“Shhhh, you can’t put any of that on yourself. You did what you thought was best. You helped her when she was a teen and welcomed her back as an adult.” Charlotte rocked him back and forth, not sure if any of her words made it past his despair. “You couldn’t control her mental health. You are a good man, Trey Smith. You did everything you could. Hopefully, now she’s found some peace.”
There comes a point after a tragedy that words no longer offer comfort. They can’t make it past the haze or grief and regret to make a difference. Knowing Trey wasn’t ready to hear anymore, Charlotte simply wrapped her arms tighter around him and held on as he fell apart beneath her.
After about an hour, Trey pulled himself together, and they both made their into the fire station to meet with officials. They recounted the entire ordeal from beginning to end once again, this time to the fire marshal. It was still early, and the streets were mostly empty.
With a start, Charlotte realized she no longer had a phone, having lost it in the fire. “Can I borrow your phone, I’m not sure the station has any clue what happened last night. Or why I’m not at work today.”
Trey handed her his phone, but kept his eyes on the road. After three rings Michelle finally picked up the phone at the station. “Oh my God, Charlotte, we heard what happened last night. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Sore throat from the smoke. Actually, everything is sore and tired, and I’ve got a couple burns on my arm, but considering everything, I can’t complain.” Michelle listened intently as Charlotte filled her in on everything that happened the night before.
“This is insane, Char. Do they have any idea how she managed to set five fires in two zones in such a short span of time?”
“You can’t report this yet, but it appears she spent the day preparing each location with gasoline and then just drove from one to the other lighting them and driving away. My apartment was the only place she entered the building to set the fire. Security cameras in the neighborhood picked her up carrying two gas cans into the building about five minutes before a neighbor called 911.” Charlotte leaned her head against the cool car window, her eyes drifting closed as she recounted the details they’d just learned from the fire chief. “Each location held a significance to Trey or me. The tattoo parlor where we had our first date. The diner we ate breakfast at one morning. The park Trey used to sit at sometimes during our calls. She thought if she burned down everything we’d touched together, she could, I don't know, eradicate me or something.”
Not wanting to talk about it anymore, Charlotte changed the subject to the station and how they had handled everything that had happened the night before. Michelle filled her in on he scrambling to get crews at all the fires. The realization that Charlotte’s apartment had been hit. The cell phone video that had come in that morning showing Trudy setting herself on fire, and the ensuing fight between station management and Michelle to not show the grotesque video. Michelle won in the end, and it never hit air.
After Michelle insisted Charlotte stay home for a few days, they said their goodbyes and hung up. The resulting silence in Trey’s SUV stretched on, putting Charlotte’s already frayed nerves on edge.
Finally arriving at Trey’s building, he found a parking spot and roughly threw the car into park. Neither of them moved, stuck in some weird limbo where neither knew how to react. Where to go from there.
Trey broke the silence first. “I’m sorry, Sugar. There were so many points along the way I could have stopped this. But I just kept thinking I could do everything. I could protect you, be with you, and I could get Trudy the help she needed. Could stop her from causing more damage. Obviously, I was wrong, and I understand if this changes things between us.”
Did this change things between them? Charlotte turned to look at Trey, really examining him for the first time since they left the apartment that morning. He looked as tired as she felt. His normally warm brown skin had a grey tinge, and bags hung under his eyes. And yes, maybe he could have handled everything differently, but she understood why he had reacted the way he did. And nothing could be changed at that point.
Charlotte’s aching heart soared as she traced her gaze down his clenched jaw, stiff shoulders and hands gripping the steering wheel. No, she wouldn't let this change them. Or at least not for the worse.
“I don't have any place to live now.” As she contemplated the words that balanced on the tip of her tongue, she found a suspicious lack of nerves. Perhaps she had lost something in that fire. Maybe a little of her fear had turned to ash along with all her possessions. The only emotions coursing through her system were love, hope, and excitement. Okay, yes and exhaustion and sadness. “Since half your clothes got ruined right alongside mine in my apartment, I noticed your closets have lots of space.”
Trey turned hopeful eyes on her. “Tons of space.”
“Think I could put some of mine in there once I buy more?”
That big broad chest Charlotte loved having pressed against in her bed deflated with relief at her words. “You want to stay with me?”
“As long as you don’t mind sharing your place with a spoiled cat, yes, I would like to move in with you. I’d like to live with you. Build a life with you. Do you still want that with me?”
Reaching over, Trey unbuckled Charlotte’s seat belt and hauled her from her seat onto his lap. “Yes. Fuck yes. I want to trip over that damn cat every morning. I need you in my arms every night. All of it and more. Someday, I want to put babies in your belly, get a ring on your finger.”
“Maybe not in that order?”
“I don't care what order it all comes in, as long as we do it all together.” Trey pressed his forehead to hers. “I thought I lost you last night. I’ve spent the past twenty-four hours thinking you would leave me after all this. And I was trying to find a way to be okay with it if you did leave. But I was failing spectacularly.”
“Good. I hope you always fail at letting me go.” Charlotte cupped his cheeks, letting the warmth of that moment sweep away all the shit that had come before. “I love you, Trey. I should have told you before, but I was scared. I’m not anymore. I love you.”
“I love you too, sugar. Forever.”
