Chapter 28

After the contractors surveyed the damage, they told us to shut down the store so they could make repairs and bring it up to code. The fire had infiltrated an opening and spread to the shop next door, taking out a larger section of the roof than I'd first thought. Smoke had poured in and left black soot on the walls, which had to be cleaned and repainted—especially in the break room. We also had no electricity, so we hired an additional team to handle that repair.

I leaned back against the counter and stared blankly at our empty store. The front and back doors had been open all morning while we boxed up the merchandise. Some of Mel's outfits were unsalvageable. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Melody put her arm around me. "Just think of it as a vacation while they're doing repairs. When's the last time we had one?"

"We can't afford to close. What if we put some tables and racks on the street?" I suggested, resting my head on her shoulder. "Most of our customers pay cash anyhow, so it wouldn't be difficult to manage. The weather's nice in the mornings. Maybe we can find one of those giant umbrella tables and put our merchandise in three of those parking spaces."

Melody circled around to face me. "That's not a bad idea. When people see something going on outside, they slow down to check it out. They'll think it's a big sale or something." She glanced at her pale arm. "I could use a little sun. Why don't we spread the word to our neighbors at the ice cream shop and bakery? They had to close down too, but I'm sure they'd join us if we made it into a big block party. We could have fashion, food, and lemonade."

Austin appeared in the doorway, Jericho behind him. "You two should come out of here. We can't do anything else until you get the repairs done."

After hearing about the fire, Melody's former Packmaster offered to help. He brought over box fans and a generator to air out the shop, and Mel's parents hauled all the clothes to the dry cleaner. Lakota and my mother were out back with the contractors, who were still surveying the damage and making plans.

Melody lifted a box of scarves and headed to the door. "I'm going to take this last batch over to the cleaners and tell them we want everything ready by tomorrow."

"We'll give you a lift," Jericho said, putting his arm around her. "It'll be all right, girl. At least the asshat who did this is pushing up daisies."

She scrunched her nose and wriggled free. "You stink."

He shook his sweaty hair away from his face. "You're not exactly smelling wonderlicious yourself." After sniffing his armpit, he stripped out of his concert shirt and draped it over his shoulder. "I'll drive. Hand me the keys."

Austin tossed him the keys and stood outside the door while Jericho strutted off.

Melody looked at me and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Do you want me to stop off and pick up some fried chicken for later?"

"None for me. The stench in here has killed my appetite. I need to call my father and see how Tak's doing. I'm not certain leaving those two together was the best idea."

Mel blew her purple hair away from her eyes. "Maybe they'll duke it out."

"Don't say that."

She laughed brightly. "You know I'm only teasing. I'm sure everything's fine and we'll discover them playing checkers and drinking tea."

I gave her a peevish glance as I tossed another dirty paper towel into the wastebasket. "I'm going to walk over and visit the banker before he goes home. I still need to pay Edward."

"Do you want to ride with us? I'm sure my uncle won't mind sitting in the back," she said, a mischievous smile on her face as she peered over her shoulder at Austin.

"No, that's okay. It's in the opposite direction from the cleaners and not worth the trouble. After spending all day in here, I need some fresh air. I feel like a zombie."

She gave me a jaunty smile and crossed her eyes. "Tell me about it. I don't even know what time zone I'm in."

"You've had way too many sugary drinks." I glanced around the empty shop. "I wonder if my mom is still out back."

"Last I checked, she was spraying blood off the concrete. Something about bad omens. Lakota bought a long hose they hooked up to the building behind us. You know… it never occurred to me that we don't have a fire extinguisher. I'll pick up a few while I'm out. Hopefully our neighbors will replace the ones they used. Dodging fire inspections and city rules is great, but on the other hand, it makes people irresponsible. Maybe we can think about installing a sprinkler system. Anyhow, I'll go tell everyone we're running errands. Meet you back here in an hour."

The sound of hammering on the roof started up again as the workers continued gutting some of the roof and placing a temporary cover over the holes. We were so lucky that it hadn't gotten out of control and burned the entire building down. While Melody hurried into the back, I grabbed my purse and drifted out into the hot sun. As I cruised by Austin, I squeezed his arm and smiled humbly. It meant the world to have help from our old packs, but it also made me realize how we shouldn't have to depend on them anymore. They had their own set of issues. Family or not, it wasn't fair to burden them with our problems.

A little girl dashed by me with a balloon in her hand, her mother chasing after her. As I passed in front of a shoe store, a tall Chitah strolled out and stopped to let me pass. It was surreal how life went on as normal, like tornado survivors salvaging what's left of their lives on a beautiful day.

My feet dragged as I replayed every moment of the past week in my head. When I finally looked up, I was standing in front of Dutch's jewelry store. With a heavy heart, I cupped my hands around my eyes and peered inside the empty shop. The lights were still on in the display cases. Dutch must have locked up in a hurry to return my keys.

I wanted to travel back in time and stop myself from going to his store in the first place. Had I never gone, he wouldn't have come after me. My anger had led him into the mouth of danger, and yet it had also saved my life. While I could brush off these events and call them a coincidence, my heart knew otherwise. Everything we do in life is a link in the chain.

I prayed he was all right. Each time I called the number he'd left on my waiting list, it went straight to voice mail. The Relic who had taken him must have been a passerby. I'd never seen him before, and no one knew him based on my vague description.

If Dutch was still alive, I wanted to apologize and find a way to make it right between us. He might never forgive me, but I owed him a favor, and I would remain in his debt until the day he collected.

* * *

After a leisurely walk,I visited our banker and withdrew enough funds to cover Edward's services. I took out extra, just in case we needed to pay one of the contractors a deposit.

Large grackles gathered on the sidewalk outside the front door, dining on a pizza crust that someone had discarded. These blackbirds were a nuisance, especially during migration when they flocked in large numbers and drove people crazy at night with all the noise. During the walk back to my shop, I read text messages my father had sent. Tak was awake, so Lakota had gone home to speak with him. If things didn't go well between them, Tak might leave town without a goodbye. Melody's uncle had driven Tak's truck back to the apartment earlier, so all he needed was a reason to leave.

Or a reason to stay.

I hoped leaving the necklace with him would give him reason enough, but now I wasn't so sure.

"Is everything cool?"

I glanced up at Nash pulling up alongside me in his pizza delivery van. I approached the open passenger window and rested my arms on it. "Hi, Nash. How are you doing?"

"I should ask you," he said, a somber look on his face. "I drove by your shop earlier and noticed all the action. I tried to steer down the alley to see what was going on, but they had it blocked off. Word spreads fast around here. The lady at the shoe store made it sound like the whole place burned down."

"No, just some damage in the back. Don't you have air-conditioning in here?" I asked, waving my hand in front of the vent.

"I just dropped off a huge delivery to a pack of three hundred, so I'm airing out the van. It's not good to run the air conditioner with the windows down." He took off his red baseball hat and wiped his fingers through his curly hair, his blond locks sweaty from the heat. Then he put his hat on backward. "Are you going somewhere?"

"No. I just stopped off at the bank, and now I'm heading back." As much as I wanted to go home, my mother didn't have a spare set of keys to lock up, and I had no idea if Melody had returned or gone back to the apartment. "I have to finish up some work at the store," I said, resting my chin on my arm.

"You look beat. Hop in. It's just around the corner."

"What about your orders?"

He laughed. "I've only got two more stops, and you're on the way to one."

Thank the fates for men like Nash. The last thing I needed was a mugger snatching my purse and making off with our money. I climbed inside the hot van. "It smells good in here. I bet it makes you hungry all the time."

The motor rumbled as he merged back into traffic. "I don't eat the stuff myself. I stick to a high-protein diet." He flexed his arm. "Plus when you smell pizza every day, you get sick of it. I go home stinking of sausages. Sometimes they have me chopping vegetables, and I can never get the smell of onions off my hands. Not exactly a turn-on for the ladies."

He slowed at the light and turned the cold air on full blast. Nash had all the qualities a Packmaster looked for, and I was grateful for his kindness. While I stared at the dark circles under my eyes in the visor mirror, he reached for something in the back.

"Here," he said, offering me a slice of pizza. "You look like you've been busting your ass all day. When's the last time you ate anything?"

"I don't remember."

"This one's on the house."

I took the slice. "Isn't this someone's dinner?"

He shook his head. "The last time I delivered to this customer, he didn't tip me. I live off tips, so he can kiss my ass if he has a problem with it."

I took a big bite, gobbling up the stringy cheese. Seemed I was hungrier than I first thought. "I hope this doesn't get you in trouble."

"My boss makes too much money from large orders to give a rat's ass about one customer's complaint. Anyhow, friends don't let friends starve to death."

When I finished eating it all the way up to the crust, I tossed the remaining bread out the window and into a trash bin on the curb.

"Nice shot," he said. "So what happened at the store? I hate to rely on rumors."

I wiped my mouth. "The arsonist is dead. Not much to gossip about anymore."

"Dead?" His eyebrows arched as we turned the corner. "That's some swift justice."

"There was a brawl out back that escalated."

"Why would anyone want to burn down your store?"

"I think he was targeting me for extortion. He's been doing all kinds of things to undermine my business." I rubbed my eyes and reclined my head against the seat. "Now we just have a big mess to clean up."

"Sleepy?" Nash rolled up his window, making the van a little cooler. "It usually doesn't take long for it to kick in."

"What? The cold air?"

"The sedative."

I snorted and looked over at him. "That's not the best joke after the week I've had."

Nash smiled and turned on the radio. An old song by James Taylor played like a distant dream.

I was feeling kind of loopy, but I'd been up since before dawn and hardly slept the night before. I glanced in the back to get another slice of pizza when I noticed a black bag next to the open box. Curious, I touched the zipper and realized it was an empty bowling bag.

A sinking feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. "Where's your bowling ball?" I asked, slurring my words.

Nash reached over and patted my head. "Nighty night."