Page 82 of Sunshine
“Daddy, it’s smokey.” Waving her little hands in front of her face, Reece coughs again. “It’s stinky and hurts my throat and eyes.”
“Give her to me. You go.” It’s Tessa’s voice behind me. I turn, nodding in relief, and hand Reece over. She takes my daughter, urging me to go. “I’ve got this.”
I hesitate, grabbing her arm. “Keep safe.” I don’t add theher, because I want them both safe. Because they’re both precious to me. Unconditionally precious.
“What’s going on?” It’s Tessa’s friend Paige walking toward us from the cottage.
“Paige? What are you doing here?”
“Fire,” I say, not giving Paige a chance to answer Tessa. “Take my girls somewhere safe, will you? It’s been dry and if the fire catches…” I don’t finish my sentence because Paige nods, grabbing Tessa’s arm.
“Come on, Let’s grab some breakfast in town.”
“Daddy! Don’t go.” My daughter’s face is filled with enough worry for twelve adults, and I touch her cheek. A sob escapes her cherub mouth. “I don’t want you to be with Mommy. I don’t want you to die.” She sucks in a breath, her eyes filling with tears, her bottom lip trembling. “Stay with me.” A shuddering sob escapes. “Uncle Jeff and Auntie Lulah don’t have time for me anymore. They’re always at the hospital with Baby Jamie and when he comes home, he’ll need them. Babies are a lot of work, Daddy.” Her chin wobbles. “Not even Siobhan and Liam want me. I only visited twice, and they canceled all the other times after. They don’t like me, Daddy. I only have you.”
If I thought the smoke made it hard to breathe… Her words make it seem like I’m trying to inhale mud. I can reassure her about her aunt and uncle, but my parents? How dare they make her feel like this. When I glance at Tessa’s face her expression is fiercely protective, but underneath that I see the little girl who relates so well to my daughter’s fears, because she’s lived them. My daughter never has to fear having no one because I will tell her every damn day for the rest of my life how much she’s loved by her family.
Tessa deserves that too.
“I won’t get hurt, gumdrop. I’m not fighting the fire, that’s the firefighters’ job. I love you and so do your aunt and uncle and grandparents. They all want you very much, but they know you belong with me. And I want you with all my heart.” I look up at Tessa again and hope she reads into my words too. “We’ll talk more about that later, Reece. But first Daddy must go see what’s going on, and I want you out of this smokey air. Okay?”
She nods, but tears fall down her cheeks.
“Let’s go, honey. Put your face into my shoulder and close your eyes.” Tessa kisses my daughter’s silky head and eyes me, mouthing the words, ‘be safe’. And then Paige and my girls head toward the cottage. I’m frozen by the sight of it for a moment. That’s my family—those two girls, they’re it for me. They’re the family I never had.
It’s a smoldering mess of wet ash. I’m slumped on the concrete steps of the house, staring at what used to be Reece’s playhouse, my heart still pounding. The house is still standing, although the vinyl soffits, fascia and windows have been melted by the heat, and smoke damage makes the house unlivable. But it’s the little replica house I’d built for Reece that’s my focus. Yesterday she’d asked me if she could sleep inside overnight and I almost said yes.I almost said yes.I would have been with her, but when Tessa screamed I would have left to check on her without waking Reece. She could have been inside when the fire started.
“It was fuckingher.”
I’m startled by Mack’s angry voice. He stands with his hands on his hips, the soot on his face accentuates every scowling line around his eyes and mouth.
“Her?”
“Fucking Tess Harlow. Spoiled diva?—”
“Mack.” My eyes slice to his, warning him this isn’t a path I want to take. My heart knows she’s not capable of this, but I was a cop, and the evidence points heavily in her direction, so I understand my friend’s suspicion. The fire chief says it was arson, and besides my crew and Tessa, I don’t know anyone else—at least not well enough to earn this type of malevolence.
The cameras were smashed, and the playhouse was doused in accelerant. The fuel cans they found in the nearby bushes were Tessa’s—the ones she’d used previously to siphon the diesel from our equipment. Those cans had been sitting at the side of her cottage for weeks, and when I walked by her place earlier, there was nothing but a bare patch of dead grass.
And then there’s motive. Tessa thought I was married with a kid. Hell, she still thinks that. And for someone like Tessa, who grew up as a cast-aside, that would be the ultimate betrayal. And yet, with all that mounting evidence, I still know she didn’t do it.
Tessa acts spoiled and entitled, but it’s to keep people at a distance. She pushes everyone away before they can reject her. It’s how she protects herself. Tessa Harlow isn’t cruel. She’s broken.
“Tessa was trapped at the barn, and I was with her when the fire started.”
“No, shesaidshe was trapped at the barn.” Mack crosses his tatted arms. “And you were only with her when the fire became noticeable. Come on, Case, she’s the one that pointed it out.” Mack shoots an egregious look across the field. “Besides, what about that friend of hers? She wasn’t at the barn.”
“Paige?” I look down at the steps between my thighs. “Paige isn’t the arson type, neither is Tessa. A disgruntled employee?”
Mack laughs humorlessly. “If it were an employee, Tess’s place would be in ashes, not yours. They respect the hell out of you, even if they think your dick is in charge when it comes to your neighbor.” Mack plops down next to me on the steps. “How about the private investigator?”
“Nah, they’ve got their damning proof. There’s no reason for more.”
When I look up, Mack’s shaking his head.
“Fuck this. We shouldn’t be trying to find a suspect when everything points to her.” He rises, pushes up his sleeves and starts walking away.
“Where are you going?”
