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He reaches into his pocket, takes out his wallet, and flips a black credit card into my hands. “Take it. Go home.”
I blink at the card. “Seriously?”
“Buy whatever you need. I’ll try to salvage the mess in there and meet you back in Texas tomorrow.”
“Gareth, I can’t just—”
“Go, Fiona,” he says, sounding pissed. He steps back from me with visible effort. “Good luck.”
“Uh, you too.”
He turns away and disappears back into the room.
Leaving me alone with a heavy black credit card cradled in both hands, the ghost of his touch on my body, and the memory of his words ringing in my ear.My new wife, Fiona Kelleher.
Chapter5
Fiona
The apartment building isn’t burning anymore when I get back to Texas.
Instead, it’s a blackened husk.
Even from across the street, the coals are still hot. Steam rises into the early morning Texas air. My skin feels like I’m warming myself by a fire. Sunlight slants through drifting, lazy clouds, and it would almost be pretty.
If it didn’t represent the total destruction of my existence.
Everything I owned was in that apartment. Everything except for my car and the few meager belongings I brought with me to Boston. Pictures from my childhood, my high school yearbooks, all my clothes, my expensive make up, my climbing gear, shoes, mugs, plates, paintings, little keepsakes and knickknacks I’ve collected over the years—all gone now.
“Horrible, isn’t it?”
I flinch at the voice and look over. My landlord Eduardo’s standing ten feet away. I don’t even remember him showing up. He’s staring at the wreck with his hands on his hips, looking exhausted. He’s older, mid-fifties, balding and gray, heavier around the middle.
“Did everyone get out okay?” I ask.
He nods. “Everyone’s fine. Luckily, the smoke alarms went off.”
That shouldn’t really be aluckilysituation, but I let it go.
“Do you know what happened?”
“Not yet. Doesn’t really matter now, does it? Can’t change anything.”
“I guess not.” I let out a long breath. “Everything’s gone, right?”
“Everything. All the apartments are wrecked. Only stuff that got saved is whatever people ran out of there with. Apparently, there was another big fire across town, and the DFD couldn’t get here fast enough.” He scrapes a palm over his forehead. “All gone. Even an old car that was parked near the building.”
My feet go cold. “Old car? Was it a Nissan Altima?”
He nods. “Yep, Nissan Altima. Got crushed when the fire trucks finally did show up. They had to drag it away. Poor thing’s in pieces.” He clears his throat and looks at me. “Oh, no, that was your car, wasn’t it?”
I’m white as a sheet. It feels like my throat’s filled with fire ants. I want to cry, throw up, scream, all of the above. “Yep,” I manage.
“I’m so sorry.” He looks horrified. “I didn’t want to be the one to break it to you like that.”
I close my eyes. “I’m assuming I can’t go in there.”
“Sorry,” he says, shaking his head. “I really am. You’re Fiona, right?”
