“Iam!” he declares proudly, his voice a small burst of sunshine.
The corner of Dean’s mouth curves into a grin.
“Hell yeah, little man. Put it right there,” he says, lifting a fist toward him.
Eli’s face lights up, eyes wide with delight.
“Like this?” he asks, holding up his tiny fist, tentative at first.
Dean nods. “Exactly like that.”
Eli’s grin widens, a gap showing where one of his front teeth is missing.
He presses his small hand forward until his knuckles meet Dean’s much larger ones with a softtap.
Just as their fists connect, the entire building is swallowed in darkness.
9
DEAN
The hum of the heater cutting out is the first thing I notice, a sudden silence that feels louder than the tension budding between Cal and Noelle.
Then the Christmas tune, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” sputters mid-note and dies, leaving the shop swallowed in darkness quickly after.
“Whoa,” I mumble, blinking hard as my eyes struggle to adjust. “That’s…not good.”
For a moment, there’s nothing but the muffled howl of wind pressing against the front windows and the faint crackle of wet snow pelting the door.
Eli lets out a startled little gasp, his head swiveling toward the ceiling. “Hey! What happened?”
“It’s okay, baby,” Noelle says quickly, her voice carrying that gentle calm to soothe him, but it’s still edged with tension that betrays her.
She sets the box down on the counter, her movements rushed as she reaches for him to pull him close. “It’s probably just the storm. Power lines go out all the time this time of year.”
Her words are meant to comfort him, but I can see the flicker of unease in her eyes even in the dim light.
The shop feels smaller now as the shadows stretch across the walls.
The glow from the front windows is the only thing keeping us from being completely swallowed by blackness.
The faint blue-gray light filtering through the snowfall outside paints her face in silver, accentuating the worry lines etched across her brow.
Eli leans into her side, his voice small now. “Are we stuck forever?”
Noelle softens instantly, crouching a little to meet his gaze. “No, sweetheart. We’re fine. Just a little power outage, that’s all. Everything should come back on soon.”
Her tone is steady now, calm enough that even I seem to relax a fraction. But I can tell it’s for Eli’s sake more than her own. Her hand doesn’t stop moving through his hair, her thumb tracing small, soothing circles at the base of his neck.
I fish out my phone, switching on the flashlight and sweeping the narrow beam across the counter.
The narrow beam slices through the dark, illuminating motes of glitter dust and the shimmer of tinsel on a nearby display. I angle it toward the storage room. “You got any candles or lanterns back there?”
Noelle nods. “Yeah. Storage closet. I’ll grab them.”
I shakes my head, already moving. “Stay. I’ve got it. I know you’ve got this place organized down to the dust bunnies.”
The faintest hint of a smile ghosts across her lips, there and gone in a heartbeat. “They’re on the shelf right behind the door, third one up from the bottom. In a cardboard box that has a label on it. Can’t miss it.”
