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“I'm fine, Uncle.”
“I think your aunt would beg to differ. She's concerned about you.”
“I know. I really am fine, though.” Her attention was drawn to the wide wooden staircase as her aunt made her way down.
“I thought I heard your voice!”
“Hi, Aunt Dee.”
Just like her uncle had done, her aunt wrapped her in a warm hug. “How was the trip over? You must have been tossed about.”
Elizabeth nodded and smiled. “A little.”
“Where would you like to stay while you're here?” Dee asked. “At the house, or here?”
“I'd like to stay with you at the house, if that's okay. I don't want to ride out the storm here by myself.”
“Oh, I wouldn't have left you!” Dee said. “I was planning on staying with you. One of us needs to be here.”
“I'll stay. You ladies go back to the house.” Ed glanced at the clock. “It's almost four o'clock. We’ll be in the thick of it soon.”
“He's right, we should go,” Dee said. “I've got plenty of food, and plenty of wine. We'll have lots of time to chat.”
Elizabeth sighed. “I'd like that.”
“Go on, then,” Ed said. “Get back to the house and hunker down. I’ll take care of your bike.”
The women said goodbye and headed off to the Gardiner home, only a few miles from the inn.
“Thanks for letting me visit,” Elizabeth said as they rode in her aunt’s car.
“No need to thank me, Lizzy. You're always welcome. And I meant what I said—we'll have plenty of time to chat.”
“I know, but…can we not talk tonight? I just–I need to breathe a little.” She turned to look out the window as tears filled her eyes. “I feel like I haven't been able to breathe, Aunt Dee.”
Her aunt took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “We can do whatever you like.”
* * *
Elizabeth lay in bed,staring up at the ceiling. It was morning, but she had no idea what time it was. The small alarm clock on the nightstand was dark; the storm had blown through during the night, taking the power with it. Her phone was just across the room on the dresser, but she didn’t want to get up yet.
She and her aunt had stayed up until after eleven. There had been just the right amount of light conversation—mixed with just the right amount of wine—to keep her thoughts from straying into dangerous territory. Will never completely left her musings, but at least he hadn’t commanded her focus all night.
The wind had kept her awake for most of the night, and what little sleep she had was riddled with dreams. The last one had been a particularly vivid sex dream, and she woke up feeling slightly annoyed that it had ended so abruptly and was rapidly disappearing from her consciousness. She could remember little snippets of it and her body felt warm, as if Will had really been there, holding her close, kissing her neck, moving over her, inside of her. She closed her eyes and tried to coerce it back into her mind, but it had already fragmented and scattered, and she chastised herself for letting her thoughts wander down that road. But it was hard not to think about him in that way; she missed him.Allof him.
With a sigh, she made herself get out of bed and pulled a curtain aside to look out the window. She was unsurprised to see many downed tree limbs, some on top of electrical wires further down the street. She could already hear the buzz of chainsaws at work but knew it would be quite a while before power was restored. She wondered how her little beach house had fared and felt a twinge of anxiety, then thought of Will’s house, and Charles’s too, and hoped they’d had time to prepare for the storm.
She padded to the bathroom after checking her phone—it was only seven forty—and within a few minutes, was heading downstairs. She found her aunt sitting at the table, her hands wrapped around an empty mug.
“Good morning,” Elizabeth said quietly.
“Good morning, Lizzy. How did you sleep?”
Elizabeth joined her at the table. “Okay. The wind woke me a few times. How about you?”
“I slept fine. I'm waiting to hear from Ed.”
Elizabeth nodded toward the mug. “Are you trying to make the power come on quicker by holding onto that?”
