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“You too.”Awkward, but nice.Madison’s guilt at not having returned for her friend’s funeral was equally troubling and had surfaced when she recognized Caleb. She should never have put her fashion career first, especially given that Julia, the owner of J’Taime Fashions had promised her the moon, only to under-deliver. And it had been Julia who threatened firing her if she left to come home after Lauren died.
Madison had been nothing more than a glorified gopher assistant who ran errands and reconciled the financial statements since Julia was a highly private woman and trusted her. But in five years, her boss never reviewed her designs with more than a cursory scan, dismissing them out of hand. It was also the reason Madison finally had the gumption to up and quit. Having returned to Dover to regroup, she was living with her mother and hoping to find a new job to use her design skills more effectively.
“Bye, Madison,” Joelle said, waving.
“Bye, sweetie.” The little girl was cute as a button and the spitting image of her mother with her sandy blonde hair and big blue eyes. Lauren would have loved her daughter to the moon and back, and it was a shame she wouldn’t be here to watch her grow up. At least Caleb seemed quite loving…although more than a little over-protective.
Chapter Two
Talkaboutawkwardwitha capital A. Running into Madison after all these years had taken Caleb by surprise when he first drew close enough to see and vaguely recognize her. When she introduced herself, the memories all came back.
Caleb hadn’t even known Madison left town, but then once he met Lauren, his whole life centered on her. The fact she didn’t live in Dover, or even in the area, explained why he hadn’t seen her at Lauren’s funeral. And the big, hairy dog…that could be none other than the Granger’s four-legged prize canine and it made sense they’d hired someone to help with the rambunctious Irish Setter.
Freida would be a handful for anyone, although Joelle didn’t seem to mind as she played with the dog. The smiles on her face had been genuine and were accompanied by deep-down honest to goodness laughter…something Caleb hadn’t seen much of since Lauren died. It’s not that he didn’t try to make his daughter happy. In fact, his priorities were her safety and happiness.
The clouds opened and poured out the rain, the sound like that of a jackhammer against the roof of the truck. Caleb pulled into the driveway, up close to the house. “Joelle, let’s wait a few minutes to see if this lets up a bit.”
“Okay, Daddy. That’s a lot of rain.”
“Want to play the I-Spy game while we wait? You can climb in the front seat with me,” he said, glad they hadn’t been caught out in the nasty weather. Muddy was easy enough to fix with a shower. Soaked to the bone, not so much, especially if one of them turned up sick.
Joelle unbuckled herself from the booster, came barreling over the center console, and scooted into the front passenger seat. “Nah. We always play that. Can I go out and play in the rain? I see kids do it on TV and it looks like so much fun.”
“Sorry, honey. It could start storming with thunder and lightning, and that would be dangerous. Not only that, but one of us might get a nasty cold and that would be miserable.” His daughter’s sullen expression was a 180-degree turn from earlier, but it couldn’t be helped. One day she would understand the word “no” kept her safe…because he loved her.
Except loving Lauren hadn’t saved his wife from the dangers in life.
Maybe if they had taken a different route. Or if he had cleared the fallen tree from the path sooner. Then the snake wouldn’t have been curled up, sunning itself in a crook. And it wouldn’t have startled her horse, causing her to come unseated with a tragic ending.
“The rain is letting up,” Joelle pointed out, bringing Caleb’s attention back to the moment.
“A little, but perhaps we should make a run for it while we can. Follow me.” Caleb slid out of the truck and held the door open, assisting Joelle out of the vehicle. Picking her up into his arms, he ran to the front porch and out of the rain, getting soaked in the short time to get there. Next time, he’d remember to grab an umbrella. It would certainly be his fault if Joelle caught a cold. He unlocked the front door, eager to get them inside and into some dry clothes.
Caleb flipped on the light switch, but nothing happened. He toggled the switch a few more times, but to no avail. “It looks like the power is out from the storm. It must have brought a tree down somewhere on a main power box. I need to call it in to the electric company but let me check the breaker box on our house and some of the other lights, to be sure.” He set his daughter down, hoping the outage wouldn’t last long.
“Can I watch TV while you check?” Joelle asked, uninterested in grown-up talk.
“Sorry. The television runs on electricity…so no electricity…no TV. Why don’t you head to your room and grab some dry pants and a shirt? I can help you get dressed if you need me to.” One of these days, he needed to have a generator installed, something else to add to the ever-growing to-do list.
Joelle scrunched up her face and shook her head. “I’m a big girl and can get dressed on my own. It’s only when there’s really hard zippers or buttons,” she declared, moving toward the hall and disappearing.
Caleb headed to the utility room. The breakers all checked out fine, and it was all the lights in the house that were out. He searched his contacts and clicked on the power company entry.
“Generation Electric. How can I help you?” the crisp voice of an older woman asked.
“Good afternoon. I’d like to report a total power outage at 2651 Peabody Lane,” Caleb said, glancing out at the now drizzling rain.
“Hold one second while I check this out. You’re the only one to call this in so far, Mr. Duncan. Let me start a report and I’ll have someone check into this for you. It shouldn’t take long for us to dispatch someone to your location.”
“Thank you,” Caleb said, moving down the hall to check on Joelle, and stopping at her bedroom door. “The electric company is sending someone out to fix our power and it shouldn’t be long. Do you want to build a tent in your room while we wait?” His daughter loved it when they built a tent, and he hung stars from the ceiling. She found comfort having the night sky close as she said her prayers, knowing her mother was in heaven. “Okay. Let’s use the blue sheets. They’re so pretty.” They were also the color of his daughter’s eyes. And Lauren’s.
“Deal.” Caleb pulled the stack of flat sheets from the hall closet and laid them on her bed. One by one, he stretched them out, tying twine on the corners to secure them at strategic points. Joelle draped one sheet around her back and ran around the room playing Queen of the Forest.
His phone rang, and it was the power company. It hadn’t taken long for them to call back. “Hello. Did you find the problem?” Caleb asked.
“We did. Unfortunately, it’s not a problem for our repair team,” the woman said, her answer more than a little vague.
“What do you mean?”
