Page 147 of On The Rocks

Annette was wiping her eyes, staring straight ahead.

Justin crawled toward her, but she didn’t seem to notice.

A few others from the waitstaff were on the far side of the patio, all with shock on their faces.

I felt her before I heard her say, “Griffin.” Lennon nearly pushed me over as she threw herself into my arms.

Thank God it wasn’t her.

I cupped the back of her head, the heavy rope of her braid under my hand helped bring my adrenaline back down. She pressed her face into my neck and we just rocked as the sounds of firefighters calling out orders barely dented the howl of the fire alarm.

The blast of water hitting the building broke the haze.

The crew all moved to the hill just above the patio and we watched white smoke climb into the sky overhead.

How the hell had this happened?

Chapter 30

Lennon

Say It Again

Beckett, Helena, Kira, and Ronan showed up a few minutes later. One of the firefighters stopped to talk to them for what seemed like forever. Finally, he left.

I was going to go over, but Annette finally shook out of the quiet she’d been sitting in since we all watched Ronnie being taken away. She sprinted over to Kira and the two women hugged, then Ronan enveloped both of them.

I was still curled in Griffin’s arms, both sitting on the patio with Elmer on my lap. Once the dog spotted Griffin, he’d escaped from the girls to be by his side.

After all the drama, the fire was contained in little more than ten minutes.

I was numb as the firemen tromped through the now smokeless dining room. I could see the puddles from where I was.

I could only imagine the destruction in there.

Fire didn’t really care what it ate or destroyed. And water was just as destructive.

“Hey, you’re awful quiet.”

As if echoing his dad, Elmer licked my face.

Gently, I pushed his head away. Instead, he leaned hard against my chest instead. “How did we end up with a fire?”

“I don’t know. It looked like it was on the big griddle cooktop.”

I pushed away so I could look at Griffin. “The kitchen had been closed.”

“I know. I don’t know anything about fire, but it was so smoky, it seemed like a grease fire to me.”

“That makes no sense. At all.”

I pushed off him and struggled to my feet, immediately going into a coughing fit.

Beckett rushed over and took my arm. “Easy, there.”

Griffin detangled himself from Elmer and hurried to my side. “Maybe we should get you checked out. You took in a lot of smoke.”

I waved him off. “Beckett, what did the fireman say?”

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