Chapter 5

“A sandwich is fine. Unless there’s something specific you want.”

“I’d kill for a decent pizza,” she muttered. She grabbed a container of sliced ham and some condiments, setting them on the counter before rooting around for bread. “How are you going to explain what happened to you when Michelle sees you in the morning?”

“How bad do I look?”

Dominique glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Maybe nothing a shower won’t fix. But unless you burn your clothes, she’s still going to figure it out.”

Jesse leaned against the counter heavily. He had been caught in a fire before, and though the flames never touched him, it still took several days to fully recover from the smoke inhalation. He still felt the heat of the fire licking at the ground near his feet, and on the walls, and over his head. The memory of coming home and finding Gideon and Emma asleep as their lives burned around them was still so vivid, it might have happened the previous day.