Saltwater Secrets - Amelia Addler Page 0,32
were you honey?”
“Never mind that!” she said, buckling her seat belt. “What matters is that Jade is safe, and now she needs some rest. You’ve been through a lot.”
“I’m okay,” Jade said. “Chief Hank, how’s Matthew? Is he okay?”
He nodded. “He’s just fine. Don’t worry – he’s tougher than he looks.”
“Good. I can’t believe that he just ran in there and…” her voice cracked again, and she covered it by coughing. “It’s just – if he hadn’t been there – ”
“No,” her mom cut her off. “Don’t even say it!”
“The fire is out,” Chief Hank continued. “They got there pretty quickly, and half of the house is still standing. We can go back tomorrow and see what we can salvage.”
“Okay,” Jade said. She didn’t want to think about any of that right now. All she wanted to do was crawl into a warm, fire-free bed and go to sleep. Preferably for at least twenty hours. When they got to her mom’s house, that was exactly what she did.
The next morning, Jade woke up slightly disoriented. She couldn’t remember why she was at her mom’s house at first – then it all came flooding back.
“Oh yeah,” she muttered. She slowly got herself out of bed, her head throbbing with each movement. She could hear some activity in the kitchen – a timer went off and it sounded like her mom was quite busy.
Jade smiled. She could smell something baking – no doubt her mom would have a feast ready for them. That was a nice thought, though Jade didn’t feel particularly hungry.
She turned and looked at herself in the mirror, slightly horrified by what she saw. There was still some dried blood on her head, and her hair hung in greasy streaks around her face, reeking of smoke.
She quietly stepped into the bathroom and took a long shower, trying to wash the memories of the fire away.
After her shower, her head still hurt but she felt a lot better. She considered going back to bed, but the smell of coffee pulled her towards the kitchen.
She found her mom cooking up a fury and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Morning Mom.”
“Good morning sweetheart.” She dropped the spatula in her hand and threw her arms up for a hug. “How are you feeling?”
“Good! It was nice to clean up.”
“I hope you’re hungry! I’ve made some of your favorites – oh, and Morgan is coming by soon. I called her to let her know what happened.”
“Oh, thanks. I completely forgot about that. She’d come back to the house today and just be horrified.”
“Yes, so it’s all taken care of! And Hank is over at the house now, trying to see what survived. You don’t have to go over there today if you don’t want to.”
“Wow.” Jade poured herself a mug of coffee. “That’s really nice of him.”
“He’s a nice guy.” The front door opened and her mom smiled. “Oh, speak of the devil! Hi honey!”
“Hello ladies!” he called out. “It’s looks like we’re having a fancy brunch today?”
Morgan popped her head out from behind Chief Hank. “Jade! You’re alive!”
Jade laughed. “I am.”
Morgan squeezed her tightly, squishing her face and swaying her from side to side. “That is the last time I will ever leave you home alone again.”
Jade started laugh-coughing, which made Morgan let go.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Morgan said.
“It’s okay.” Jade took a deep breath and slowly released it. “My lungs are still a little unhappy about being filled with smoke, but they’re getting better.”
“Good news,” Chief Hank reached into his pocket. “I found your phone in the living room. Looks like it’s fine.”
“Oh!” Jade accepted it from him. It looked unscathed. “Thank you so much!”
Morgan laughed. “Jade’s always leaving her phone in random places – who knew it would come in handy one day. Remember that time you dropped it in the front yard and it was there all night?”
Chief Hank ignored Morgan and continued. “The bad news is that everything else looks pretty damaged.”
“Ah, I kind of expected that.” Jade turned her phone on and saw that she had a few missed calls – mostly from Tiffany. That was odd.
Morgan peered over her shoulder. “Why did your sister call you like ten times?”
“I don’t know,” Jade said with a frown. “She must’ve heard about the fire. I need to call her back.”
“I sent everyone text messages that you were okay,” her mom said, removing a tray of muffins from the oven. “But I’m sure that Tiffany and Connor