Julia nodded toward the hall. “In the closet.”
“I should probably call the homeowner and let him know what’s going on as a courtesy. Even if I just leave a message,” Sienna said, digging in her handbag.
While Sienna dialed the owner’s number, Winston took Emily’s hand and led her and Blair down the short hallway to his room.
“Somebody can sleep here.” He motioned under the wood-covered window, where a twin bed with a dinosaur comforter and shams was nestled between two green toy chests.
Patrick walked in, his arms full with two deflated mattresses, pillows, blankets, sheets, and an air pump. “We’d better get these blown up while we still have power. We’re bound to lose it if this thing turns into a hurricane.” He tossed the sheets over on the bed and dropped the mattresses. Then he picked up Winston’s art table, folding the legs in and leaning it against the wall.
Winston stepped aside and stood next to a bookshelf filled with an assortment of Lego sets, puzzles, books, and action figures. He tugged on the heavy, folded air mattresses to help his uncle. Emily leaned in to assist him, grabbed a side of one of themattresses, and handed the edge to Blair while Patrick plugged the air pump into the outlet.
“I put all our suitcases at the end of the hallway for now,” Sienna said when she walked in.
Blair dropped the air mattress into place and put her hands on her hips. “You shouldn’t be lifting anything.”
Sienna tutted. “I’m fine. I rolled them most of the way.”
Patrick inserted the air pump, and with a loud, mechanical whine, one of the mattresses began to fill with air.
Julia called Winston from the other room.
“Yeah?” the little boy called back.
“Breakfast!”
The boy ran down the hallway.
As the women stood idly, Blair tapped Sienna and said over the noise, “We need to call Tyson and Rocko and let them know what’s going on, too, so they don’t try to make the trip down here tomorrow until we have more information about the roads. We can always delay their coming and stay a few days extra if it works for everyone’s schedule.”
“Yeah.” Sienna leaned over to Emily. “We’ll be back.” Then she and Blair left for a quieter spot to make their calls.
After Patrick capped the second air mattress, he unplugged the pump. Emily divided the sheet sets onto each of the beds.
“I’ll make sure you have some flashlights tonight. You might need them,” he said.
She nodded and then fluffed out one of the fitted sheets. Patrick grabbed the other end and they wrapped it around the corners of the air mattress. Emily shook out the flat sheet and laid it neatly across the makeshift bed before adding a quilt on top and arranging the pillow at one end. They repeated the process with the second mattress, soundlessly moving in unison. Once the air mattresses were done, they changed Winston’s dinosaur sheets to a set with satin trim.
Patrick’s quiet behavior no longer seemed standoffish now that she knew a little of his story. The distance in his eyes was riddled with loss, and she couldn’t unsee it.
She dropped the last pillow onto the bed. They stood together and surveyed her new sleeping quarters. A crack of thunder went off like a cannon, but Patrick didn’t flinch this time. Instead, he offered her a half smile.
“The coffee pot’s full, and Julia baked a sausage casserole, and cinnamon rolls, if you’re hungry.”
Only then did she realize that she was. “That sounds delicious.”
He nodded toward the door.
In the living room, the weather forecast was chirping on the television. A newscaster stood in the downpour, his raincoat tightly bundled around him, the hood cinched around his wet face as he braced himself against the wind, chattering on about the current conditions. Sienna waved from the sofa, the phone to her ear. Blair was at a foldout desk in the back corner of the room, talking to Rocko.
Patrick led Emily through to the kitchen, with a round table at one end and an L-shaped row of counter and cabinets at the other. Julia brought the breakfast casserole to the table with a pair of plaid oven mitts and set it on a trivet next to a windup radio. Patrick pulled out a chair for Emily, and she sat down.
“Dig in, y’all. No formalities in my house. Eat when you’re hungry.” Julia returned with a stack of plates and some cutlery. “Winston, get some sausage and eggs into ya. You need some protein or you’re gonna be climbing the walls with all that sugar.”
Winston was already chowing down on a cinnamon roll. He took a drink of milk from his glass, leaving a ring of white above his lip as he grabbed the serving spoon and lobbed a lump of casserole onto his plate.
Patrick went to the cabinet and retrieved two mugs. He was barefoot, and that tattoo on his round bicep peeked out from under his sleeve when he closed the cabinet door. His back was to Emily as he filled the mugs with coffee, and she struggled to take her eyes off his broad shoulders and the lean taper down to his waist. He turned around, and she quickly studied the casserole as he set a mug in front of her.
“Thank you.”
