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ChapterEleven
KRYSTAL
Bryce drove us to the bistro, though I couldn’t help but still think of it as Bud and Janine’s–the cafe it had been my entire life. We parked in front of the building, but the windows in the restaurant were dark. I looked at Bryce, and he shrugged.
I squinted at the sign on the door.
“Furnace broken. Closed until repaired,” I read.
Bryce grunted. “I bet Todd loves that. Pretty sure they just replaced that.”
We sat in the silence of his truck for a moment.
“Soo,” I drew out the word. “What do you think? We can just call it a night, I guess.” Even as I said it, I felt disappointment in my chest. I wasn’t ready to call it a night. Too many evenings at my mom’s house, watchingLaw and Orderreruns in an otherwise quiet house.
He shook his head. “Nah. We do actually have some work to do. And I wouldn’t want to make you a liar to your mom. We can go to my place for an hour or so, and then I’ll drive you home.”
When we got to his house, I raised my eyebrows. “You bought it?”
He nodded. “I thought it deserved a second chance.” The large two-story structure had been one we talked about as kids. Rundown and boarded up years ago, I always thought it would be a beautiful house. Kids in town sometimes claimed it was haunted.
“Remember that night we came and poked around?”
He chuckled. “I remember you screaming at the sight of a mouse and dropping my best flashlight through the floor.”
“That was NOT a mouse. It was definitely a rat, and it was the size of a rabbit.” I knew I was exaggerating, but so did Bryce.
“If you say so. I can assure you, there are no rats now,” Bryce said with a smile. “And the flashlights are off-limits.”
I stuck my tongue out at him. “I’ll buy you a new flashlight if it means that much.” It didn’t look like we would need them though. The overgrown vines and bushes around the house had been replaced with new landscaping, and the boarded-up windows now held clear glass with a few lights on inside. It looked homey and inviting.
I stepped up the front porch, remembering the holes we’d tiptoed around on our midnight exploration. The fresh boards felt sturdy underfoot. It was dark now, but two wooden rocking chairs sat waiting for an afternoon conversation in the shade over sweet tea.
“This must have cost a fortune,” I commented.
Bryce shrugged. “Some money, but more time. It’s been my project for about eight years, and I have done a lot of the work to save money. It’s not done yet. The inside could still use some work.”
He opened the door, and we walked inside. He flipped on some additional lights, and I saw the small kitchen with a few missing cabinet doors and backsplash tiles.
The living space was cleaned up and repaired, but not completely remodeled. My curiosity twinged.
“Still working on it?”
Bryce shrugged. “Some. It’s a never-ending project, I think. I tackled the outside first. Fixed the roof and whatnot. Electrical and plumbing is done.”
I wandered through the space, looking at the touches of Bryce around the space. A few medals on the shelf in small display cases. A helmet sat nearby, scuffed with black in places, and scratched to reveal clean yellow in others. A shape near the back caught my eye, and I turned the helmet to look closer. I gasped at the gouge in the helmet and the crack radiating down to the edge of the brim. I turned to Bryce. “Was this yours?”
He nodded soberly. “Yeah. That was a close one. A steel joist fractured in the fire and came down on me. Caught me right here.” He pointed to the back of his head on his left side. “Knocked me down, cracked my helmet. Tore the hose from my air tank. I thought I was a goner for sure.”
My heart raced, and I hung on his every word. “What happened?”
He smiled slightly. “Jake saw it happen and pulled me out. I figure it was a miracle, because you really can’t see squat in the middle of a fire except the fire itself. The smoke makes it hard to see more than a few inches. He swears it was like someone reached over and moved his head to look at me at just the right time.” He shrugged and turned his eyes away from mine. “Can’t say for sure, but it sure feels like God was watching out or something. Like He wasn’t done with me here quite yet. Figure I’d keep this around as a reminder that I’m not finished here.”
Bryce was staring at the helmet. And I found myself staring at him as the conviction in his voice drew me closer.
“That’s incredible. I’m glad you’re okay. I…I don’t know how you go back in after something like that.”
“Yeah, well. That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” he said with a laugh.
