Page 54 of Say I'm Yours
Irush toward the kitchen, hoping I can save my house. Unreal. Absolutely unreal.
“Don’t go in there!” Cooper’s arms wrap around my waist as he moves me over to the side. “Where’s the fire extinguisher?” Cooper yells.
“In the damn kitchen!” I scream and follow him in there, moving to open the window as Cooper grabs the completely destroyed pie from the oven.
After a few minutes, we get the alarm to silence by fanning the hell out of the kitchen. The smoke is cleared out, and I call the alarm company to cancel the fire department, but they explain they’ve already been dispatched.
“Well,” he lifts the charred pie, “I’d say our desert is done.”
I attempt to smile so I don’t burst out in tears. “I’ve never, not once in my entire life, burned a pie!” My hands cover my face to hide the fact that I could no longer stop myself from crying. I’m sure Cooper will think it’s about the damn pie, but really it’s about so much more. This pie is just one more thing I’ve failed to do right.
“Don’t cry.” Cooper grabs me and pulls me against his chest.
“You don’t get it,” I cry into his shirt. “I burnt the pie. I slept with Trent. He told me he loves me, and then I kissed you. I’m a mess. I don’t even know who I am!”
Cooper rubs my back and kisses the top of my head. “I promise, it’s going to be fine.”
“Grace!” Voices yell from outside the house, and I hear the sirens, faint but growing louder with every passing second. “Grace, are you in there?”
“Oh my god!” I grumble against Cooper’s chest. “This can’t be happening!”
“Grace!” A familiar voice yells louder as they continue banging on the door. “I’m busting the door down!”
I lean back and wipe my eyes. I’m not about to have a broken door on top of all this. Our volunteer firemen will do it without question. They’re a little overzealous when it comes to fire safety since we haven’t had a fire in . . . ever.
“No!” I yell as I rush toward the front door. “I’m fine! We’re all fine!”
I throw the door open as I see Beau’s foot in the air. “You’re really okay?” he asks quickly and drops his foot.
“Everyone is fine,” Cooper says from behind me. “Some food spilled over in the oven and created a lot of smoke.”
Beau looks disappointed. “I still need to check things out to be sure.”
I give him a pointed stare. “No hoses in my house. There’s no fire. We’re not on some episode ofChicago Fire.”
“Killjoy.”
Cooper jerks his head to the side and puts his hand on my shoulder. “Yes, sorry that we didn’t set the place on fire so you had something to do.”
I watch him walk off and turn back toward Cooper. “I’m sorry about tonight. Hell, I’m sure we can go back a month and still not cover all the things I should apologize for.”
Cooper grabs his jacket and walks toward me. “It’s me who should be apologizin’, Grace. I never should’ve pushed you. I knew you weren’t feeling anything, but I needed to know for sure.”
Beau walks back out and shakes his head. “No Southern woman burns a pie like that. It’s unheard of.”
I ignore his jab. I’ll be sure to send his wife a text about his new hunting bow he’s been hiding in my store, thinking she isn’t going to find out.
Cooper punches Beau in the arm and chuckles. “He’s an idiot. I had a good time tonight.”
“I did, too.”
“Until you set the kitchen on fire,” he jokes, making my lips tilt in a smile.
“Shut up.”
He comes in close and holds me tight. I wrap my arms around him and squeeze. Cooper kisses the side of my head.
“Well, at least we didn’t have Trent show up this time. Come to think of it . . .” There’s no way Trent wouldn’t be here. Angry or not, if he heard my address and a fire, I can’t imagine him ignoring it. He may not always do the right thing when it comes to our relationship, but he’s extremely protective of me. This wouldn’t be a call he’d ignore.
