Coming Home (8 page)

He smiled at her, "Maybe I should do it more
often."

Susan shook her head, "I can't take too many days off
work."

"Well, I'm glad you took today off, you deserved
it."

He drove her back to her home in silence. Both of them
caught up in their own thoughts. When they reached her home he opened her car
door for her and walked her up to her front door. They stood and looked at each
other and Susan wondered if he would kiss her.  She wasn't sure if she wanted
him to or not. Well, of course she wanted him to. What was she thinking?

He placed a gentle hand behind her neck and leaned forward.
Susan closed her eyes and lifted her face toward his. And he softly kissed
her...forehead. Her eyes flew open and she looked down in embarrassment hoping
he hadn't seen the way she had expected him to kiss her lips.

"I'll see you soon, Susan." He said as he took a
step back.

Susan just nodded her head because she felt tears clogging
her throat. She opened her front door and walked in mentally berating herself
for wanting what she could never have. She shut the door and leaned against it.
She smiled in spite of the tears gathering in her eyes. This had been one of
the absolute best days she had had in a very long time and she would cherish
the memory forever. Craig had a way of making her feel like she was the only
woman in the world when she was with him. She didn't know how he did it, but
she liked it. What woman wouldn't?

Susan woke up with a start. She had just had the strangest
dream, something about Craig, which wasn't too odd, because even though she
hadn't seen him for the past few weeks he was constantly in her thoughts. She
couldn't stop thinking about him. But the dream was strange because something
was wrong.  She didn't know, or couldn't remember if something was wrong with
her or Craig or someone or something else. She glanced at the clock, 2:15 AM.
She laid staring at the ceiling waiting for the feeling of danger to go away,
but it didn't. She flung the covers back and sat up on the edge of the bed
wondering if Nana and her parents were okay. She stood up, covering a yawn and
padded to the bathroom. The bright light hurt her eyes, so she kept them closed
as much as possible. She was almost finished when she heard the phone begin to
ring. Her heart immediately jumped into her throat as she hurriedly finished up
and made her way as quickly as she could to the phone.

"Hello?" She asked breathlessly, her heart
practically pounding out of its chest. Nobody called at two-thirty in the
morning unless something was seriously wrong.

"Susan Johnson?" The voice on the other end
asked.

"This is she," Susan said all kinds of morbid
things flashing through her brain, like her parents dying in a car crash or
Nana falling head first down her stairs or ...

"This is Luke Jones of the San Diego Fire Department.
Are you the owner of Nana's Bakery and Restaurant?"

Susan's thoughts skidded to a halt and she was momentarily
speechless.

"Ma'am?" The voice came across the line a little
louder.

"Yes, I am the owner," she finally squeaked out.

"I'm afraid there's been a fire at your
restaurant."

"A what?" She asked unbelievingly wondering how a
fire could have started.

"Could you come down here?"

Susan nodded, "Of course, I'll be there as soon as I
can." She slammed down the phone and hurriedly threw on some clothes all
the while wondering if this was some kind of practical joke. But he had sounded
official enough.

She drove as quickly and carefully as she could to the
restaurant. There had definitely been a fire, if all the flashing lights on the
two fire trucks were any indication.  She left her car illegally parked as she
jumped out of it and ran up to her business. A fireman stopped her before she
could get too close.

"What happened? How did this start?" She slapped at
the man standing in her way. "Get out of my way!" She shrieked at
him.

Someone walked up to them, "Ms. Johnson?" He
asked.

Susan looked over and saw another soot covered fireman.
"Yes, that's me," she said as calmly as she could.

The fireman nodded to the one who had been blocking her and
he walked away. The one who had identified her glanced at the smoking building
then back at her, "I'm Luke Jones."

"Can I go in?"

He shook his head in the negative, "not at this
moment. We have the fire out, but we still need to check for hot spots and
structural damage."

Susan nodded her head dumbly. Hot spots and structural
damage? She felt herself grow light-headed and then felt Luke's strong arm come
around her to support her.

"Why don't you come over here and sit down," he
said as he led her to the back of the ambulance.

She looked at the ambulance, “There wasn't anyone inside,
was there?"

Luke shook his head, "Not that we found, but that is
one thing we wanted to ask you. What time do your employees come in?"

Susan shook her head and rubbed her temples in an effort to
think. This was surreal. "My pastry chef comes in around
three-thirty."

"So you don't think anyone was inside at this
time?"

Susan shook her head again, "No, no one should have
been inside."

Luke nodded his head.

Susan looked at him, "Do you have any idea how it
started?"

Luke shook his head, "Not at this time. We will have
someone inspect the premises once it is safe."

Susan nodded her head as she looked over his shoulder at
her smoldering bakery.

"I'll be right back," Luke said. "Is there
anyone else you would like us to call for you or that you would like to have
come over here?"

Craig came to mind, but she immediately dismissed him, they
weren't really on those kind of terms anymore. Then she thought of Nana but
didn't want to wake her up in the middle of the night. "No, there's no
one," she said.

He nodded his head and she watched him walk away. She
looked back at her restaurant and wondered how she would ever recover from this
set back. Money was tight as it was, without this. She thought about asking God
why He had allowed this to happen, but how do you ask someone something when
you don't even believe they exist?

She leaned back and watched as the firemen finished up. She
didn't know how long she had been sitting there when she heard someone call her
name.

"Susan! What happened?"

Susan glanced over and saw Jean running up to her, her face
pale in the still dark night.

Susan shook her head disbelievingly. It still hadn't sunk
in.

“There was a fire."

"How? What started it?"

Susan shrugged, “I have no idea. They are going to have
someone inspect it."

"They don't suspect arson do they?" Jean asked.

Susan looked at her aghast, "Of course not! Why should
they? I wouldn't start my own business on fire."

Jean patted Susan's shoulder, "Of course you
wouldn't."

"Then why would you ask such a thing?"

"Oh, that's the first thing they always suspect. Don't
you watch any of those crime shows on TV?"

Susan shook her head in agitation, "No I don't, but
that's got nothing to do with me."

"Well, you know you didn't start it and I know you
didn't start it, but they don't know you didn't start it."

Susan huffed out an impatient breath, "You are not
helping, Jean."

"Oh, sorry. I'm just nervous."

Susan shook her head. It wasn't even Jean's business, what
did she have to be nervous about? Then she understood, "You will always
have a job here, Jean. I don't know how long it will get everything back to
working order, but you are the best pastry chef in San Diego, and I count on
your managerial skills. I need you here."

Jean smiled at her in relief, "Thanks, Susan. I will
do everything I can to help you get this place back in tip top shape."

"Thank you, Jean. I appreciate that."

They both sat there until Luke came back to tell them it
was okay if they went inside.

Susan felt like crying as she walked into the building. The
smell of smoke was pervasive. "It will take forever just to get rid of the
smell," she moaned. They made their way to the back of the restaurant
where the kitchen was. It was obvious that that was where the fire had started.
It would probably have to be gutted and rebuilt. Susan felt her shoulders
sagging under the enormous weight of it all. They walked back toward where the
store room and her office were. The fire hadn't quite made it all the way back
there but there were marks on the walls where the flames had been licking it.

Susan shivered; she was so glad that no one had been there
when this happened. If the fire had been coming from the kitchen and she had
been in her office, there would have been no easy way for her to escape. She
looked into her office and other than the awful smell of smoke it looked like
it was still completely intact. She breathed a sigh of relief over that. She
looked at Jean who had been walking through the place with her and making “tsk
tsk” sounds the whole time. 

Susan walked back out toward the front of the building to
look for Luke or someone who could give her an idea of how this had even
started.

"Well, well, well, look who's here." Jean said,
waggling her eyebrows.

Susan looked where Jean had indicated and stopped in her
tracks.

Craig looked over the shoulder of the fireman who was
stopping him from getting into the building and saw Susan walking out of it.

She looked his way and he felt his heart break at the
defeated look in her eyes. "Susan!" He yelled as he pushed past the
fireman and hurried over to her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her
tight as he felt her tremble against him. He kissed the top of her mussed up
hair which smelled of smoke and thanked God that she was okay. "Why didn't
you call me?" He asked when she started to pull away.

Susan shrugged, "I didn't want to bother you."

He put a hand on each of her shoulders and waited until she
was looking him full in the face. "You are never a bother to me, Susie. I
care about you and what happens to you. I am here for you, no matter
what."

She smiled wanly at him, "Thanks, Craig."

He looked at the building, then back at her. "How bad
is it?" he asked gesturing with his head toward the restaurant.

Susan stepped completely away from him and it was all he
could do not to pull her back to him.

"It was mainly concentrated in the kitchen area. But
the entire place smells like smoke," she said with an endearing crinkle of
her nose.

"If there is anything I can do, anything at all.
Please don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

"Okay," she said but didn't really seem to mean
it.

"I'm serious, Susan. I know this really great general
contractor," he said with a smile.

"You do?" She asked while figuring he probably
would considering he was in the construction business.

"Yeah, I'll have him stop by later today. I think you
will like him."

"I don't want to impose," she said doubtfully.

"He won't mind, trust me," he said noticing dark
circles around her eyes. He ushered her toward the parking lot, "Right
now, though, you need to go home, take a shower and rest for a little while. I
will see you back here around eleven. Okay?"

Susan just nodded her head as she looked for her car. Then
she remembered she had parked it on the street. "I parked on the
street," she told him.

They walked to the front of the restaurant and Susan
gasped. "What’s wrong?" he asked having a feeling he knew.

"My car is gone," she said looking up and down
the street.

Craig placed an arm around her because it looked as though
she may faint at any moment. "I'll tell you what. I'll drop you off at
your place and find out what happened to your car."

"But..."

He headed her toward his car. "No buts, I want to help
you."

Susan just nodded her head and he was afraid she was going
into a state of shock. He helped her into his car then drove her home. He kept
glancing at her. Her eye lids were drooping over her eyes, but she kept forcing
them back open. When they arrived at her home he helped her out of the car and
walked her up to the door. She fished her keys out of her purse and he took
them from her to open the door for her. She walked in and just stood in the
hallway. He bit his lip wondering what he should do, then took her by the
shoulders and led her to the back of the house where he assumed her room would
be. He led her to her bed and made her lie down, then he took her shoes off and
covered her with a blanket that had been folded up at the end of the bed. She
was asleep before the blanket settled over her and he watched her sleep for a
moment before he quietly left the room and headed out of the house to take care
of business, Susan's business.

Susan woke up and looked at the clock. It read ten forty-two.
She looked up at the ceiling and wondered if she had had some kind of
nightmare. Her restaurant hadn't really burned down, had it? Then she
remembered Craig and she sat up and looked at herself. She was still dressed,
except for her shoes. She looked on the floor and her shoes were sitting neatly
on the floor by the bed. Then she looked at the blanket she was covered with
and wondered how she had gotten covered with it, and she felt her face flush.
Craig must have covered her up, but why was he even here? Then she remembered
about her car being gone and she groaned. Her mom had always said that when it
rained it poured, and it definitely seemed to be pouring on her at the moment.
How could they tow her car? Her business had just burned to the ground, well,
maybe not completely to the ground, and they had the audacity to tow her car?!?
She was fit to be tied by the time she finished her shower. She looked at the
clock, eleven thirty-eight. Her eyebrows puckered together in concentration.
Something was happening at eleven, but she couldn't remember what. Then she
remembered she was supposed to take Nana to church today. She quickly dialed
her number and explained the whole situation to her.

“But you are okay, right?” Nana asked worriedly.