Lighthouse Way (Huckleberry Bay 1)

“I heard a crash,” Sarah says. “Petunia started to act funny, wouldn’t let me sit, wouldn’t leave me alone, and then I smelled the smoke. I grabbed her, came out here to the street, and called nine-one-one. I don’t know what caused the fire.”

“It’s okay,” I assure her as Sarah kisses Petunia on the head. The cat is surprisingly calm in Sarah’s arms, not trying to get away at all.

“SARAH!”

We all look around for the sound of the scream. Tanner comes running from out of the crowd, his face ashen with fear.

“SARAH!”

“Here!” I call back, waving. “We’re over here!”

Tanner runs to us and simply scoops Sarah into his arms, holding both her and the cat close, rocking them all back and forth.

I look over to June, who shares a glance with me. And we know.

They belong together.

“Jesus Christ, I’ve never been so fucking scared,” Tanner says and kisses Sarah on the forehead. “Are you hurt? Do you need the EMTs?”

“I’m okay,” she assures Tanner. “We’re not hurt.”

“I could see the flames from my house,” Tanner says as he turns to the rest of us and swallows hard as if his heart’s lodged in his throat. “And when someone said it was the garage, I—”

He can’t complete the thought, and Wolfe pats him on the shoulder as Apollo joins us.

“I heard Cullen say something about arson,” June says, shaking her head. “Of course, there will be an investigation, but who would want to do something like this? It just doesn’t happen in Huckleberry Bay.”

“Kids?” I ask as I turn to the garage and watch as the firefighters shoot a huge stream of water into the building. “Maybe some kids thought they’d play a trick, and it got out of hand.”

“It could be anything,” Wolfe says flatly. “And so many things in there are flammable. It wouldn’t stand a chance. Shit, we had two cars in there that we were working on.”

“Insurance will take care of it,” June says.

“Yeah, well, still.”

“Holy fuck,” Zeke exclaims as he joins us. “What the hell?”

“That’s what we’re all wondering,” Wolfe says. “But no one was hurt, and that’s the most important thing. Where were you?”

“I was at home,” Zeke says and clears his throat. “Busy.”

I look at June and Sarah. Busy? I mouth.

Both of them shrug.

Who’s Zeke been seeing? It’s a small town. These kinds of secrets don’t last long.

For a long while, we just stand on the street and watch the firefighters do their job, systematically putting out the flames until it’s mostly just smoke.

“My paintings are all gone,” Sarah says with a sad sigh. Tanner’s still holding her, his arms wrapped around her from behind. “I know it’s silly, but damn it, I worked hard on them.”

“You’ll paint more,” Tanner assures her. “Wait, I didn’t know you were painting again.”

“It’s just a hobby,” Sarah says with a shrug, but her eyes are sad as she stares up at what was once her apartment.

A place of her very own after breaking free from a horrible marriage.

Suddenly, I notice that Daisy, the owner of The Grind, is passing out coffee and hot chocolate to everyone.

Harvey and Susan, the owners of Lighthouse Pizza, are making the rounds through the crowd, handing out slices of pepperoni and cheese.

“That’s the thing about small towns,” Wolfe says. “People rally.”

“Oh, honey,” Cordelia says and reaches out for my hand. Her thumb brushes over my fingers, and her face falls. “I don’t want any of you to worry about breakfast tomorrow. We’ll bring it to you, no matter where you are.”

“Thanks,” I reply with a grateful smile.

“Here’s a little carrier for Petunia,” Dr. Stevenson says as he opens the door of the small pet carrier, and Sarah urges the cat inside. “There’s a blanket in there. And some water, too.”

“Oh, that’s awesome,” Sarah says with a sigh. “She’s wonderful, but she was getting heavy.”

The owner of a new little boutique in town offers for Sarah to come and pick out some clothes for free. Suddenly, Scott, Sarah’s younger brother, appears out of the crowd and hugs his sister.

Sarah goes still for a second, and then her arms encircle him, and she starts to cry.

“I’m sorry,” she says as Scott hugs her tighter. “For everything. I’m so sorry.”

“We’ll worry about it later,” Scott replies. “You can stay with me if you need to.”

“She’ll stay with me and my grandmother,” June interrupts with a wink. “We have too much space for just the two of us.”

Tanner’s jaw tightens. I know he’d like to insist that Sarah go stay with him, but he doesn’t say anything. He just rubs his hand over his hair and looks like he wants to punch something.

I cross to him and pat his arm.

“Give it time.”

He simply nods as Wolfe crosses to me.

“You should go ahead and go,” he says. “I’m going to stay here with Zeke until the fire’s all the way out and we have some more information. You should help June get Sarah settled at her place.”