Once the motorcycle was safely secured to the bed of the truck, Tony and I got into my car.
I glanced at the clock. We were only an hour later than our normal start time. At least there were two of us to pick up the slack until we were back on track again.
We were nearly there when something caught my eye in the distance.
“Look at that,” I said, pointing to the sky where a big cloud of black smoke was billowing ahead of us.
“Holy, shit. Something is on fire.” He paused. “Something big.”
The hairs on my arms stood on end, but I wasn’t sure why.
As we neared the diner, my stomach dropped. We were also getting closer to the blaze. I could see the tips of red and orange flames flickering in the black cloud.
I thought of the buildings in that area. All of them were locally owned small businesses. Including my own.
“Tony,” I said breathlessly.
“It’s not the diner,” he said. And even he didn’t sound convinced.
His words echoed in my brain, and I used whatever mental power I had to repeat the phrase over and over in my head.
It’s not the diner. Dear God, please don’t let it be the diner.
I pressed on the gas pedal and propelled my little car as quickly as I could toward the diner.
When we turned the corner, I gasped. I had to blink a few times so that I was able to see something other than the flames shooting out of the windows of my second home. Tony had been wrong. Sunny’s was already destroyed. I choked on a sob.
“Sienna,” Tony said. “Pull over here. We don’t want to get too close.”
My brain went on auto-pilot and I turned the wheel. I bumped over the curb and shifted the car into park. I opened my door and got out, unable to take my eyes off my diner, which was now fully engulfed in flames.
“I’d like to report a fire,” Tony said.
I tore my eyes away from the diner. Tony had his phone to his ear. He was also staring at the building.
Were we the first to get here? It was early, but someone else had to have seen it. Though, if that were true, then we’d pr
obably have heard fire engines by now.
After Tony had given all the information to the dispatcher, he hung up and ran over to me. “Sienna, I’m so sorry.”
My head dropped into his shoulder and I closed my eyes. If I didn’t hear the snapping and crackling of the fire, I might have thought I was dreaming. But when the sirens alarmed in the distance, I knew it was a real-life fucking nightmare.
I wiped a few stray tears from my face. “What the hell happened?”
“You know,” Tony said. “I don’t remember if I turned off the oven.”
I gave him a look.
He smirked. “Too soon?”
“You might want to wait until the place isn’t on fire before making jokes,” I said, wiping at my face.
“I’m just trying to lighten the mood.”
“I know, and I appreciate that,” I said, patting his shoulder. “But I was the one to check everything before we left. This wasn’t an accident.”
He turned to me. “What do you mean?”