Page 44 of Sweet Summertide

He cracked an eye open, and she was caught. “Morning,” he said in a low raspy voice. He stretched his arms out wide, and his covers fell to the side. His exposed chest, tan from the day when they had their water balloon fight, looked like soft silk, and his dark chest hairs shadowed his toned muscles. His hair was loose around his face, and he smiled up at her. “Did you sleep at all?”

“Not much. Everything feels like sandpaper against my skin,” she said and sat up while holding the crisp ivory sheet over her bare chest. She hadn’t worn anything other than her panties in an attempt to reduce any friction on her burn. “Can you put more aloe on my back before I go?”

He sat up on his haunches beside the bed and nodded. A devilish one-sided smirk revealed a sliver of his white teeth, and he used his pointer finger to call her down to his level.

She knew what he wanted, because she wanted it more. She leaned down to him, so slowly he probably thought she was teasing, but because she was taking care with her tender skin. A few inches to go, he nudged her closer with the same finger under her chin and crushed his lips against hers. Morning breath aside, his pillowy mouth was the softest thing she had touched in hours. Heat spread through her as he caressed her with his mouth. He was tender and slow, not taking more than she gave. Maybe shewasin love with this man.

The kiss, as satisfying as it was, ended with alarm bells.

Holly was the first to pull away. They looked around the room for the source of the screeching sounds. The noise wasn’t coming from anywhere inside. She wrapped the sheet around her body and wobbled to the window. The sirens emanated from over the hill in the direction of town.

“Main Street,” they said in unison.

Forgoing the aloe gel, she grappled for yesterday’s dress and slid the light-weight yellow layers up her body, removing the sheet as she went. Teddy zipped up the back without her needing to ask and she sucked air in through her teeth when the top seem of the strapless dress pressed into her burnt skin. Taking the side seams at her hips in her hands, she tugged the dress down just enough to get the material off of her sore flesh.

“Shoes?” Teddy asked and presented a pair of flip flops.

“Thanks,” she said and slid her feet into the brown leather sandals. “What do you think it is?”

“Sounds like a fire truck, maybe?” Teddy walked to the window and moved the white curtains out of his view. “There’s smoke!” he shouted. “Shit. My roasters. Maybe I didn’t turn them off yesterday.” He threw on his sweatshirt and slid his boat shoes onto his feet as he scrambled for his phone. “Shit, shit, shit.”

Holly stopped his frantic body, and she took his face in her hands. “It could be anything, and we won’t know until we get over there.” She took his hand. “Let’s go.”

They hurried up the road, half walking and half jogging, but holding hands the entire time. They turned the corner on to Main and stopped short. Two huge firetrucks were parked directly in their path and spraying water, not into Teddy’s shop, but into the second story of Holly’s building.

She began to run but he held her back. “What are you going to do? Run into a fire?”

She collapsed into his arms. “This can’t be happening. Not when I was so close to opening” Her tears fell freely and soaked through his thin shirt. He rubbed his hand through her hair as she wept. Thank god she was with Teddy right now or she didn’t know what she would do. “I have to see the damage.”

“Of course, you do. And Holly, look at me. Whatever happens, we will work to fix it. You’re not alone,” he said and kissed her forehead.

He had no idea how much she needed to hear those words from him. She had underestimated him in so many ways, least of all how big his heart really was. If she felt like she was falling in love with him before, she felt like she was ready to shout it from the charred rooftop of her shop.

Teddy led the way down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road from her shop. As they approached, the full extent of the damage materialized. Blackened water dripped from the eaves and her sign above the front door was stained from the flames that had licked the painted surface. Her front windows lay in shattered shards across the sidewalk and allowed her to see inside.

Through the mist of spraying water, men in yellow coats moved through the space. She stood, wrapped in Teddy’s arms with nothing else to do but watch her dreams turn to ash before her. “I can’t take it, Teddy. You watch for me.” He let her bury her face in his chest and cry. “I deserve this. It’s karma.”

“What do you know about karma?” he said, and she felt a chuckle vibrate from deep within his chest.

“Don’t laugh at me. This isn’t a time for jokes,” she said through her tears. “I treated you so badly. I even told you that I hoped your shop would burn down. What else could this be but the universe mocking me. I’m a good person, I swear it.”

“I don’t think the universe is out to get you, Holly.”

“I do,” she cried and wondered how many more tears she had. Her face was wet, and so was Teddy’s grey T-shirt. “I’m supposed to open in a few days. There’s no way I can do that now. And if I don’t open on time, I can’t win the grant money.”

“You’re still concerned with the grant? At a time like this? Oh, honey.” He pushed her away enough to look into her eyes. “All that matters is that you weren’t here when the fire started.”

“Excuse me, folks. I need you to back up,” a firefighter said.

“Wait,” Holly said and turned to the older man. “That’s my place. Please.”

“Ma’am. I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” he asked and pointed to his own chest and then to hers.

She looked down at her reddened skin. “I’m alright. This is an unrelated sunburn. Can you tell me what happened? I know all my equipment was off yesterday. The electricians had some work to do. Was it the electricians? I need to know who to sue.”

“Ma’am. I can’t say for certain until the investigation is complete, there’s always a chance that fires like this one may have been arson.”

“Arson?” Holly shouted. “You mean someone did this to me on purpose?”

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