“Close it for a while?” She got to her feet. “There’s hardly any need for that. I agree to keeping it closed today and maybe tomorrow to get the smoky smell out of the rooms, but thereisn’t so much damage that we need to worry about safety. Do we?” She looked to LeRoy.
“Oh no. It’s perfectly safe. The fire didn’t damage the structure at all. The walls are good. It mostly just burned the desk and counters and the floor. We can pull all of that out of here.” He stepped closer to the origin of the fire. “See, the candle fell on the desk and set the desk and papers on fire. That fire traveled onto the floor. The floors probably caught fire and in turn lit the curtain you had hiding the area under the counters. Then the flames traveled up the curtain and set the counters on fire. But the damage is really minimal. It’s mostly the smoke damage and the water used to put out the fire that made all this mess. You’ll see, though—it’ll clean up pretty easy. Why don’t you and Owen come to our house for lunch, and then we can come back and tackle everything? You can come too, Gary.”
“Thanks, but we ate at the Harvey House. I’ll come back later.” Gary left without another word.
“He’s acting strange,” Susanna said, not meaning to say it aloud. She looked at Owen, who nodded.
“There, I told you it wouldn’t be so bad,” LeRoy said as they gathered the last bits of sooty debris. “Susanna, we’ll get rid of this stuff while Lia shows you how to make things smell better. You’ll be able to sleep here tonight without any trouble.”
“I hadn’t planned to sleep anywhere else,” Susanna admitted even though Gary had mentioned sleeping at the house with their parents.
Once the men and her brother had gone, she turned to Lia.
“You’re such an answer to prayer. I had no idea how I was going to get things back in order, much less make the hotel smell better.”
“We’ll finish cleaning with the vinegar while the oranges and lemons boil. I think you’ll be surprised at how much odor is eliminated just by doing this. Lastly, we’ll use orange oil to rub the furniture in each of the rooms upstairs. It will take away any lingering smells and leave the room smelling fresh.”
“It was smart to open all the windows in each room. Such a simple thing, but I know it helps.”
“That and washing all the bedding and curtains. That job is laborious but will finish things out nicely. It was so kind of the church ladies to take over that duty for you, and with all of them helping, you’ll have fresh bedding and curtains by tomorrow.”
“I really appreciate the help. I couldn’t have managed by myself.” Susanna gave Lia a grateful smile. “You have been such a good friend to me. Thank you for arranging for the extra help.”
“I’m glad we can be friends. I think you’ll find the people here, especially at church, are good folks. They have hearts of gold and are eager to help one another.”
“I wish my mother could see how good they are. I wish she could stop with her pretenses and desires to be something she’s not and appreciate the people around her. I think her entire life would change if only she could do that one thing.”
Lia shrugged. “Sometimes people can’t see the blessing that is right in front of them.”
Susanna thought of that later when Gary came to check on her. He looked so tired—weary from something more than the fire.
“What’s going on with you? You look like you’ve lost your last friend.”
Gary shook his head. “I’m fine. Just tired. Tomorrow I have to be at the shops by six, so I need to go to bed. I was going to sleep at the house, but then I figured it might not be safe for you here by yourself.”
She stopped him as he trudged toward his bedroom. “I have some food if you’re hungry.”
“Yeah, that might help.” He looked at the table and chairs. “I’m glad the place didn’t go up completely.”
“It’s amazing the fire wasn’t much worse. We are very blessed. Uncle Harrison could have lost the entire hotel.”
“Yeah.” Gary plopped down in a chair and shook his head. “Do you suppose he has fire insurance?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t even sent him a telegram. I wasn’t sure if Father was going to do that, and since it’s Sunday, I figured I’d wait and ask him in the morning. Did he say anything to you about the fire?”
“Like what?”
Susanna brought him a sandwich she’d made earlier. Ham and cheese with butter. It was one of Gary’s favorites since their arrival in San Marcial. “I just wondered if he knew anything about the candle and what had started the fire.”
“Why would he?” Gary snapped. He grabbed the sandwich and took a big bite.
Susanna was taken aback by his attitude. “You don’t have to be so angry with me. It’s just a question. We need to figure out what happened. Someone was careless, and it could have ended in complete tragedy. As it is, it burned up all the money we made from the Saturday and Sunday guests, and had a passerby not seen the smoke, it might have burned more than the hotel kitchen. The whole block could have caught.”
“But it didn’t. And I’m sure Uncle Harrison can afford the loss. Besides, he probably has insurance. No one will suffer.” Gary took another bite. “You got something to drink?” he asked with his mouth full.
“I can make some tea or coffee.”
“Water’s fine. Don’t bother to make anything.”
