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In the rearview, I could see Isaac studying me, his little body tense.
I couldn’t comfort him. Not in front of Hazel. And I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to tell him that we’d been found. Not yet.
He was too little for so much responsibility, so much worry. That was my place. I wasn’t going to force him to be in the position of growing up too fast. Not for things that he didn’t ask for, that were completely out of his control.
“Baked pasta!” Hazel said.
Baked ziti was always a favorite. But of course she would pick something that would need to be in the oven on the hottest day of the year.
Oh, well.
It was what she wanted.
So we popped into the grocery store a few towns over from Navesink Bank as I tried to play casual, act like I wasn’t looking over my shoulder, wasn’t expecting someone to jump out, grab us, and drag us back to hell.
With a trunk full of ingredients, I took the long, winding way home. The one that led through very quiet developments, so any kind of tail would have been painfully obvious.
Sure there was no one there, I pulled into our driveway, and shuffled everyone into the cottage, cranking up the air conditioning, and got to work on the tray of baked ziti while the kids distracted themselves with games on my tablet.
And you know what? I wasn’t going to feel guilty about using the electronic babysitter. Not with all the other crap I had to worry about.
I had just barely put the baked ziti in the oven when suddenly… everything cut off.
The lights, the oven, and worst of all, the air conditioning.
Luckily, with a charged tablet, the kids didn’t even notice right away. As I started to panic.
“Guys I’ll be right back, okay?” I called, going toward the door, and making my way outside, keeping the door opened as little as I could as the heat straight-up slapped me in the damn face as I moved onto the porch.
I was only halfway into the yard when I heard the drone of the neighbor’s air conditioner.
Weird.
So not a power outage, which wouldn’t be too unusual on such a hot day with an overpopulated grid.
I moved closer to Seth’s house, and heard his air droning on as well.
Damnit.
Just a cottage thing then.
And Seth was at work.
We would just… have to deal until he got home.
I mean, we went without air a lot. I couldn’t afford to pay extra for it.
It wasn’t long after I tucked the baked ziti in the fridge to hopefully keep, though, that even the kids started to shift around uncomfortably. My own dress was starting to stick to me as the sweat just beaded up on every damn inch of my body.
“It’s hot,” Hazel grumbled, resting her chin in her hands.
“I know, baby. The power isn’t working,” I explained, wondering if I should pack them in the car, and take them somewhere with A.C. The library, maybe. But Clara was so miserable these days that I didn’t think a quiet place was going to work out.
I think we lasted another hour after that before I was reaching for my phone, finding the number for the range, and calling it.
I mean, Seth was my landlord, technically. Issues like this were his jurisdiction.
“Hey, Seth?” I asked after he answered. “It’s Lana,” I added.
“Everything alright?” he asked, immediately sounding concerned. And, damnit, I didn’t need any more reasons to like this guy.
“Sorry to bother you at work—” I started.
“Honey, what is it?” he cut me off. Not impatient, just concerned.
“Well, it’s just that the power has been out at the cottage for a couple of hours, and…”
“I’ll be there in ten.”
“No! No, I wasn’t trying to make you leave work. I just was calling to see if there was a breaker or something that I could check…”
“Babe, I’ll be there in ten,” he said, then ended the call.
I put the phone onto the table and lowered my ass into one of the dining room chairs because, well, my stupid legs felt a little wobbly.
No one could blame me.
Who didn’t get a little weak-kneed at a guy who went into action mode when presented with a problem? It was probably some sort of evolutionary reaction or something like that. The woman and mother being drawn to the big, strong, capable, stupid handsome, really good with his mouth…
Okay.
Yeah.
Had to cut off that train of thought.
A little too late.
It had already barreled right off the damn tracks.
God, was it only this afternoon that he had me on the table in the range, legs spread, tongue and fingers creating magic?
It felt like a lifetime ago already.
“Seth’s here!” Isaac, my little Nosy Nellie with his face in the window, declared a couple of minutes later. “He’ll fix it,” he added with a definitive little nod, confident in the man’s ability.
