Roof safety first.Dick riding second.
“What’s so funny?”she asks me, her voice muffled under the face mask.
“I’m going to have to tie you up.”
Her eyes flash.“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.A rope around your waist that tethers you down.I don’t want you to blow away.”I lean in and lower my balaclava to hers, giving her a kiss through two layers of tightly knit merino wool.
She chuckles.
I hand her the lantern.I hope the battery can last a bit longer, since my solar charger can’t work without the solar bit.“Ready, Phoebe?”
“Ready.”
CHAPTER 39
Phoebe
He seems to be guiding me somewhere in particular, but I’m not sure where.I don’t know what I’m supposed to be seeing.Not that I can see much of anything through the curtain of blowing snow and ink-black darkness.
“I’ve started on an emergency shelter!”He points, shouting over the howl of the wind.
He snaps a nylon rope around my waist and then reaches behind him to a huge lump of snow and ice.He brushes off about a foot of snow with his glove and finds a tie-down ring on the front of his ATV, attaching the line with a carabiner.
The beam of his headlamp strikes a scooped-out indentation in the snow.I’m still confused.
“But that’s not going to happen, right?”I yell.“Because you’ve been clearing off the roof!”
“Shit happens—I’d rather not be caught completely by surprise!”
I shake my head.
“Just keep shoveling out the inside—try to keep the floor as level as possible!”
A flash of fear goes through me, and I raise my eyes to his.
“I’m overly cautious—only planning for every contingency!”
I think I’m supposed to find that reassuring, but I don’t.Evander is the most practical man I’ve ever known.If he thinks we need to dig a hole in the snow “just in case,” then there’s a darn good reason for it.
I suck it up and nod.I wanted to contribute, and this is what he needs.So this is what I’ll do.
“I’ll be on the roof!”He points toward the shack.“Do not leave this spot.Promise me!”
I nod again.
He uses a smaller carabiner to clip the lantern to the rope around my waist.“I’ll be back to check on you in thirty minutes.Will you be okay for that long?”
“Yes!Go!”
He leans down and touches his wool beanie to my parka hood and squeezes my upper arm.I get one flash of those violet eyes, and he turns to go.I watch him walk away, his form disappearing into the night as if he’s been vacuumed up.
Gone.
And all of a sudden, I’m standing here in the darkness, alone.A stinging snow swirls around me and icy winds scream.
A shiver goes up my spine.My stomach drops.
