses on either side of them on the street.
“We can rebuild,” she said to Charlotte and Faith. “This is why we have insurance.” Would her insurance pay if this was arson? Charlotte’s description of a crash and explosion made her question how the fire started. She didn’t want to bring up the possibility in front of her employees, but it was on her mind.