Chapter 15
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
Francis
The romance writers were an absolute delight.
They’d spent the afternoon writing, spread out between the meeting room in the guest wing and the pool yard.
Most of them had headphones on and were completely focused.
A smaller group sat on the sectional in the living room, brainstorming with each other on ideas to fix their plots.
Mom, Auntie Judy, and I tried not to be obvious, but we were having a blast eavesdropping on their unhinged storylines.
“Okay, but the pregnant woman has amnesia, so how far along is she? If she’s not that far along, would she even know?”
“I need to finish my giraffe shifter omegaverse mpreg series next. I’m thinking about having it end up on a transport to space.”
“I’ve got my latest novel on submission.
It’s about a serial killer who falls in love with his stalker.
It’s Silence of the Lambs meets Misery. Like, what if Clarice kidnapped Hannibal Lecter and made him tell her all his secrets, but he secretly loves being controlled.
It’s classic grumpy/sunshine with a small-town, only-one-bed vibe. ”
“Francis, you need to get all their pen names so I can look up these books. I think I need to read more romance.”
“On it,” I said, giving Mom a fist bump.
“I hope Kendall and his friends are safe tonight,” Auntie Judy said with a frown. “At least it doesn’t seem like too many people do the illegal fireworks here. It was always so awful back home.”
“You’re right. I recall driving home from Oakland one year, and there were huge explosions on both sides of 880-S as we drove. You’d think they’d put an end to it, but people find a way to get those illegal fireworks.”
We’d heard a few big booms, but it hadn’t been too bad.
Derek made sure I got the best fire insurance possible, which had cost a fortune, but he reminded me how bad the fires had been that year.
Some people couldn’t even get insured in certain areas.
In California, it seemed, either earthquakes or fire were gonna get us, so all we could do was take precautions where possible.
I was glad I’d had luck finding great landscapers.
They’d taken care to prepare the entire property with plenty of defensible space around the house, and the orchards were far enough away that they didn’t pose a threat to any structures.
Mom and Auntie Judy headed back to their house around nine, and I went into my office to do a little work.
By eleven, the authors were still howling with laughter in the great room.
I thought perhaps I needed to make some guidelines about the usage of the main house in the future—like, get your asses back to the guest house by ten?
I wasn’t worried about nosy guests. I’d had keypad locks put on my office and all four of the bedrooms in the main house, so I wouldn’t have to worry and for the privacy of other guests staying in the house.
The authors were so cool, I worried they might have ruined me for all future guests.
I wanted to be a good host, and I was grateful my first retreat was going so well.
I went back out to the kitchen and a few of them were looking in the fridge.
“Oh, hey, Francis. We were wondering if you had any more of that yummy cider from earlier.”
“Girl, do I. Follow me.”
I led them to the second fridge in the laundry room, where I kept extra beverages for this express purpose, and they oohed and aahed at the selections.
That led to me getting out the popcorn maker.
I sat and gabbed and snacked with the three who’d remained until well after midnight, and when they realized how late it was, they took more ciders with them and headed back to the guest house.
I used my phone to set the alarms once they were inside.
They could still come and go without setting it off, but at least this way the monitoring company would be paying attention.
I made the rounds, picking up the little trash they’d left behind. The group had done a great job cleaning up after themselves. I pulled out the garbage bags and put them by the back door to go out the next morning and turned off the lights.
I climbed the stairs to my room with a smile on my face. The first day had been a smashing success. It was so easy being the host and hearing them get so excited about their craft was exhilarating.
I was absolutely in the right place, doing the right thing. Who knew? Maybe one of them would write a bestselling novel at my retreat and tell all their friends?
I was chuckling to myself as I walked by the slider in my bedroom—but light where there shouldn’t be light stopped me in my tracks.
“Oh God.”
On the far side of Kendall’s property, there was a streak of bright orange near the highway.
Fire.
I pulled my phone out and called 9-1-1.
“Yes, I’m calling from 500 Lakeshore Road, and there’s a fire on the side of Lake Road. I can see it coming down toward Kendall Warren’s place. I can’t see how big it is.”
“Thank you, sir,” the operator said, her voice smooth and steady. “We’ve already received reports. FBFD has been dispatched.”
“Someone already called? Okay, thank you.”
I disconnected and went out onto my balcony. The smell of smoke hit me in the face. Thank God the lake was between us and the fire, but Kendall’s house was in its path.
So were the animals.
I called Mom.
“There’s a fire. The trucks are on their way. I’m going over to Kendall’s to check on his creatures.”
“You’re what? Francis, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, but I have to go. Maybe I can help his assistant.” I promised I’d text her when I was back to my house, but she said she’d come over in case the guests were worried.
I went out the back slider and took off at a run toward our still-broken fence. The giant tortoises were all huddled together around their water hole, thank goodness. I heard a door slam, and I called out.
“Hello? It’s Francis from next door.”
A young guy with long black hair came around the side of the house. “Oh God, I’m glad you’re here! I’m Alberto. I can’t get ahold of Kendall.”
“I called 9-1-1, and they said trucks were on the way. He probably can’t answer.”
“It’s not close, but I’m thinking I’ll at least start grabbing the guys in the barn and putting them in bins. I can load them into the back of my truck in case we need to evacuate. Kendall and I discussed what to do in case of emergency. I just never thought we’d have to worry.”
“Put me to work.”
Alberto appeared concerned but focused as I followed him to the barn, and his relative calm helped me keep it together. He already had bins lined up outside the enclosures for the iguanas and chameleons.
“Here, can you start putting the tortoises in those bins over there? Some of them are kinda heavy, but you should be able to get at least four in a bin.”
“Sure. Sure, I can do that.”
I knew Kendall had eight radiated tortoises, and I grabbed them one by one, carrying them as carefully as I could.
“I’m so sorry, buddy. I know you like being on the ground, but we gotta get you to safety.
You’re doing so good.” I kept talking to them as I went, though I knew my reassurances were mostly for myself.
Alberto hollered that he was going to load the bins on that side of the barn into the truck, and he’d be back to help me.
I was just grabbing the last tortoise when he pulled the truck up to the open barn doors and came running back.
“I got all of them, I think.”
He counted them all and assured me I did.
I couldn’t lift the bins myself, so I had to drag them toward the truck and wait for him to help me load them into the bed. Once we’d filled his truck bed, we put two more in the back seat.
“What do we do about the giant tortoises?”
He pulled his hair tie out and wound his hair around his hand to redo the bun. He gave me a worried look. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe we can take these bins over and store them in my garage? Then maybe we can get them one at a time into the truck?”
“I don’t think we can lift them, just the two of us.”
Headlights on the road caught our attention, and we both waved at the vehicle headed our way.
It turned out to be a pickup truck from the fire department, and an older man hopped out and ran toward us. “I’m Chief Lalo Ortiz. You’re Alberto?”
Alberto shook hands with him. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I told Kendall I’d come let you know. We have the fire contained, and it should be out in a short time. There’s no threat to the property. He didn’t want you to worry.”
Alberto stepped backward and rested his hands on his knees, coughing a bit.
“I’m Francis Liang—”
“Mr. Liang. So good to meet you. I was headed to your place next. Kendall’s okay, and there’s no threat to your property, either.
Thank goodness there’s no wind out here, or this could have been a disaster.
Some dumbass kids were drag racing on the highway and sparks from one of the car’s brakes set off the fire.
Burned the car to a crisp, too. They’re lucky no one was hurt. ”
“Thank you for letting us know,” I said, a hand pressed to my chest.
He looked at the bin next to me and smiled. “You guys had everyone ready to go, huh? That’s really great. Kendall loves these guys.”
“We didn’t know what we were going to do with the big ones, though.”
“Yeah,” he said. “He’s going to have to come up with a way to evacuate them.” He chuckled. “It’s not like loading up your cats and dogs.”
“Not unless they weigh three hundred pounds,” Alberto said, wiping his forehead with a bandanna. “Okay, I’ll get these guys back in their enclosures then. Thanks for letting us know.”
The fire captain nodded. “I’d offer to help…” He took a look at the iguanas and made a face.
“That’s okay,” I said. “I’ll help Alberto.”
“Kendall will be relieved you’re okay.”
I smiled at him. “I’ll be relieved when he’s home, and I know that he’s okay.”