“Have you had lunch?” Landon asked.
“Not yet,” I said. “It’s been a really busy day.”
“Well, then you deserve a break. Come on. I don’t want to eat by myself.”
As much as I would have just kept right on working, I probably did need at least a little bit of a break. I finished up the last bit of the tasks I was working on, then grabbed my purse, and we headed out.
Landon took us to a little deli right up the road where we often had lunch. It had some of the best boxed lunches in the city.
On my way up to the counter, I ordered a boxed lunch for Tom. He had eaten his little microwave cup of soup, but that wasn’t enough. I wanted to make sure he had enough food to get him through the day. I ordered what I knew was his favorite because I had ordered it for him to be delivered to the office multiple times before.
Landon and I headed back to work, and I went into Tom’s office. He was still on the phone, so I crept over to his desk quietly and set the little white box down on it.
“Roast beef and swiss,” I mouthed. “Chocolate cupcake.”
He gave a little swoon and mouthed a thank-you, then gave me that endearing smile that made my heart melt. I pushed the feeling away, not wanting to even indulge it for a second, and headed for my desk again. There was still a lot to be done before the afternoon was over.3TomI snapped awake to the vibration of my phone on the nightstand beside me. It was set to not use the ringer before 5:00 a.m., but the vibration rattling on the wood was nearly as alarming. It took a second to orient myself and reach over to grab the phone off the charger and pull it toward me. The sun was still not up yet, so the room was pitch-dark, and my eyes nearly clenched shut at the brightness of the screen as I read both the time and the name on the display.
Three forty-three.
Mason.
“Yeah,” I said, not knowing an actual greeting.
“There’s been a fire Tom. The bar burned down,” Mason said, his voice shaking.
I blinked in the darkness for a moment. What the hell did he just say?
“Tom?” Mason asked. He sounded panicked and distraught. Suddenly, the cobwebs of sleepiness were gone and replaced by my own panic.
“Christ, yes, sorry. What happened? Is everyone okay?” I asked.
There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line. I knew that sound. My brother was trying to control his emotions. He always tried to keep his head cool, especially when he spoke to me. I knew how much he looked up to me, and yet, he was the one I left de facto in charge of the family bar. He might not have known it, but I admired him just as much as I admired anyone in my life.
“No one was inside. But Tom, they think it was arson. Someone burned down our fucking bar,” Mason said.
“Dammit,” I said, beginning a string of swears. They were the only words I could think of that seemed appropriate. “I’m glad everyone is okay. Tell everybody I will get down there as soon as I can. I’ll let you know when I land.”
Mason mumbled a distracted goodbye and hung up. I understood the feeling. Someone burned down the bar—our bar. The bar I’d bought for my brothers to run in our hometown, to make money to care for our parents and keep the family together, safe, and employed while I went off to pursue this career. It was my way of taking care of them while I was gone.
And now it was gone.
Arson.
I was so freaked out I didn’t know what exactly to do first. I got out of bed and paced for a moment, trying to get my head to clear. Suddenly, the solution popped into my mind. I had someone who could clear my schedule and make sure the ship sailed smoothly here while I went home. Before I even processed the thought fully, my thumb hit the call button, and I raised the phone to my ear.
“Hello?” came the groggy voice on the other end.
“Amanda, I’m so sorry to wake you up, but I need you,” I said. There was silence on the other end for a moment.
“Tom?”
“Yes, it’s me. I’m heading up to the office. I need you to meet me there in a half an hour. It’s an emergency. Can you do that?” I asked.
“Yes, of course. Is everything okay?” she asked. There was genuine concern in her words, but I didn’t know how to answer it.
“No, not really. Just meet me at the office, please.”
I drove to the office in a daze, and when I parked the car in my spot by my private elevator, I saw her car was already there. When I opened the door to my floor, she was standing behind her desk. Her hair was in a messy bun above her head, but she was dressed as professionally as I gave her time for. She seemed to have been putting on makeup when I came in, and she snapped a compact shut and tossed it on the desk.