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“As much as I hate the idea of keeping secrets from her, I agree with you. The truth would hurt her more than the lie will.”
I nod my head in thanks because I know if he told her what happened she’d just look at me with sad, pitying eyes, and I’d hate that.
“Does Natalie know?” Jack asks as we step outside.
“Yeah, she does. Dad came by the house the day I saved Noah. There was no hiding the story from her after that interaction.” I chuckle, thinking about how she reacted to the whole day.
“Good. What are you going to do about the kid?” He nods his head back towards the hospital.
I blow out a deep breath. “I have no idea. I want to adopt him myself, but I don’t think the state would approve it. I’m going to talk to his caseworker and see what I can find out.”
“Let me know if you need my help. He doesn’t deserve to go back into the system.”
“I know. I’m going to do whatever it takes.”
“Oh shit, I almost forgot. The reason I texted you to meet up was because the analysts finally got the report back on the fire at the group home.”
“Jesus, that took a long time.”
“Between the holidays and the size of this fire, it took them a bit to get everything sorted. Turns out this fire was also started by an accelerant.”
“Seriously? Do we think it’s the same guy?”
“The same product was used for the rec center, so it’s likely, although hard to know for sure.”
I run my hands down my face because this is just insane. An arsonist in Sonoma is something I don’t think I can wrap my head around.
“What’re we going to do now?”
“Not much we can do at this point. The police have all of the info, and they’ll keep digging into it. If they need anything from us, they’ll let us know.”
“Any updates on the rest of the kids at the home?”
“They’ve all been relocated to temporary foster families or group homes in other towns. I wish there was more we could do for them.”
“Same.” I sigh, and we say our goodbyes. I head to my truck feeling a deep-seated need to go see Natalie. She has this ability to make my world feel less chaotic with one quick smile or gentle touch. I’ll never understand how she does it, but I know I want her to do it for the rest of my life.
I think it’s about time I ask her to stick around forever.
