Page 5 of Firecracker

Arden rolled her lips in to keep from laughing.

“I’ve never had good upper body strength,” Mila said to Arden. “A while back, I lost an arm wrestling match against your brother, and I vowed that would never happen again.”

Arden widened her eyes. “Jamie beat a girl at arm wrestling?” she asked in a shocked tone.

Jamie gave the back of her head a gentle smack. “Hey now. Enough of this. Up.” He jerked his chin at the stairs.

Mila and Arden exchanged smiles, and Arden started up with her carry-on.

The second floor was similar to the first, with a small hall and a door on each side, this time obviously numbered3and4.

Mila entered first, the door unlocked, and Arden followed, Jamie bringing up the rear with a suitcase. “Tyler’s working, or he’d be here to welcome you too.”

Arden walked to the middle of the living room. “You unpacked my stuff.”

“Yeah.” Jamie dragged the big suitcase into the bedroom and reappeared. “Tyler and Mila helped me get things arranged.”

“You guys.” Arden’s bottom lip quivered yet again. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Mila shrugged. “It was no trouble, really. You don’t have a lot of stuff.” She said it in such a matter-of-fact tone that Arden decided right then that she loved her.

“Nope, I don’t.” There’d been a time in her life when having the new car, the big house, designer clothes, and beautiful furniture had mattered. Now, she knew stuff didn’t matter at all.

While Jamie clomped down the stairs and back up with the other suitcase that Mila had apparently changed her mind about carrying up, Arden looked around the small apartment. The hardwood floor had been refinished up here too, the golden oak gleaming in the afternoon sun that flooded in the two arched windows overlooking the street. The walls on the other hand…were a mess. All the trim had been removed and there were big holes here and there in the plaster, the paint chipped and peeling.

“I love the fireplace,” she murmured, moving toward it to inspect the old brick and the oak mantel.

“We all have one,” Mila said. “It’s definitely a great feature of this building. They’re going to clean up the brick and refinish the mantel. And you can see some of the work that’s in progress.” She waved a hand. “But come see the kitchen! It’s gorgeous.”

Arden moved to the kitchen, separated from the living space by a granite counter. “Itisbeautiful.” She contrasted it to the huge gourmet kitchen she’d had in Phoenix. She loved to cook and had taken a bunch of cooking classes over the years. But even though this space was tiny, it had decent counter space and was fitted with new stainless steel appliances among the dark wood cupboards. She could see herself cooking there. Maybe not the big dinner parties she and Michael used to host, but even cooking for just herself, it was a nice space.

“I love it.” She smiled at Jamie. “You did good.”

He grinned. “It was a team effort.”

“As in Tyler did all the work.” Mila wrinkled her nose at Jamie.

“Bullshit. Also, you helped.” He pointed at Mila. “She picked out the cabinets and appliances.”

Arden slid open a drawer and found her cutlery already there. When she opened a cupboard, she discovered the set of dishes she’d elected to keep, about half of her bright Fiestaware collection. “Thank you,” she said again, touched by how they’d helped.

“I picked up a few basics at the store.” Mila gestured at the fridge. “So you won’t have to go out shopping right away. There’s coffee and milk, bread…cheese and crackers. But we’ll take you out for dinner tonight.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Sure we do! We want to show you around the neighborhood and help you settle in. And anyway, we have to eat, and neither Jamie nor I are very good in the kitchen.”

“Okay, thank you. That sounds nice.” She couldn’t help but think Mila and Jamie sounded like a couple. But just friends…okay.

Mila and Jamie showed her the rest of the apartment. The bathroom was functional but had dated fixtures and ugly wall tiles. Her king-size bed had been set up and was made with the bedding she’d shipped, and her only dresser sat against one wall. Boxes of books and clothing sat stacked in the corner for her to deal with.

“We’ll let you explore a bit and unpack,” Jamie said.

“You might want to move things around from the way we arranged them,” Mila added. “If you need any help just come on down.”

They arranged a time to go out for dinner, and then she was alone. She looked around, pressing a hand to her heart. Okay. This was it. Her new home and her new life.

She was terrified.

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