Path of Secrets

CHAPTER TWO-2

THEY’D JUST FINISHED breakfast and Jandy was helping Bella clear the table when her cell phone rang.

Jandy glanced at the number and took the call, listened for several minutes, then fired off several questions.

When she hung up, she looked at the group.

“That was the fire chief. We are not allowed to go back in yet. It’s partially collapsed, and he wants city engineers to sign off on its stability first before he lets us wander through it. He says it may not be safe to try to go back in at all, and if that’s the case, we’ll just have to raze it to the ground completely. But he was able to determine the origin of the fire. It wasn’t the oven, like I thought.”

“What was it?” Tony asked.

“An electrical fire. We had a short-circuit in an outlet,” she revealed. “And from what he described it sounds like the fire traveled along the wiring to spread really quickly to the rest of the place.”

“Covered by your insurance, I hope?” Nathan asked.

“Should be,” Jandy answered. “I need to call our agent back and get him to meet us onsite at some point. He’s going to need to document the damage before anything else can happen.”

She dialed and waited. “Hey, Jason, I just heard from the fire chief.... Yes, he told us.... Really? Oh, all right.... Yes, thanks, Jason.”

“Huh,” she said. “Evidently Jason’s already done his assessment. Total loss, and one hundred percent covered – after the deductible, of course.”

“Well there’s some good news, at least,” Bella pointed out. “And look at the positives here – no one got hurt, and if you ever wanted to make any changes to your house, now’s the perfect time.”

Tony’s eyes lit up.

“She’s right, honey,” he exclaimed. “We could have a brand new, open layout with that kitchen island you’ve always wanted.”

“And a great big garden tub in the bathroom! I’ve always wanted one of those, as well. Hey! We could make the den bigger! Get rid of that formal dining room that we hardly ever use,” Jandy responded. “We’ve talked about remodeling for years, but we just never got around to it.”

“I think this is gonna turn out to be a blessing in disguise, honey,” Tony announced as he crossed the room to hold his wife. “I know we lost some things that cannot ever be replaced, and I know how sad that makes you. But we have each other, Jandy, and that’s really all we need.”

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