Page 39 of A Winter Thaw

“Hello?” A man’s voice called. “Is anybody here?”

Michelle wanted to cry. She’d finally—finally!—just finished all the work for the hotel, and then the power went out. And now some random stranger had walked in, hoping to reserve a room at the absolutely most inconvenient time!

“I—I’m here,” she said. “But I’m sorry, we have no rooms available.” She let out a dry laugh. “Also there’s no electricity at the moment, so I doubt you’d find our establishment particularly comfortable.”

The man shut the door behind himself and started to laugh. “Michelle, it’s me,” he said, and she finally recognized the voice as Theo’s. “I can see you don’t have any power. I came inside to see if I could help.”

“Oh.” She felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her and incredibly relieved at the same time. “Thanks, Theo. I’m grateful, really.” She wondered if she was blushing, and for a moment, she was glad the house was so dark. “Can you help me locate all the flashlights and candles? I know some of them are in the linen closet. Then we can pass flashlights out to guests and light candles in the hallway.”

“Perfect,” Theo said, following her as she switched on her flashlight and made her way to the linen closet. “I’ll pass out the flashlights, you light all the candles. That way if anyone is grumpy, my dazzling personality will help soothe their irritation.”

Michelle laughed, feeling another rush of relief and gratitude. The truth was that she had been nervous to speak with the guests under the circumstances because someone might be upset, and Theo’s offer meant more to her than he knew. “I love that plan,” she said, lifting a box of miniature flashlights down from the top shelf. “Here. Go ahead and pass these out and I’ll light candles.”

“Aye aye, Captain.” Theo took the box of flashlights and set off down the hallway, whistling.

Michelle watched him go for a moment. Thank goodness he’s here, she thought. Now instead of freaking out by myself, I have someone helping me.

She grabbed a lighter from the kitchen as well as a few tealights, which she slipped inside mason jars. She wandered around the hallways, slipping the tealights into the mason jars and lighting them. She hummed a little as she worked, thinking to herself that everything was so much easier with a teammate.

She lit candles in the upstairs hallway, the downstairs hallway, and in the downstairs bathroom off the front hall. She made her way into the parlor, feeling that it was time to light a fire in the fireplace so that everyone could have a little warmth to gather around as the house became colder.

As she stepped into the parlor, she was surprised to find that it was filled with guests. A fire had already been lit in the fireplace, and it was crackling merrily, letting off a soothing, smoky aroma. Christmas music was playing softly, and she saw that a cordless Bluetooth speaker was resting on the mantlepiece, letting off a pleasant glow of changing neon colors.

Her mouth popped open in surprise. Do we have elves or something? she thought. How on earth…?

Of course. Theo.

He was sitting in the middle of the group, telling an outrageous joke about reindeer going to a football game that she’d heard him tell before. The guests were giving him their undivided attention, and Michelle paused to just soak in the sight for a moment.

Who knew Theo would turn out to be such a guardian angel for her? Not only had he shown up right when she’d needed help multiple times, and he was great at giving help, and now here he was, already making the guests feel more comfortable.

“Hey, Michelle.” Theo grinned at her and waved. “I thought we could roast some marshmallows. I got out the bag, but I didn’t know where the sticks were. Do you keep anything like that here in the winter?”

Michelle grinned back at him. Theo was proving to be a very clever ally in the situation at hand. “We do, actually. They’re in one of the kitchen drawers. I’ll go get them.”

She hurried off into the kitchen, using her phone flashlight to guide her way. As she gathered a handful of roasting sticks from one of the drawers, she kept shaking her head and smiling. She felt suddenly giddy, despite the fact that they were still in the middle of a pickle that might not be resolved before it turned truly problematic.

She handed out roasting sticks to the guests, and children and adults alike excitedly speared marshmallows with them. Michelle was just sitting down in the corner, breathing a sigh of relief, when she heard a whining in the distance.

Puddle, she thought, standing up again. Either she’s scared or she needs to be let out. It’s probably that she needs to go outside. I don’t think she’d be afraid of the dark, since the hotel is dark at night while she sleeps.

“Everything all right?” Theo asked her as she headed toward the doorway.

She paused, surprised he’d even noticed her moving through the dimly lit room. “I heard Puddle whining,” she explained. “I think I should take her out.”

“I’ll come with you,” Theo said. “The steps are a little icy and I don’t want you to slip in the dark.”

Michelle’s eyebrows lifted, and she almost pointed out that she was capable of holding a flashlight for herself, but she realized that she didn’t want to turn down Theo’s offer. She appreciated how gallant he was being. “Um, sure, okay.”

She made her way down the hallway toward Puddle’s closet, and Theo followed her, carrying his flashlight aloft. Puddle was whining more frantically now, and Michelle wanted to hurry in case the puppy was in danger of having an accident.

“Come on, buddy, let’s go outside,” she said, opening the gate. Puddle raced out, her claws making skittering sounds as she dashed into the kitchen.

“I guess it’s an emergency,” Theo said, laughing.

Michelle and Theo hurried after Puddle, who was wriggling in front of the side door, clearly eager to get out. Michelle tugged open the door and slipped outside, letting the little dog tear down the steps. Theo followed her and she shut the door quickly behind them, wanting to preserve the heat that was still in the house.

It only took her a few seconds to regret not grabbing her coat on the way. It was frigid outside, and even though she was wearing a thick sweater, she began to shiver violently almost immediately.