by Elks, Carrie
Griff was sitting next to the ambulance. Inside, the paramedics had managed to warm Autumn up with a heated blanket that was still enveloping her. She was awake and talking to them, though the shivers hadn’t quite gone away.
He could hear her telling them she was wasting their time. They had much more important people to take care of, that she would be fine if they let her leave.
Griff’s lips twitched, relief flooding through him. “Yeah, she sounds better. They’re getting her warm and she’s bitching, so that’s good.”
Ally laughed, looking relieved. “She’s had such a bad day. With her dad and then you.” Her voice was pointed. “And now the pier. No wonder it got to be too much.”
“Yeah, well a lot of that is my fault.” He pressed his lips together. “I was a dick.”
“Glad you realize that.” Ally gave him a tight smile. “Here, have a coffee. You look like you could do with a warming up yourself.”
From a brief chat he’d had with Lucas, the fire was under control, but still burning. The worst of it had hit the restaurant and the office, but there was smoke damage to everything that wasn’t burned. Not that he gave a shit. Everybody was safe and that’s all that mattered.
Just thinking about Autumn being in the office only hours before made him want to throw up.
He should have been with her when she found out about the fire. If he hadn’t been such an ass, he would have been. She and Lydia were supposed to stay at his place, after all.
Lydia…
“Have you seen Autumn’s sister?” he asked Ally, his brows dipping.
“No.” Ally shook her head. “She left the pier when we did and headed home.” Her eyes widened. “You think she’s still asleep at the cottage?”
“She could be.”
“I’ll get somebody to go and check on her.” Ally nodded at him. “You stay here with Autumn.”
“Wasn’t planning on going anywhere else.”
“She loves you, you know?”
He swallowed hard. “No, I didn’t know.” But it warmed him more than the coffee cupped between his palms. “I know I love her, though.” And that the thought of losing her made him feel sick. “If she’d been on the pier when…” his voice cracked, and he looked down.
Ally set the extra coffees down and slid her arm around his shoulders. “She wasn’t,” she said softly. “She’s fine. You told me yourself. Don’t start beating yourself up for things that aren’t your fault.” She bumped her shoulder against his. “Beat yourself up for being an asshole instead.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Thanks.”
“Hey, I just say it as I see it.” Ally stood and grabbed the tray of coffees. “You guys have some talking to do.”
“Yeah, we do. But not now.” He glanced into the ambulance again. “Now I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
Ally’s face softened. “She’s a lucky woman. We all care about her.”
He couldn’t help but feel like he was the lucky one. From the moment Lucas got the call about the pier, Griff had been beside himself with anxiety. The two of them had run from his apartment to the pier, and as soon as he saw the blaze he’d wanted to run to the office to be sure she wasn’t there.
It had taken all of Lucas’s strength to hold him back.
Then, when he saw her running along the beach, her body orange from the reflected flames, a sense of relief had washed over him. So strong he’d almost laughed out loud from it. All he’d wanted to do was scoop her up and take her far away from the danger.
But that wasn’t Autumn. She didn’t run away from things, she confronted them. He could learn a thing or two from that.
“I don’t think we’re going to be able to keep her in there much longer,” one of the paramedics told him as they climbed down from the ambulance. “And she refuses to come to the hospital to get checked out. Do you have somewhere you can take her and keep her warm?”
“Yeah.” Griff nodded. “I’ll take her home.”
“Good. Her temperature’s almost back to normal, and there are no other signs of distress. She needs to get some sleep, but it’ll be better if you’re there in case of any trouble. If she gets cold again, call nine-one-one right away.”
“I will.” He nodded. “Thank you.” Taking care of her was all he wanted to do.
Tonight and forever.
He’d lost her once today. He wasn’t planning on doing it again.
* * *
Autumn sat up suddenly, panic taking over her body. There’d been a fire! She tried to scramble out of bed only to find a strong, warm hand restraining her.
“It’s okay. You’re okay,” Griff murmured as he leaned over the bed from where he was sitting on a wooden dining chair. Had he been sitting there all night? It looked uncomfortable as hell. He must have knots in the knots of his muscles.
“What’s happening with the fire?” she asked him, looking down at her body. She was wearing one of his t-shirts and a thick pair of leggings.
“It’s out. Lucas called about a half an hour ago.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Did he say what the damage is?”
“The restaurant and the office are gone, but the front part of the pier is unharmed. They’ll inspect it later this morning. We should know more then.”
Autumn nodded, feeling her eyes well with tears. “And your boat?”
“It’s damaged. I don’t know how badly.”
“Oh god. I’m so sorry.” The tears spilled over as she reached out to touch his arm.
He covered her hand with his own. “It’s okay. Nobody was hurt, and that’s all I care about right now. Insurance can sort out the rest.”
“I’ll need to call mine first thing. I should probably make a list.” She looked around. Why had Griff brought her here instead of taking her home? “Oh damn, I left my purse at home.” Another thought occurred to her, and her mouth dropped open. “Lydia,” she whispered. “I left the door open. She’s still there.” She tried to scramble to her knees. “I need to get back.”
“Lydia’s here.” Griff inclined his head to the bedroom door. “She’s sleeping on the sofa. And… uh, somebody else is here to check on you, too.”
Autumn frowned. “Who?”
He cleared his throat. “Your dad. He came as soon as Lydia called him.”
“Dad’s here?” She glanced at the door, not sure how to feel about that.
“He’s worried about you,” Griff said. “We all are.”
“Don’t tell me Josh is here, too.”
He gave a little laugh. “I think he knew better. Or your dad did. Whatever. He’s leaving first thing for New York.”
Autumn felt the tears welling again. Where the hell were they all coming from? She didn’t cry. She hadn’t even shed a single tear when her divorce came through. Yet here she was, a snivelling mess.
If she wasn’t so exhausted, she’d be embarrassed.
“You probably think this is payback for me buying the pier when I was drunk.”
“I don’t,” he murmured. “I think it’s crap and it never should’ve happened to you. You’ve been through enough.” He looked at his hands. “There’s so much I want to tell you, but it’s about an hour until dawn and you should get some sleep. We have a hell of a lot to do once the sun is up.”
She raised her eyebrow at his use of ‘we’, but didn’t comment. Now wasn’t the time. There was one thing she wanted to know, though. “These clothes. How did I get into them?”
“You want to know if I stripped you and took advantage?” Griff raised an eyebrow. He sat back on the chair and she missed the warmth of his hand against her hip.
“I’m sorry. I was just wondering…”
He smiled. “It’s okay. Lydia helped you get into the shower. Those leggings are hers. I gave her the t-shirt so you’d have some modesty when you were in bed. I figured you wouldn’t want to wake up in here naked.”
She remembered the way she’d woken up naked yesterday morning, his lip
s dragging against her skin. Before any of this happened. The thought made her heart ache a little more. She wrapped her arms around her abdomen, but it wasn’t enough to stop another shiver wrack down her spine.
“You’re cold. Get back under the covers and get some sleep.” He nodded at the door. “I’ll let your family know you’re okay.”
“But you’re coming back, right?”
“I got nowhere else to go.” He shrugged as he headed out. “Lydia called the sofa, and your dad’s made his home on the love seat.
She could have pointed out that he had a spare room, one that still had Lydia’s things lined up neatly next to the bed. But she didn’t want to, because the thought of being alone made her breath catch in her throat.
He was back within a minute. “They’re both half asleep. I told them you’re okay, but going to try to get some more rest.”
“Thank you.”
He flashed her a half-smile. “No worries.” He sat back down on the dining chair. His body made it look like a piece of dollhouse furniture.
“That looks uncomfortable.”
“I’ve slept in worse.”
She licked her dry lips, trying to find the right words. “You could sleep in here if you like? The bed’s big enough.”
His wary eyes met hers. “It’s okay.”
No, it wasn’t. It felt far from okay. “I want you to sleep here,” she admitted. “Please.”
His brows lifted. “You sure?”
She nodded. “I want you for your body warmth.”
This time his smile was full on. “Why didn’t you say so?” he asked, climbing into bed beside her. She felt the mattress dip under his weight, then his arms slid around her as his chest pressed against her back.
“This okay?” he asked softly.
“Yeah,” she breathed. It was more than okay. She opened her mouth to say more, but a combination of his warmth and his protection made her feel tired again, and she felt exhaustion over take her.
They’d talk later in the morning. Hopefully things would be clearer then.
For now, she’d just escape into the blackness.
29
The next time Autumn awoke it was Lydia she saw next to her. Her sister was in the dent Griff had left behind, her arm flung over her head as she lay on her back, unashamedly snoring. Autumn’s lips twitched at the sight, at the same time her stomach dipped at the realization that Griff wasn’t next to her. The urge to curl up in his arms felt stronger than ever.
She rolled over and sat on the edge of the bed, circling her shoulders to loosen the knots there. The unbearable shivers had gone, and the constant icy feeling of her skin had disappeared with it, but her muscles still told the story of last night.
“What time is it?” Lydia croaked, groaning as she sat up. “Oh hey, are you okay? No headache or shivers or anything?”
“Nope.” Autumn turned to her sister. “How about you?”
“I’m exhausted.” She yawned as though to demonstrate the truth of it. “One minute we were curled up in bed together, the next I’m being woken up by Ally and getting dragged outside. Now I know how my first boyfriend felt when Dad found us in bed together.”
Autumn would have laughed, but she remembered that night so well. The poor boy hadn’t stood a chance.
“Talking of Dad, is he still here?”
“Yeah. He’s in the living room. Griff left to meet his friend Lucas at the pier. They’re inspecting the damage.”
Autumn scrambled to her feet. “He should have woken me up. I need to be there.”
“He only left half an hour ago. I promised to tell you as soon as you woke up. We can head over there now.” Lydia swung her feet to the floor. “Just as soon as you put some clothes on.”
Autumn blinked and looked down at her tatty leggings. “I don’t have anything to wear.”
“Yeah you do. Your things are still here, remember?” Lydia pointed to the open bag on Griff’s ottoman as she stifled a yawn. “Let’s shower and clean our teeth, then we can head over, okay?”
* * *
The pier looked worse than ever in the morning light. The end was charred, the red painted iron buckled from the heat of the blaze. Griff’s boat was floating there, the port side black from smoke. Autumn pressed her lips together, determined not to cry again. She’d shed enough tears for a lifetime.
A group of people were huddling around the boardwalk, talking as they faced the pier. She recognized Frank and Deenie, Lorne from the surf shop, and Ally’s husband Nate, along with the firefighters who worked at the ASFD under Lucas’s captainship.
As soon as they saw her, Autumn was swallowed up in a succession of hugs, each one of them telling her how sorry they were.
“We’ll do whatever it takes to get the pier up and running again,” Frank promised. “We’ve already started a fund for the repairs.”
“I’ll put a bucket next to the register,” Deenie told her. “Everybody will. It’ll be okay.”
“That’s so kind of you, but I have insurance.” Autumn attempted a smile. “Maybe we can raise money for the Delmonicos and Griff instead. They’re going to lose a lot of money until everything’s repaired.”
“We’re a generous community,” Frank said, patting her arm. “You’ll all be taken care of.”
She could see Lucas and a few of his firefighters at the end of the pier, so she said her goodbyes before she headed up there. It was only when she climbed the steps that she realized Griff was with them, too. He swallowed hard when he looked at her.
“So, what’s the damage?” she asked, trying to keep her voice light.
Lucas shook his head. “It’s not great news. The end of the pier is a write off. It’s going to have to be rebuilt from scratch.”
She breathed in sharply. “Okay. How about Griff’s boat?”
Griff shook his head. “I can get another.” Their eyes met and she felt her chest tighten.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Do we know what caused it?” she asked Lucas.
“It looks like it started in the kitchen. The investigators are in there now, but we won’t get their report for a while.”
“In Delmonico’s kitchen?”
Lucas nodded. “Yeah. Looks like a classic electrical fault, but we can’t say for sure until the investigation is complete.”
“Thank you for what you’ve done,” Autumn said softly. “All of you. For getting here so quickly and making sure nobody was hurt. That’s the important thing.”
“I called my insurance,” Griff told her. “And yours, too. They’ll be sending an adjuster out as soon as possible.” He ran his thumb along his jaw. “Now I just need to go tell Pietro the bad news that the fire started in his restaurant.”
“I should tell him. I’m his landlord,” Autumn said, dreading the conversation.
“We’ll go together,” Griff said firmly. “You don’t have to face it alone.”
She nodded and he took her hand, squeezing it tightly. It was strange how people who’d only known her for weeks were supporting her.
Strange and beautifully heart-warming. It was taking a lot of effort not to cry again.
* * *
By five that afternoon, she was dead on her feet. After meeting with the Delmonico family, she’d hurried back to the pier where her claims adjuster was waiting to inspect the damage. It was the first time she’d walked on the burnt and buckled construction since the fire, pulling on safety boots and a yellow hat as Lucas and his team instructed.
It had broken her heart to see her beautiful pier so damaged. Only yesterday it had been strung with bright lights and floral garland, and full of people who oohed and ahhed at the black and white posters she’d put up. As they carefully made their way toward the charred ruins of what was once Delmonico’s, a sob caught in her throat.
All that history obliterated in one night. And on her watch, too. It was the first time in over a hundred year
s that Angel Sands wouldn’t have a pier. And it was her fault.
The adjuster made notes and took photographs as they walked, Lucas standing on his other side as he pointed out where they believed the fire had begun. In the far corner of what used to be the restaurant she could see tiny pieces of paper dancing around in the breeze. On closer inspection they saw what were the remains of Delmonico’s menus.
“I think I have everything for now,” the adjuster told her after three hours of inspecting the ruins. “I’ll write my report this week.”
“But she’ll be covered, right?” Lucas asked.
“Unless anything unexpected is found, then yes.” He looked at Autumn. “You have the top level of insurance. That’s good. So many people don’t think things like this will happen to them.”
“I have my dad to thank for that.” She gave a little laugh. “Always expect the unexpected.”
When the adjuster had gone, she’d hugged Lucas again and thanked him for all his help, before she walked slowly back along the beach toward the cottage. It was less than twenty-four hours since she’d run like crazy the other way, her eyes trained on the orange flames that were consuming the pier.
Now everything felt different. She was different. Sadder, more lost. All the things she thought she could count on were gone.
“You’re back. We’ve been looking for you,” Lydia said as Autumn walked through the door. She was sitting in the tiny living room, her dad opposite her as he worked on his laptop.
“I’ve been with the adjuster.”
“All this time?” Lydia’s eyes widened.
Her dad looked up. “He’s been thorough. That’s good. Did they say when you’ll get some payment?” he asked.
“Hopefully I’ll get something next week. That should allow me to contract the repairs out.” Autumn slumped in the empty chair, letting her head tip back. “But it will be months before we can open again. Maybe years.”
Her dad caught her eye. “You could use the money for something else.”
She blinked. “Like what?”