“He always had a complaint about something each and every day. My ex-husband isn’t a happy man and when he sees that you are he tries to steal it away from you. Did you know Robert tried to tell me about my relationship with you? Which I know is totally none of his business, but he doesn't care about that in the least.”
“Did he put his hands on you?” Travis demanded. “Just let me know and I’ll make him regret it.”
A new and unexpected warmth surged through her at the ferocious way Travis wanted to protect her, but if Robert had laid a hand on her, one of her friends or Travis would be bailing her out of her jail right now. He wasn’t crazy enough to ever think about doing something like that. Robert liked using his words to cut deep.
“No, Robert never placed a hand on me. He knew better than that like I told you. He would rather toss out a nasty comment towards me. That’s why I can’t believe he would set fire to my gallery. It just doesn’t fit his makeup at all.”
“Did cheating on you fit into something you thought your ex-husband might do?” Travis asked his voice heavy with sarcasm. “People change Renee and now your ex could be capable of doing something like this.”
Moving around Travis, Renee watched as the firefighters finished the last of their cleanup. She thought about what Travis was telling her. Was Robert so irate at her this morning after their conversation that he would be malicious enough to actually come back here and do this?
Was she still seeing the man she’d married all those years ago instead of the man he was now? Robert was out of her life and there was no way in hell that she wanted him back. He couldn’t and wouldn’t give her what she deserved now.
She wasn’t that innocent girl who’d married Robert after her parent’s death. She was stronger now. Truthfully, she had come a long way since those days and no longer needed to be praised by a man to feel like she was worth something.
Hours of hard work and building her dream from the bottom up had taught her a lot of things about herself and neither Robert nor anyone else was going to push her back over the cliff.
Renee was annoyed at the little bit of loyalty she had left towards Robert because of the years they was married to each other; but, if she was honest with herself about the fire and thought about it clearly. Robert could have set it out of spite. He never liked her achieving her biggest dream of running her own gallery.
He used to laugh at her like she would never be able to carry the heavy weight of doing something so unique and important and she showed him how wrong he was. Robert hated her gallery as much as he hated her house...God, her house. Would Robert burn down her house too?
Sheer black fear swept through Renee as the words settled into her mind. The thought of her being here while her house could be burning down to the ground sent her into action as the fire trucks started to drive away from her gallery.
Racing back over to Travis, she dug her car keys out of her jeans’ pocket. She had to get him to check her house. “Travis,” she yelled, running up to him.
“Renee, what is it?” Concern etched his handsome face as he stared down at her. “What’s wrong?”
Renee shoved her house keys into his hands. “Robert hated our house more the he hated this gallery. If he set fire to this—”
“He wouldn’t think twice about going out to your house and doing the same thing,” Travis finished for her. “I’ll go out there and check on it. Don’t worry, baby. I’m sure everything is okay, but if it isn’t you’ll get through this with me. I’m not going anywhere.” Giving her a quick kiss, Travis raced away from her towards his Jeep.
She couldn’t control the trembling within her as a cold knot formed in her stomach. With a pang, Renee realized that if her house was gone then she had nothing left at all. No home...no business....nothing.
“Renee, why did Travis rush away from here like there was something chasing him?” Dana asked as she walked up with Cruz. “I was over there talking to Sheriff Arness about whom we thought could have set the fire when we saw him.”
Thinking the worst before she knew what was going on at her house wasn’t going to help her at all. She never had been the kind of woman to give up or think the worst about things and she wasn’t going to start now.
“Travis is going to check my house to make sure it’s okay. Both of you know that Robert hated that I got the house in the divorce. Oh, he pretended like it didn’t bother him at all, but it angered him to no end. So, if he really did set my gallery on fire then what would stop him from doing my house the same way?”
“Shit! I didn’t even think about that,” Cruz said. “I should have gone out there right after you arrived here. Do you want me to follow Travis there?”
Renee shook her head. “No, I need you here with me because I can’t walk into the gallery alone. I honestly need both of you with me when I do this. Is it okay for me to go in yet?”
Looking around, she noticed that the crowd had left and the only cars still there belonged to Sheriff Arness and the fire marshal who both still were talking at the side of the street a couple of feet away from her building.
“No, you can’t go in yet. I think you might have to wait until tomorrow,” Dana told her, placing her hand on the upper part of her arm. “I know the fire marshal wants to talk to you, so you might ask him to find out the best time to come back here.”
“Here he comes now,” Cruz said, getting their attention. “From the deep frown on his face, I don’t think what he’s going to tell you will be good news at all.”
Her nerves tensed immediately about what the man was going to tell her. She could have the gallery redone or was it a total loss and need to be torn down and rebuilt. Neither choice was something she wanted to hear, but the latter would be harder for her to deal with.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Mrs. Jones, may I speak with you for a moment?” The fire marshal stopped in front of her. “I’m James Richardson. There are a few things I want to tell you about the fire and then I need you to answer a couple of questions for me.”
“Okay, I can do that,” Renee answered. She watched as Dana and Cruz walked away from her and went back over to Sheriff Arness who was standing by his patrol car across the street.
“I just finished my preliminary investigation and without a doubt the fire was deliberately set. We’re going to do a few more tests to see where the origin of the fire was since it started so fast. Do you have any clue who might want to do something like this to you?”
Numb from shock, Renee felt her knees give out and she would have fallen if the fire marshal hadn’t grabbed her arm. “Are you okay, Mrs. Jones?” he asked, staring down at her.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Renee answered as she got herself back under control. The fire marshal let go of her arm and took a step back. “I can’t believe someone would do this to me. It’s so unbelievable.”
“Are you telling me that you don’t know who might have done this to you? The way the fire was set. I can tell you it was made so the building would burn fast.”
Could Dana and Cruz actually be right? Robert did hate her and she pissed him off by throwing him out of the gallery this afternoon. The look he gave her as he stormed out was a warning and she didn’t pay any attention to it at all. God! How could she have been so stupid!
Robert did this to her and she wasn’t going to keep quiet about it. He was going to pay for this.
“My ex-husband came by to see me today at the gallery. He wanted to talk to me, but I told him to get out and he wasn’t pleased with how I treated him at all,” Renee said.
“What is your ex-husband’s name?” Fire Marshall Richardson asked.
“Robert Jones.”
“Do you think he’s still angry about the divorce? Could he be getting back at you about that?”
“I don’t know why. Robert got remarried pretty fast after I divorced him, but he’s always suffered from control issues. However, I never thought he would go this far and burn down my business.”
<
br /> Renee watched as Fire Marshall Richardson wrote down a few things on the long sheet of paper in his hand. She knew that she didn’t have proof that her ex-husband was behind this but he was her best choice. Robert never wanted her to succeed with anything and now that she had finally done it he would get a lot of pleasure out of destroying it.
Yet, there was something Robert never knew about her. She wasn’t a quitter. It might take her a while to rebuild her gallery back to its full glory, but she would do it because she wasn’t about to allow him to get the better of her.
“How bad is the damage?” Renee already knew the fire had been destructive, but as much as it hurt her to find out she needed to know where she should start first for the rebuild.
Fire Marshal Richardson snapped his pen closed and shoved it into the front pocket of his shirt. “Mrs. Jones, you have a lot of work ahead of you. A portion of the roof will have to be replaced. Also the metal trusses that are along the sides of the building were ruined from the heat and some of the structural designs along the building were also destroyed.”
“Please just give me an estimate of the cost,” she said as a sickening feeling started to settle in the pit of her stomach.
“I would estimate the cost between 100,000 to 200,000 dollars because the fire completely destroyed the back of the building. Maybe you might have to pay half that price if you could find someone here in town that might be willing to work with you.”
After hearing the outrageous repair estimates, Renee suddenly felt ill-equipped to undertake such a task. How in the hell could she take half her savings and put it back into the gallery? She loved her job; however, just thinking about spending that sort of money didn’t sit well with her.
“Mrs. Jones, are you going to be okay?” Fire Marshal Richardson asked her for a second time. “Do you need to have a seat on the curb and process everything? I know it’s a lot to hear in such a short period.” He hesitated.
She looked at him with an effort as she shoved all of the negative thoughts out of her head. She was going to get through this and with flying colors. If it really turned out that her cheating and lying ex-husband was the one who had done this she would show him in no certain terms that he couldn’t beat her.
“I’m fine. Thank you so much for your concern. I’m just ready to get home. It’s been a long night.” Renee wasn’t even going to think the worst about her house since Travis hadn’t called her. Everything might be okay there.
“Okay, I understand,” he answered, touching her on the shoulder. “I’ll contact the police with the last of my findings and they’ll give you all of the information for your insurance purposes. You do have fire insurance?”
“Yes, I got it when I bought the building, but I’m not sure how much of it they will pay. I’ll check into it tomorrow.”
“I’m assuming the company should at least pay half or all of it. Either way, it will be a help towards you rebuilding the gallery. I was here with my wife the last time you had a show and the art work in there was amazing. I’m crossing my fingers for you that you can get it back to the way it was.”
“I will get it back and I’ll make sure it’s better than before.” Renee said right before the fire marshal turned and walked away from her.
Turning around, her eyes stared at the damage to her gallery and the more she saw it the angrier she became until it felt like her blood was pounding through her veins. How dare someone do this to her? She was so furious that she felt like breaking something.
Her thoughts were racing so dangerously that she had to fight down the urge to find Robert and demand he tell her the truth about the fire, but she would leave it alone for now and let the authorities do their job.
She had to get out of here and get home to Travis. He was still probably there waiting for her. It was a good thing that she carried an extra car key in her purse or she would have to ask for a ride home.
Spinning around on her heel, Renee headed over to Dana and Cruz who were still talking to Sheriff Arness. On the way over there, she noticed how the tall, handsome sandy haired man couldn’t take his eyes off of Dana. She knew Dana had mentioned during the speed dating event at her café that the sheriff was interested in her.
She wondered why Dana wasn’t willing to give him a chance. He seemed like the perfect guy for her. She made a mental note to talk to Dana about Sheriff Arness some more, but not tonight.
“Hello, Sheriff,” Renee said, stopping next to Dana.
“Hello Mrs. Jones,” Sheriff Arness answered. “I’m sorry about your gallery. I can promise you that the fire marshal and I are going to do everything in our power to catch who did this. Dana and Cruz both mentioned they thought it might be your ex-husband. I can promise if it does turn out to be him, he will get locked away for it.”
“Thank you,” she answered. “I just want the right person caught and locked up. I only came over here to tell everyone that I was leaving. I want to get home and take a long hot shower before crawling into bed.”
“Do you need a ride home?” Cruz asked.
“No, I have my car,” Renee said.
“Okay. You get some rest and I’ll talk you tomorrow more about the fire,” Sheriff Arness chimed in. “Try to get some rest. Don’t let this get you down. I know you should be able to rebuild.”
“I won’t and thanks again.” Renee touched Dana on the shoulder before walking away. She could feel their eyes drilling a hole into her back as she headed for her car. Without even being a mind reader, she knew all of three of them were wondering if she was going to break down again before she got home and the answer was no.
All of her tears were gone now. The main focus of her energy was going to be placed towards checking the damage to her gallery tomorrow and finding out how soon she could start working on hiring a crew to rebuild it for her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sitting outside in her driveway, Renee stared at her house lit by lights placed along the edges of the yard. She was thrilled that it was still there and not burnt to the ground. The moment she’d laid eyes on this place she had fallen in love with the spacious looking Mediterranean style house. She loved the elements of Renaissance, Gothic and Moorish architecture that made it special.
Her Spanish home was more inviting than exotic in her opinion with its asymmetrical two stories high design and the low-pitched tile roofs, stuccoed exteriors, window arches and bold door, as well as the arcaded walkways and patios.
Inside she had fabulous entryways with the rugged front door which was flanked by spiral columns or ornately carved stonework. Further into the house, a beautiful sprawling Spanish style floor was illuminated by eight double hung windows with interior shutters. Some of them featured breathtaking stained glass windows adorned with decorative wood and iron grilles.
In her backyard, she’d installed fountains inside the courtyard a few yards from her recessed balconies and porches that she loved sitting on when she just wanted to relax after a long day at work with the warm breezes brushing over her arms.
The fire at the gallery tonight had ripped her heart out of her chest, but if her house had been taken away from her too she wouldn’t have been able to handle all of that in one night. Thank God, she still had a bed to sleep in tonight. Renee wasn’t even sure if she would be able to close her eyes tonight, but she was thrilled that her beloved home was still intact.
Slumping over the steering wheel, she rested her forehead against it as all of the stress from the night started to take over her tired limbs and the scent from the fire filled her car from her clothing.
Every fiber in her body had warned her Robert might try something and he did. His temper when crossed could be almost uncontrollable. He had set fire to her gallery and probably laughed while he was doing it.
Raising her head, Renee brushed her hair away from her face and snatched her purse off the passenger seat. She couldn’t stay outside in the car any longer. She needed to get inside and see if Travis was still there.<
br />
He was so great with her back at the fire and she wanted to tell him how much his support had meant to her. Getting out of the car, Renee closed the car door behind her and made her way up the steps towards her warm inviting home.
Sheriff Arness and Fire Marshall Richardson might not have the proof they needed yet, but they would get it. Robert loved bragging about anything he did and if he truly did damage her shop then she would make sure he never got another chance to hurt her.
Chapter Twenty Four
Walking into the house, Renee was greeted by the wonderful smell of good cooking coming from her kitchen. For a second or two, she stopped in her tracks stunned by the surprise. Travis was cooking for her. Tossing her keys and purse down on the living room table, she made her way towards the direction the wonderful scent was coming from.
This was something that she had to see for herself. None of the men in her past ever cooked for her and Travis doing it now after everything that happened to her tonight only cemented him a little deeper into her heart, allowing her to lower her wall even more for Travis. He impressed her by doing something new and out of the box.
Stopping in the doorway, Renee rested her shoulder against the doorframe staring at Travis as he tasted something from a pot before he added a few more seasonings and gave it another stir.
His sleeves were rolled up past his elbows displaying the muscles of his well-defined arms and his jeans hugged his ass to perfection. She almost wished that he wasn’t cooking so she could thank him in a different way for his undying support tonight.
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me all night?” Travis asked, glancing over his shoulder at her.
“How did you even know I was home?” Renee questioned coming up to stand next to him.
“I can always feel when you’re around me,” he answered. “It’s the connection that we have with each other.” Lifting the spoon out of the pot, Travis blew on it before placing it against her lips. “Taste this and tell me what you think.”
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