“Can’t burn any fires right now,” he said, mostly to keep conversation flowing.
“Too dry?”
“Yeah. Chief announced a ban yesterday.”
“It’s really a good thing that fire was put out before it did some serious damage.”
“Good thing for sure.” Her comment sent his mind right back to work. To the unsigned investigation report, to the insurance adjuster, and Henry Davenport’s coincidental luck being out at the property at just the right time to call in the fire before it got out of control.
“I can’t believe you built this,” Laurel said, pulling him back to the present. “Why aren’t we having Ava’s birthday cookout here?”
Chase lifted his hands in surrender. “I offered. She wanted to use her own, even though it’s half the size.” The mention of his sister reminded him of the lunch Laurel was supposed to have with her today. “Did you tell her?” he asked when she stepped back onto the deck in search of her wine glass.
“Yeah, I told her.”
“How did she take it?” He’d missed a call from Ava earlier, but because she hadn’t left a voicemail or sent him a text, he hadn’t called her back. Until now, he hadn’t considered that it might be about the unexpected news of him still being hitched.
“She’s still talking to me, so there’s that.” Laurel’s tone lacked enthusiasm. “But of course it reminded her of me leaving—”
“Why don’t you tell them, Laurel?” Chase asked delicately, knowing full well his unwelcome question might send her running before he even flipped the steaks. “They’re your best friends. They’ll understand why you left.”
“And why I kept it a secret? No, thanks.” Laurel shook her head before she emptied her wine glass. “I’ll be inside, going through my boxes.” Zeus trotted after her, hedging his bets on Laurel’s pets against Chase giving him steak handouts from a closed grill.
Leaving Chase alone in the backyard once again.
He flipped the steaks.
He’d been hurt, too. Losing a child he’d never been granted the opportunity to meet cut deeper than any pain he’d ever experienced, more so when Laurel left him to deal with it alone. He couldn’t imagine carrying that same child and losing it. Why did it matter if people knew? That, he would never understand.
Chase watched Laurel through the window, her attention given more to Zeus than to the stack of boxes, which was just fine with him. If she didn’t get through it all tonight, she’d have a reason to come back. Or better yet, to come home.
A loud sizzle warned him he was forgetting the steaks. It would be just his luck to overcook them after the way this night had gone already. He plated them and crossed his fingers as he carried them inside. It was only once he was in the kitchen that he realized he hadn’t prepared any sides.
He didn’t have so much as a scrap of lettuce to offer.
“Something wrong?” Laurel asked from the opposite side of the breakfast bar as he frantically searched through cupboards for a can of baked beans or a bag of chips. He really needed to stop eating out so much and buy real groceries.
“No sides.”
Laurel shrugged. “I’m really only hungry for steak anyway.”
“I’m sorry—”
“Chase, it’s fine.” Her tone was firm and compassionate. “I imagine that insurance adjuster has your mind preoccupied.”
“You could say that.”
She slid into a bar stool and leaned her elbows on the counter, watching him slice both steaks into strips like he used to do on evenings like these. Her gentle smile made him cautiously optimistic that this night wasn’t complete a loss. “What did he want anyway?”
Chase debated answering her question too openly. Professionally speaking, he shouldn’t discuss the case with anyone not directly involved until it was closed. But Laurel wasn’t just anyone. Not to him. “He wanted my report.”
“Have you finished it?”
“No.”
“Couldn’t sign it off, could you?”
“I was going to,” Chase admitted, handing her a plate. As much as he wanted to place his next to her, he decided staying on this side of the counter was safer for the way the day had gone thus far. With his luck, he’d go to kiss her and spill wine in both their laps. “I went kayaking to clear my head. To run over the evidence one last time before I finalized it. But that guy showing up is exactly the reason I didn’t want to. I knew something was off about all this. Who insures a shack that could’ve collapsed with a strong gust of wind? It doesn’t make sense.”
