‘Oh my God! What the hell was that?’
Bo’s shout reached Rose as she was already starting to run towards the boathouse. Flames were visible inside, engulfing the rear of the shed. Other people were running too and there were yells and the sound of a fire alarm going off.
‘Where’s Finn? I saw him go inside!’
‘I don’t know …’ Dorinda stammered back, rooted to the spot.
Rose dashed towards the door of the boathouse, where scarlet flames were visible deep inside.
‘Rose! No!’
An arm reached for her. She brushed it off. She knew it was Joey’s, but his warning cry was just a blur of sound. All she could think of was the last thing she’d seen before the explosion: Finn silhouetted in the boatshed doorway.
She managed to get a couple of steps inside, shielding her face with her arm. The far end of the space was ablaze and tongues of fire licked at the stern of the cutter. Smoke had already filled half the shed, making her gag. There had been cans of paint and varnish and God knows what in there. It could go up again at any moment.
Where was Finn?
What if he was lying behind the boat, injured, unable to escape the smoke and flames? The thought was too horrific to contemplate but drove her on. Shielding her face with her hand, she forced herself to step deeper inside, towards the blaze and choking clouds.
The heat was staggering, and she could barely see the other end of the workshop, let alone Finn. She tried to call his name but only swallowed smoke.
The fire already had seized a hold of one end of the cutter. It was as if Rose were standing at the door of a furnace.
‘F-finn!’ she spluttered.
There was no answer just the roar and crackle of fire, the pop and hiss of wood consumed by flames. Rose shrank down, hunched and beaten back by the heat. She thought she could feel the hairs on her bare arms singeing but she couldn’t leave Finn, not hurt and alone, helpless in that inferno.
‘Rose!’
Arms encircled her.
‘No!’ she shouted, coughed and tried to push the person away. He was stopping her from getting to Finn but then she was dragged backwards.
‘It’s me!’ He pulled her by the arm and towards the door. ‘Come away now!’
Her first thought was relief, so great that her legs buckled. ‘We have to move further back. The whole place could go up.’
A loud bang shook the air. Rose staggered, fell to the floor just outside the entrance to the boatshed. Smoke billowed up from the shed. She pushed herself onto her feet, but Finn seized her hand and hurried her away from the smoke and into fresher air, both of them coughing and gasping for breath.
‘Your b-boat!’ she said, tears streaming down her face. ‘All that w-work. It means everything to you! We have to try and save it.’
Finn reached for her. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘But I want to give you back what you gave me. That boat, the business, it’s your life.’
‘Rose, I didn’t give anything to you! I didn’t save you.’
‘What?’
‘It was Joey. Joey is your donor. And even if it had been me, nothing on the earth means anything to me without you.’ Finn looked around. ‘Where is he? I can’t see him.’