Page 15 of Decorated

“It was what that clientele expected,” Blaine said, glancing back at Alfie. “Fetch that ladder. We’re going to need it to string the lights on this baby.”

Alfie nodded and moved immediately to do what Blaine had asked. Blaine assessed the tree for a moment, then went to get the boxes of white lights he’d bought earlier.

A few minutes later, when Alfie was at the top of the ladder, wrapping lights around the fragrant pine while Blaine fed the string up to him, Alfie asked, “So you left party planning to become a different kind of decorator?”

Blaine hummed an affirmative, then said, “Interior decoration. I met Dave at an industry conference several years ago and we really hit it off.”

“Hit it off?” Alfie asked, pausing with the lights to send Blaine a knowing look.

Blaine laughed. “Not like that. Dave is straight, actually. Very straight.”

“A straight interior designer?” Alfie asked in surprise.

“A gay RAF pilot?” Blaine through the stereotype card right back at him.

“Okay, I deserved that,” Alfie said and continued with the lights.

“Our styles worked together, so we formed a company,” Blaine continued with his story. “A very successful company, I might add.”

“I’m sure it was,” Alfie said, stepping down a rung so he could position the lights lower on the tree.

“I really loved it,” Blaine sighed wistfully. “We shared most of the jobs equally. Dave was talented with style and big picture. I was good with color and shape and detail. We were actually featured in a home design magazine a couple years ago. It did wonders for the business.”

“Sounds nice,” Alfie said, reaching around the tree as far as he could. He wasn’t looking at Blaine when he asked, “So if your company was doing so well, why did it fold?”

Blaine’s face heated. His memory instantly conjured up that horrible moment when he realized what he’d done.

“We were working with a really tough client, Lucy Evers,” he said. “She and Dave used to be an item years ago, so he wanted everything to be perfect. We threw everything we had into that home redesign. It was a gamble, but we overextended our budget so that we could knock it out of the park for Lucy.”

“So what happened?” Alfie asked, coming down another rung.

The string of lights that Blaine had been feeding him ended, so Blaine had to run and fetch another. As he plugged the new string into the old, an all-too-familiar feeling of disaster settled over him.

“I burnt the house down,” he said quietly.

“You what?” Alfie asked, not because he didn’t hear him.

Blaine huffed, upset mostly at himself, and turned his face up to meet Alfie’s eyes for the first time in the conversation. “I burnt her house down,” he said. “The lighting fixtures I’d just installed were too much for the old electrical. I had everything in place, I turned the lights on, and they blew something out. It was late in the day and I’m no electrician. I fiddled around with it a little, then figured the problem would have to wait to be solved. So I left.”

He swallowed hard as he remembered the phone call.

“I got a call a few hours later that the entire house was engulfed in flames.”

Alfie came down the ladder the rest of the way to stand close to him. “Because you turned off the lights?”

Blaine shook his head. “I installed the wrong fixtures for the house’s wiring. When they blew, they sparked inside the walls and caused a fire. I didn’t see it or smell it before I left the house, but it was definitely there.” He shrugged, feeling awful. “I burnt the house down.”

Part of him really hoped Alfie would say something kind, like it wasn’t his fault, but he just crossed his arms, rubbed his slightly stubbly chin, and hummed. Just as Blaine thought he would die under Alfie’s piercing stare, Alfie asked, “When did this happen?”

“Last week,” Blaine answered in a weak voice.

Alfie gaped at him. “You burnt someone’s house downlast week?”

“Yep,” Blaine said.

He couldn’t stand Alfie’s look of incredulity, so he grabbed the string of lights and worked his way around to the back of the tree.

Alfie followed him. “Was there a police investigation? Are you certain it was the lights that caused the fire? Does your business have any sort of insurance to protect you against those things?”

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