Page 21 of Identical Disaster (Sterling Shore 8)

“Hot. Hot. Hot,” a voice chants, cursing before a body hits the ground.

“Bo!” Helen screams again, racing toward the shadow.

“I’m here,” Bo says through a cough, running away from the house.

Shit. Fuck. Oh thank fuck.

; I stumble in an attempt to get to her, but Helen beats me, and they lock in an embrace like they’re old friends. I finally make it to her, and she launches herself into my arms, holding onto me while she trembles.

“Get away from the house! It’s going to collapse!” Dad barks, grabbing Helen and shoving us down the beach.

We all rush away, but I never let go of Bo. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this craziness.

“The fire department is too far out,” Helen whimpers. “It’s gone. It’s all gone.”

“What happened?” Bo asks through a cough. “I woke up when I heard screaming. The only thing I could find was that old antenna pole.”

“Thank God Mick isn’t one for getting rid of things,” Helen sighs, stroking Bo’s cheek affectionately.

Their interactions seem odd, but considering the house we were in is now up in flames, it’s the least of the oddities tonight.

“It happened so fast,” Dad says as the house whines and finally starts collapsing. The east end sinks first, the flames gushing through the broken windows. “I smelled smoke in the kitchen, and I went to check on it. It was shooting up from under the cabinets. I have no idea how it started, but it was a roaring fire within minutes.”

Helen sighs hard as she drops to the ground. “They just coated all the cabinets with fresh lacquer earlier this week. Mick has it done once a year. It probably fueled the fire on.”

“We’ll have to replace everything,” Mom sighs. “And we’ll need to find another house to stay in.”

I look at her like she’s lost her mind as I pull Bo a little closer, feeling like a piece of shit for just leaving her on that roof. Obviously I couldn’t have anticipated a fire, but to simply leave her on the roof like that was stupid. Anything could have happened. As proven.

“You can’t possibly want to continue the vacation,” I say.

“What good will it do to go home? We’re already here, and there’s nothing but material things in there that we can replace. Dear God. Mick Marsh is going to hate us.”

Bo snorts, and I look down at her while she shakes her head. At least we agree that my mother is being ridiculous.

“Mom, we can’t—”

“I’ll see if I can find us a place to stay. Fortunately, I grabbed my cell phone when your father started yelling. By the time we got outside and realized you weren’t out here, he ran back in. The fire got out of hand quickly. I’ve already called several people—fire department, police department... you get the idea. Everyone is just so far out.”

She starts dialing numbers like crazy, speaking with her travel agent. She’s fucking crazy.

“I’ll have to get cash and credit cards sent to us,” my father tells her in between her own conversations. “And ID. We can’t do much without identification.”

“Are you okay?” Bo asks, ignoring my parents as her eyes focus on Helen. She even takes her hand in hers.

“I’m fine. My room has a door in it. Mick always worries about my safety, so he has a door in all my rooms in every house. I’ve always thought he was overly paranoid, until this moment. I smelled smoke and ran out. I was trying to find you. I should call Mick, but I didn’t think to grab my phone.”

Bo reaches into her shorts pocket and sighs as she pulls out a phone. “I have mine. You need me to handle it?”

She offers Bo a sad smile. “No. I’ve got it. Fortunately, I have all his favorite things locked up safely. He’ll be happy to hear that.”

She walks away after taking Bo’s phone, and Bo turns back to me, her eyes searching mine for the first time.

“I was worried you were still in there,” she says softly, swallowing hard.

“I was too busy worrying about how I was going to climb to the roof.”