"Yeah. It's kind of easier for us. Except the trying to explain that it actuallyisreal…"
"My dude, I see how she looks at you. You don't have anything to worry about. Just tell her."
I TOLD YOU.
"Yes, you did," Luke said under his breath.
Emmy laughed. "Rabbit commentary?"
Luke said, "Oh my God," with feeling, and his sister laughed again before he sighed. "It's that her job is in New York, though. In the city, I mean."
"I know. You'll work it out, though, Luke. It'll be okay. Besides, she's here through December anyway, so why worry about that at all right now? Enjoy the moment. God, I sound like one of those self-help gurus, don't I? 'Enjoy the moment,' gawd. Next thing you know I'll have an influencer channel and be out there intoning mantras. Oh, wait, no, somebody in the family already does that, never mind."
Luke, with all the dignity of a baby brother, said, "Pblblblbhlltt," and left Emmy alone in the kitchen.
"Hey!" Emmy's laughing protest followed him, and after a ten second wait for theatrics, Luke went back to help finish up, and his sister beamed at him. "I knew you weren't really a butthead."
"No, but I'm funny."
She giggled and agreed, and this time Luke didn't leave the kitchen until they were actually done. The guy's workout plan would have to wait until later, he decided. He wanted to wander by the train station building site and see if Sabrina was there yet. Just to say hi. Innocently. Nothing more. Maybe not even to say hi. Just to look at her from a distance. Because he didn't want to disturb her work. Not because he was a creeper who stared at pretty women for no reason.
Humans,his rabbit muttered darkly,areweird.
Yeah,Luke agreed somewhat too cheerfully for the rabbit's taste, and went to shower, dress, andjust happenby the building site. Although it was up on the edge of town, not that easy tojust happenon, really. Across the square and past the schools and the boutique hotel that had been developed out of several older buildings a while back, then by the houses that sat out that direction until they, too, petered out and left a quiet section of road before the old train station. There were kids hurrying to school in little groups, and the air had that first autumnal crispness to it, very different after Vegas's dry desert heat.
The station's scaffolding and plastic tenting were quiet still as Luke approached, no trucks out front or people moving around inside, much less already at work, which surprised him. Granted, Sabrina had said she'd be on site around nine, but he'd assumed it would be already bustling by then, with the construction crew taking advantage of every minute of daylight.
Therewasa kid standing across the street, hands balled into fists and all his attention on the site while other kids knocked into him as they hurried past. A few steps closer, Luke realized the loner was Noah Brannigan, the kid who had spearheaded the playground effort. He called, "Are you okay, Noah?"
The little boy—he was about ten now, maybe eleven, with hair newly cut for the school year and a laser focus for the building site—shook his head, hardly more than a tremble. Luke glanced across the street again at the site and shook his own head. "Nothing's going on there, buddy. You'd better get to school."
Noah shook his head again. "Call the firemen."
"What?" For some reason Luke was already getting his phone out as he did a double-take between Noah and the site, although he couldn't see any reason to do what the kid suggested. "Why? Is somebody hurt? What do you—" Noah was alotshorter than he was. Luke bent to see things from Noah's angle, but didn't see anyone lying hurt in his new line of sight.
"There's afire," Noah croaked. "Call the firemen."
"There's not—" But there was. Luke saw it now, smoke curling up and a sudden stink in the air. He straightened and dialed the emergency number all in one motion, eyes wide as he put his hand on Noah's shoulder. "Jesus, Noah, good job. Yeah, hi? I'm at the old train station and there's smoke rising somewhere on the building site. It doesn't look like anybody's in there, but—yeah. Yes. Great. Thank you." He took the phone away from his ear and squeezed Noah's shoulder. "All right, buddy. The firefighters are on their way. You can go to school now."
Noah shook his head again and tried taking a step forward, although Luke's hand on his shoulder prevented him. "Let me go! I need to make sure!"
"Absolutely not." Luke didn't know what the kid needed to make sure of, but he knew for certain he wasn't going to let Noah any closer to the train station than he currently was. After a couple of furious attempts to yank himself free, Noah went back to leaning toward the station, jaw set and fists clenched again like he was concentrating on the growing fire with his entire soul.
Luke could see it by then, licking higher and faster, and all at once the heat washed across the road toward them. He breathed, "Jesus," and searched the site again with his gaze, hoping like hell no one was in there. "Did you see anybody going in or out before you noticed the fire, Noah?"
The kid shook his head, that same little tremble that suggested he couldn't stop watching what was happening across the road. Luke decided not to ask him any more questions, but stayed with him, a hand on Noah's shoulder, until wailing sirens preceded the fire trucks, which arrived in a rush. It hadn't been been more than seven minutes since he'd called them, but the fire had visibly spread, its heat melting the plastic tenting and shattering scaffolding in places. Even once firefighters poured into the site, Noah refused to go anywhere, his hands knotted and his whole body tight with worry.
A little belatedly, Luke realized that while he didn't know Noah's mom's phone number, he did know she owned a massage therapy clinic on the town square. He looked its number up and called. Noah's mother answered with a cheerful greeting on the first ring.
"Hi, Mabs, this is Luke Jones from the Jones B&B?"
"Oh, hi, Luke. Do you need an appointment?"
"Hi, yeah, no, not booking an appointment. I'm up the road with Noah, who isabsolutely fine," Luke emphasized as Mabs gave a dreadful gasp. "He's fine. He just stopped on his way to school because he noticed there was a fire at the train station.We called the fire department and they're here, dealing with it, but I thought I should let you know where he was in case the school calls."
"Oh my God. He's okay?"
"He's completely fine. Nowhere near the fire. It started at the back and he's out on the other side of the street with me. But he saw it first and asked me to call the fire department, so we're here together, okay?"
