Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Chapter Eleven
EVERLEIGH
“Mom.” I spring out of the chair, and Charlie is already out of his, and so is Autumn, who grabs a hold of my hand. “What do you mean there is a fire?” The second I say that, Autumn gasps and her hold gets tighter, while Charlie’s phone rings from his pocket.
“Everleigh,” Oliver says into the phone, no doubt taking it from my mother, “the fire department just called. There is a fire at the bakery.” I can hear him rushing on his end as my feet feel like they are cemented to the deck. “We are on our way there now.”
“I’m coming.” I disconnect with him and then turn to Autumn. “The bakery is on fire.”
“Charlie,” she calls him over as she moves down the steps, with her hand still in mine.
“Brady just called. Someone called him from the bar,” he reports.
“I have to go.” I feel like I’m in a daze as she guides me to Charlie’s truck.
“I’m going to call my dad to come over,” Autumn says to me once she has me buckled into the truck. “I’ll meet you there.”
“Okay.” I look over at Charlie. “We have to go.” They share a look and a nod before he pulls out of the driveway and heads toward town. For the first time I think in my life there is traffic getting there. It seems the phone chain is in full effect, and people are rushing over to watch or maybe help.
Charlie honks his horn as he makes his way to the corner of Main Street, where I can see the flames. He pulls over and parks his truck on the side, and I spring into action. I jump down from the truck and head toward the bakery. Two fire trucks are already on the scene, and they have closed down the area, two deputies making sure no one gets close.
“What’s going on?” Charlie asks one of them as I look around to see if I can spot my mother.
“We are trying to get the fire under control,” the deputy replies. “Fire department just called the fire marshal in. We are also evacuating the rest of the street to make sure it doesn’t spread.”
“Do we know how it started?” I ask him, and he shakes his head and moves away before I can ask him anything else.
“Oh my goodness.” I hear my mother’s voice from behind me as she runs to me and takes me in her arms. “I was so scared you went to the bakery to get something and was stuck in there.” She holds the back of my head in her hand as I hug her to me.
“No, I’m fine,” I assure her as she lets me go. We stand together with our arms around each other and watch the firefighters work to get the fire under control.
“Hey,” Brady greets when he makes his way to us, next to Harmony who has tears running down her face. “We came as soon as we heard.” They stand with us as they look over and see what we see. Neither of them is able to say anything more.
Harmony walks over to the other side of my mother and slips her hand in hers. “It’s going to be okay, Maddie,” she comforts, putting her head on her shoulder. No one says anything as the fire slowly dies down.
Some of the onlookers have trickled away and then some new ones have come, but it’s mostly just a few of the older folks who are sticking around to see what the damage is. We watch helplessly as the firefighters do what they need to do. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so helpless before in my life. Knowing this is my mother’s life and she’s watching it literally go up in smoke. My heart breaks for her as she puts her hand to her mouth.
Oliver comes over with two take out trays of juice, coffee and water bottles that he must have gotten from the diner. “Here, drink something,” he urges my mother, “have some water.”
“I’m fine,” she replies to him, trying to shoo him away, but he just stands in front of her not moving. “I said I’m fine.”
“And I said to drink something.” He doesn’t back down, which makes my mother glare at him even more.
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be,” she asks him, “like at the hospital?”
“Water, coffee or juice?” He ignores her question. “I’m not going to move along until you take something to drink, and there are other people here.” He leans in. “Some of them are watching us.” She bites down on her lip, reaching out and grabbing a bottle of water. “There, was that so hard?”
“You better move along, Oliver, before you are wearing this water,” she threatens him, and he just chuckles at the threat. Not wanting to deal with him also having to threaten me, I grab a cup of coffee before he moves on.