by Barbra Novac
As Chloe watched what had just become her world disappear, a sudden longing to help save it overcame her. She raced to Max’s closet and threw on a pair of Max’s sweatpants and then ran downstairs. Whatever she could do, she would do in order to get this beautiful little world back the way it should be.
Outside, Chloe worked alongside people she’d never met, who would soon become her closest friends, to put out the fire and save their world.
At one point, Max looked over and saw her. He finished shouting his message to the chief of police and walked over to her.
“Chloe, you don’t have to do this. Go inside. I don’t want to risk you getting hurt tonight.”
Chloe smiled up at him. “This is my home, isn’t it? I want to save it just like everyone else here does.”
Max leaned down, scooped her up in his arms, and kissed her hard on the lips. Despite the seriousness of the task around them, Chloe couldn’t help revelling in the feel of Max’s lips on hers in a kiss.
Pulling away, Max stood her on the ground again and said, “Welcome home. Now let’s get this job done together.”
* * * * *
Chloe sat in the kitchen of the great house helping James to serve hot cocoa to the firemen, police, and all the extended family who’d come to help put the fire out. When everyone had a drink, Chloe sat with James at the table to listen to the reports from the police.
“Mr. Sebat, we found a body in the wreckage. It seems the second bomb went off while he was holding it, hence the minimal damage to the actual property. We have three items we took from the body. Can you identify them?”
The inspector produced three Mylar bags with a silver key chain, a ring, and a watch in each of them. Chloe recognised them immediately.
“My God. Gary did this? Gary started this fire?”
“Do you know this individual, miss? Is he possibly the kind of person who could do this?”
“I do know him, and I do know that he is the kind of person who could do this. He had motivation.”
“You’ll have to come down to the station first thing tomorrow so we can make a proper statement for the report.”
With that, the officials packed up and left, and soon all the other people did too.
Max, Chloe, and James were left to each other. They sat at the table, nursing hot cocoa, exhausted and at the end of their run.
“The factory wasn’t more than a third destroyed,” Max said mechanically. “We’ll see tomorrow what can be salvaged.”
“I am so sorry that this happened,” Chloe told them. “That somehow I brought this psycho up here with me. I am so sorry that I have caused you all this pain and sadness, and that it will be very hard to recoup the loss for a long time. I am so very sorry.”
Max and James looked at her in unison. They both reached out for her hand.
When Max spoke, it was in a quiet voice. “Chloe, I needed you here for so many things, and rethinking the farm was one of them. Well, that will have to be done now, and you and your costumes will represent a whole new life for all of us. But for now, we need to shower and then get some sleep. Tomorrow will be hard.”
Chloe smiled at them both. “Where will I sleep?” she asked, purely out of interest.
“In between James and I, where you belong,” said Max.
THE END
Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Barbra Novac
I am very happily married with two children.
I live in the Blue Mountains in a small town called Leura, near Sydney Australia.
I have faked accents as a flirting technique
I don't do housework and I hate cooking!
I love reading romance novels and am proud to tell the world.
I love watching The Bold and the Beautiful and am embarrassed to tell the world.
I have a tattoo on my left shoulder of a snake and an apple and one on my lower back that is a Jack Kerouac quote.
I am a feminist but I love the Marquis de Sade
I secretly listen to Abba, but officially I love jazz, Indie and the Rolling Stones.
I love to go to tarot readers and astrologers.
