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Barney turned to me. “What report?”
Deputy Stone tilted his head. “You think someone would burn down your entire business because of a property damage report? You’re talking about felony arson in response to criminal mischief.”
He was right. I was being ridiculous. “Never mind,” I said. “I think maybe I’m just upset. It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact I could have lost my business because of some electrical fluke.”
Barney nodded. “Quite right. You’re responding with your emotions instead of your brain. Let’s get you home and into bed. I’m sure the deputy can ask his questions tomorrow once you’re feeling more yourself.”
I wanted to tell Sam I was leaving, but I didn’t have the energy to approach the cluster of people he was talking to. The group was now composed of several hulking firefighters, a deputy, and someone who looked an awful lot like a local reporter. I didn’t want to go anywhere near such an intimidating group.
I gave Barney a weak smile. “Thank you.”
He drove me home through the pitch-black night. A low hum of jazz music was the only sound filling his car as we made our way to the farm.
“Thank you for coming to get me,” I told him. “I really appreciate it.”
“Of course. I care about you, Truman, and I didn’t want you to be alone when you found out about it.”
He was right. It would have been awful to show up there alone and watch the place burn without anyone there to support me. It was thoughtful of him, even if he wasn’t really the one I wanted comforting me.
I wondered if Sam had meant what he’d said about coming to sleep on my sofa. I didn’t want him on my sofa. I wanted him in my bed, wrapped around me like kudzu.
But I was an adult. And if I wanted to be treated as such, I needed to act like one. That included fending off Barney’s continued insistence that he stay over in case I needed him during the night.
“Obviously, Sam didn’t mean it when he offered,” Barney pointed out, somehow recognizing my own insecurities. “I don’t see him here. It just goes to show, you can’t trust someone like that. As if you needed an itinerant worker lurking about the place. What do you even know about him? It’s better to circle the wagons and stick with people you know and trust.”
I wanted to laugh at him calling Sam an itinerant worker. From everything Mikey had told me, he was a general contractor who owned his own business and ran large jobs. He was hardly a seasonal apple picker.
But I was too tired to argue. “Okay. Thanks again for taking me and bringing me home. I’ll call you in the morning.” I tried closing the front door, but he reached out a hand to hold it open.
“Sweet pea, I’m worried about you,” Barney said. “You need someone to look after you, especially if this was deliberate.”
“I’m fine. The gate is fixed, and I have the bolt on the door.” I didn’t dare mention the bolt hadn’t kept my note-writer away earlier in the week. But maybe I’d been lax and forgotten to turn it. Stranger things had happened.
“I don’t just mean looking after your physical safety. This has to be upsetting you. I’d really like it if you let me come in and hold you tonight.”
The image of that almost caused me to shudder. “I think what I really need is sleep,” I said as gently as I could. “I’m going to get in bed and stay there as long as possible to avoid thinking about this right now.”
He met my eyes and studied me for a moment before reluctantly nodding. “Lock the doors behind me. Don’t open the gate for anyone but me. Call me the minute you wake up.”
I gritted my teeth to keep from snapping at him to mind his own business. “Will do,” I said instead.
Once he was gone, I let out a breath and locked up. I made my way back to my bedroom and changed into a T-shirt and a pair of threadbare pajama pants. I really was going to fall into bed and hope for hours of oblivion.
But then my phone buzzed.
Sam: I’m at the gate.
I felt the tears come as I pressed the remote to let him in. He was riding a motorcycle I didn’t recognize. When he got to the front door, I flung it open and planted my feet to the floor to keep from also flinging myself right at his solar plexus.
“Hi,” I said instead, quickly brushing the tears away.
Sam’s eyes roamed all over me as if searching for something. “What can I do to ease your pain?”
I stepped forward and climbed his body until my arms were wrapped around his neck and my legs were wrapped around his waist. “Take me to bed and hold me all night.”
