I started calling John over and over, frantic, desperate.
I called until my phone died. Until the screen went black. I never got through.
I collapsed to the ground as my father-in-law's screams tore through the night, raw and guttural, until they didn't.
It wasn't until the following dawn, sitting in the ashes of what had been a home, that I finally saw John.
——
He'd been chatting and laughing with Denise Simmons as they walked up. The moment he saw the wreckage, he went rigid.
Eight years of marriage. Even though the last two years had worn us down to something thin and colorless, this was still life and death. His father's life and death.
I gathered what little strength I had left and stood, wanting to comfort him.
"John, I'm so sor—"
"Sorry? Don't you dare say sorry to me!"
He cut me off, voice like a blade. He jabbed a finger at the scorched earth behind me and screamed in my face.
"Stella, are you out of your mind?!"
"Over an April Fools' prank, you actually burned down the house? I spent over four hundred thousand dollars building this place!"