Bayside Dreams

Excerpt

Cassidy Jones rolled over and pulled the blankets over her head, willing the phone to stop playing the cheerful song. Whatever it was could wait until morning. It had been a long, trying week, and her body ached. The few hours’ sleep she’d already gotten only made her more exhausted.

The song stopped. Finally.

She removed the covers from her ears and started to drift off.

The song played again.

Cassidy groaned and reluctantly felt around the headboard for her phone. Two-thirty-three. In the morning. It was Audrey Hunter from the doggie boarding house. What on earth could she need at this hour?

Maybe it was an emergency.

She bolted upright and accepted the call. “Audrey? What’s going on?”

“There’s a fire!”

“What? Where?” Cassidy’s heart nearly exploded out of her chest.

“In the doggy daycare building!”

The bedroom spun around her. Images of the blaze that took her parents from her flashed through her mind like a rapid-fire assault. She clung to the blankets and struggled to breathe. “What did you say?”

“I’ll meet you there!”

Cassidy scrambled out of bed, gasping for air. “How’d you hear about it?”

“Shale called Logan.”

“Who’s Shale?” Not that it mattered. The only thing that mattered was getting to her business.

“Logan’s brother—the firefighter. He knows I work there. Hurry!” Audrey ended the call.

Cassidy could hardly think straight as she threw on some clothes without even paying attention to whether they matched. Her business was on fire. Everything she’d worked so hard for—she’d put her all into it. Heart, mind, soul, time, money, and energy.

Thankfully, the boarding house on the other side wasn’t on fire. She housed a lot of pets on any given day. The daycare building was on the other side of the property and vacant at night.

Her heart felt like it would give out as she stumbled around the house and finally made it to her car. It took three tries to start the ignition because her hand shook so hard.

Cassidy panted and tried to focus. She needed to pull herself together, at least enough to make the short drive. Thankfully, Enchantment Bay was a pretty small town, so she didn’t have far to go. She also had insurance. The building could be replaced—as much of a nightmare as that would be. The important thing? No animals or employees would be hurt if the flames stayed away from the boarding building.

What could’ve started the fire? She kept her buildings up to code and had regulations in place to make sure any potential hazards were checked routinely and fixed immediately.

Maybe it was that new girl. She’d only been there two weeks. What if she hadn’t been doing her job properly? Or what if something had gone wrong with the wiring? That wasn’t something Cassidy knew anything about.

The glow of the flames came into view before she pulled onto the road to the building.

Her heart nearly gave out. The fire was that bad?

What if it did spread to the boarding house? Would they be able to get the animals out? There was less staff overnight, but someone was always there. Maybe Audrey was already there, helping to bring the pets out to safety.

She prayed silently as she made her way toward her beloved business. The entrance was blocked with yellow tape. Onlookers gathered around the sidewalk.

Cassidy parked on the side of the road and raced out of the car past the small crowd. She started to go under the yellow tape when a tall firefighter blocked her and pointed to the tape. “That’s to keep you out.” He spoke with a deep, commanding voice. “You need to stay out there.”

“I own this place!” She reached for her purse, but in her haste, she’d left it at home. Not good considering the speed limits she’d broken on the way over. And not only that, she couldn’t prove her ownership.

The firefighter didn’t budge. “You have ID? I can’t let just anyone in.”

Her stomach twisted, her mind raced.

“Cassidy!” Audrey appeared from behind the fireman and turned to him. “Shale, this is my boss.”

He took his sister-in-law at her word and moved aside.

Cassidy stepped underneath the tape and looked over at the doggie daycare. Or rather, what was left of it. The flames were enormous, despite the firefighters’ efforts. Several trucks surrounded the building, their lights flashing.

It was surreal. This couldn’t really be happening. But it was.

Audrey wrapped her arms around Cassidy and shook. “Isn’t it awful?”

All she could do was nod and watch.

Someone screamed, then a wave of exclamations ran through the crowd of onlookers behind her.

Cassidy turned to them, then back to the doggie daycare building. Flames had jumped to a group of trees and engulfed them.

“We watered those down!” Shale ran toward the building, shouting orders at some of the other firefighters.

Then the worst thing possible happened. The fire spread down to the grass and ran toward the boarding facility.

“No!” Cassidy struggled to run, but Audrey still had her arms around Cassidy. She struggled against her friend and trusted employee. “We need to get the pets!”

“They won’t let us in the building! Charlize got out as many animals as she could before they stopped her.”

Cassidy pulled herself away from Audrey. “I’d like to see them stop me!”

Then she ran toward the building.

“Stop, Cassidy!”

She ignored her and raced toward the building. While she may have forgotten her purse, she did have her keys. She could get in and save as many animals as possible.

Cassidy struggled with the lock, breathing hard and expecting a firefighter to try and pull her away. Try being the operative word. Nobody could stop her from moving the pets to safety. Not even Shale, Audrey’s tall and muscular brother-in-law.

Finally, the door flew open. The fire alarm wailed. Barking and whining sounded from the boarding rooms. She shut the door behind her and raced for the pets.

The door opened and closed behind her.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” It was Shale.

“Freeing the animals!” She ran down the hallway before he could try to take her outside.

“Stop!”

She didn’t. In fact, she slammed the employee door shut between them. Then she locked it.

Good luck stopping her now.

Smoke in the air made her eyes water. Cassidy covered her nose and mouth with her arm then opened the first door to free a group of dogs. She whistled for them to follow her. There was no time to leash or kennel any of the animals—she just had to get them outside where they would live. Staying in here was a death sentence.

She opened more doors, whistling and calling for the pets to follow her. It was chaos, especially with the cats hissing at the dogs.

Cassidy made it down the hall and opened the door that led out to the play yard. A bunch of the animals ran outside. They were still in danger with the flames so close. She hated to do it, but it was the only thing that gave hope for survival. She opened the gate, then she ran back inside to usher the remaining pets outside.

Two cats remained huddled, hissing, in their room, refusing to leave. Cassidy scooped them up and raced toward the exit, ignoring their sharp nails digging into her flesh. Once outside, she loosened her grip on them. They leaped out of her arms.

She needed to go back inside to make sure she hadn’t missed any.

“You’re not going back in there!”

Cassidy spun around to Shale, who had gone around the building. “I’m doing my job! Keeping the animals safe.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed!” He ran toward her.

She turned and raced back to the building. The entire doorway lit up orange a second before a loud explosion blasted her backward. She crashed into something.

No, someone.

Strong, thick arms wrapped around her, pulling her away. Large flames lit up the building. Everything became a blur. She hit the ground, her hip first and then her cheek. Something dug into her skin, and pain ripped from underneath her eye down to her chin. She and Shale rolled, his arms still around her. After they stopped, he jumped up and pulled her up to her feet.

“Run!” His hand wrapped around her arm with a strength that let her know he wouldn’t let her run back inside. Not that she could with those flames, anyway. Warmth dripped down her face. She wiped at it. Her entire palm was covered in blood.

They raced the long way around the flame-engulfed structure through the parking lot then stopped between the fire trucks.

Shale stepped back and studied her, a fire in his eyes that wasn’t a reflection of the flames. “I can’t believe you did that!”

Cassidy rubbed her hip and tried to ignore the searing pain on her cheek. “I’m fine. Just a little sore.”

“What were you thinking?” he demanded.

She stood taller, though nowhere near eye-level with him. “I saved the animals!”

“Don’t you know not to go into a fire? You could’ve gotten yourself killed!”

“Those pets are my responsibility.”

“And now they’re running loose with a fire blazing out of control! And guess what? You still can’t return them to their owners.”

Cassidy put her hands on her hips. “At least they’ll have a chance of finding them now! The animals are alive—not burned to a crisp in there.” She turned toward the building and a lump formed in her throat. The business she’d put everything into was now burning to the ground.

Everything was destroyed.

“The paramedics are here,” Shale said. “They need to look you over, especially that laceration.”

She turned back to him. “I told you, I’m fine.”

He shook his head. “Come on.”

Reluctantly, she followed. But her injuries were the least of her concerns, even her throbbing face.

Her dreams were burning up in front of her.