Page 32 of Loving Jared

She had suspected that Jared had put some kind of security on the house, but she wasn't positive until now. He’d told her he’d taken steps to keep her and the girls safe.

She dropped her blanket and began pulling on clothes. She didn't bother with underwear but dragged on a pair of sweatpants and an old T-shirt of Jared's. She ran down the stairs and almost smacked into Enrico who was headed into the house.

He didn't bother with pleasantries. "Your house is on fire. I called 911, the fire department is on its way."

That explained the smoky smell. Amy hurtled out of the house and onto the front lawn to stand gaping at her own house, which was rapidly going up in flames.

Enrico came up behind her. "Fire started too fast for us to stop it. One minute, nothing. The next, flames everywhere. Someone set it deliberately."

Amy's heart sank into her stomach and then lower to her feet. The only person that would've done this was her father. Her hands shook as she reached for her phone and then realized it was still inside.

"I've got to call Jared," she said quickly.

Enrico reached into his back pocket for his phone. "I’ll call him."

She nodded and continued to watch the fire in a sort of trance as it ate up her childhood home. She could hear the wail of a fire truck in the distance, headed rapidly toward them. Hopefully they’d get there soon, before there was nothing left to salvage except ash.

She was surprised that she was relatively calm considering her family home was going up in flames. She had an eerie feeling that it maybe should’ve happened a few years earlier, on the night her mother died. Although, if it had, she wouldn't have met Jared. She and the kids would've moved into another house, probably somewhere across town, and their paths never would've crossed.

"I need to get my phone," Amy finally said and turned to head back to Jared's house. "I need to call the school so they know what's going on, and I'm going to call Teagan and tell him to go to a friend’s house after school."

"Don't be long, I need to keep eyes on you." Enrico's gaze was still on the fire and Amy took that as permission to run back into the house.

She didn't make it to her phone though, which was in the upstairs bedroom. As soon as she stepped foot across the threshold, a fist hammered into the side of her head and her world went black.

---