“So, why are you really here?” Sophie gave Pete and Gabe a couple of days to come clean. When all they did was camp out in her son’s old room and look like they were trying too hard to stay positive, she laid it on the line. “You aren’t really crashing with us as a form of vacation. Right? Why are you here?”
“Sophie. Don’t press,” Ethan warned.
She just gave him a stink eye in response. They days when he could cow her into mindless compliance with that soft tone were over.
Gabe laughed at the byplay. Pete smiled, but it was clear his heart wasn’t in it.
“Truth? We’re hiding out. No one who knows us would ever guess we would come to you.” Pete gave her a sincere look of assurance.
“What happened?” Ethan put down the coffee pot and joined the rest of them at the breakfast bar. “Was it the pizza place?”
“Yeah. It was.” Gabe’s bonhomie crumbled.
“Hater’s gotta hate.” Pete looked more philosophical.
“What? Quit talking in riddles and explain. What pizza place? Wait, don’t you own a pizza place? It that it?” She addressed the room at large at first, then narrowed it down to Gabe
“I did. It burned to the ground last month.”
“We had it fully insured, but the insurance company is refusing to pay for repair let alone replacement. They claim it was arson. Which it was. Just not by us.”
“Arson?!”
“Yeah. It was gay bashing by way of gas can and lighter. It was pure luck that we both happened to be out of town at the time.”
“A month ago? Why didn’t you tell me?” Ethan glowered at each man in turn.
“You had your own issues.” Pete waved him off.
“That should be illegal!” Having finally put together some kind of mental image of what it must be like for the two men, Sophie’s irate sense of justice rose up.
“Honey,” Gabe touched her hand lightly. “Arson IS illegal. And eventually I might actually get some justice. There’s a police case open and even a couple of suspects. They tell us they only need a couple more weeks to get gather enough evidence for a warrant. Then we can go home? Unless justice really is blind.”
“Oh, no! Your house?” Ethan looked horrified.
“Should be fine,” Pete reassured him. “But we have evidence of trespassers, which we turned in to the police. Still, I’d rather lose a million dollar home than either of our lives.”
“And I… I needed to be among friends.” Gabe carefully didn’t look anyone in the eye.
“Of course.” Sophie gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “As long as I know what’s going on, I’m fine with it.”
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