Page 19 of Timeless Pages

“I’ll help her find something!” Dom yelled, grabbing her hand and dragging her to Nate’s bedroom, which was quickly turning into our bedroom.

“You know he’s going to fool around with her in there,” I said to Nate.

Nate rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Let him have fun while he can,” he said cryptically.

“What are you up to?” I asked suspiciously.

“I’m still working through it, but you’ll see eventually. Dom still has to pay for the other day,” Nate replied.

Dom and Isa returned far faster than I expected them to. You look terrific,” I said when I saw her.

Isa wore a black skirt just above her knees, one of our dress shirts artfully tucked into it, and a pair of black Converse shoes.

She made business casual a work of art. Knowing the Doc lifted her restrictions and that she didn’t have anything on under that skirt almost made me say screw the meeting.

Instead, I resisted and ushered her toward the elevator. Technically, we could skip it, but we were going more for her than anyone. She should have been attending these meetings all along.

“You’ll need this,” Nate said as we rode the elevator down. He reached into his pocket and handed her a cell phone. “I’ve kept it charged for you.”

“Thank you,” Isa said, accepting the phone. She clicked on the screen and scrolled through notifications before dismissing them all and handing the phone back to him. “I don’t have pockets,” she explained. “Now, where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” I replied.

The drive to the community center where the meetings were held was short. Nate guided her to the door while Dom ran ahead to hold it open.

“What is this?” Isa asked when we stepped inside, and she saw all of the people.

“This is a business association meeting,” I explained.

“It’s where Sunflower Falls business owners meet once a quarter to discuss any town business we have going on or need to be addressed.

A good way for us to network and get to know each other better while finding ways to make the town better as well. ”

“You’re a business owner, Isa,” Nate said. “You belong at these meetings.”

A screech filled the room, making Isa freeze as she tried to assess the danger.

Nova pushed through the crowd and ran toward Isa with Linc, Grant, and Ben trailing behind her with puppy dog eyes.

I had never seen them this happy until they met Nova.

She changed their world for the better, and having met Isa, I understood the feeling.

“You’re actually here!” Nova gushed. “Thank God! We need more women to attend these meetings. Come on. I’ll introduce you to everyone.” She took Isa’s hand and dragged her into the small crowd mingling over the punch bowl and finger sandwiches.

“Three million,” Nate said as we shook hands with the other three men.

“Do you know you raise your offering price by half a million dollars every time we see each other? Grant asked.

“I figure one day I’ll hit a number you can’t say no to,” Nate replied.

“We heard what happened,” Linc said, nodding toward our girls. “How is she?”

“She’s healing,” I replied. “Once her father is behind bars, where he belongs, she’ll be even better.”

“Well, if there is anything we can do to help, just let us know,” Ben replied.

When we left the meeting two hours later, Isa was glowing.

She was immediately accepted into the group and had plenty of ideas to help the town, and people listened.

Some of us lingered outside the community center, still chatting, when sirens filled the night air.

Fire trucks roared by us, headed toward a pillar of smoke.

“That’s where the bookstore is!” Isa exclaimed.

Fuck. She was right.

“Let’s go!” Dom said. We ran to the car and ordered the driver to take us to the bookstore. We entered an all-too-familiar scene when we turned onto Isa’s street. Police cars and fire trucks blocked the road, and immense flames shot out of the windows and roof of the bookstore.

“Dave!” Isa screamed as she jumped from the car and ran toward the burning store.

“Isa! Wait!” we yelled after her as we ran to catch up.

A police officer stopped her before she could get too close.

“That’s my store!” Isa yelled. “Someone might be inside!”

“The fire department is handling it, ma’am. I can’t let you get any closer. It isn’t safe,” he told her apologetically.

I wrapped my arms around Isa as we watched them fight the blaze. I had no doubt who set the fire or why. “Detective Greene must have told Morris about the cameras,” I told Nate and Dom.

“Dumb fucker,” Nate growled. “Won’t he be surprised when he finds out the feed isn’t stored in the shop?” While Isa mingled at the meeting, I told them what happened with Detective Greene. They weren’t too happy with me because I hadn’t called them when the detective arrived.

“The cameras!” Isa yelled. She pulled out of my arms and plunged her hand into Nate’s pocket to retrieve her phone.

Isa tapped on the screen several times, and we huddled around her.

She skipped to the end of the file and then started to rewind it.

I was impressed by how long the building burned until the heat was too much for the cameras.

She kept rewinding until we saw a figure appear in the store.

There was no doubt it was Morris, and if there had been any, he was kind enough to find one of the cameras to grin into as he flipped it off.

After that, he doused the store in gasoline and tossed a lit matchbook behind him on his way out the door.

The store never stood a chance. Not with all of those books inside.

Once we finished watching that part, Isa continued to rewind the feed past when Morris arrived.

“There!” Dom said.

Isa hit play, and we watched Dave leave the store only twenty minutes before Morris arrived. “Oh, thank God! He wasn’t inside when the fire started,” Isa said, slumping against me in relief.

Wherever the old man was, he was alive. Now maybe he will let us put him up in a damn hotel.

Dave arrived after about an hour of standing on the sidewalk watching Isa’s home burn. “I was so worried about you until I watched the camera feed and saw you hadn’t been in there when my father set it on fire,” Isa said as she hugged Dave tightly.

“Wouldn’t have been no fire if I’da been there,” Dave blustered. He met my eyes as Isa stepped back into my arms. “Might be needin’ that room now if you’re still willin’.”

“It would be our honor, Dave,” I replied.

Dom took him aside and got him squared away with a hotel room as the Fire Marshal came to talk to us. “We’re doing our best, Miss Wilcox, but it’s not looking good. The fire’s jumping to the neighboring buildings, and we have to switch our attention to them before the entire block goes up.”

“We have footage of how the fire started and who started it,” Nate informed him.

“That would make my investigation much easier if I could get a copy of it,” the Marshal replied.

“I’ll send it to you,” Isa assured him.

“You all may as well take off. It will be a long night here, and you won’t be able to get in to assess the damage until everything cools off,” he told us.

“Thank you for your efforts,” Isa replied.

We dropped Dave off at his hotel and went home.

“Are you ok?” I asked Isa on the ride upstairs.

She nodded. “I am. Don’t get me wrong, I’m devastated at the loss, but I will rebuild.”

“Yeah, but you just lost your home,” Dom said. “It’s ok not to be ok about that.”

Isa smiled and shook her head. “That wasn’t my home anymore. This is my home now.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather. Isa stated it with such ease and acceptance. I hadn’t realized she had fully decided about our future together, past giving it a shot. I felt like screaming from the rooftop that Isa Wilcox chose us!

“I’m going to go shower,” Isa said when we entered our home. Our home. “I smell like smoke.”

We watched her walk down the hall and into the bedroom. When she was gone, I turned and grinned at my friends like an idiot. Their smiles matched my own, so we were three grown-ass adult idiots cheesin’ over our girl.

“I’m opening a bottle of champagne,” Dom said.

“I’ll get the candles and start a fire in the fireplace!” Nate announced as they went to accomplish their missions.

“I guess that leaves me with the mood music,” I chuckled.

We were busy preparing the living room for a night of seduction when we heard Isa call for us.

“Hey guys, can you come here for a second?”

We exchanged worried looks as we rushed down the hall to the bedroom. We nearly fell over each other as we stumbled to a stop inside the room.

“Holy hell,” Nate muttered.

Isa knelt on the bed naked and still damp from her shower.