Let Me Burn (Angel Sands 1)

“She’s good. Always asking about you guys.” Lucas grabbed his house keys from the zipped pocket in his shorts. “We should do this again soon.”

“Yeah we should. Are you free Monday evening?” Griff asked. “The forecast is looking good.”

“Nope. I’ve got a meeting.” Lucas grimaced.

“Well that sucks.”

It did. Frank Megassey had called him the evening before to tell him about a delivery of fittings he’d ordered. Then he’d reminded Lucas that he’d volunteered to help at the Angel Day Fair. It was the last thing he wanted to do, yet he’d found himself agreeing he’d be there. He owed Frank for all the favors he was doing him, after all.

It was only a couple of meetings and the fair itself. Then he’d be ready to go back on full duties in White City, his time in Angel Sands a distant memory. And the feeling of Ember Kennedy’s body pressed against his would become just a figment of his imagination.

That could only be a good thing couldn’t it?

8

“Mom, are you in here?” Ember opened up the door to the garage and looked inside. She’d been knocking on the front door for five minutes with no success. She’d tried calling her earlier too, during recess, but her mom hadn’t answered her then either. So she’d decided to drop by on her way home from school, to check that everything was okay. Since her father died – and with Chelsea living so far away – it felt like her responsibility to take care of their mom.

“Yes, I am,” her mom called out. Ember stepped inside the garage and saw her sitting in the far corner, surrounded by boxes.

As soon as she got closer she could see they were full of old photographs, their colors faded from years of being exposed to the stale garage air. The ones in her mom’s hands depicted their family from years earlier – her parents, Ember herself, and in a few of them, baby Chelsea. She couldn’t help but smile at the fashions they were wearing.

“Wow,” she said, sitting on the stool next to her mom. “You have a lot of old photos.”

Her mom looked up, her eyes watery. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”

Ember checked her watch. “It’s five in the evening, Mom. School’s out for the night.”

“That can’t be right. Let me see.” Her mom leaned over and checked out Ember’s watch. “How can that be? I came in after lunch to look for an old insurance document.”

>

Ember found herself looking around the garage, taking in the overstuffed shelves and piles of boxes. “Did you find it?”

Her mom shook her head. “I found these photographs instead. I’ve been looking at them ever since.” She lifted one of Ember holding Chelsea up, her eyes squinting as she smiled at the camera. “Isn’t this one beautiful? I’d forgotten your father had saved all these.” Her voice wobbled. “He never liked to throw anything out.”

“Maybe we should try and sort through everything,” Ember suggested, she hated seeing her mom like this. Being surrounded by all these things wasn’t healthy. “Throw some of it out. I saw a box the other day that was full of electrical leads. Some of them looked like Edison might have made them.”

“No.” Her mom’s voice was firm. “I don’t want to throw anything out.” She placed the photograph back in the box and closed it up, pressing down on the tape to keep it closed. “I’m not ready.”

Ember opened her mouth to say something, then firmly closed it again, sometimes there wasn’t anything she could say. Even if it seemed unhealthy for her mom to be surrounded by all these memories, it wasn’t her place to say it. Maybe she’d call Chelsea and talk it through with her. She might have a good idea of how to deal with their mom. She didn’t want her to spend her days wallowing in memories. Laura Kennedy was still young, after all, with years of life ahead of her. She needed to start living it.

Ember bit her lip and remembered how different things had been when Will had left. She’d thrown everything they’d bought together out. Dumped their old photograph albums, wiped her social media accounts of any mention of him. And then she’d blocked his number.

Will was still alive and kicking, whereas her father was gone, but in the end she and her mom were both on their own. Both suffering from broken hearts for two very different reasons. Two examples of how badly love could hurt you when it decided to let you go.

It was no good. She was wallowing now, too. She took a deep breath and turned to her mom. “I need to get going, I have a meeting tonight. I just wanted to check that you were okay.”

“A meeting? Is it back at the school?” Her mom looked up at her, blinking away the dust that danced around her.

Ember shook her head. “It’s the Angel Day Fair meeting.”

Laura’s eyes widened. “You’re still part of the committee? I thought you would have left.” Her voice dropped. “After everything that happened with Will.”

Ember had thought that, too. But when she’d received the email from Frank Megassey sent to committee members from the previous year, she’d found herself confirming her attendance. If she was being really honest, she was dreading it and looking forward to it in equal measure.

Dreading, because along with Frank Megassey, the committee was co-chaired by Janice Martin. The woman who happened to be her ex-almost-but-not-quite-mother-in-law. She hadn’t spoken with Janice since Will had left – she’d been too shaken up for that. Yet for all the years that Ember and Will had dated she’d been like a second mother to Ember. The Angel Day Fair Committee had always been their thing, a way to bond together in what could have been an awkward relationship. Now any relationship was over, and Ember wasn’t sure what she’d say to Janice when she saw her again, but that wasn’t any reason not to go.

The fact was, Ember loved the fair. She had ever since she was a small child, her tiny hand folded in her father’s palm as they’d weaved their way in and out of all the stations and food vans. She only had to smell the sweet fragrance of funnel cake to be transported back there. So when Janice had asked for her help that first year she’d jumped at the chance. Nowadays she was practically a stalwart, and she wasn’t going to let Will spoil that.