Page 27 of Lovesick
Her plea wasn’t humorous at all. I looked at her helplessly.
Bethany slipped into the room in a pair of obnoxiously pink slippers. “Shane finally fell asleep.” She yawned. “My arm is numb and both my nipples almost cracked, but that child is quiet, so I’ll take it.”
Tears filled my eyes. “Bethie, do you—”
“No, I don’t hate you.” She sat down next to me. Her gaze softened. “I could never hate you, Lizbeth.”
“But it’s your dad’s shop. I was there. It—”
“Wasn’t your fault.”
She reached across the table and laid a hand on mine. Her touch instantly soothed me. I relaxed beneath the warm weight of the blanket. The world had turned upside down in the space of a breath again, and the realization startled me.
Ellie let out a long, slow sigh and slumped back against the chair. Her gaze darted outside. Devin must be on his way over.
“I can’t say I’m all that surprised,” Bethany murmured with a little shake of her head. As if she, too, couldn’t believe it. “Actually, I feel terrible. If it’s old, faulty wiring, how could I let you live there?”
“You didn’t know.”
“Maybe we should have had it checked before now. Cause is not confirmed, of course, but I have little doubt it’s the wiring. That shop is so old ...” She trailed off, then shook her head again. Her bloodshot eyes met mine. “I’m just glad you’re okay. If this had happened while you were sleeping, or if you hadn’t been able to get away, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”
The minutes before I’d noticed the fire replayed through my head again. “I smelled something but couldn’t figure it out. It ... smelled sharp. I was only outside like ten minutes, but...”
“Long enough for it to get going. They think the fire began in the back and then moved up the back wall. Everything there was so old, the wood so dry, that it burned fast.”
“Everything is gone from the attic, isn’t it?” I asked.
She hesitated.
“That’s what they reported to Maverick,” Ellie said softly, casting a pained look my way.
Car. Home. Job. Computer. Clothes. Phone. All wiped out within days. All my books, most likely. How could they have survived? The fire climbed that wall.
Tears filled my eyes. What next?
Wherenext?
I literally had the clothes on my back. That was it. It seemed so ridiculous, I couldn’t even fathom that it was real. Of course I could stay with Bethany and Maverick. Would have to. But for how long?
They had a new baby, plus Ellie and her dog, chickens, and a goat. Could I move back here after living on my own?
Did I have a choice?
In the background, Maverick spoke to the insurance agency on the phone. Bethany wore a pair of his sweatpants and an old T-shirt. Her silky black hair was pulled away from her face in a messy knot. I’d never seen her this tired. Despite the humming chaos of a baby-filled house, she still wore a light swipe of lipstick. Her power shade.
We sat in the silence for several minutes more before Maverick joined us. He ran a hand over his bleary face and muttered, “Stupid insurance companies,” as he sat down next to Bethany. He put a hand on her shoulder with a questioning glance. She nodded as if to say she was fine. He didn’t move his hand.
This was the second call in the space of forty-eight hours he’d made that involved some major accident and me.
“Sorry, Mav,” I said, “I don’t know what to say. I swear, none of this was intentional. The car, the store. I’m a walking disaster.”
He sent me a sharp look. “Don’t apologize. This wasn’t your fault.”
“Still...”
“Are you okay?” he asked me pointedly. “I haven’t gotten a chance to check on you in all this. JJ said you were fighting it with a fire extinguisher until he pulled you out.”
I nodded reluctantly.
