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“Yes.”
“Emergency supplies?”
“Yes.”
Kate rested her elbow on the table. “You have an answer for everything.”
“No. I have an answer for losing power in a storm.”
The lights went out. Kate stared at him across the suddenly dark kitchen.
Wes laughed. “All right. That was unfortunate timing.”
She laughed too.
A drawer opened, followed by the click of a flashlight. Within minutes Wes had two battery lamps out and was crouched in front of the fireplace in the living room. Kate carried the second lamp in and set it on the coffee table. The fire had already been laid.
She wouldn’t have expected anything less. Wes struck a match and touched it to the kindling. Flame caught quickly. Kate sat on the sofa and watched as he adjusted one of the smaller logs, then added another when the fire was burning properly.
She liked watching him do it. No performance. No need to prove anything. He simply knew how to make the house warm when the power went out.
Wes stood and looked at her. “What?”
Kate shook her head. “Come here.”
He did.
She curled into him as soon as he sat down, tucking her legs beneath herself and resting her head against his shoulder. Wes pulled a blanket over both of them.
The house felt different without electricity. Quieter inside. Louder outside. The fire cracked softly while rain struck the windows and wind moved through the orchard beyond them. Kate could feel Wes listening to it.
“You’re thinking about the trees.”
His hand moved slowly over her arm. “Yes.”
“Can you tell anything from the sound of the wind?”
“Not enough.”
That answer told her how frustrating tonight was for him. Wes was a man who noticed problems and did something about them. The storm had taken that away. There was nothing safe or useful he could do until morning.
Kate understood the urge more than she would have a week ago. She took his hand beneath the blanket and threaded their fingers together.
“We did what we could.”
“So did your parents.”
“I know.”
Wes looked down at her. “How are you feeling about going home?”
Kate knew what he meant. Her trip had always had an end date. Until recently that date had seemed fixed because everything on the other side of it was fixed too. Home. Penny’s preschool. Clients. The life she had built.
All of those things still existed. They simply no longer felt like an argument against everything she had found here.
Kate rested her cheek against his shoulder again. “I don’t want to decide anything else tonight.”
Wes’s fingers tightened around hers. “Then don’t.”
