“No. She lost that privilege, but you can send her a message. The storm is all over the news, and Warden sent out a message to everyone on the emergency system a few hours ago.” Greer lost boyfriend rights the moment she hugged Bram. Though it’s possible he still doesn’t know she’s cheating on him. I didn’t get a chance to tell him. It was an all-hands kind of thing to get the town prepared with this short notice.
Creed nods and climbs out of the truck.
“Make sure we have enough wood for the fireplaces. I’m going to go check the generator.” It’s had all its yearly maintenance done, so a quick check is all it needs.
“Will do, Dad. Can we pull out the snowmobiles after the storm and do some boarding?”
“Sounds good to me. We can do that right after we check to make sure the club and town don’t need our help.”
Creed nods.
***
“It’s coming down really hard out there.” Creed walks to the window. “It’s dropped to minus thirty. That’s way colder than they forecasted.”
It is. I had to turn the generator on a few hours ago when the power went out. It’s helping the fireplace keep our house nice and comfortable. The fireplaces alone would be enough to keep us from freezing, but it wouldn’t be comfortable anywhere but right in front of them. “Want some cocoa?”
“Sure. Greer’s lights are out.”
“The power is out.”
“Yeah, but if her generator was running like ours, wouldn’t they be on? She always keeps a few lights on, even at night.”
I walk over to where he’s standing. There isn’t any light coming out of her house. “She might not have as big a one as we do. It might only be enough to run her heat.”
“But didn’t the neighbor come and ask you what we have so he could buy the same?”
“Yes.” He did. We spent like three hours going over it then he showed me the one he got installed. “That’s odd.”
“There isn’t any smoke coming out of her fireplace.”
Does Greer even know how to start a fire? Did she have wood? I close my eyes and picture her living room. There was wood next to the fireplace.
Not a lot, though. “Maybe she left with her friends.”
“No, she said she was going to hunker down, and that she had everything she needed.”
A bad feeling spreads through the pit of my stomach. “Go get your winter gear on. We’ll go check on her.”
Blizzards and Buttons
Havoc
Creed pounds and pounds on the door after knocking got us no response.
“Are you sure she’s in there?”
“Her message said she was staying home. That was after it started snowing. I checked the security feeds and didn’t see a car go in or out.”
There isn’t a single sign of life visible from the door. She left the blinds open in the front window. The fireplace went out, probably hours ago. There wasn’t an ember left glowing. “We’re going to have to break in. Do you remember how to pick a lock?” I haven’t done it in years, but that isn’t a skill that you just forget.
“We don’t need to. She gave me the code that day the woman who shall not be named came. She said if I were ever scared or uncomfortable, I could hide in her house. Then she said something weird, like, look in the closet if I was terrified…Do you think that’s where she keeps her guns? They don’t do a lot of good in there.”
Greer doesn’t seem like a gun person.
But then, what person gives the code for their house to your son to protect him while dating one of your friends behind your back?
None of this makes sense. She would have come to the door by now if she could have. “Open the door.”
