I looked at my watch. “Do you think we should go check on her? It’s been an hour.”
Maddy was bouncing her knee. “I don’t know. Maybe give it five more minutes? This isn’t good, Justin.”
I raked a hand through my hair. “Yeah, no kidding.”
“No, I don’t think you get it.” She looked at me. “This is going to bring up so much shit.”
“She’s strong,” I said. “She’ll get through it, she’s gotten through worse.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, she’s strong but not with this. Amber does something to her. She always has, she’s like her kryptonite.” She chewed on her lip. “God, I fucking hate her so much.”
“I hate her too.”
“Good. Welcome to the club, we meet on Wednesdays and we bring pitchforks.”
I snorted, despite myself.
She got up and paced, glancing every few minutes at her phone.
“I can’t wait anymore,” she said. “I’m going in.” She started for the exit and I followed her. She stopped at the door and turned to me. “Justin, she’s gonna get small. I need you to be ready for that.”
I nodded. “Okay. I can handle it.”
“She won’t answer the phone, she won’t want to see anyone. She’s gonna get super withdrawn. It’s gonna be bad. It might be the worst it’s ever been. You just have to wait it out.”
“All right. I’m ready.”
She opened the door and immediately froze. “Do you smell smoke?” I tilted my head and sniffed the air. “Yeah… What is that?”
She looked out into the yard and her eyes went wide. “There’s smoke coming out of the house!”
We both bolted, running across the lawn toward the mansion.
The house was on fire. Smoke was pouring out of the primary bedroom.
Maria stood on the grass by the pool, cursing in Spanish. “Call 911!” I shouted.
“I already called!” Maria said. “Pinche pendeja, she did this! ¡Está loca!”
I didn’t wait to hear who. Emma could be in there. I ran up to the French doors off the kitchen and rattled them. They were locked. I jumped off the deck and ran around the side of the garage, Maddy on my heels, and I crashed right into Neil in the driveway. He was standing there with his hands in his pockets looking up at the smoke billowing out of the top floor.
“Who’s in the house?” I shouted. “Nobody,” he said calmly.
“Where’s Emma? And Amber?” My heart was pounding.
“Gone. Amber just left in a taxi and Emma was getting into an Uber when I got home. Amber said they had a fight.”
I bent over with my hands on my knees. “Thank God,” I breathed.
I panted for a few moments, catching my breath before I pulled out my phone and called Emma. It went straight to voicemail. “Hey, where are you? Why’d you leave? Call me.”
Maddy watched me hang up, then she walked away, typing into her screen.
Neil and I stepped onto the front lawn and he stood there, watching the tendrils of smoke curling out of the windows on the top floor. He was smiling.
I stared at him. “Are you okay?”
He looked over at me like the question surprised him. “What? Because of this?” He gestured to the burning house.
“Yeah. Yeah, your house is on fire.” He smiled up at it. “Yes. Yes, it is.” Sirens started blaring in the distance. “She set it, you know,” he said.
“Who did?” I asked.
“Amber. One of those soy candles she likes to burn. She threw it at me. My head actually. Really poor aim, I ducked it easily.” He sighed happily at the smoke pouring now from the front door.
I blinked at him. “Are you happy about this?” He gazed thoughtfully at his home.
“You might not know this, Justin,” he said, “but I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life. I was a real asshole once. A few years ago, I lost the only woman I have ever loved because of it. I’ve been to a lot of therapy and worked hard on being a better person. Unlearning a lot of the toxic behavior I grew up seeing. Then Amber showed up. At first I thought this was my reward. I was a better man, so I was ready for a good woman. A nice, healthy relationship. But that’s not why Amber was here.” He looked over at me. “She was sent to test me. And I never wavered.”
I shook my head at him. “She set your house on fire.”
“I know.” He peered up to the house. “And now my debt to the universe is paid. She has wiped my slate clean. That woman was an angel sent from God.”
He looked at the flames licking out of the window over the garage and he started laughing. Pure joy.
I thought about what Emma said once. That framing is everything. That if you can frame the terrible things in the best possible way, that’s where true happiness comes from. I guess in this case it was a good thing because his fucking house was burning down.
Fire trucks pulled up to the property just as Maddy came running over. “Emma’s luggage is gone.”
I looked at her, confused. “What?” “She left, Justin.”
“Yeah, she got in an Uber—”
She shook her head. “No, Justin. She left left. Like, in the bad way. Her luggage is moving, I’ve got AirTags on them. She picked them up a half an hour ago and she’s heading to the airport.”
My face fell. “What do we do?”
She was already tapping something into her phone. “You do nothing. Go home. Wait and I’ll call you.”
“Are you sure? I’ll come with you—”
“I’m sure. Go home. If we’re lucky we might just see her again.”
