“Put these on,” he said. “It'll be hard enough sifting through everything, let alone in heels.”

I took the shoes in my hand, and then sat on the curb. Jared handed me a pair of socks, and I tugged those on, followed by the sneakers. He watched me in silence, a residual forced grin on his face. He wasn't looking forward to the aftermath anymore than I.

The drive seemed to take an eternity, yet it still wasn’t long enough for me to prepare. When Jared pulled to the curb, I stumbled from the Escalade, each side of my hair bunched in my fists. “Oh my God,” I whispered.

Jared milled about the charred remnants, bending down once in a while to inspect something not-quite destroyed.

“There’s a few boxes in the back,” Jared said. “Would you grab one?”

I took wide steps and hopped until I was clear of the debris, and then went to the Escalade, opening the back door. I brought back a large, cardboard box. There were two more, but it was overly optimistic to bother with them, we couldn’t fill up the first one. Silverware, a few brittle-edged pictures, and the monitor of my laptop were among partially intact documents, and a set of throwing knives. Yellow tape surrounded most of the carnage.

My hands turned black as I dug slowly, but surely through the black mess under our feet.

“What are you looking so ambitiously for?” Jared asked.

“I was hoping we’d find at least pieces of your journal, but I haven’t even seen the binding. Have you come across it?”

He smiled. “I keep it in the Escalade. It’s safe and sound.”

“Good,” I said, overwhelmed at the mountain of rubble.

“We should go. The Fire Marshall has already interviewed me twice. If anyone sees us poking around, it’s going to attract attention.”

“I guess.” I stood up from my squatted position, throwing down a charred piece of the frame that the last picture of my father was in.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Jared said. “I should have tried to get that out, too.”

“It’s not your fault. They did this to get a reaction, to see if we’d retaliate, or if it would cause dissension between us. The last thing I’m going to do is give them what they want. It’s just stuff.”

Jared walked over to me, tenderly wiping my face. “You’re covered in soot. Let’s go home.”

“That’s not home, Jared. This was home, and it's gone.” I was surprised at the tears that welled up in my eyes. Crying hadn't crossed my mind until that very moment.

“Maybe we should start looking for a place?” he smiled.

“So they can torch it again? No, thank you.”

Jared’s expression was pained. “It won’t happen again.”