6 Rainier Drive Read Free Page A

good grace, and she tended to avoid him.
    Without waiting for an invitation, he sat down beside her. “I was sorry to read about the fire.”
    The Cedar Cove Chronicle had published a front-page spread about the arson, and everyone in town had been talking about it all week.
    â€œIt was…a shock,” she mumbled, suddenly cold.
    â€œYou’re going to rebuild, of course?”
    She nodded. She couldn’t imagine Seth not wanting to rebuild. Within a few months, all of this would be behind them, she told herself again. Everything would be all right. There was simply no other option.
    A chill raced up and down her arms as she remembered that this was exactly what she’d believed the day they’d buried Jordan. It was over, she’d thought then. All the relatives would go home and school would start and everything would go on the same as before. Only it hadn’t. How naive she’d been, a thirteen-year-old girl who’d trusted her parents to maintain the steady course of her life. They hadn’t; they couldn’t. Their own suffering had made them unable to cope with hers, destroying their marriage and tearing their family apart. Far from being over, the grief had barely begun.
    â€œWarren,” she said, panic rising inside her all at once. She reached for his hand, gripping it hard. She was hyperventilating; she couldn’t get her breath. She heard herself gasping for air. The world began to spin.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” he asked, and his voice seemed to come from a long way off. “Are you ill?”
    â€œI…don’t know,” she said on a choked whisper, the panic settling in. Suddenly she felt an overwhelming need to find her mother.
    â€œWhat should I do?” he asked, placing his arm protectively around her shoulders. “Should I take you to the clinic? Call for an Aid Car?”
    She shook her head, feeling small and lost and childlike. “I…I want my mother.”
    Warren didn’t hesitate. He leaped to his feet. “I’ll get her.”
    â€œNo.” She tried not to sob. She was an adult. She should be more capable of dealing with the events in her own life. Looking at Warren, she forced herself to take deep, even breaths. She forced her heart to stop racing.
    â€œI think you’re having a panic attack,” Warren said, brushing damp hair from her temple. “My poor Justine. Where’s Seth?”
    â€œH-home.” She couldn’t, wouldn’t tell him anything more.
    â€œShould I phone him?”
    â€œNo! I—I’m fine now,” she said shakily.
    Warren slipped his arm around her and held her head against his shoulder. “Don’t worry about a thing,” he whispered soothingly. “I’ll take care of you.”

Two
    C lutching her textbooks, Allison Cox rushed from her first-period American History to her French class. She slid into her desk and ignored the whispers that ceased abruptly as soon as she entered the room.
    No one needed to tell her the topic of conversation. She knew. Everyone was whispering about Anson. Her friends assumed he was the one who’d burned down The Lighthouse. He wasn’t! She refused to believe he was in any way responsible for the fire. Anson wouldn’t do anything so underhanded to the Gundersons. Not only had they been good to him, he wasn’t that kind of person. He wasn’t cruel or vindictive. Allison didn’t care what anyone thought or said—she wouldn’t lose faith in Anson or the love they shared.
    Turning, she glared over her shoulder at Kaci and Emily. According to her so-called friends, she waswalking hand in hand with denial. Fine, they could think whatever they wanted; it had nothing to do with her. They could condemn Anson, but she wouldn’t.
    The class bell rang, and she slowly turned around, ignoring the flow of gossip. Yes, Anson had disappeared right after the fire. Yes, he’d burned down