“I’m keeping an eye on it, but our houses are far enough that it’s unlikely to happen.”
That’s good, I suppose. Just about the only good thing about this situation.
Pulling up my legs, I press my forehead to my knees. “Tell me this is a nightmare. Tell me this is not real.”
A hand lands on my back and moves in circles. I don’t mind it. I need comfort the way I need air, even if I’m not the type to ever ask for it.
Somehow, Rowan just knows.
My hands curl into his hoodie. “This can’t be happening. The house… I just got an offer.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
I bite down on my lips to quiet the sob that wants to escape me. I won’t cry. I’m afraid what will happen if I start. What if I can’t stop, like I couldn’t last time? After I caught Brett cheating. The tears flowed and flowed like a river that had broken through a dam. You’re supposed to feel better after you cry, but I didn’t. I just felt drained.
The firefighters arrive in a cacophony of sirens.
I lift my forehead from my knees and look back at my house. The fire is raging through the living room. Sheer horror rushes through my veins. Will there be anything left after it’s out?
One of the firefighters jumps out of the vehicle, sizes up the scene, and barks a few orders to the other men. When he sees Rowan and me, he jogs over. “Is anyone inside the house?”
“No,” Rowan answers. “I got her out as soon as I smelled smoke.”
He points at Rowan’s house. “You’re her neighbor?”
“Yeah.”
“It shouldn’t spread, but I’d prefer if you stayed out here until we get it completely under control. Do you know what caused the fire?”
I swallow. “I must have left the fire still smoldering when I went to bed.”
Rowan looks at me, but I can’t meet his eyes. I feel so damn stupid.
The firefighters move with a sense of urgency. They unroll their hoses, creating snaking white paths across my lawn. Soon enough, water blasts from the nozzles, colliding with the flames and making steam hiss into the air.
“How did you smell it so quickly?” I ask.
“My window was open. I was still up, and I just had a gut feeling something was wrong.”
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“No.”
“How lucky,” I mumble. Although it’s hard to feel like luck is on my side as I watch my ticket out of Darkwater Hollow burn.
It takes the firefighters about a half hour to get it under control. The house is still standing when they’re done, so I guess that’s good, but the living room is ruined.
The paramedics arrive. They check Rowan and me for injuries and smoke inhalation and then tell us we can go inside his house. The sun is just starting to rise.
“I’ll make you some tea,” Rowan says as we pass through his front door.
“Okay. I just need a moment alone.”
He gives me a long, pitying look before he nods and walks down the hall.
The window by his front door faces the yard, and when I stop right in front of it, I get a view of my house.
I managed to hold onto hope even after my mom died. Even after Brett and I broke up. But now, as I stand and look at my smoldering house, I feel that hope waver.
