Page 31 of Sweet Summertide (Christmas Cove #4)

Holly wasn’t sure how long she had sat on the curb watching the firefighters work, but no stretch of time could help her go back and take back the thought that Teddy had anything to do with the fire.

All the while she sat there, she had been too cowardly to look over her shoulder and see him.

She knew he was there, just like he had said he would be.

She wasn’t alone, but he hadn’t said anything to her all morning.

He was likely waiting for her to give a better explanation for having accused him of arson.

Workers came and went into the chocolaterie behind her, one even brought her a bottle of water, no doubt at Teddy’s direction.

He wasn’t speaking to her, but he was still caring for her.

His actions spoke louder than words ever could, but her words alone had cut.

It seemed she could do nothing to get out of her own way.

As she waited for the all-clear to inspect the damage, the sounds coming from Teddy’s kitchen kept her company; metal pans clinking on a stainless counter, cardboard boxes ripping open and bubble wrap popping.

The rich scent of his chocolates seeped out through his open door and out to the sidewalk where she remained.

The mouth-watering aroma was hardly enough to overtake the bitter smell of charred wood coming from her shop on the other side of the street.

The fire chief came out of her front door with a sort of pipe in his hands, and locked eyes with her. She stood and crossed the road blocked off by a fire truck parked perpendicular to the sidewalks His lifted brows and relaxed jaw gave her hope that she could get inside.

“We’re all done in there, but before you go in, there’s some good and bad news.” He handed her the narrow, pipe-like object. “The good news, it wasn’t arson. This thing here is what caused the fire, old knob-and-tube wiring in the upper section of the wall.”

“And the bad news?”

“You probably would have never known otherwise, but there was an extensive network of carpenter ants that had turned the wood to pulp in the same area. In my opinion, the shavings dried out and came into contact with this old wiring. It was a matter of time at that point. It’s just a good thing no one was here at the time. ”

“So, it really was an accident?”

He nodded. “I’m glad to say so. Before you go in, you’ll need to take a few precautions.

My inspection team says the structure is stable except for the Eastern corner of the upper floor, but I would recommend having this designated a hard hat area until an engineer gives the all-clear.

As for the downstairs area, the damage is minimal, just wet.

And here,” he pulled out a white and yellow face mask from a pocket on his coat sleeve, “Wear this today. The wind will clear out the smoke in a few hours.”

“Thanks, chief.” Holly watched the crews load up in their trucks and toot their horn as they left. She was left in the middle of the street to take in the extent of her loss.

Dozens of people had gathered outside the cordoned-off area and were whispering and pointing at her shop.

In addition to the smoky show, a bullseye might as well have been painted in red all over her skin.

There was no hiding from this. She shrugged her shoulders and waved at the people as she headed in to her shop.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Millie pushing through the dispersing crowd and running in Holly’s direction. Looking down the street, Holly saw Alfonso close behind. Millie threw her arms around Holly and hugged her in tight. Too tight. “Ouch. Watch my back.”

Millie stepped back. “Oh my god. What happened?”

Holly shook her head. “Would you believe me if I told you that it’s a long story?”

Millie smiled. “I would. Your stories are usually long. Are you okay? We came through as soon as they let us.”

Alfonso finally caught up to them and bent over with his palms bracing on his knees. “Alfonso no run fast.”

Millie giggled at Alfonso, and it was nice that she broke the mood, even for a moment. “What can we do to help?”

For the first time since Teddy left her be, she turned and looked to his front door. “Alfonso, can you go across the street and see if Teddy has three hard-hats that we can borrow. I know I have some in the back, but I don’t want to risk going in without one.”

“Three hats. Come right up!” Alfonso darted across the street and was back in a flash. “Theodor says to return hats whenever. Okay? We go in?”

Holly slipped the white hat over her head and adjusted the strap at the back. “Yes. We go.” She might have been ready to go inside, but the real unknown was what she was walking into.

Millie, sensing her apprehension threaded her arm through the crook of Holly’s elbow. “We’re here.”

The small words of assurance were no surprise coming from Millie, but she really wanted Teddy to be beside her too.

With one final look over her shoulder at the chocolaterie, Teddy stood shadowed just inside his shop’s front door.

Catching her gaze, he turned away from her, his action stung exactly how he likely intended.

And she deserved it for what she had done.

If her shop burned because of karma, then losing the man she was falling in love with was a cruel joke she had played on herself.

One thing she knew about karma was that the laws work both ways.

Meaning, if she got bad because that’s what she put out into the universe, then she had a chance to turn it all around by putting good back into the world.

How exactly? She didn’t have the brain capacity to think about it, but she knew it would start right here, in the dripping remains of her shop.

No matter what the damage, there was no way she was conceding defeat and moving back home.

She took the first step across the threshold and another.

Her eyes adjusted to the low light, and she was able to see how bad the damage was.

Her mural, on the long wall, was intact and she let out a sigh of relief.

Millie and Alfonso worked around the space, righting tables and chairs while Holly headed to the office where she and Millie had piled all the supplies and merchandise a few days prior.

She opened the door and saw that the entire stock was intact.

Other than a wet space, the damage on this level didn’t look too bad.

The fire chief said the blaze sparked on the second floor, where there was nothing but the guts of what she hoped to turn into apartments or even an event space at some future date.

“Hey Millie, I’m going to look upstairs. Can you get started mopping up all the water? I don’t want to have to replace brand new floors.”

“Already on it,” Millie said as she took two mops from the kitchen and passed by Holly.

Holly mouthed her thanks to her most loyal friend.

Before she went up the dark stairs, she propped open the back door.

Light flooded in and illuminated the bottom few steps.

Once at the landing at the top, she could see what the chief had seen.

In the far corner at the front of the building splintered lathe, like monster’s teeth, surrounded an exposed cavity.

Thin ribbons of light poked through the exterior brick and shined along the moist and blackened vertical wall studs.

Holly ran her fingers along the missing mortar.

Crouched down, she swished the water around where it pooled on the old laminate flooring.

By the looks of the destruction, it was time to call in some help.

The extent of work needed to be completed now was more than she alone could finish before opening day.

There was still a couple days until the Chamber of Commerce was scheduled to make their assessment.

What better way to win the grant money than to come back from such an utter disaster , she thought.

Holly felt like, if she could somehow pull this off, the money would be hers.

There was nothing else she could do upstairs, other than to dry it all out. For now, the main dining area was her priority to get cleaned up. The kitchen too. She headed back down to see what Millie and Alfonso had done.

Millie was using a large push broom and sweeping the water out the front door and onto the sidewalk where streaks of gray and brown painted the concrete outside. “How was it up there?”

“Seared like a steak, but without the happy ending.” Holly took a mop in her hands and joined Millie in clearing the remaining water off the floor. The broom had done a great job of getting the puddles out. The mop would get the rest. “Where’d Alfonso go?”

“He had to get back to the Foundry. He came on his break to help I wish I could see him for longer stretches, but I guess that’s the job.”

Holly wondered if Alfonso’s in-and-out lifestyle was something she should expect for herself once the shop opened.

She couldn’t think about that now because opening at all was now up in the air.

“You should talk to him about it. See if there’s some way to get more time together, but it was nice of him to come help for a few. He’s a really good guy.”

Millie blushed and she bit her lips between her teeth.

“You really like him?” Holly said and wrung the water from her mop out in the street.

“It’s just easy with him.” She smiled and shook her head. “Stop it. Okay.”

“Fine. It’s just nice to see you happy.”

“I don’t want to jinx anything, but I think things are going well,” Millie said, and raised a brow at Holly.

“What?”

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that you’ve been trying your hardest to ruin any chance you have at being happy with a certain chocolatier. And what happened to your skin? You look like you fell in vat of tomato juice.”

“I went to the farm yesterday,” Holly said with a grimace.

“That bad, huh?”

“I thought I could smooth things over with my mother.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t?” Millie said.