Page 15 of The House Guest
The cool air hit my face as we made it outside.
“Stay right here,” Dorian said before turning to head back in.
I ran after him. “What, are you crazy? Get back here!”
“I’ll be right back,” he said, darting inside.
My heart raced every second he was gone.
I let out a sigh of relief when he emerged again, carrying a throw blanket I recognized from the living room.
He placed it around my shoulders. “Here.”
Benjamin emerged from the guest house. “The fire department is on its way.” He looked at Dorian and me. “You guys all right?”
My teeth chattered. “I think so.”
“Our alarm system automatically alerts them to come,” Dorian explained. He turned to Benjamin. “I think it’s a false alarm. I don’t smell smoke.”
I closed the blanket tighter around my body. “Better safe than sorry.”
A minute later, the sound of sirens began in the distance and after a moment, two fire trucks and an ambulance arrived at the property.
Over the next several minutes, they surveyed the house as Dorian, Benjamin, and I waited outside.
It took a full half hour before one of the firefighters approached us. “Looks like there might’ve been a power fluctuation of some kind, which prompted the system to reset and go off. Probably what caused the false alarm.”
“I’ll call someone to fix that tomorrow,” Benjamin said.
“Thank you for coming out,” Dorian told the firefighter.
“Of course. That’s my job. You should be good to go back inside the house.” He nodded once. “You all have a good night.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said.
Benjamin spoke to the firefighter a bit more as they walked back toward the truck. The other fireman emerged from the house before climbing into the truck.
Dorian and I were left standing alone. The wind from the ocean blew my hair around.
“Come on.” He placed his hand gently on my back. “Let’s go back in.”
Still a bit frozen in shock, I didn’t move.
“Everything is fine, Primrose.” He repeated, “Let’s go inside where it’s warm.”
I nodded, forcing one foot in front of the other.
Once inside, we faced each other in the foyer. I walked over to the living room, returning the blanket to the couch.
His eyes narrowed. “What’s going on? You seem really shaken by something that turned out to be nothing.”
I didn’t want to recall the horrible memory, but I owed Dorian an explanation for my behavior. “When I was younger, the house next door to us burned down,” I told him. “Three members of the family passed away, including the girl who’d been my best friend at the time. Whenever there’s a fire alarm, I get rattled, I guess.”
He closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“Thank you,” I muttered.
“What was her name?”
