Page 58 of Stuck with the Hero Next Door

“Definitely an improvement.”

Monday morning dawned clear and brilliant, the type of winter day that made you understand why people wrote poetry about snow. The storm had finally moved on, leaving behind a world transformed into something magical and pristine.

“Road crews have been out since dawn,” Levi said, checking his phone over breakfast. Waffles this time. “Main roads should be clear by this afternoon.”

I felt a little pang at that—not because I didn’t want to get back to town, but because leaving this warm house and Levi’s constant presence felt like stepping back into uncertainty. Here, with him, everything felt simple and right, even with my destroyed cottage just a few hundred yards away.

“You okay?”

“Just thinking about everything I need to do. Call my insurance company, figure out what can be salvaged from the cottage, find somewhere to live...”

“One thing at a time,” he said gently. “And you don’t have to do any of it alone.”

There it was again—that quiet certainty that made me believe everything really would be okay. I reached across the table and took his hand, marveling at how perfectly mine fit against his palm.

“I know. Thank you. For everything. For taking care of me, for sharing your space, for not making me feel like an imposition.”

“You could never be an imposition, Cassie.”

By noon, the road to town was clear enough for Levi’s truck. We loaded up my few remaining possessions—Levi had dug out what he could from my splintered closet and dresser after climbing in through my shattered bedroom window. It took Levi quite a while to find the bag I’d dropped in the snow. It had somehow survived three days of blizzard mostly intact because it was guarded from the storm by the big fallen tree. Anything else would have to wait until someone cleared the fallen tree off the remains of Bob’s poor cottage.

The drive into town was like touring a winter wonderland. The storm had transformed Everwood into something from a Christmas card—every tree branch outlined in white, snow drifted in perfect curves against buildings, icicles hanging like crystal decorations from every roof edge. It was breathtakingly beautiful, which seemed almost unfair given that the same storm destroyed my home.

But as we turned onto Main Street, I felt that familiar flutter of belonging. This was my town now, my community. The storm had been devastating, but it had also shown me something important: I wasn’t facing any of this alone.

The Everwood Inn looked exactly the same as always, warm and welcoming with smoke rising from the chimney and Janet’s flower boxes now buried under artful drifts of snow. Janet herself appeared on the front porch before we’d even come to a complete stop, bundled in a coat that made her look like a friendly bear.

“Cassie!” she called, hurrying down the steps as carefully as the icy conditions allowed. “Oh, honey, I’ve been so worried!”

She wrapped me in a gentle hug that smelled like cinnamon and wool, and I felt tears prick my eyes. I’d been holding myself together pretty well for three days, but something about Janet’s fierce, sisterly affection made all the emotions I’d been suppressing threaten to spill over.

“I’m okay. Levi took good care of me.”

She pulled back to look at me, her hands still gripping my shoulders. “Of course he did. But are you really okay? The whole town heard about the tree, about your cottage...”

“Bruised but functional. And very grateful to have somewhere to stay while I figure things out.”

“Your room’s exactly as you left it,” she said firmly. “And it’ll stay that way as long as you need it. No discussion.”

I was getting settled back into my familiar room at the inn when I heard voices in the lobby below—multiple voices, including some that sounded distinctly young and excited. I made my way downstairs to investigate and stopped short at the scene in Janet’s front parlor.

It seemed like every one of my science students was there, along with what looked like half the town. They’d pushed the furniture back to make room, much to Janet’s dismay, for a collection of boxes, bags, and containers that covered most of the available floor space.

“Don’t move it back too far,” her OCD flared a little, but softened when she saw me at the top of the stairs.

“Surprise!” Emma Martin called out when she saw me, her face bright with excitement.

“We brought you stuff!” Marcus added with reserve. “Mom said you lost all your things in the storm.”

I looked around the room in amazement. There were boxes labeled: “Kitchen Stuff,” “Warm Clothes” and “Books.” Alicia Hendricks brought her “I Accidentally Created Fire in the Lab—Now I Understand Early Humans” essay and was holding what appeared to be a brand-new coffeepot, still in its box. Mr. Garrett was arranging a collection of basic tools on the coffee table. Even Mrs. Henderson was there, leaning on her walker and beaming at me with satisfaction.

“What is all this?”

“Emergency supply drive,” said Kathy, appearing from behind a stack of boxes with her arms full of school supplies. “Janet put the word out yesterday that you were safe but had lost most of your belongings. The whole town mobilized.”

“We got you a new coffee maker!” Alicia announced proudly. “And mugs! And everything you need to make coffee!”

“And books.” Tyler was pointing to a box that was clearly heavy with paperbacks. “Ms. Baldwin donated a whole bunch from the library’s community collection.”