I hadn’t been too late.
23
NORA
By the timethe fire trucks cleared and the police finished taking statements, it was well past midnight.
The house was still smoking. Yellow caution tape fluttered across the front yard. And I was standing barefoot on the sidewalk, watching my home disappear behind flashing lights.
And while we watched the firefighters try to contain the flames devouring everything I owned, Theo’s hand never left my back.
Not once.
When the fire inspector told me I wouldn’t be able to go inside until they assessed structural damage in the morning, Theo said, “Don’t even think about getting a hotel. You’re coming home with me.” So I just nodded as he led me to the car he’d paid to wait for us. I didn’t have a wallet or phone to pay for a hotel bill, anyway.
By the time we pulled into Theo’s driveway, the smoke felt embedded in my skin.
In my hair.
In the back of my throat.
“I should probably try to shower off all the smoke,” I said as we stepped inside his beautiful home. A place that was the complete opposite of the blackened and burned hole we’d just left in ashes.
“Yeah, I need a shower, too,” he said. “Probably should just throw these clothes away while I’m at it so they don’t stink up the house.”
I looked down at the green-and-white-striped pajama set I wore, realizing they were the only clothes I had now. Everything else had been destroyed in the fire.
My clothes, my shoes, my gymnastics leotards. All the memorabilia I had from this last year of college.
I didn’t even have keys for my Jeep anymore.
Or my wallet.
Man, I’m going to have to get my license and diploma all over again.
How was I supposed to find the time to do that? How was I supposed toaffordall of that? I had, like, two hundred dollars in my savings account.
At least I won’t have to pay my rent next month.Well… not to my current landlord, anyway.I suppose I still need a place to live…
Maybe Lucy’s parents would be okay with us crashing at their place for a while?
Or maybe I should just give up on this “living on my own” thing and go back home to Amherst.
I was sure my parents would probably try talking me into that when I told them everything tomorrow.
I sighed, feeling overwhelmed at the thought of everything I’d need to do in order to get my life back to normal.
Poor Lucy and the Roundys. They didn’t even know that our place had burned down yet.
They’d be finding that out when I called them—from Theo’s phone—in the morning.
Yay for being the bearer of bad news.
Theo locked the deadbolt on the door behind us and gestured toward the stairs. “Come on. Let’s get you a towel and some clothes you can change into.”
The hallway lights were soft and warm upstairs. He stopped outside the guest bathroom I was familiar with. Charlotte’s bathroom.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.