Page 98 of This Feeling

Suddenly, the sounds of sirens went off. There was a fire station just around the corner.

“Must be a fire somewhere,” I said. “Maybe that’s why the guys ran to their cars.”

Cadie walked into the street and looked around—then put a hand to her throat. “Oh my God. It’s black smoke billowing into the air.”

“What?” I jogged out to the road…and the moment I saw the smoke, I nearly fell to my knees. “Is that near Liam and Hope’s house?”

Cadie gasped.

“What’s going on?” Aurora asked, joining us in the middle of the road. “Is that smoke?”

I grabbed Aurora’s arm. “We need to call Liam and make sure they’re okay.”

Her face went white.

“Do you have your phone?”

“I’ve got mine,” Cadie said, holding up her cell, “but I only have Hope’s number.”

Seeming to snap out of it, Aurora pulled out her phone. She put it on speaker.

“Hello?”

“Liam, this is Aurora. Are you guys okay? We smell smoke, and it looks like it’s coming from your neighborhood.”

“What? I’m not home. Hope is home sleeping while Brystol took Winnie for a walk.”

I grabbed Cadie’s arm. “Don’t worry, Liam, we’re heading there now. I just saw Brystol not that long ago.”

“I’m…I’m on my way home from The Muddled Moose.”

Cadie and I took off running down Main Street as Aurora continued talking to Liam while trying to keep up with us.

“Someone call Brystol!” I cried out.

“On it!” Cadie said, stopping to look up her number. I stopped, as well, and leaned my hands on my knees.

Aurora gasped as she did the same. “Holy. Crap. I’m out of shape.”

“Brystol, thank God! Where are you?”

Cadie looked at us—and relief washed over her face. “You’re with Hope at her house? Everything is okay? Great!”

Aurora instantly called Liam back to let him know.

“There’s a fire somewhere, and we thought it was coming from that way. You do? Can you see what’s on fire?”

“Liam says it’s Oak Street,” Aurora interjected. “That’s all he knows.”

I racked my brain trying to figure out what was on Oak Street. “There’s the Methodist church, the Wash and Go, some restaurants…and houses.”

“Isn’t there a school, also?” Aurora asked. She must have hung up with Liam since her cell was no longer in her hand.

“A school? But no one should be there, school hasn’t started yet, right?” Cadie asked, a look of shock back on her face.

“Come on! We’re just two blocks away,” I said, and the three of us started running again.

When we turned the corner, I stopped abruptly, only to have Cadie and Aurora run into me.

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