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Scowling, she turned around and said, “Chandler, can you come here for a minute?”
He poked his head out of the bathing room and set his broom aside and walked over. “What do you need?”
“Door’s stuck. Can you get it open for me?”
Chandler tried too, putting his considerable muscle into it, but the thing didn’t budge. At least, not at first. It wasn’t until he yanked hard enough to nearly rip the handle off that the damned door opened. Eden stepped through, then immediately froze, causing Chandler to bump into the back of her.
“What’s wrong?” he started to say, but she cut him off.
“What’s that smell?” Eden sniffed the air, the scent of burning things getting stronger by the second. “Oh my God, something’s on fire!”
They rushed past the counter and out into the boutique to find the entire entryway engulfed in flames. Thick black smoke curled upward toward the ceiling, spreading quickly and ominously further into the salon.
In shock, Eden just stood there, blinking at the flames, her brain struggling to compute what she was seeing. It wasn’t until Chandler grabbed her wrist and dragged her backward toward the rear of the salon that she fully grasped the situation.
“We need to get out of here,” he yelled. “Come on!” He tugged her harder. “Head for the back exit!”
But when they got there, they discovered it was blocked. No matter how many times Chandler rammed his shoulder against it or kicked it, it wouldn’t move. The smoke was getting worse now and adrenaline flooded Eden’s system. At least there were no dogs in the shop that she had to worry about evacuating too. And Lena was safely away. But how were they going to get out of this?
“There’s a fire extinguisher, back by the washing machine,” she called out to Chandler, tugging her shirt up over her mouth to help her breathe better. Her eyes stung from the acrid air and her skin prickled from the heat. “Maybe we can use it to put out the fire.”
Chandler ran over to where she pointed and returned with the extinguisher, but instead of heading toward the front of the store, he headed to the windows nearby. “It’s too out of control for a fire extinguisher to fix it. Priority one is to get both of us out of here now!”
With one mighty push, he bashed the extinguisher against the window, and glass shattered everywhere. Cold wind rushed in before quickly being swallowed up by black smoke. There were more sounds of glass being knocked out to make enough room for them to climb through. Chandler reached out and grabbed her arm, tugging her forward to where he stood. Her eyes were watering so badly now, she could barely see him.
“I’m going to boost you up so you can crawl out. Cover your hands with your shirtsleeves so you won’t get cut, okay? I tried to knock out as much glass as I could, but there might be more there I couldn’t get to.”
He boosted her up and she went out the window, using her sleeves like he said to protect herself. Moments later, Chandler tumbled out after her. Together, they staggered to the edge of the parking area where he called 911.
Eden was barely able to stand, she was shaking so badly now from adrenaline and from the gut-wrenching realization that once again, she could have died. Her knees started wobbling as if they were going to give out on her at any second. As if sensing this, Chandler put his arm around her and pulled her into his side, supporting her weight. He seemed as cool, calm, and collected as usual, and for once, she was grateful for it.
Despite her independent streak, Eden was so glad he was there now, holding everything together, holding her together, because that was something she didn’t feel she could do on her own. Not now, when she was watching her beloved store—the one to which she’d devoted all her time, effort, attention, and resources for the past three years—literally go up in smoke. It was like watching part of her soul burn away, or part of her identity.
And there was nothing she could do other than lean on Chandler’s strength as she watched it all crumble to ashes.
