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“What? How did that even happen?”
“The investigation’s still ongoing. They won’t tell the public anything, but word on the street is that it wasn’t an accident. Someone set the fire.”
“It was so bad the only thing left standing was the garage,” Lacey elaborates.
“But… who would do that?” I ask, my mind racing.
Realization finds me a moment later.
“Oh my God, was anyone inside?”
I’m stupid enough to worry about Lexie for a moment, but then I remember that she’s gone. It’s like I blocked out the memory of watching her die in order to hold on to the good times we had together. I couldn’t bear my last memories of her being blood pouring from her stomach.
“Nope. Finn’s dad was out of town on business, his brother doesn’t live there anymore, and Finn was…” She stops herself. “Away.”
It’s obvious she knows more than she lets on. Xavier must’ve filled her in on Finn’s whereabouts for the past year, but she knows better than to force those details down my throat.
“Did you know about this?” I turn to Lacey, and the look on her face says plenty.
Of course.
Everybody knew.
Meanwhile, I’ve been so busy cutting my own family out of my life and trying to outrun my past in Silver Springs that I let myself get disconnected from reality.
“How come I didn’t hear about this until now?” I whisper, more to myself than them.
“To be fair, mentioning Finn’s name to you was practically a federal offense after he left,” Lacey points out.
“It’s true. You acted like he never existed. I just assumed you knew, and if you didn’t, I wasn’t sure you’d want to,” Aveena adds.
I’m aware that I have no one to blame here but myself, but it still stings. God, I can’t wrap my mind around it.
The house is gone.
Nothing but ashes.
I fell in love with Finn in that house, gave him my first everything in that house. It’s the reason I got to spend the summer with Lexie. I also had my heart broken for the first time in that house.
And now, it’s just… gone.
Along with Nora Richards’s jewelry room and Finn’s last memories of her.
“Isn’t his dad a millionaire? Why didn’t he just buy a new house in Silver Springs?”
Aveena shrugs. “I’m guessing he didn’t see the point in staying in town. After all, both his sons have moved out, and he’s always out of town on business, anyway.”
I understand that this must put Finn in a delicate situation. How do you move back home when your home is gone?
I accept defeat. “Will he be staying the whole summer?”
“Yeah. Just until he can rent out a room somewhere. He’s got his eyes on a few places for next semester.”
I fight the urge to ask her why Finn is unable to afford a place of his own until then. It just makes no sense. What happened between him and his father, and why is he broke all of a sudden?
Realization sinks its claws into me. “Hold on, you mean he’s enrolling here?”
She nods. “That’s what Xavier said.”
