Life's Not Fair

Chapter 14

Aurelia's POV

I'm the first off the plane once it lands and hurry to my car. I throw my suitcase in the backseat and get in the driver's side then call Leila.

"Please tell me you have Toni!"

"Yeah, he's at my house. Where are you?"

"Driving, I can be there in fifteen minutes," I tell her.

"Be careful, you won't be any help if you're dead."

"Thanks, Leila. Really helpful."

"I was just making sure you are careful," she exclaims. I ignore her and continue driving through Barcelona. I finally make it to her house and have hardly parked the car before I'm rushing to the door.

"Ari!"

"Toni! Oh, thank God. Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you? Do you have any burns?" I hug him tightly and then hold him at arm's length to examine him.

"I'm okay, no one got hurt. Just glad you're here."

"Where is Leila?"

"I'm here, Lia." I hug her as well and sigh.

"Thank you so much, thank you so much."

"Lia, of course. I'm glad I was there."

"Can we go?"

"To the house?" She asks.

"Yeah, I want to see it."

"I want to go too!" Toni says.

"Alright, let's go. I'll drive." We pull up to the house and Leila parks on the street.

"Damn," I mutter.

"Yeah." We get out of the car and I walk up the path to the house. The exterior of the house is almost entirely burned and there is glass on the ground. I step around the glass as best I can and into the house. There are a few pictures still on the wall and others have their frames broken and are laying on the floor.

Most of the furniture is beyond saving and the walls are covered in ash and soot. I sigh and continue to make my way through the remains of the house to find what can be saved.

"At least this didn't get burned!" I hold up the old family cookbook that had been in the family for ages.

"Is that the top-secret Vidal cookbook?" Leila gasps.

"Yep! I should probably put some of it in the computer but there are too many recipes and this is more authentic anyway."

"Maybe get a fireproof safe so it doesn't get burned," she advises.

"Not funny, nor helpful."

"Hey! I found Papa's old watch!" Toni yells.

"You have stuff from your parents?" Leila asks.

"Yeah, I didn't want to completely get rid of them, and some things have been in the family for a while," I explain.

"Oh, so it's like the book?"

"Yeah," I pause. "How did the fire even start?"

"No idea, no one was cooking or anything. It just started."

"Weird. We should probably get out of here soon, someone could get hurt," I say before going up to my room. I take a suitcase from the closet and begin filling it with the essentials I need before we get the rest of the things when we get a new house.

"Ready to go?" Toni asks.

"Yep, be careful walking down the stairs, I don't know how sturdy they are," I warn him. He ignores me and takes them two at a time then joins Leila on the porch outside.

"Just so we're clear," Leila starts. "You're staying with me until you find a new house."

"Are you sure? We could stay at a hotel or something," I say.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now let's go! And I want to hear all about your hours in Portland!"

Caitlin's POV

Hayley wakes up a few hours after Aurelia leaves.

"Glad you're awake Raz," Ellie says.

"Yeah, my back hurts."

"I'll go see if we can get you some more pain medicine," she says. Ellie leaves the room and Hayley turns to me.

"Was Lia here?" She asks.

"Aurelia had to go but she said she would try and call."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, why?"

"I thought it was a dream."

"Linds took a picture," I show her the photo of them sleeping on my phone, grateful Lindsey thought to take it. "See? She was here."

"Why did she go?"

"Something happened in Spain and she had to go."

"Can we call her?"

"Sure, I'm guessing you have her phone number?" I ask.

"Yes. But it's not her name, Carina."

"Okay, I'll call her." The call goes straight to voicemail three times before I put the phone down. "Straight to voicemail, her phone probably died, I don't think she had enough time to charge her phone between all the flights."

"Okay, can you tell me if she calls?"

"Of course!