“Why?” is the only thing I can say. “Why?” I whisper again and again. He gets up and walks back up the steps, going to his room.

“I have to change, and then we can go,” he says, putting me down. My hands fall in my lap limp, my whole body is limp. He rushes to the closet, coming out dressed in jeans, when the buzzing starts again. Looking down, I see it’s Beau’s phone with Jacob’s name flashing across the screen. “Yeah,” he answers. “We’re leaving now.” He looks at me. “How bad?”

He doesn’t say anything else; he just puts his shoes on, then gets my shoes on, and I’m carried out to his truck. I don’t see anything, and I don’t register anything until he turns the corner, and the sight of orange flames fill the sky. I gasp, seeing that a fire truck is already on the scene, and the water is going. “Oh my God,” I say, watching the flames getting higher and higher. Beau stops the truck, and I get out. My hand holds the door as I take in the sound of wood crackling. I start to walk toward my bar when I’m pulled back by Beau.

“You can’t go too close,” he says, and I stand here hopeless, watching everything that I have ever worked for go up in flames. The sound of the windows breaking makes me jump a bit. “We need to find Jacob.”

“It’s gone.” My eyes fixate on the sight of the bar. I remember when I bought it; I thought I owned the world that day. I sat in my studio apartment, looking over the deed to the bar. There was nothing that you could have said to erase the smile on my face that day. I owned something. Something was finally mine, and I was going to show everybody that I could do this. I would make them eat their crow when I owned the most successful bar that ever was. It took blood, sweat, and tears, but I did it. There were more tears and sweat, but I did it. I put my bar on the map, and people would come from two counties over just to be at my bar on a Friday and Saturday night. I provided for my son and for myself, which is the only thing I ever wanted. “It’s gone.” I repeat when I see a part of the roof has collapsed. “It’s going to be all gone.”