Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The police call was short, as Bud wasn’t letting me say much without a lawyer, but since I was absent at the time of the loss, they wanted to know basic stuff.
The insurance company was sending an adjustor and an inspector to appraise the damage.
Smoke and water apparently did almost as much damage as fire.
Bud had called a security company to police the site until it cooled off and we decided how to salvage whatever was left.
The grimoire in the oven might have survived, and I was holding out hope for some things from the basement, but Bud said the firemen thought the water heater had exploded.
That was in the basement. If that was true, the herbarium would probably be toast. The room turned glassy.
What was lost, was gone. What could be rebuilt, I would rebuild. I had to keep going.
Talking about the fire had temporarily eclipsed what had happened outside with Ranth, but every time I looked at him, it was like stuffing kindling in embers.
Right now, his back was to me as he looked out the window at the distant lights of Guerneville.
His arms were crossed. I wanted to know what he was thinking, but I’d have to have skin contact…
Bubbles of nerves bounced like fresh kombucha.
I could ask him. What I really wanted was to have more time alone with him.
If we sent him back to the Garden, tonight might be my only chance to make memories.
I handed Bud his phone. “Thanks for all this,” I said and nodded at the pile of dishes on the counter. “Like always, you are there for me.”
“Cookie, I’m always here. I promised Lili, and I won’t ever let her, or you, down.”
“Speaking of Mom, you said you had her book, I mean, my book?”
“Oh yeah, that. I shouldn’t have said anything yet. I goofed.”
“Can I at least see it?”
“Nope. No can do. Lili was super specific. Twenty-five or nothing. She’d be furious if I even mentioned it.”
“Why twenty-five?”
“No idea, but I promised her.” His eyes went glassy, and my own burned with tears.
I knew I wasn’t getting it out of him. Knowing him, he’d probably had it triple alarmed in some underground cache.
I hid my disappointment in a hug. His arms enfolded me, and the CBD oil-infused essence of Bud clouded around me, strangely like home.
Ori, Freddie, and Rose were hanging out. Rose looked as wilted as I felt. We all needed showers and beds. Bud had three extra bedrooms. One was mine, and Rose could share with Ori, which left Freddie and Ranth. I grinned at the thought.
“Who wants to go to bed?” I asked. Everyone looked at me like I was holding candy, or completely nuts, or a combination of both.
Bud looked at me, confused. He chuckled.
“Beds, sure, whatever you need. Use all the towels, there are extra blankets and pillows in the hall. It’s not every night I get my girl up here with friends. Go, tear it up.”
I walked into the living room. “Showers first. There are two bathrooms. I call dibs on one. Follow me to tonight’s luxury lodgings.
” Water dripping down Ranth’s satiny skin, like when I’d seen him for the first time, flashed through my mind.
Stuffing the sexy images in a mental lockbox, I led the way down the hall and up the stairs.
Bud’s room was on the first floor, and the guest rooms plus his roof office were on the second.
The second floor was undisturbed except for that room.
My room was like I’d left it but dust free.
Ranth came up behind me as I directed Ori and Rose and then Freddie.
His hand traveled down from my shoulders to the small of my back.
Ori and Rose exchanged knowing glances that confirmed there was no way I would be able to keep secrets from my friends in these close quarters.
But did I want to start something that had no possible resolution? Well, hellebore yeah, I so did.