Chapter 29

Several hours later, I clipped a bloom from a rosebush, smiling down at what I’d grown. The moon was only a sliver in the midnight blue of the Heavens, but I didn’t need its light to see what I knew spread out before me. I’d brought life back into the gardens.

As I gazed at the beauty before me, the dreamlike quality of the evening shattered with the rude assault of a motor. Even as annoyed as I was at the intrusion, I dropped my arms and listened. Did it sound like Ethan’s truck? Realizing what I was doing, I shook my head, feeling like an idiot. It was more likely to be someone taking advantage of a back road to relieve a full bladder from too much alcohol on a Saturday night than to be Ethan.

Stepping from the gardens, I bent to scratch Thurston under the chin, pausing again as I listened. The sound of the vehicle once again caught my attention as it crept its way past my drive. As soon as it had eased past, the percussion of a large explosion, ripping through the air, threw me backward.

Landing hard on the ground, I sucked air in through my nose in fright. For several seconds I just lay there motionless and stunned, uncertain of what had happened.

All at once, everything slammed into me, jerking me out of my disorientation and to my feet. My mouth dropped open as I stared wide-eyed at the red and orange fingers creeping toward the heavens, as they greedily chewed their way through my trailer. Frozen, I gaped at them, lost of what to do before sanity righted itself.

With fingers fumbling and sucking in panicky breaths, I punched in the three-digit emergency number on my phone’s keypad. After reporting the fire and giving the address, I hit the numerical keypad again, this time dialing Ethan’s phone.

As I listened to his line ring, I chanted to myself, “Ethan, oh please, pick up.”

At the sound of his voice when he answered, I broke into hysterical sobs.

ETHAN


Nicole had been blubbering so hard when I’d answered the phone I’d given up on getting out of her what was wrong, instead, I’d barked that I was on my way.

Ten minutes later, when I’d hit the dirt road that led to her home, my speedometer had read eighty-two, however, I was forced to slow to sixty as two fire trucks ahead of me slowed my progress. With their sirens blaring, they kicked up dust in front of me, their direction bringing about an uneasy feeling in my gut.


NICOLE


A quarter of a mile up the road as Ethan was pounding on the steering wheel in frustration; I was holding my stomach to keep the urge to toss up the contents in check. Fighting to gain even the tiniest bit of control, I listened for several moments to the sirens that herald the fire trucks.

When they finally came roaring up my drive, Ethan’s truck was close behind, and before the pickup had even come to a full, skidding stop, Ethan was jerking the transmission into park and throwing the driver’s door open.

Barreling out, he came across the yard toward me at a dead run. I launched myself in his direction. Before our bodies made contact, I leaped, landing flush against him as I wrapped both my arms and legs around him.

I wanted, if possible, to climb inside his frame, as with my whole body shaking, I quivered against him.

Pulling me tighter into his arms, he rubbed his fingers across my back in small circles. “I’m here, baby,” he soothed.

After a few seconds of just holding me, allowing me to soak in his presence, Ethan pulled slightly away so he could look at me. “What the hell happened?”

Raising my hands, I grasped his hair, my fingertips entwining within the strands as I sought to regain the full security of his body. Lifting an arm from my back, and continuing to cradle me within the other, Ethan grasped my chin, lifting my head. Peering into my eyes, he repeated his question. “What happened?”

I stared back at him, my mind numb, ignorant of what he was asking. I was deaf to the sound of the men shouting, the thick choking smell of smoke that filled the surrounding air. However, within seconds, everything was slamming back in place, and feet hitting the ground, I ripped myself out of Ethan’s arms and turned.

My heart was pounding as I stared at the now burnt-out shell of what had been my home. “I don’t know,” I gasped, “It just exploded!”

Ethan reached out and grasped my shoulders, before turning me back to face him again. “Nicole, baby—think. Was the trailer on fire before it exploded?”

“I...I don’t...” I stammered out before shaking my head, trying to clear my jumbled thoughts. “I don’t...no—no, I’m sure it wasn’t—” my words choked off, as gathering more of my thoughts, I continued. “There was a pickup that stopped for a few minutes down the road. It finally moved, but only crept along as it passed my drive. That’s when...” I waved toward the mangled frame that had been my trailer, “this happened.”

Glancing in Ethan’s direction, I noted the concern etching his features as he gazed down at me.

Did you recognize the pickup?” he asked.

When I didn’t immediately answer, he gave me a slight shake. “Nicole... Did you recognize the pickup?”

After a few seconds of thinking it over, I shook my head. “No. I’m sure I’ve never seen it before...” My words trailed off as I turned back to face my trailer.

Ethan squeezed my hand, before releasing it he brushed his lips across my forehead. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

At my nod, he made his way over to where the fire chief, James Worthy, was poking at some spots glowing in the night’s darkness. As Ethan approached James, picking out safe areas to place his feet, the fire chief met him halfway.

They exchanged a few words and afterward, I saw a look of relief slide across Ethan’s face.

He shook James’s hand before making his way back over to where I stood.

“James said by the look of the ignition site, there might have been a propane leak, but they' will know more after a more through investigation," Ethan murmured.

Blowing out a breath, I nodded; relieved someone hadn’t planted a small explosive device, trying to blow my ass into the wind.

Thirty minutes later, Ethan’s arms wrapped around me again, my back to his chest and his chin resting on the top of my head, we watched the fire trucks leave the yard.

Neither of us said a word, lost in our thoughts as the taillights of the last truck winked out of sight. The hush of night came creeping in, and a chill chased its way up my spine. I was thankful for the warmth of Ethan’s arms around me, a reassurance I needed. Everything was settling on me, heavy and burdensome.

I tried to hold back the tears burning the back of my eyes, however, one escaped, anyway. The single droplet slid down the curve of my cheek, and came to a stop at the edge of my jaw, where hesitating, it trembled in time with the quivering flesh beneath it.

Turning me toward him, Ethan raised his hand, rubbing the moisture away with the pad of his thumb. The tender action broke the dam that had kept the floodwaters at bay, and I began to sob.

With his arms once again wrapping around me, he held me tight. Absorbing his strength, I snuggled my face against the breadth of his chest and heaved a shaky sigh, at a loss of what to do next.

“You’ll stay at my place tonight,” Ethan husked against my ear, before continuing, “tomorrow, we’ll sort this out.”

Drawing a quivery breath and giving a watery sniffle, I nodded, thankful for his take-charge attitude.