“Again, too early to tell, but it looks like it started at the back door. If it was set, an amateur did it. A classic case of gasoline spread around and the drop of a match.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I’ve been at this job for thirty-four years. I’ve seen it all. This one looks similar to one of the adolescent stunts I’ve seen down at the mills. We’ll do a full investigation. In the meantime, stay clear of the building and let me and Bryce Cambridge—he’s our county arson inspector—know if you have any leads.”
“Brooke?”
She spun around to see Katie running across the path to her, arms open wide. “Oh, my word. Drew told us.” She tugged Brooke into a hug and held her tight. “I did all I could to keep the kids at bay and came over as soon as I could. Are you okay?”
The lump in her throat told her otherwise, but she nodded and broke free from the constricting hug. She needed her space, her independence, especially now that it felt like it had been stripped from her.
“Back to square one with the cleanup. Once they say I can rebuild, I’ll call my contractor. Looks like Owen McDougall’s gonna get some more business.” Her poor attempt to sound nonchalant didn’t fool Katie.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”
“It is what it is. I’m a fighter. I’ll rebuild. I won’t let some little punk scare me away.”
“Do you think it’s him? Drew told me you thought you saw someone lurking outside your window a few weeks ago.”
“Maybe.”
Or maybe it was someone else. Someone who had repeatedly expressed how much he didn’t want her to open up for business. How much he didn’t want her living here. How it wasn’t safe.
The timing of it all was too convenient, especially since he was the one to spot the fire.
If it was Drew, if he had anything to do with the fire, Brooke didn’t think she could ever rebuild.
At least not her heart.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
It was nearly dusk by the time the firefighters packed up their gear and drove away. All that remained were puddles of mud and ash, and bright yellow tape sectioning off the rec hall. The Allagash cabin was a total ruin. Once it burnt, the crew demolished most of it. No one would step foot in there again.
There were a thousand phone calls to make, but Brooke didn’t feel like talking to anyone. Her cell vibrated in her pocket and she took it out to read the screen. News must have traveled fast.
Swiping her finger across the screen, she answered, “Hey, Charlie.”
“What the hell happened? There was a fire at the camp? Tell me you’re okay.”
“I’m okay.” Brooke sighed and dragged herself down to the dock. She took off her boots and socks, and sat at the edge, telling Charlie everything she knew, which wasn’t much.
“Holy shit.”
“Exactly.”
“And they think it was arson?”
“The fire chief wouldn’t confirm it, but I have a feeling... and he seemed to as well.”
“I have tomorrow’s shift covered. I’m actually in route right now and will be there in two hours.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Hell yeah, I do. Whoever this asshole is who set the fire to your camp, to our camp, we’ll find him and burn his ass. And that’s not a freaking pun.”
Talking to Charlie gave her the only comfort she found all day. She pushed Drew away until he finally left and sent over his sister. He didn’t want her to open the camp and couldn’t have been too distraught over the devastation, and that royally pissed her off.
“You still there?” Charlie had continued talking while Brooke zoned out.
“Yeah, just a little out of it. I’m going to clean off in the pond and then write another laundry list of things to do.”
“I’ll be there in a bit and then we’ll find a hotel room to stay in, okay?”
“I don’t mind staying here.”
“My treat. We’ll argue about it tomorrow. Be safe. See you in a few.” Charlie hung up so Brooke disconnected as well and set the phone on the dock.
Stripping down to her bra and underwear, she dove into the water and scrubbed through her hair with her fingers. She’d still smell like smoke, but at least she could wash off the layer of dirt, ash, and sweat.
She climbed back up on the dock and stretched out to dry in the setting sun. Not that the sun would dry her, but the warm evening air felt good on her skin. Out here on the water with the burnt buildings behind her, she could almost pretend the past ten hours hadn’t happened.
The stress of the day must have wiped her out because the next thing she saw were headlights shining on the water. She shoved her legs into her shorts and shrugged on her tank top while walking up the slope to the camp.
“Brooksie.” Charlie ran to her and engulfed her in a hug. They stayed like that, wrapped in each other’s arms, swaying back and forth, for a few moments.
Finally, they broke apart. “Brooksie? Where the hell did that come from?”
“I don’t know. It just came out.”
She’d been Boss, Ross, and Brooke, but never Brooksie. It sounded too feminine, too cute. And cute she was not.
“I can’t believe this.” Charlie looped her arm through Brooke’s and stared at the rec hall. The back end by the kitchen had received the worst of the damage. The roof had collapsed over the back door and from what she could see through the blackened windows, many of the tables inside were toast. “Our kitchen reno was finally complete. This asshole will pay.”
“Brooke.” Drew’s voice made her tense.
She closed her eyes and sighed, keeping her back to him. Dealing with Drew would be too much tonight.
Charlie, oblivious to the changes in their relationship this past week, spun around, bringing Brooke with her. “Drew. Can you believe this?”
“No. I can’t.”
“Were you home when the fire started? Oh my God, I didn’t even ask you where you were, Brooke.” She hugged Brooke’s arm closer.
“I wasn’t here. I got here pretty fast, though.”
“Did you hear or see anything from your house?” Charlie asked Drew.
Brooke avoided his gaze and jutted her chin out in annoyance. It wasn’t like she was keeping things from her friend, but she didn’t even know where she stood with Drew.
They’d slept together but weren’t in a committed relationship, which was mostly her fault. He asked her to move in with him and then dumped a bunch of sweetness on her, which she hated to admit that she liked. He was pushing for a relationship or it was a pity offer, which was a hell of a lot worse.
“I was out for a run early this morning when I saw the fire. I called 9-1-1 and got Brooke.”
“Oh. Where were you?” Charlie asked innocently.
“She was at my house.”
“Oh.” Her best friend looked from Drew to Brooke and back to Drew before she finally settled on Brooke again. “Oh. We have some catching up to do then, don’t we?”
“Yeah. Let’s go check in to that hotel you got us.”
“Hotel?” Drew moved closer. “You’re not staying at a hotel. I have plenty of room at my house.”
“We’re not staying with you. Besides, your family is there.”
“They all left today. Glen and Katie have to go back to work tomorrow.”
Saying goodbye had never been her thing. People had been taken from her before she ever had a chance, so she was used to sudden departures.
“You’re not staying in a hotel.”
“You can’t tell us what to do.” Brooke slapped her hands on her hips and huffed out an annoyed snort.
“Brooke, maybe we should. I haven’t made reservations yet. The town is so small, I don’t even know where to look.”
She glared at her former sister friend.
“Great. I’m not far on this trail.” Drew pointed toward the path she’d taken numerous times over the past two weeks, and Charlie followed him like a dog in heat. �
�Do you need to get your bags or anything?”
“Oh, yeah. Mine is in the car. I can drive us there instead. That way my car isn’t here... alone.”
“We can drive to a hotel as well.”
“It’s probably best to leave your car at my place. Want me to come with you or will you show her how to get to my house?” he asked Brooke.
She wanted to put up a fight, but her body didn’t have an ounce of energy left in it. At least she had Charlie by her side to run interference with Drew.
“Fine.” Brooke stormed off toward Aroostook and tossed a change of clothes into her duffel. She still had her backpack at his house with her toiletries. “This is not a good idea,” she warned Charlie when they were in her car.
“Oh, I think it’s a very good idea. Since you’re not going to tell me what’s going on between you and hottie bestseller, I’ll have to get the goods from him.”
“There are no goods.” She fastened her seat belt and told Charlie where to turn.
“So that’s why you’re grumpy?”
“I’m grumpy because someone burned down my fucking camp.”
“I’m sorry,” Charlie said with sincerity and followed her directions, turning down Drew’s driveway, then parking in the circle. “That was really insensitive of me. I was trying to distract you... us... from all this shit. My timing is off. I promise not to ask about the deal between you two.”
“Thank you.” Brooke didn’t have a clue what the deal was, so she had nothing to say about it.
Drew was waiting for them by the front door and took their bags. “I changed the sheets on the beds downstairs. You have the floor to yourselves.” They followed him down the stairs to where his family had stayed for the past two days.
Gone were the traces of toys and books and snacks. He set Brooke’s duffel bag next to her backpack that sat on the center of a bed in one room and placed Charlie’s in the room across the hall.
“There are clean towels in here.” He flipped the switch to the bathroom. “Help yourself to whatever you need. I’ll be upstairs in my office. Come on up if you’re hungry. I have plenty of food.” With that, he turned and left them, never once making eye contact with Brooke.
“Nice place.”
“Yeah.”
“Is this where you stayed this weekend?”
“Not exactly.”
“I’m assuming his room is upstairs somewhere then. And I’m assuming you stayed there, but I’m not going to ask about it. That would be totally insensitive. And I won’t mention the sadness and longing I noticed in Drew’s eyes. Or how he reached out to touch you three times but pulled back before he made contact.”
“Charlie...”
“Let’s go upstairs and eat his food, then we can make a list of all the shit we need to do to get the camp up and running by summer. I’m in this one hundred percent. If I have to quit my job to make this work, I’ll do it.”
“I don’t say this often enough but,” Brooke tugged on Charlie’s ponytail, “I love you, girl. Love you like a sister.”
“Love you, too.”
Drew had an assortment of fruits, vegetables, and pasta salads spread out on the counter. Mostly leftovers Brooke recognized from the weekend, and she was grateful for the sustenance. She hadn’t eaten since the night before. She remembered drinking a bottle of water someone had passed her during the day, but other than that, she hadn’t thought about food or hydration.
Seeing the pitcher of iced tea, she poured herself a glass and gulped it down, followed by two glasses of water.
Drew came around the corner and into the kitchen. “Can I get you two anything else?”
“This is awesome. Thanks, Drew.” Charlie, being Charlie, hugged him.
“Please help yourselves to anything in the house. Let me know if I can do anything for you.”
“We will.”
When Drew left to go upstairs, Charlie sat at the table and fanned herself. “Is it me or does he get hotter every time I see him?”
Brooke ignored her and took out her notebook she brought with her. “I should have called Owen earlier to see if he has time to rebuild for us. I like him and he does good, efficient work.”
“You can call him in the morning. Besides, didn’t you say you were waiting for the arson report or Detective Flannery or whoever has to investigate this before you can rebuild?”
“Yeah. He’ll be over in the morning.”
“What does that mean? Like taking pictures or samples of the wood or something?”
“I guess. I don’t really know how the investigation works. The chief gave me his number and asked me to call him if I thought of anything that could be a clue.”
“I can’t believe someone would deliberately set fire to an old campground. Do you think it’s that kid who was sneaking around?”
“I don’t know if it was a kid or an adult. I haven’t seen any traces of him or an intruder since. I just don’t know.” Brooke buried her head in her hands and let out a groan. “As soon as my life moves in a positive direction, God takes the compass and shakes it all up, pointing it somewhere else.”
“Where do you think it’s pointing now?”
“Okay. Bad analogy. It’s not pointing anywhere. It’s spinning around and around. I feel like I’ve lost my focus.” Brooke scooped up an unhealthy amount of dip with a cucumber and shoved it into her mouth. She didn’t want to talk about Drew, but she hated holding back on her best friend.
“No, you haven’t.” Charlie did the same, only with a red pepper. “You haven’t lost focus or lost your way. This is an obstacle. Okay, it’s one hell of an obstacle, but you’re Brooke Ross. You’re a fighter. You can conquer any obstacle tossed at you. I’ve seen you in your worst of times and you don’t lose your shit. You use your shit to get motivated.”
“I can’t decide if I want to hug you or slug you. Skye’s supposed to be the perky one.”
“She won’t be on leave for another eight months, so I’ve gotta pick up the slack.”
“If Fish goes all Pollyanna on me, I’m definitely gonna throat-punch someone.”
“That’s the spirit.” Charlie picked up a cookie and pointed it at Brooke. “We’ll make your lists, call up whoever the hell we need to call up, and we’ll do most of the labor ourselves. Damn good job of it we’ll do as well. Whatever a guy can do, we can do better.”
“I’m not sure where you’re going with this. I thought the pep talk was about rebuilding. What does the guy thing have to do with it?”
“You tell me.” Charlie bit into her cookie, giving Brooke an all-knowing smirk.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Drew had been thoughtful again in the morning, leaving a bag of bagels on the table with a note to help themselves. He literally disappeared, giving them free rein of his house. Deep down, Brooke knew he had nothing to do with the fire, but she resented how she imagined he felt about it.
As if fate was on his side instead of hers.
Charlie picked out a sesame bagel while Brooke chose a raisin one. They popped them into the toaster and searched for cream cheese in the fridge.
“It’s nice of your boyfriend to let us stay here.”
“Charlie,” Brooke warned.
“I’m just saying.” She snooped through the drawers and found a knife. “I know you’re private and don’t want to talk about whatever is going on between you two, but I think it’ll take your mind off the fire.”
Funny how they both took up equal parts of her mind. “Finding out who’s responsible for the fire and rebuilding is what’s most important. And for the record, nothing is going on between Drew and me anymore.”
“Anymore? I’m sorry to hear that. What happened?”
“You’re not giving up, are you?” Brooke peeled off two sheets of paper towels and set them on the counter before taking the bagels out of the toaster.
“Nope.” Charlie swiped a hunk of cream cheese and went to town spreading it on her bagel.
Brooke took her
bagel and did the same. “We sort of had a thing. I think it’s over now.”
“How far did this thing go and why is it over?”
They brought their food to the breakfast bar and sat on the matching stools.
“I spent time with his family. They’re amazing people. We had a few nice dinners during the week, and then we slept together the other night. That’s when it all changed.”
“What changed?”
Brooke bit into her bagel, stalling to give herself time to figure out how much she wanted to say. She’d never had an actual boyfriend in high school, and nothing close to a girlfriend to confide in, so this was unfamiliar territory for her.
What was the balance between sharing with her sisters and respecting her and Drew’s privacy?
“He asked me to move in with him.”
“The nerve of him,” Charlie said around a mouthful of bagel.
Tearing off a hunk of bagel, Brooke nibbled at the broken piece. It was sweet and warm and comforted her, just like Drew. It was all too much too soon, though.
“He’s made no secret about how much he thinks the camp will be a failure. And he doesn’t like the idea of me staying alone in the cabins all summer.”
“Not thrilled about the first and I don’t blame him about the second.”
“See? How can I be with someone who is practically setting me up for failure? He’s a constant reminder of what I’m up against.”
“How exactly is he setting you up for failure?”
“He doesn’t believe in me. This camp represents everything I believe in and he has doubts I’ll get it off the ground. I can’t be with someone like that.”
“Yet you slept with him the other night. Why cave if you didn’t think he supported you?”
“I didn’t say he didn’t support me.”
“You’re confusing as hell.” Charlie dropped her bagel and swiveled Brooke’s chair so their knees were touching. “Let me get this straight. The man asks you to spend time with his family, treats you like a queen, asks you to move in with him, and I’m assuming you had amazing sex, but you dump him because he doesn’t approve of the camp you’re building.”
Ten Million Fireflies (Band of Sisters) Page 20
