Page 31 of Read With Your Heart

“Joe Carpenter, fire chief.” He shakes my hand and stares up at the house. “This one of Stella Drummond’s houses?”

“Yes, sir,” I answer. He shakes his head again.

“She failed a city inspection last summer with this place. She renting it to you?”

I don’t want the old woman to get in trouble, but I am renting it, and it seems like it has been under false pretenses. “Yes, sir. We have a contract for a year.”

The fire chief snorts. “Well, you aren’t returning tonight. That furnace is a breath away from exploding. It’s leaking carbon monoxide like a balloon let loose. It’s a good thing your detectors were in order.”

“Replaced the batteries myself.”

“She should have it hardwired.”

He’s the fire chief, so I’ll take his word for it since he knows the city codes. If this house isn’t meeting code, how could Mrs. Drummond rent it to me?

“She needs to replace that furnace before you can use it again. As for tonight, I wouldn’t trust sleeping in there, and it’s too cold to keep the windows open and air the place out.” The chief looks at Lys, coughing in her elbow. “Got another place to stay?”

“Guess we can go to a hotel.” There’s a hotel on the other side of the harbor. I stayed at a motel for a week before I found this house, but I can’t take my sisters there.

“They can stay with me.”

We all spin to see Tricia Carter standing on her bottom step, arms crossed over herself. She’s not wearing a coat but dressed in a long robe and snow boots. Damn, she looks cute, but I can’t think about that. She schooled me earlier tonight, and I’m not staying at her house.

“We’ll figure something out,” I toss out to her.

“It’s the middle of the night. I have the room,” she says, glancing at me before looking over at the fire chief.

“Tricia? I didn’t know you were staying here,” Chief Carpenter calls to her.

I watch as Tricia licks her lips and tightens her arms around her.

“Moved in the week before Labor Day,” she announces.

The fire chief’s eyes narrow, taking in a woman he clearly knows, and then he nods. “You let me know if you have any trouble.”

My head shoots from Tricia to the chief and back to her. Does he know about her soon-to-be ex? Rolling her lips inward, she nods at him. “Thanks, Joe. It’s gonna be better soon.”

My attention moves back to the chief, who offers her a weak smile before he glances at me. “I’d take her up on the offer. Known her since she was born. She’s got the space and offering. It’s a warm bed without more disruption to your night.”

I glance at Lys and Lena, who are both looking at me to make a decision. Fuck.

“Can we enter the house for a few things? We’ll need some necessities, like a change of clothes, and the girls need their school stuff.”

“I’ll give you a mask and have one of my guys escort you in. You should probably all go to the hospital and be checked for carbon monoxide poisoning.”

“The detector went off. Shouldn’t that mean we were safe?” I don’t want to deny medical assistance we might need, but for the second time tonight, I’m reminded I don’t have insurance for my sisters.

“It should, but I’d get checked out to be safe.”

“I’ll call Pam,” Tricia counters behind me, and I close my eyes.

“Who’s Pam?” I whisper.

“Her older sister. She used to work for me, but now she runs the flower shop up the highway. One of my best EMTs once upon a time.”

More help. More Carter invasion.

“We don’t need your sister,” I call out, peering over my shoulder to find Tricia is no longer standing on her porch. A fireman approaches me, holding out a protective mask. I take a deep breath before setting it over my face to re-enter my house and gather a few things for our night at Tricia Carter’s.