Chapter 3

Aldis

The adrenaline has longsince worn off for me, and now that Winnie isn’t in any immediate danger, my fear and worry for her has changed into anger.

“What were you thinking running into a building that was on fire?” I demand to know as I lead her back towards her car. “You could have died!”

“I had to save the animals,” she says defensively, ripping her arm out of my grasp. “It is the whole point of this place.”

I frown down at her, and she glares defiantly up at me, her green eyes sparking. I take a moment to survey her, making sure that she wasn’t injured.

Her red hair is smudged and dulled from the smoke; she has a few streaks of what looks like ash on her cheek, and my fingers itch to wipe it away. I want to take care of her. I want to keep her safe. I would do anything to keep her safe.

“Stay here. I need to talk to someone really quick,” I tell her.

I jog over to Jonas, my friend in the fire department.

“Hey, man. Any news?” I ask him quietly, and he lets out a long breath, shaking his head.

“It was definitely arson. Similar pattern to the other cases in town.”

My stomach drops. I was holding out hope that it was an electrical fire or something. I didn’t want my girl to be the next target.

“Dammit,” I hiss, and he nods. “Any idea yet on what’s going on?”

“No, man. You’d have to ask someone with the police, but I doubt they’ll have an answer for you either.”

“Alright, thanks. Stay safe.”

He nods, and I clap him on the back before I turn and head back to my girl.

Winnie raises her brows at me when I return to her, and I give her a grim smile.

“It was arson.”

“I could have told you that,” she says, and I nod.

“I had to be sure.”

“Any news or leads?” She asks, a hopeful note in her voice.

“No. Do you have any idea who could have done this?”

She looks scared as she chews on her bottom lip and ponders my question.

“There was this man who came by the other week, almost a month ago now,” she says, and I tense.

“Who? Did you get a name? What did he want?”

How did I not know that there was some man sniffing around here?

“I don’t know. He wanted to buy the land. He offered me some lowball offer, and I turned him away. He came back the next week with a higher offer, but I still said no. He warned me that I was making a mistake, but I just thought he was being dramatic. I haven’t seen him since.”

“I didn’t know that you were having problems here,” I murmur, and she frowns.

“Why would you?” She asks, and I blink.

“There’s been other fires and stuff around town. I’m just surprised, I guess.”

“You think that it was the same guy?” She asks, and I shrug.

“Maybe. I’ll figure it out. I promise.”

She nods, and I can see that she’s dead on her feet. Tonight has taken a toll on her.

“Come on. You’ll stay with me until we get this figured out.”

“What? No, I’ll be fine at my place. What I need to do is figure out what to do with all of the cats. My place isn’t big enough to take all of them.”

“I’ll take them,” I blurt out before I can think it through.

“You’ll take them? There’s like fifteen cats.”

“I’ll foster them. Until we can rebuild their space here.”

“Really?”

Do I really want to foster fifteen cats? No, not really, but this could be my opening with Winnie. After tonight, she’ll at least know me, but if I take the cats, I can ask her to come over and help with them. We can get to know each other then, and maybe I can make her fall in love with me.

“Yeah, Red, really. You’ll just have to come over and help me with them. I don’t know the first thing about taking care of cats.”

“Deal.”

“You can’t stay here. Or at your place in town. It’s not safe. The man who came here knows who you are, and they could go there next.”

“I should stay here in case they try to hurt any of the other animals,” she argues, and I shake my head.

“It’s not safe,” I repeat. “I’ll get the police to drive by and check on the place a couple of times overnight.”

She finally relents and nods.

“Fine. I need to go home and pack a few things.”

“Let’s go. I’ll follow you to your place.”

Just like I do every night, I say to myself.

She nods as she climbs into her car, and I close the door before heading over to my bike. I swing my leg over and climb onto my bike. I pull out after her and smile.

Sure, this might not be how I wanted to get Winnie to move in with me, but I’ll take what I can get.

And I plan on getting my girl.