Page 105 of Wish You Were Mine

“Toby.” Grace shot him a look, then gestured at the coffee table. “I made hot chocolate. I know you already had some earlier, but I thought under the circumstances…”

“Thank you.” Summer reached for a mug and gulped down a mouthful. “Wow. That’s good.”

I glanced around, noting that Finn wasn’t in the room. Maybe they’d put him down for a nap in a spare bedroom. I knew they kept a cot here. Heather and Eugene had been prepared for more grandchildren ever since Tess was born.

“How bad is the damage to your house?” Max asked from the sofa.

I winced. “The front is pretty bad. I’ll need to replace the front wall at least, as well as the carpet in the front rooms.”

“You’ll have to re-paint too,” Liam said, winding his arm around Kennedy, who was sitting on his lap. “We’ll all help with that.”

Gratitude swelled in my chest. “I appreciate that.”

Perhaps, despite everything, I hadn’t lost my best friend.

“Us too.” Frannie raised her hand, drawing my attention. Her slightly dazed expression mirrored how I felt. Things like this didn’t happen to our family.

“Where’s Mum?” I asked her.

“She popped by her place to gather some of your old things, since you might not be able to get them from your house for a while.”

“That’s nice of her,” Summer said.

Toby patted the floor beside him, and Summer dropped onto the patch of carpet. He gave her a one-armed hug. Strange, how I’d never noticed before that Toby was protective of her in his own way. He may not bluster the way some of his brothers did, but the protectiveness was still there.

Frannie tugged at the end of her ponytail, visibly hesitant. “Mum said that the police think the fire might have been set intentionally. Who would do an awful thing like that?”

“I don’t know,” I said.“Has Nate called you? He wanted to talk to you too.

I lowered myself down beside Summer, close enough to feel her presence but not to actually touch.

“Me?” She frowned. “Why?”

“Because of your punctured tire. The police want to make sure it’s not related.”

Her eyes widened. “They don’t think someone will try to set our house on fire, do they?”

“You’d have to ask them that.” I couldn’t tell what Nate considered most likely.

“Could someone want to mess with your family?” Liam asked.

Frannie cocked her head. “Who would want to do that? We don’t have any enemies.”

“I don’t know.” He grimaced. “I can think of people who might want to get one over on Asher, but not you. Unless it could be an ex?

She shook her head. “I doubt it, although Dean’s ex thinks I’m the devil.”

Interesting.

“What about James?” Liam suggested, looking at me.

I sighed. “I wouldn’t have thought so, but I couldn’t imagine anyone doing this, so what do I know?” James was a cheating asshole, but it was a big jump from there to arsonist.

The others didn’t seem dissuaded by this. They bounced back ideas among themselves. The whole thing made me sick to my stomach. Did they really believe that more than one person might genuinely hate me enough to want to burn my house down? I wasn’t as likable as Max or Toby, but I was a decent guy. I tried to do the right thing.

Fortunately, the discussion ended when Mum and Dad walked in. Dad had a backpack slung over his shoulder and Mum rushed at me, her arms open for a hug. I pushed myself upright and let her fuss over me much the same as Summer had.

Once she was satisfied that I was fine, Dad passed me the backpack and Mum went with Heather to get extra seats from the dining room.

---