Nope. She couldn’t do it. She tossed the slice back into the box.
Lightning flashed and thunder immediately boomed outside, making her jump, and the lights flickered.
Chill out, Aspen. It’s just a storm.
The words had only just whispered in her head when everything went dark. The lights. The TV.
Looked like she wasn’t watching that movie tonight.
Blindly, she reached for her phone on the coffee table and turned on the flashlight. When she could finally see, her gaze shifted to the front door. She could check the power box, but that would involve going outside into the rain in the middle of a storm.
No, thank you.
She checked the time. Eight thirty. Technically too early for bed. Well, actually, there was no technically about it. Itwasfar too early…for her, anyway. Maybe she could do some writing before she slept. She’d been on a roll lately, which was good because, boy, did she have some catching up to do.
Pointing the flashlight in front of her, she put the pizza in the fridge and went to her room.
She opened her laptop and pressed the power key. Then her fingers started moving. Sometimes it was like this. She’d often thought of it as magic. Her mind just took over and a story moved from her head to paper, a bit like a movie.
Sometimes she wondered where the story ideas came from. Sometimes she wondered if it was from developing a really good imagination as a kid, kind of like a form of escapism from a mother who’d been mentally unwell.
But other times she wondered if it was just the romantic in her trying to create a happy ever after for everyone.
She got about an hour of work in before the battery died.
Great.
Maybe this was the universe telling her she needed an early night tonight.
She changed into her pajamas and slid into bed. Closing her eyes, she tried to sleep, but the sound of the rain pounding against the windows was loud.
She grabbed a pillow and pressed it over her head.
Nope. That didn’t help.
She was just taking it off her face when her eyes caught on the window. She hadn’t closed the curtains, and right there, on the other side of the glass, was the outline of a person.
“You still pissed at me?”
Jesse shot a glance at Luke before turning back to the road. “No.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you still feel like shit about what you did.”
“Hm. Nope. That’s not it. I think it’s the scowl on your face.”
He turned right, the rain making it hard to see the road in front of the car. “I’m scowling because I don’t like Aspen being home by herself in this storm.” And it was just getting worse by the minute. At least he could go home after this callout.
“Ah, I see.”
Jesse frowned. “What do you see?”
“You want to be cuddling your cute roommate on the couch while listening to the rain outside. Romantic.”
“Don’t call her cute.” It sounded wrong coming from him.
“Sexy?”
