“Tom,” she said, looking like she wanted to come around to me, but hesitating. “What’s going on?”
“Apparently someone burned down my family bar. No one was hurt. The bar was empty. But everything my brothers worked for is gone. Everything I worked for with them, gone. The police are sure it was arson. I need to get home right now.”
“Of course,” she said.
“I’m going to write an email to Landon when I get to the airport, but I want you to be ready. I will be leaving him in charge, and that means taking on some of the things we had on my schedule for this week. I’ll need you to help him out. The meeting on Wednesday I’ll videoconference for, but other than that I’ll need you to walk Landon through my schedule.”
She nodded and then took a step closer. One hand reached up and touched me on the shoulder, and I felt my body give way. As much as I tried to stop it, I sagged against her touch, my head dropping down and my eyes clenching shut.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
I took a moment before I opened my eyes again and met hers. The concern was written all over her face, and I forced myself to nod. I realized at that moment that Amanda was probably the only person in San Francisco who knew me a fraction well enough to show that level of concern other than Landon.
“I’ll be fine if I can get home and figure this out. I trust you and Landon will keep things going here while I’m gone. I need to grab a few things and head out, if you could get to work on the rescheduling and have it on Landon’s desk before he gets in,” I said. “Oh, and if you could make sure I get the first flight out.”
“Absolutely. If you need anything else,” she said and let the words hang there. I nodded and she turned to head back to her desk.
I crossed the room and went into my office. Filling a bag with some of the important files I thought I might need for work, especially the things I would need for Wednesday’s Zoom meeting, I zipped around my room as quickly as possible. Amanda came in after a few minutes to tell me I was booked on a flight in an hour. I didn’t have a lot of time to dick around, so I tossed the business papers I had for the bar into the bag and headed for the door.
“I’m headed out. I’ll update you later today. Thank you again, Amanda,” I said.
“Have a safe trip,” she called from her desk, looking up with a sad smile. I turned and headed for the elevator, carrying my bag in my hand and the weight of the world on my shoulders.* * *When I got to the airport, my flight was delayed by two hours. It was maddening. Not enough time to go home and rest before the flight, but just enough time to be bored and anxious while waiting. I almost pulled out my suitcase and got out my laptop, but I knew I was no good for all that. The email to Landon had been sent from my phone as soon as I got to the airport, and everything else was being handled already.
All I could do was wait.
When the plane finally taxied out, I dozed off and only woke when the wheels touched down in Astoria. As soon as I was awake, I was alert, and I only stopped for a quick burger at the airport to settle the growling of my stomach. I didn’t know when I would eat again, and I needed to set up a rideshare anyway.
When I finally got to the bar, my breath caught in my throat. Stepping out onto the sidewalk, I took in the damage. It was a wreck. The flames had burned it to near-nothingness, and smoke still billowed into the sky from various places. From around the corner, my brothers arrived, having apparently been taking note of the damage on the other side.
“Mason,” I said, pulling him into a hug. “Where is Ava?”
“She’s at home with the baby,” he said, his voice muffled by my shoulder. When he pulled away, I could see the red rim around his eyes. All of them were clearly upset, but none more than Jordan, who paced behind Mason.
“Catch me up to speed? Do we have any idea who would have done this?” I asked.
“I’ll tell you who,” Jordan said, suddenly exploding toward me. The intensity of his anger was disarming, and I squared up to face him. Jordan hadn’t been here long, having just gotten off active duty, but according to the others he had embraced the job and had been doing great.