“It’s a little funny.”
“Ember.”
“Okay, okay.” She plants her palms toward me, surrender. “So I went to file the insurance claim?—”
“Today?”
“Yes. First thing this morning.”
“Saw the kitchen light on from my place late last night–did you even sleep?”
She shrugs. “Couldn’t. Kept smelling smoke. And I wanted to document everything while it was still in my head. I brought pictures, estimates, lists?—”
“Good.” I nod once. “That helps.”
“—and then I met Lottie?—”
I close my eyes. “Jesus.”
Lottie is seventy, nosy, and runs the front desk like it’s a gossip ministry.
“She saw the incident report. She saw your name. And in the little emergency contact section on the intake, it had you listed as fiancé.” Ember winces. “Which was obviously wrong.”
“Obviously,” I deadpan. “Since we’ve never been on a date.”
“You’ve never even bought me dinner,” she agrees, tone wounded.
“You were on fire,” I remind her.
“You can still buy dinner after,” she says. “Rude.”
My jaw flexes. “So why didn’t you correct it?”
“I was going to!” she says, marching toward me. “But then Tina walked in and started talking about doing a feature on ‘love in the line of fire,’ and Lottie was like ‘Oh my gosh, yes, she was so brave and he carried her,’ and they were both looking at me with hearts in their eyes and I—” She breaks off, hands flailing. “It just…came out.”
“What came out,” I say slowly.
“That you were my fiancé,” she says in a rush. “Kind of.”
I stare.
She winces again. “I said ‘Yes, that’s him.’ I panicked.”
“You panicked,” I repeat. “So you invented an engagement.”
“Invented is such a harsh word,” she says, biting her lip. “I confirmed a clerical error with enthusiasm.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Ember.”
“I know, I know. But they were sohappyabout it. And listen—listen.” She hurries closer, hands up. “There’s a reason it helps.”
“Oh, I cannot wait to hear this.”
She narrows her eyes at my tone. “The investigator is coming up from Denver.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. Tomorrow. Because the fire was electrical and the panel was old and my claim is…big.” She grimaces. “I told you I insured everything.”
