The next time Autumn awoke it was Lydia she saw next to her. Her sister was in the dent Griff had left behind, her arm flung over her head as she lay on her back, unashamedly snoring. Autumn’s lips twitched at the sight, at the same time her stomach dipped at the realization that Griff wasn’t next to her. The urge to curl up in his arms felt stronger than ever.
She rolled over and sat on the edge of the bed, circling her shoulders to loosen the knots there. The unbearable shivers had gone, and the constant icy feeling of her skin had disappeared with it, but her muscles still told the story of last night.
“What time is it?” Lydia croaked, groaning as she sat up. “Oh hey, are you okay? No headache or shivers or anything?”
“Nope.” Autumn turned to her sister. “How about you?”
“I’m exhausted.” She yawned as though to demonstrate the truth of it. “One minute we were curled up in bed together, the next I’m being woken up by Ally and getting dragged outside. Now I know how my first boyfriend felt when Dad found us in bed together.”
Autumn would have laughed, but she remembered that night so well. The poor boy hadn’t stood a chance.
“Talking of Dad, is he still here?”
“Yeah. He’s in the living room. Griff left to meet his friend Lucas at the pier. They’re inspecting the damage.”
Autumn scrambled to her feet. “He should have woken me up. I need to be there.”
“He only left half an hour ago. I promised to tell you as soon as you woke up. We can head over there now.” Lydia swung her feet to the floor. “Just as soon as you put some clothes on.”
Autumn blinked and looked down at her tatty leggings. “I don’t have anything to wear.”
“Yeah you do. Your things are still here, remember?” Lydia pointed to the open bag on Griff’s ottoman as she stifled a yawn. “Let’s shower and clean our teeth, then we can head over, okay?”
The pier looked worse than ever in the morning light. The end was charred, the red painted iron buckled from the heat of the blaze. Griff’s boat was floating there, the port side black from smoke. Autumn pressed her lips together, determined not to cry again. She’d shed enough tears for a lifetime.
A group of people were huddling around the boardwalk, talking as they faced the pier. She recognized Frank and Deenie, Lorne from the surf shop, and Ally’s husband Nate, along with the firefighters who worked at the ASFD under Lucas’s captainship.
As soon as they saw her, Autumn was swallowed up in a succession of hugs, each one of them telling her how sorry they were.
“We’ll do whatever it takes to get the pier up and running again,” Frank promised. “We’ve already started a fund for the repairs.”
“I’ll put a bucket next to the register,” Deenie told her. “Everybody will. It’ll be okay.”
“That’s so kind of you, but I have insurance.” Autumn attempted a smile. “Maybe we can raise money for the Delmonicos and Griff instead. They’re going to lose a lot of money until everything’s repaired.”
“We’re a generous community,” Frank said, patting her arm. “You’ll all be taken care of.”
She could see Lucas and a few of his firefighters at the end of the pier, so she said her goodbyes before she headed up there. It was only when she climbed the steps that she realized Griff was with them, too. He swallowed hard when he looked at her.
“So, what’s the damage?” she asked, trying to keep her voice light.
Lucas shook his head. “It’s not great news. The end of the pier is a write off. It’s going to have to be rebuilt from scratch.”
She breathed in sharply. “Okay. How about Griff’s boat?”
Griff shook his head. “I can get another.” Their eyes met and she felt her chest tighten.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Do we know what caused it?” she asked Lucas.
“It looks like it started in the kitchen. The investigators are in there now, but we won’t get their report for a while.”
“In Delmonico’s kitchen?”
Lucas nodded. “Yeah. Looks like a classic electrical fault, but we can’t say for sure until the investigation is complete.”
“Thank you for what you’ve done,” Autumn said softly. “All of you. For getting here so quickly and making sure nobody was hurt. That’s the important thing.”
“I called my insurance,” Griff told her. “And yours, too. They’ll be sending an adjuster out as soon as possible.” He ran his thumb along his jaw. “Now I just need to go tell Pietro the bad news that the fire started in his restaurant.”
“I should tell him. I’m his landlord,” Autumn said, dreading the conversation.
“We’ll go together,” Griff said firmly. “You don’t have to face it alone.”
She nodded and he took her hand, squeezing it tightly. It was strange how people who’d only known her for weeks were supporting her.
Strange and beautifully heart-warming. It was taking a lot of effort not to cry again.
By five that afternoon, she was dead on her feet. After meeting with the Delmonico family, she’d hurried back to the pier where her claims adjuster was waiting to inspect the damage. It was the first time she’d walked on the burnt and buckled construction since the fire, pulling on safety boots and a yellow hat as Lucas and his team instructed.
It had broken her heart to see her beautiful pier so damaged. Only yesterday it had been strung with bright lights and floral garland, and full of people who oohed and ahhed at the black and white posters she’d put up. As they carefully made their way toward the charred ruins of what was once Delmonico’s, a sob caught in her throat.
All that history obliterated in one night. And on her watch, too. It was the first time in over a hundred years that Angel Sands wouldn’t have a pier. And it was her fault.
The adjuster made notes and took photographs as they walked, Lucas standing on his other side as he pointed out where they believed the fire had begun. In the far corner of what used to be the restaurant she could see tiny pieces of paper dancing around in the breeze. On closer inspection they saw what were the remains of Delmonico’s menus.
“I think I have everything for now,” the adjuster told her after three hours of inspecting the ruins. “I’ll write my report this week.”
“But she’ll be covered, right?” Lucas asked.
“Unless anything unexpected is found, then yes.” He looked at Autumn. “You have the top level of insurance. That’s good. So many people don’t think things like this will happen to them.”
“I have my dad to thank for that.” She gave a little laugh. “Always expect the unexpected.”
When the adjuster had gone, she’d hugged Lucas again and thanked him for all his help, before she walked slowly back along the beach toward the cottage. It was less than twenty-four hours since she’d run like crazy the other way, her eyes trained on the orange flames that were consuming the pier.
Now everything felt different. She was different. Sadder, more lost. All the things she thought she could count on were gone.
“You’re back. We’ve been looking for you,” Lydia said as Autumn walked through the door. She was sitting in the tiny living room, her dad opposite her as he worked on his laptop.
“I’ve been with the adjuster.”
“All this time?” Lydia’s eyes widened.
Her dad looked up. “He’s been thorough. That’s good. Did they say when you’ll get some payment?” he asked.
“Hopefully I’ll get something next week. That should allow me to contract the repairs out.” Autumn slumped in the empty chair, letting her head tip back. “But it will be months before we can open again. Maybe years.”
Her dad caught her eye. “You could use the money for something else.”
She blinked. “Like what?”
“Take the payment and come back to New York. Invest in some real estate there.”
With a jolt of frustration pulsing through her, Autumn caught his gaze. “I’m not leaving the pier in ruins. And I wouldn’t come back to New York, anyway. I’ve already told you that.”
He shrugged. “It was worth a try. But if you’re staying, then maybe I can help you.”
“How?” she asked warily.
“I’ve spoken to someone who has an empty restaurant about twenty miles from here. He’s open to renting it to your tenants on a temporary lease until they can move back to the pier.” He clicked on the laptop and turned it around to show her the screen. A low-level modern building with a backdrop of palms filled it. “What do you think? He’s agreed to charge no more than you were. It’s a win-win.”
For the first time that day she felt a shot of hope. “It’s a good idea,” she conceded. “Thank you. I’ll let the Delmonico family know.”
Lydia’s phone buzzed and she lifted it from the coffee table. “Oops, that’s Griff. I was supposed to tell him when you got back.”
“Griff has your number?” Autumn asked, as Lydia quickly typed a reply.
“Yeah. We swapped them this morning when he left to go to the pier. He’s there now, finishing up with his own insurance guy.”
“Is he okay?”
Lydia laughed. “That’s exactly what he asked about you. I feel like some kind of interpreter. How about you ask him yourself. He’s a ten minute walk away.”
She was right. With everything she’d done today, there was still unfinished business. This morning when they’d sat and told Pietro about the fire starting in his restaurant, Griff had squeezed her hand tightly as Autumn tried not to cry. Then he’d walked with her to the pier and sat down on the edge of the boardwalk with her until the adjuster arrived.
He’d been ever present in her day, yet there was so much they hadn’t said. Yesterday’s argument had felt as devastating as the fire in many ways. She’d believed in him. She’d thought he believed in her, too. And then his words had cut her like a knife.
Maybe the problem was she’d never believed in herself. She should have told him about the stupid drunken pier purchase as soon as they’d grown closer. He probably would have laughed, instead of seeing it as something she was hiding from him.
She should have told him about her dad and Mr. Carlsson, too. Not to mention Josh.
The truth was, she wasn’t used to having a relationship of equals. She’d had to fight to have her voice heard – first with her father, then with her ex-husband. So when she’d had an opportunity to show Griff her weakness, she’d been afraid he’d use it against her.
But that wasn’t fair. He’d never tried to be anything more than her friend, her lover, maybe more. She’d tarred him with the same brush she’d always used, and then look what happened.
She’d messed things up.
“Are you going or what?” Lydia asked, her eyes dancing.
Autumn stood and rolled her aching shoulders. “I guess I am.” She turned toward the door, then looked back at her father. “When are you going home?” she asked him.
“Tonight. Unless you preferred I stay. I can book another night at the hotel.”
“It’s okay. But thank you.” Her smile was wan. “There’s nothing else you can do. I just need to wait for the insurance company to make their decision.”
He stepped forward and took her hands in his. “I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve always loved you, sweetheart. And there’ll always be a home for you in New York.” He pressed his lips together for a moment, then smiled. “But I can see that you want to stay here.”
“I do.” She nodded. “This is my home now.” She still didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, not after the trick he’d pulled yesterday. But he was her dad, and he’d taken care of her – in his own way – for as long as she could remember. Maybe the distance between them would do them both some good. Give him time to work out that she didn’t need him to solve everything for her, especially not when it was on his terms.
“I’ll probably be gone before you come back,” Lydia told her, hugging her tightly. “Keep me posted on the pier, okay? And about Griff. I want to know everything.”
“I know you do.” Autumn closed her eyes as she hugged her sister tightly. “Are you sure I can’t take you to the airport?”
“I’m hitching a lift with Dad. Saves on the gas and the environment.”
“Unlike catching a plane to Hawaii,” her dad said dryly. Lydia rolled her eyes.
“Take care, sweetheart.” Her dad gave Autumn a smile, as though he was waiting for Autumn to make the first move. She sighed, then hugged him tightly.
“Safe journey,” she whispered.
“If you need anything, or if you change your mind…” he trailed off when he saw her expression. “Well, you know where I am.”
“Sure do.”
“All right then, you need to go,” Lydia said, grinning as she gave Autumn’s ass a shove. “I’ll make sure the place is locked up before we head out.”
“Thank you.” Autumn flipped her hair over her shoulders and walked out of the cottage, turning to give them a final wave.
It was time to do some talking.