Page 71 of To Bring You Back
“It’s only on the curtains.”
Even so, the fire was too much for one person. Adeline struggled to keep a hold on Bruce’s collar. “We can’t do this ourselves.”
Tegan grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and set it in front of the double-wide window. The curtains on the left flamed from the halfway point up, near where the end of a burning piece of wood protruded through the broken glass. From her perch on the chair, Tegan grabbed the center of the curtain rod, then hopped to the floor and shoved the curtains outside. The fabric caught on the jagged edges of the glass, but what had made it out whooshed into a cloud of orange.
The flames would spread back inside if the blaze outside wasn’t extinguished. Adeline led a still-struggling Bruce to the front door. She yanked it open as Tegan lifted the chair and used the legs to break the window further so she could dump the rest of the curtain.
“I’ll call 911!” Tegan’s call parachuted after Adeline as she jumped to the dirt where the porch had been.
Bruce didn’t jump out after her, but she couldn’t leave him in the house in case the fire spread. As she pulled him from the house and into her arms, all seventy or eighty solid pounds of him squirmed. He fell and sprinted away.
“Bruce! Come back!”
But the dog was gone.
She could either chase him or save the house.
Hopefully, at this time of night in this quiet town, he’d be okay. The burning house wouldn’t be unless she acted now.
God, please keep him safe.
She rounded the corner as the piece of flaming wood, a six-foot ladder, fell to the ground, a result of Tegan forcing the curtains out. The yard waste bags, which had been lined up along the house, under the window, blazed so high and hot she couldn’t tell whether the siding had lit too.
Adeline sprinted past, the heat warming her skin though she gave the fire a wide berth. She cranked the outdoor faucet and threw her weight into pulling the hose. As she approached the ring of heat surrounding the fire, another long-lost memory told her to aim at the base of the flames.
The fire hissed and steamed. She adjusted her thumb over the hose opening to sharpen the spray, focusing on the bags. At first, the fire seemed to hold its own, but then the orange tongues shrank. As the fire dimmed, the siding sparkled with embers, but no open flames. Small ones still licked the ladder, but away from the main blaze, those lost momentum.
Tegan appeared in the window, the phone to one ear and a pitcher of water in hand. She splashed the liquid up toward the ceiling, and it doused a gasping flame and washed down the remaining glass.
On the street, spectators assembled, but maybe because the fire was dying, no one moved forward to help. Sirens rose in the distance, soon enough to suggest a neighbor had called before Tegan managed to.
Her roommate came back with another pitcher, sloshing water over the side and bottom of the windowsill before joining Adeline. The soggy, smoldering bags reeked of smoke and burned leaves.
“How bad is it inside?” Adeline asked.
“We must’ve found it the moment the curtain lit. Smoke blackened the woodwork and the wall and ceiling over the window, but it doesn’t look too serious. It’ll be a trick to get the smell out, though.”
She wanted to ask how this had happened, but Tegan wouldn’t know any more than Adeline did. There were more important issues, anyway. “And you? Are you okay?”
Tegan nodded, and a smile blipped to her face. “And you?”
Adeline shook her head. The smile seemed so out of place.
“Up until this, you had a good night, didn’t you?”
“Oh.” Ashes seemed so incongruent with the time she’d spent with Gannon, the fact that she’d prayed again for the first time—and a second time, come to think of it—and that she’d played her bass. “I guess I did.”
“I tried to respect your privacy, but Gannon’s not exactly quiet when he performs, and a bass pipes out a lot of noise too.” The firetruck pulled up, and Tegan turned toward it. Her expression darkened. “Speaking of your privacy …”
Adeline followed her line of sight. A man with a bag over his shoulder and a large camera in hand hustled up the sidewalk. She turned her back to take stock of her clothes. Pajama shorts and a tank with a lacy bralette underneath. She crossed her arms and kept her back turned as she and Tegan spoke with the firefighters.
Once the initial questions were answered, Tegan started off in search of Bruce while Adeline let two firefighters inside to see the damage there.
When she moved to step inside after them, one held up a hand. “Wait outside while we check to make sure it’s safe.”
“There’s a man on the sidewalk taking pictures of me in my pajamas.” Calling him paparazzi sounded too outlandish. These things didn’t happen in Lakeshore. “I need to get dressed so I can help find my dog. I’ll stay away from the wall where the fire was.”
The firefighter, a man in his forties who stopped occasionally at the food truck, frowned but waved her in. “Stay behind me until we get a look.”
