Page 66 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
After he’d left, I’d tried to get back to sleep. But a
n hour later, I’d still been tossing and turning. I’d finally given up and come to the office to read. I must have fallen asleep not long ago because the last thing I remembered was the early light of dawn coming through the front windows.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“Almost six.”
I was curled into my reading chair in front of the fireplace. My feet were tucked into one side and my knees were drawn up to my chest. Unfolding myself, I turned to inspect him.
He was a mess. His hair was sticking up in all different directions and his face and clothes were streaked with soot. The only thing that would get all of those black streaks out was a shower. His frame was hunched and his eyes were bloodshot and puffy.
And he reeked of smoke. I scrunched my nose after taking a breath.
“Sorry,” he said.
“It’s okay. Is everything all right?”
After a long breath, he muttered, “No.”
I lifted my hand to the side of his face, using my thumb to rub a black smudge on his cheek. He gave me the weight of his head and closed his eyes.
“Want to talk about it?” I asked.
“How about I take a shower and then fill you in?”
“Okay.” I nodded.
His hand stroked my knee one last time before he left.
I got out of the chair and went to the kitchen to turn on the coffeepot. I’d need a lot of caffeine to make it through the day. When I heard the shower turn on, I walked upstairs to see if Roe was still sleeping. She was zonked so I decided to jump in the shower with Jess. Stripping off my pajamas, I crept silently into the bathroom and opened the shower door.
Jess was standing underneath the spray, his head bent down, letting the water run down the back of his head and neck. His arms were above his head, resting against the shower wall, and his eyes were closed.
Fitting myself to his back, I wrapped my arms around his waist and did my best to ease my man’s troubled mind while I cleaned the fire from his body, replacing the nasty smell with clean and fresh green apple.
By the time we made it out of the shower, I needed to hustle to get to work on time. I roused Rowen out of bed and we hurried through our morning routine.
Jess left as soon as he was dressed so I didn’t get the scoop from him after all. But he knew I was anxious to hear what had happened, so he stopped by the hospital shortly after ten, bringing a triple Irish cream latte with him. Sitting together in the waiting room, he told me about the fire.
“A house on Second Street was burned down last night. Guy that lived there lost everything except what was in his garage.”
I gasped. “Oh my god. Is he okay?”
“Yeah. Just totally fucked. When I say he lost everything, I mean everything. If you’ve got any extras from moving here, let me know and I’ll take stuff to him.”
“Absolutely. I think I’ve got some kitchen extras in the attic. How did the fire start?”
Shaking his head, he said, “Someone threw a gas can through his living room window, followed by a burning torch.”
“What?” I whispered, my eyes bugging out. “Why would someone burn down his house? He could have gotten hurt. Or worse, killed!”
“I don’t know. It’s completely fucked up. Talked to him for a while but he was in shock. Couldn’t hardly speak. I gotta head to the fire station after I leave here and see if Nick learned anything new. Then I’m gonna try and talk to the guy again. See if he has any enemies that would do this.”
“Does he need somewhere to stay?” I asked.
I wasn’t really keen on having a stranger in my house but the poor man had lost all of his possessions in one night. I could put up with a guest for a few days, especially now that I had the guest bedroom all set up.
“He’s a stranger, Georgia,” Jess scolded.
