Everyone was wearing rubber boots and gloves, and I had a plastic garbage bag over my cast, held secure with electrician’s tape. We all had rakes and shovels. We were going to look for the SALIGIA Stone.
“I’m so sorry about your shop,” I said to Nina, “but I’m glad you weren’t badly burned.”
“Just some small burns on my hands from when I tore my gown off,” Nina said. “I went home and put salve on them.”
I looked at the gutted, blackened building. “There’s not much left.”
“Good riddance,” Nina said. “I was over-insured. I’m going to rebuild something better. The truth is, this was a creaky, moldy old building. I’m going to put central air and a real pretty restroom in my new shop.”
“Are you going to comb through this for salvageable items?” I asked her.
We followed Nina and began picking through the rubble. We pushed charred jars and timbers away, and swept away ashes.
“I think I found something,” Glo said. “I think this is the metal clasp on your shoulder bag.”
We crowded around Glo, carefully pushed more ashes aside, and I was the first to see the little brown rock. I picked it up, and it hummed in my hand and gave off a brilliant blue aura.
“This is it,” I said.
Everyone cheered.
“I have an appointment at the hair salon,” Clara said. “I’m going to get the singed ends trimmed off.”
“And I have a date with the cute paramedic,” Glo said. “I think he might be the one.”
Diesel and I made our way back to his Aston Martin. He draped his arm across my shoulders and nuzzled my neck. “So what have we got here? Is this the True Love Stone or the Lust Stone?”
I slipped the stone into his jeans pocket. “There are some things a man should find out for himself.”
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