A Catty Christmas

Chapter 5

The lights from the fire engines flashed blue and red as Jenny stared numbly up at her apartment. She could see the silhouettes of firefighters as they cleaned up the mess in her apartment caused by the fire sprinklers. Dozens of her neighbors muddled around talking to each other, gossiping about what happened no doubt. Jenny tried to make herself as unnoticeable as possible, staying by the side of the fire trucks.

How could she have been so stupid? She berated herself. She shouldn't have added the whiskey. She had been inside, the lighter would have worked, the pictures would have caught on fire. She had just been so angry. She'd wanted him gone, out of her mind, out of her apartment the way he'd been able to so easily leave her life.

"Ms. Lawton?" the fire chief approached her.

"Yes?" Jenny asked. Her arms and legs started trembling. She hated failing at anything and this, this was failing at living in her own apartment. How many people in the world set their apartment on fire with an effigy. Internally she swore she'd never make an effigy again. She'd use a paper shredder next time or pick up boxing.

The fire chief pulled her helmet off, offering a reassuring smile. "Looks like you've had a pretty rough night. Do you know how the fire started?" She asked.

Jenny swallowed hard. "It was an accident."

"I believe you. You know you're not the first call we've gotten for something like that, that's gotten out of control." She replied.

Jenny could feel her shoulders sagging. Somehow the thought of others out there failing at this didn't comfort her.

"But you definitely had bad luck there with the sprinklers. The fire damage was minimal but there is a lot of water damage. Unfortunately you're not going to be able to get in for a while. I imagine it might be a few weeks."

"A few weeks?! What do you mean a few weeks?!" Jenny screeched, eyes widening.

"Those fire sprinklers contain a lot of water, your entire apartment is flooded. Some of it trickled through to your neighbors apartments too. We've got a crew in there pumping out the water now but it's going to take a while and the whole place is soaked. You might be able to salvage a few things but you'll need to find another place to stay, at least until you can get someone in to survey the water damage. If you need help finding someone to check it out or housing here's the number for the local Red Cross. They should have space in their emergency shelters. Not the quietest place but better than nothing." The fire chief handed her a business card.

Jenny turned the business card over in her hand, staring at it in shock. "Do you need a phone so you can call the red cross? See if they can get you into a shelter tonight?" the chief asked.

The offer quickly snapped her out of it. "No, that's alright. I've got places I can stay." She responded with a smile. "I'm going to fix this."

The fire chief gave her a knowing look, nodding her head. "If you say so."

Jenny stuffed the business card in her pocket before pulling out her phone to call May. Right before she hit the green dial button she took a deep breath trying to figure out how she'd spin this disaster. Gritting her teeth she hit the send button.

The phone rang and rang. Right before it went to voicemail May picked up.

"Oh my gosh Jenny I'm sorry. Ben's family just showed up tonight as a surprise and they're all staying at my place." May responded in a frantic whisper.

"Wait, what? Why are they at your place? Why aren't they at Ben's" Jenny lowered her voice to match May's.

"Ben didn't have enough room and since I have a house there's technically enough room for all of them. HE didn't tell me that he volunteered my place." May hissed. Jenny could hear Ben's whispered voice arguing back with her.

"Anyways, we're not going to get into it right this second. What's going on? Are you ok?" May asked, pivoting the conversation.

"Uhhhm yeah. I'm fine I was calling because I need a place to crash for the night but it sounds like your house is full." Jenny finished lamely.

"Shattner! I'm sorry girl. I would totally have you over but trust me you don't want to be over here right now. It's a mess and I have no idea how long they're going to be here. Maybe I'll come crash with you." May threatened, the comment obviously directed at Ben who must have still been nearby.

"Let's chat later. Sounds like you and Ben have some stuff to talk through." Jenny quickly offered.

"Mhhhmm." May responded. The echoing sound of a one sided phone call replaced May's end. Jenny quickly pulled up another contact.

"Hey Felicia! I'm looking for a place to crash for--Oh gotcha. Yeah sounds like you guys are busy--oh ok. Talk to you later."

"Jace! Jenny. I know it's a little out of the blue but I was wondering if I could come over tonight....no this is not a Netflix and chill phone call. You know what this was a bad idea. Never mind."

"Hi Lily. No I'm not calling about the stats. Yes you still have a job. No, I'm not calling you into work tomorrow. Why would I be calling you in? Lily stop crying. Oh my word, take a breath or, find a paper bag to breathe into. Lily? Lily?"

Giving up on crashing at a friends house Jenny switched gears googling hotels, than AirBnB's. Every decent hotel and AirBnB was booked for the holidays though. Which left only one other option.

With a sigh Jenny dialed the last number in the world she had wanted to call. Closing her eyes she rubbed away the headache that was already forming.

"Hi sis."