CHAPTER 6
“Hate to breakit to you, but I think I’m here for a while unless you want to go with me?”
“What—what do you mean?”
He just pointed out the window. “I can’t drive in that.”
Grace went to the window like she was going to see something different from closer. The wind had picked up immensely since they had brought in firewood. You couldn’t see their cars from the window anymore.
“Don’t worry. I won’t be a bother and will head out as soon as I can.” And take her with him, but he didn’t need to tell her that now.
“There’s only one bed.” Grace turned her wide eyes on him.
“It’s fine. I’ll take the couch.”
“You’re too big.” She looked around like there would be another bed tucked away or an answer other than that.
“I’ve slept in much worse. It’s really fine.”
Grace was still biting her lip, looking overly worried.
“Really.” He went to her, laying his hands on her arms. “I promise it’s fine. With any luck, the storm won’t last long and it’ll just be a night.”
She nodded. “Okay. Umm, I need to call Kristen.” Grace looked around the room. Her hands started to fiddle with the bottom of her shirt.
“It’s over there.” He went to the table, picked up her phone, and held it out for her. “Why don’t you do that, and I’ll see if I can make us some dinner?”
She frowned but took the phone and slipped into the only bedroom to call Kristen.
Caleb took his time looking through the pantry and fridge. There wasn’t much to choose from, but he wasn’t lying when he’d said he’d been in worse spots.
He carried a pan over to the woodstove and then his ingredients. The power was sure to go out up here, so he didn’t dare start dinner on the electric stove. Why the owner had decided to make it electric instead of gas made no sense to him.
Breakfast was the only real option to make. There was no other real food, and while he was always down for junk food, he was hungry, and that wasn’t all he wanted.
Bacon sizzled in the pan as he cleaned up from bringing in the firewood. There was a little bit of water that he cleaned up from the snow, and made sure their jackets were spread out a bit to dry.
“Kristen said it’s snowing there already, too.” Grace joined him again.
“I figured as much. It moved in a lot quicker than they said it would.” He went back to the stove and flipped the bacon slices. “Breakfast for dinner?”
“That was actually my plan, but I was going to use the other stove.”
“I don’t know how long the power will hold, so this seemed the best way to get it done all the way.”
She looked lost, like she didn’t know what to do. Standing there in the middle of the room, she just looked around, anywhere but at him.
“Can you see if there’s any emergency supplies like candles or flashlights?”
“Sure.” She sprang into motion, setting everything she found on the small table.
By the time he finished cooking and preparing the food, she had covered the table in things she’d found.
“Shoot,” she started moving things around when she realized she’d taken the whole thing, leaving them nowhere to eat.
“It’s fine.” He handed her a plate. “We’ll eat on the couch and then see what you pulled out and make sure it’s all handy in case we need it in the dark.”
“Okay, good. We can do that.” Her words were rushed as she sat on the couch.
