Chapter Fourteen
Abby
After the last person had left, I locked the front door then adjusted a few of the baubles on the huge Christmas tree that sat in the window next to the door. The lights had been flickering all day and I still hadn’t called Bob, the handyman who did all our odd jobs around the library to come over and take a look at them.
I took the trolley around the library floor to start shelving all the books that had been brought back. Creede library wasn’t terribly busy, but we had a steady stream of people in throughout the day so there was always something to do.
I was a big reader so I loved being surrounded by so many books—I even loved the old, musty smell of the place. The rise in e-readers meant that not as many people read paperback copies anymore. That was great in some respects because it was important to save our planet’s rainforests and to cut down fewer trees. And heck, I even had an e-reader myself. But there was just something special about holding a big, thick book in my hand and I doubted I would ever tire of it.
I checked my watch for the fifth time in ten minutes. Hunter was picking me up from work and taking me out to dinner. We’d seen each other a couple of times since the night of Libby and Mason’s party and each time, I grew fonder of him. After our talk, we both knew where we stood and, it appeared, we both wanted the same thing. That was a relief because I liked him and I wanted to spend more time with him. Now I could do so without having the nagging doubt in the back of my mind that said I wasn’t good enough for him.
I only had a handful of books left to shelve when a loud bang came from somewhere near my desk by the front door.
What the heck?
I left the trolley and ran to investigate.
As I neared, the source of the bang became clearer when smoke that wafted up from the base of the Christmas tree. The transformer on the lights must have blown. I sighed, about to turn to the desk to find Bob’s number when flames started to lick their way up the branches at the bottom of the tree.
We had a fire extinguisher on the wall near the store room so I ran for it. I grabbed it off the wall then ran back to the tree. By the time I got there the fire was already halfway up the length of the tree. I couldn’t believe the heat that came from it.
Just as I pointed the nozzle of the extinguisher at the tree, there was another small explosion at the base of the tree, loud enough to make me jump back. Then the fire started in earnest. The flames spread quickly up to the top of the tree, rising so high that the ceiling tiles ignited.
When the fire started to spread, I panicked. Ceiling tiles were crashing down onto the floor like fiery missiles. Some of them landed onto a few of the bookcases and when the books ignited, it was game over.
No fire extinguisher was going to put it out.
I tried to run for the door, but the heat was too intense to get past so I made a run for the storeroom where the fire escape was located, but the fire had already spread across the ceiling and it was so hot—too hot.
There was smoke everywhere.
I threw myself on the floor and crawled towards the storeroom door. The only coherent thought that kept running through my mind was that Hunter was on his way to pick me up.
Dear God.
I had to get out before Hunter arrived or he would undoubtedly try to come to my rescue and I couldn’t be responsible for him getting caught in yet another fire.
I had to get to the fire exit.
My life and his depended on it.