Page 90 of The Cowgirl's Secret Love
She hadn’t thought of that. “You really think somebody deliberately set the fire?”
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know,” Zach said.
Beside her, Finn’s unreadable expression was firmly back in place. “Let’s check the cameras first and see what we find. I don’t want to jump the gun and assume.” He laid his fingers over Karen’s. “We’ll make sure you’re safe. Just in case something is going on.”
“Not just me. Everybody, including you guys.” Another concern she hadn’t even considered until this moment. “What about getting some guard dogs for the property?”
“Security personnel as well.” Finn glanced at Zach. “First priority. Right now.”
His friend nodded. “I’ll tell Cody about this so he knows to be on his guard, but beyond that, let’s keep it quiet. I’ll meet you at the house ASAP to check the video feed.”
But the cameras were a bust.
Finn sat back in his chair, disgruntled after having pulled all the stored data from the cloud. “Had to be a dozen guys in and out of the cabins along that row, and with no clear shot at the front door of that particular unit, I’m not ready to start an interrogation.”
“Then start where you can,” Karen said. “I agree. I don’t think we should call everyone in and start asking questions. Get some security in place, and that should discourage any more of this kind of thing.”
“Hopefully it’s enough.” He met her gaze. “You feel worried about anything, any time, you let me know.”
“I will.”
The rush of adrenaline slowly faded as Karen and Zach worked together on the cleanup for the rest of that morning. The task turned out to be reassuring. Nothing seemed super suspicious inside the cabin. Plus, other than it smelling like the inside of a smokehouse, there hadn’t been enough time for structural damage to occur.
When they were finished, they carried their supplies and the couple of bags of wood scraps and sawdust onto the porch then propped the door open to let it air out.
“It all seems pretty clear-cut.” Zach shook his head. “I’m just a suspicious bastard. I shouldn’t have said anything in the first place.”
Karen shrugged. “Bringing in security isn’t a bad idea. We need it up and running before Thanksgiving, anyway. We think living in a small town means nothing exciting ever happens, but people get desperate here as well.”
“And desperation leads to mistakes and bad decisions.” Zach nodded, offering her a sly smile. “By the way, how did you manage to convince Finn to leave the cleanup to us?”
“Me, convince him? He volunteered to cook lunch after he dealt with contacting your usual security guys.” When Zach’s jaw dropped dramatically, she raised a hand as if swearing an oath. “I know. I will take cleanup duty any day if means I get to go back to a home-cooked meal.”
“As long as he’s not making mac and cheese,” Zach teased.
She punched him in the arm good-naturedly then headed home to her man.
The house smelled wonderful. The bit inside her that said this was a strange thing fought against the part that said it was a perfect thing and she should appreciate every moment.
“Hi, honey, I’m home,” she called as she kicked off her boots and marched toward the kitchen.
“Perfect timing.”
After stepping through the doorway, Karen paused to take a good look in light of thatfull appreciationthing.
He’d set the table with placemats, pretty plates, and an actual vase with fresh flowers. Tall glasses waited by each setting, but thankfully a very solid hint this wasn’t anything too far out of her wheelhouse was there as well—an industrial-size bottle of ketchup sat on the table.
“You get to work for your lunch,” Finn informed her as he turned away from the counter. “It’s ready, but I didn’t want to juggle bowls and my crutches.
“I have zero problem being your waitstaff.” She gestured him toward the table then hurried to grab the food.
A moment later they were both seated at the table with steaming bowls of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches with crisp, perfectly browned surfaces in front of them.
The smell alone made her stomach growl in anticipation. “It looks awesome,” she said.
“It’s a comfort meal.” Finn grabbed the ketchup and put a healthy portion on his plate. “Usually I keep soup to wintertime, but it felt like a good thing to serve today.”
Karen laid a hand on his arm. “It’s been a good day when it comes down to it. There wasn’t much we had to do to fix the damage. Zach now thinks it was just an accident after all.”
