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"Did he growl at you?" Justine asked, then roared like a grizzly bear, shaping her hands intocheerfully, she crawled across thehim from worries about his father

Leif shrieked and scra for his bedrooly cornered the boy Leif’s eyes flashed with delight as she set out his clothes He insisted on getting dressed on his own these days, so she let hioodbye to her husband, Justine delivered Leif to preschool When she pulled back into the driveway, Seth careet her The April sky was overcast, and rain was imminent The weather was a perfect reflection of their ruous when they both felt so fearful and angry

"I talked to the fire ot out of her car

"Did he have any news?"

Seth’s frown darkened "Nothing he illing to tellhis oeet tis require patience" She needed answers as much as he did, but she certainly didn’t want the fire ation

"Don’t you start on round every day How are we supposed to live without the restaurant?"

"The insurance--"

"I know about the insurancefor at least aother jobs It isn’t going to pay back my parents’ investment They put their trust in nificant amount of the start-up money; Seth and Justine paid them monthly and she knew Mr and Mrs Gunderson relied on that income

Justine didn’t have any solutions for hinized that he was distressed about more than the financial implications of the fire, but she had no quick or ready answers "What would you like me to do?" she asked "Tell lared at her in a way she’d never seen before "What I’d like," heas if this is a teone We’ve lost everything, and you’re acting like it’s no big deal" Justine recoiled at the unfairness of his words He made it sound as if she was some kind of Pollyanna asn’t fully aware of their situation "Don’t you realize the last five years are in ashes?" he railed "Five years of working sixteen-hour days and for what?"

"But we haven’t lost everything," she countered, hoping to inject souh this was a dreadful time, they still had each other They had their child and their house Together they’d find the strength to start over--if only Seth could let go of this anger

"You’re doing it again" He shook his head in barely controlled frustration

"You want ry as you are," she said

"Yes!" he shouted "You should be angry You should want answers just like I do You should--"

"More than anything," she cried, her own control snapping, "I wantthat’s happened We’ve lost our business, and to ic, but it isn’t the end of my world"

Her husband stared at her, incredulous "How can you say that?"

"Maybe you’re trying to lose your wife and son, too," she yelled, and before she could change herthe door Seth didn’t try to stop her and that was fine with Justine She needed to get away fro for his reaction, she backed out of the driveway

With no real destination, Justine drove into town, a few blocks from where Leif attended preschool classes Her son would be in school for another two hours, and she had nothing urgent to do, no one to see, so she walked down to thein the disaster that was battering her e, she sat down on a wooden bench in WaterfrontPark and gazed out at the cove The sky was even darker now, and the water crashed against the rocks near the shore She needed to think Everything would be all right when she got home, she told herself Seth would be sorry for what he’d said, and she--

"Justine, is that you?"

She glanced up to see Warren Saget co toward her She offered him a weak smile She didn’t welcoht now, but especially Warren, who’d let it be known that he still had feelings for her When she’d declined his proposal, he hadn’t taken it with good grace, and she tended to avoid hi for an invitation, he sat down beside her "I was sorry to read about the fire"

The Cedar Cove Chronicle had published a front-page spread about the arson, and everyone in town had been talking about it all week

"It was…a shock," sheto rebuild, of course?"

She nodded She couldn’t i to rebuild Within a few ain Everything would be all right There was simply no other option