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“I’d better not. The wind’s already picking up outside, and I want to get home before that cold front hits.”
Iris looked at the large windows behind her. “Oh, it is getting dark out there, isn’t it? You go on, then, and batten down the hatches for you and Hazel before the storm.”
“It’s just me this weekend. Hazel’s with her dad and Genna. They’re working on the new nursery.” Maybe the more she said it out loud, the better she’d feel about it. But that hadn’t worked yet.
Iris’s blue eyes narrowed in concern. “And how do you and Hazel feel about a new baby? And a wedding, too, right?”
Zoey blew out a sigh. Iris had been a part of her life for as long as Vickie had been. And Iris was evenlesslikely to accept a bullshit answer.
“It is what it is. I’m trying to stay upbeat for Hazel’s sake, and...” She lifted a shoulder. “It’s not like I don’twant Chris to be happy. He and I areover-over. Genna’s been nice to Hazel. And a baby is, well...it’s ababy. I can’t resent them for having a baby.”
“Sure you can,” Iris scoffed. “You can feel any way you want to. But don’t you think it would be easier to handle if you were building a fresh start of your own with someone? Are you sure that nice sales guy, Mason, didn’t raise any sparks?”
“Not a single one,” she answered. Although he’d noticed the sparks between her and Mike. “Besides, I’ve got my hands full with the house and Hazel. A man in my life is the lastthing I need right now. And it’s theverylast thing Hazel needs. She has enough new people entering her life.” She gave Iris a reassuring smile. “When the time’s right, I’ll put myself out there again. When Hazel’s ready.” She reached up to brush her hair behind her ear and winced, forgetting about the wrist she’d strained last night.
Iris, who never missed anything, reached out and took Zoey’s forearm. “Your wrist is swollen. What happened?”
“It’s nothing. I’m painting the ceiling in Hazel’s room and I missed the last rung on the stepladder last night.” The moment when she’d stepped back into nothing but air had been scary. But she was only a foot above the floor, so the fall wasn’t bad. She’d tried to break her tumble with her hand and her wrist had paid the price. She saw the worry in Iris’s eyes. “I’mfine. I’ll put ice on it later.”
She headed out to the truck and spotted Iris’s grandson, Logan, and his wife, Piper, bringing in the tables and chairs from the inn’s wide, wraparound porch. They ran the Taggart Inn now. Zoey maintained their commercial kitchen appliances and they’d become friends. Piper’s son, Ethan, was in high school. Her daughter, Lily, was seven, and she was...helpingher mom and stepdad with the furniture storage right now. But mostly, she was getting in the way, which Logan pointed out several times. Lily spotted Zoey and ran out to greet her in the parking lot.
Logan, for all of his grumbling about Lily being more hindrance than help, immediately noticed her absence and looked for her.
“Hey, Zoey!” He put down the stack of chairs he was carrying and came down off the porch. “Gran told me her old vacuum was acting up. Is it time for a new one?”
“Nope.” Zoey had lifted Lily for a hug, and the little blonde was wrapped around her like Velcro. She remembered when Hazel used to be this small...and this affectionate. “Oof... Lily, you’re gonna be too big for hugs before long. At least hugs where I have to pick you up!” Logan plucked Lily from Zoey’s arms and propped her on his hip. Well over six feet tall and built like a mountain, he had no problem holding the girl. Zoey laughed. “Well,you’llbe able to carry her around for quite a while longer. Your grandmother vacuumed up one of the cat’s toys and clogged it, that’s all.”
“Silly Mr. Whiskers!” Lily giggled. “I wonder if it was the catnip toy I gave him last week?” She squirmed and Logan set her down so she could go help her mom on the porch. Piper gave a wave to Zoey and a pointed look to Logan, tapping her watch. Logan nodded, then turned back to Zoey.
“Every weather report I hear makes this storm sound worse. I can’t decide if they’re overreacting or if it really is going to be that wild. They’re talking about hurricane-strength straight-line winds tonight.” He nodded toward the stacks of tables and chairs on the porch. “We figured better safe than sorry.”
Zoey thought about the lawn chairs and grill out on the back patio at the house. “I’ll let you get back to it. I need to bring in a few things myself.”
“You need help?”
Zoey opened the truck door. “Nope. I’m fine.” The answer was automatic. As her friends liked to point out, she wasn’t great at accepting help. “Just a few things to put in the barn, then close it up tight and hunker down in the house. I’m painting Hazel’s bedroom this weekend while she’s at her dad’s. I hope to get a second coat on the ceiling today. It’s one of those projects that’s easier to do alone. You know how it is.”
“Yup,” Logan answered. “Kinda like moving porch furniturewithoutthe help of a seven-year-old. Still...don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”
The northern sky grew steadily darker as she drove home. Her phone lit up with alerts from the weather app, but the worst of it wasn’t supposed to hit until the overnight hours. The rain racing in now was supposed to be brief, leading the system in advance of the primary storm front. She carried the lighter chairs into the barn and slid the heavy Adirondack chairs close to the side of the house. She stared at the grill, trying to decide what would be safest. Next to the house seemed like a bad idea, so she wheeled it across the driveway and inside the barn.
By the time she had everything secured and was headed into the house, there was thunder rumbling in the distance. She warmed up a frozen dinner in the microwave. Cooking for one was often more effort than it was worth. Once she’d eaten, she headed upstairs to attack Hazel’s ceiling.
It was very definitely black after two coats. But it was notsparkly yet. She read the instructions on the packages of glitter paint additive. She’d watched half a dozen online videos on how to use the stuff successfully, but she was still nervous. She stirred two packages of silver glitter into a gallon of black paint. Hazel said she wanted itreally sparkly. Zoey added twomorepackages, then stirred until the glitter seemed to vanish into the paint. All the instructions said it would reappear as it was applied, and would sparkle once the paint was dry.
It took two hours to finish the ceiling. The extra-thick paint and glitter mixture made the roller heavier than usual, and her wrist was beginning to throb. She was just finishing up the last corner when her phone buzzed and made a weird alarm sound. It was the weather app. That couldn’t be good.
The predicted storms were now turning into some sort of mega system that was creating both tornadoes and derecho winds—straight-line winds up to 100 mph in spots. Power was out for tens of thousands in Buffalo and now Rochester. And it was due to sweep through the Finger Lakes in the next half hour.
She ran through a mental checklist as she washed up the paintbrushes and roller in the basement utility sink. Patio furniture? In the barn. Grill? In the barn. Hanging flower baskets on the front porch? She’d taken them down and grouped them together next to the house. Her car and work truck? In the barn. Dad’s sculptures were on their own, but most were bolted on cement bases. Other than that, she just had to worry about the house and barn themselves, and there wasn’t much she could do about that but pray.
Both structures were well over a hundred years old. Her dad hadn’t been much for paint and frills, but he was a fixer, and he’d been proud of the sturdy old family homestead. He’d replaced the roof on the house not that long before he died, so that should hold. Unless they got a literal tornado... But this was Upstate New York, not Kansas. That seemed unlikely.
There were two large maple trees in front of the house, and a tall, ailing ash tree near the driveway. There was nothing she could do about them, either. She decided against cowering down here in the dark, low-ceilinged basement for the next two hours. If a serious warning came across her phone, it would only take her a minute to dash down the stairs to safety from the kitchen.
Thunder was rumbling when she got upstairs, and it sounded more ominous than usual. It was just boomboomboomboom without stopping. She’d never been afraid of storms, but this sounded bad. She was glad Hazel was with Chris and his new house with a built-in generator. They’d all be fine.
Dad taught her to appreciate the power of nature, so she stepped outside the back door to watch the light show in the northwest sky. She could easily dash inside when it got too close. The crunch of tires behind her made her spin in surprise.Mike?He hadn’t texted that he was coming over. Had he not heard the forecast?
