"Not long. Nate runs a tight ship, and we figured out pretty quickly that something was off. We have a reputation to uphold." Marty shrugged. "He was an ex-con, but Nate gave the guy a chance. Guess it just wasn't meant to be."
"You hire ex-cons?" This time the man directed his question to Nate.
Nate nodded. "I figure everyone deserves a second chance. It doesn't always work out, but we've never had something like this happen before."
"He must have had some help."
Marty grunted. "No doubt some of those dudes that kept coming around the shop when he was supposed to be working."
"Yeah, I would agree with that," Nate told the man. "But I don't know who they were."
Throughout the conversation, he'd kept his gaze pinned on the burning building. Slowly but surely the flames were dying out. The heat radiating off the building also began toebb away. The charred rubble of the building represented more than just the loss of a business. This had been his dad’s dream, the last thing they had worked to build together. In fact, it had been at this garage that Mike Proctor had the heart attack which eventually led to his death.
"I’m so sorry, Dad," Nate whispered as he looked up to the black night sky.
As the flames faded away, so did the crowd. Soon it was just him, Marty, the firefighters and a handful of cops. Nate let out a weary sigh as he envisioned what lay ahead of him in the coming days. A small voice told him to dump it all, jump in his truck and leave everything behind. The heartbreak, the pain, the ruins of his life. Go start over somewhere else. Someplace the memories didn't follow him everywhere he went.
His phone rang, and when he lifted it to see the screen, he frowned.Crystal.He didn't want to talk to her right then. No doubt she was calling for the same reason the sheriff had.
Nate took a few steps away from Marty and the firefighter. "Hello?"
"Nate? Nate? Is that you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He kicked at the ground as he stood with his head bent. "I wasn't at my house in Collingsworth."
"You know what happened already?" The tone of her voice edged up. "You should have called to let me know you were okay. Where are you?"
Nate could hear the hurt in her words. "I'm in Sanford. I decided to stay the night here when things ran long at the garage."
"I’ve been going out of my mind with worry. Why didn't you call me?"
"I'm sorry, Crys. I'm dealing with some stuff here in Sanford, too. I didn't realize what was going on in Collingsworth until the sheriff called a little bit ago."
A couple of beats of silence passed. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"Me, too." Nate rubbed his forehead with his fingertips. "Listen, I'll give you a call when I'm back in Collingsworth. Should be sometime tomorrow." He could tell she didn't want to end the conversation, but he couldn't deal with her right then. Their relationship was one more struggle for him. She wanted so much more than he could give. It wasn't fair to allow things to continue when he knew there was no future for them. Though sweet and cute, Crystal just wasn’t what his heart longed for.
But he’d deal with that problem another day. Right then, he needed to focus on the problems at hand. After that, he would try to figure out how to pick up the pieces of his life for the third time.
~*~*~
The plane came to a stop with a jerk. Immediately people began to stand and reach for the overhead bins. Lily Collingsworth remained in her seat, her gaze on the view beyond the window next to her. There wasn't anything really worth looking at—just the huge buildings that made up the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport—but she didn't want some kind soul to stop to let her out. She was seated in first class and could presumably have exited rather quickly, but the fourteen-hour trip had been exhausting for her, and she didn't trust her legs to have to work too quickly. The last thing she wanted was to stumble or fall in front of an audience.
The door didn't open right away, so it took almost fifteen minutes for the noise in the aisle to subside. Lily glanced over to see that the remaining line was made up of just a few stragglers now. She reached for her purse under the seat in front of her and slowly stood. One of the flight attendants approached her.
"Is this your bag?" he asked as he reached into the overhead compartment.
"Yes." Lily gave him a smile as he handed it down to her. He pulled up the handle and then stepped back to allow her to step into the aisle. She took the handle from him. "Thank you for your help."
"You're welcome."
Moving carefully between the few rows of seats that stood between her and the exit of the plane, Lily prayed she could make it up the long walkway to the main terminal. Once there, hopefully the help she'd requested would be waiting to take her to where she could claim the remainder of her luggage. Thankfully, she’d cleared customs in Chicago on a layover so there would be no delay for that. And then it would be the final three-hour ride to Collingsworth.
With slow measured steps, Lily made her way up the walkway and entered the terminal. Crowds of people milled around, and she took a minute to survey the area and orient herself. She approached the airline desk.
"My name is Lily Collingsworth, and I had requested transport from here to the baggage claim," she told the woman behind the counter.
She saw the woman's gaze drop as if to see why she needed the transport, but the large counter blocked her view. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Lily knew most people looked at her and didn't see why she needed aid. And most of the time, if she was careful, she didn't require it, but today, after such a long trip, Lily knew enough about her body to not push it any further.
