Those four words have me sitting up in my bed. “Do you know how long it’s been out?”
I glance over at her, and she is bundled up more than she was yesterday morning. Is she wearing a hat?
“Nope. But I’m guessing a couple of hours.”
“You know you could have led with that instead of your phone being dead.” I reach over to my nightstand to grab my phone.
“Yours is also dead.” Her eyes are focused on anything but me.
“Why is that?”
I don’t have a problem with her being on my phone, but at least let me know.
“Because I was trying to watch a show in bed while mine was charging and I fell asleep.”
Now I can’t contact the electric company. If we’re having power issues, I’m sure everyone else is, too.
“Grab my keys and plug them up in the car.”
She nods and dashes to the front of the house. I throw my comforter off and the second my body meets the air, I shiver. No wonder she’s wearing so many layers. It’s freezing in here.
Hurrying over to my dresser, I grab a pair of sweatpants to slide over my yoga pants and the thickest pair of socks I own. Next is an oversized sweater. We definitely need to let the power company know we don’t have electricity.
As I step outside my bedroom, I close the door. I move along the rest of the house closing doors. It’s the only way we’ll be able to keep any sort of heat contained to one room. If I had the number of blankets my parents did, I would block off sections of the house.
“Um, we have a visitor.” Alexandra says as I make my way into the living room. Peter is standing next to her.
I do my best to cover the shock on my face, but also curse at my luck. Of course, he’d show up when I just roll out of bed. I comb my fingers through my hair, doing my best to tame it.
“W-what are you doing here?” I hate the way I stutter when he’s around. After all this time, this man should not have this effect on me.
He shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back and forth on his feet. “Your brother couldn’t get ahold of you. He asked me to check on y’all since he can’t leave the ranch.”
Figures. Miles worries way too much. I don’t miss the way Lexi slips out of the room. “Our phones died. But, as you can see, we are both alive and well.”
“Except you don’t have power.”
“How do you know that?” Sun streams in through the windows so it’s not like we would have the lights on in the first place.
“The smoke detectors are beeping.”
As soon as he says it, I hear the high-pitched sound. I’m surprised Alice isn’t losing her mind. It’s one of those loud noises she doesn’t like. Not that I blame her. It’s more annoying than anything else.
“Add water to the things that aren’t working.” Lexi comes back to the living room with an empty glass in her hand.
Peter doesn’t even wait for a response from me. He heads to the kitchen and I follow behind him. He turns the handle on the sink faucet, and sure enough…nothing comes out. I could have sworn I left it dripping last night.
He pushes the handle back into position and turns to face me. “You should probably pack a bag.”
“Why?”
“Because you and Alexander are coming to stay with me.”
Teenage me would have jumped at this. Not now, though. I’m older, wiser, and capable of thinking about things other than how this man used to make me feel.
“No. We’re. Not.” I refuse to let him dictate what I’m going to do in my own house. “We have Alice to think about, and we’ll be fine here. This weather shouldn’t last too much longer.”
“Alice can come, too. I’m not going to let the pup freeze in this house on her own.” A flash of hurt crosses his face at the insinuation he wouldn’t let her come.
