Page 58 of Heating Up (Nugget)
The fire was all anyone could talk about the next day. Everywhere Dana went, someone spouted a theory. At the Gas and Go she ran into Owen while filling her tank. The barber, who’d never said so much as boo to her before, walked over to her pump and began spewing all kinds of crazy speculation on how it started.
“It was probably those Rigsby boys, trying to get even for having their fireworks confiscated. That Sean has always been trouble . . . a regular juvenile delinquent.”
Dana didn’t know how burning down the sporting goods store would help them “get even” because the owner, Carl Rudd, had nothing to do with what had happened at the Rigsby farm. But she supposed it was as good a theory as any. At least the blaze had been confined to the back of the store, afterhours. No one had gotten hurt and the damage had been minimal. She figured she’d get the skinny from Aidan when he got home.
She hadn’t seen him since they’d hightailed it out of the restaurant and back to Nugget. He’d gone straight to the fire and had come home sometime in the wee hours of the morning when she’d been fast asleep. This morning she’d left the house to go to the office before he’d awoken.
After getting gas, she headed to the Bun Boy to get a cup of coffee. Donna Thurston, the drive-through’s owner, was absolutely certain Carl had accidentally set the fire himself and didn’t want to ’fess up to save face.
“Everyone knows he’s smoking again and throws his butts behind the store so his wife won’t catch him. The idiot man apparently didn’t get the memo about the drought and this year’s fire danger. What does Aidan think?”
“I haven’t seen him since he went to investigate.”
Dana finally realized why she’d suddenly become so popular with the townsfolk. Aidan. It should’ve bothered her; instead, it gave her a zing of delight because maybe, just maybe, she was starting to belong.
The Bun Boy’s owner leaned out of the take-out window. “What’s going on with the Rosser property? I hear you have a live one.”
Dana laughed. “We’re still in negotiations. You think the rumor about Ray making a plea bargain is true?” She’d never stopped to gossip with the residents. But why not, as long as it was harmless?
“My take on that is even though there’s no bigger SOB on the planet, Ray wants to do right by his family . . . set them up financially. He can’t do that if he pisses away all the proceeds of the ranch on his lawyers, fighting an uphill battle. Let’s face it, the man’s guilty as sin. Gus may have been stealing his cattle, but Ray shot him in cold blood.”
Dana thought it was an interesting notion, one she hadn’t considered only because Ray seemed too selfish to think about anyone else but himself. But Donna had known him her whole life and was probably privy to a different side of him. Dana just wanted him to accept Gia’s counter to his counter. Whatever he decided to do about his case was between him and his lawyers.
“You could be right,” Dana said, putting the lid on her travel mug. “I’d better get to the office.”
“You tell that young man of yours that we’re waiting on him to do a restaurant inspection before we can get our open-flame permit. We’re installing some of those Santa Maria–style barbecues.”
He wasn’t her man, but Dana had to admit she liked the sound of it. “I’ll let my roommate know,” she said, got in her car, and drove to Nugget Realty.
“Hey.” Carol popped her head up from the computer when Dana walked in.
“I wasn’t expecting you back from Santa Cruz until Monday. How was the beach?”
“It was great, but Vance was itchy to get back to work. You hear about the sporting goods store?”
“Aidan and I were having dinner when he got called away. You really think it was arson?” Dana couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to set fire to Carl’s store. Bad things like that just didn’t happen in Nugget.
“I don’t know what to think,” Carol said. “But forget the fire. You were having dinner with Aidan?” She lifted her brows, waiting to hear the whole story.
“It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing . . . two people who live in the same house who didn’t want to cook. We went to an Italian place in Reno I used to go to. Nothing romantic.”
Though Dana wondered. Aidan seemed more than friendly, but she didn’t want to read into things between them and be disappointed that it was all in her head. Besides, she’d caught him a few times looking at Sue’s Facebook page on his laptop. She supposed it was normal to be curious. God knew she looked at Tim’s all the time, even though they were completely over. But she suspected Aidan hadn’t stopped loving Sue. And she wasn’t going to be second place ever again.
“That’s too bad,” Carol said. “He seems like a good catch. Anything new on your client’s counteroffer?”
Dana had been texting Carol in Santa Cruz with details. “Nope, still waiting to hear back from Ray’s lawyer. I promised myself that I would block it out of my head and try to get some work done. The Arnolds are still interested in Sierra Heights but want to see a few homes outside a planned community before making a decision. I wanted to send them listings . . . try to get them to come up this weekend to look. What are you working on?”
“A couple from Walnut Creek is looking to buy a cabin up here. They want something near the river.”
“Don’t forget about that place on Feather Vista. It needs work, but the views are spectacular.”
The phone rang and Carol answered. A minute later, she signaled to Dana that it was for her. “Del.”
Showtime!
“Hello, Mr. Webber. How are you?” Dana wanted to cut to the chase but didn’t want to appear overanxious. People around here got to the heart of the matter in their own sweet time.
“How you doing, Dana?”
