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Just the thought of that upset J.T. “Right. I’m going to be pretty busy getting ready for the storm. So, I guess next week, then.”
“What storm?”
“You haven’t heard?”
“No.”
“Big summer storm coming on Friday night. And it’s supposed to last through Sunday.”
“Oh my goodness.” She sounded genuinely concerned. She wasn’t a fan of big storms. He’d held her hand through a few of them in the past.
“Yeah. It’s going to be a real barn-burner. Have the Merrill brothers looked at your roof yet?”
“No, not until next week.”
He sat up and eased off his boots. “You should have a few buckets handy, in case you spring a leak or two.”
“I’ll get some from the bar. Do you think it’ll leak?”
“I don’t know. Are there water stains on the ceilings upstairs?”
“I think so. I’ll take a closer look.”
“Just be ready.” He leaned back again. “And it’s supposed to be windy, so bring in anything you don’t want to blow away.”
“Okay. Do you think the power will go out?”
“Pretty much guaranteed.”
She sighed. “My favorite.”
“Are you still afraid of thunderstorms?”
“I guess we’ll find out. We didn’t really have too many in Boise. Not like the ones here.”
They talked for a few more minutes, then Joey put Finn on the phone and he spent fifteen minutes telling J.T. about the tree house fort he wanted to build in the backyard. J.T. promised to help him after the weather calmed down.
After he ended the call, J.T. thought about the tree house he and Sawyer built in the trees next to the pond. It was still there, but probably not safe to go in anymore. They’d spend a lot of time there as children. And the day after their mother died, Sawyer went there and refused to come out. J.T. brought out sleeping bags and some food, and they stayed there together for three days. On the second day, Sage joined them. On the afternoon of the third day, Jake climbed up the tree to talk to them. They talked for two hours about their mother and how things were going to look going forward. Jake finally convinced Sawyer to come down after that and they all left the tree house together. They hadn’t been back to it since.
On Thursday morning, Sage went into town to get some things for the camp. While she was there, she decided to get some muffins for the weekend. If the power went out, they’d be an easyand quick breakfast to eat. Her stove in the kitchen was electric, so without power, she wouldn’t be able to cook anything. She also wanted to check on Xander and make sure the kids were all ready for camp. At least those sounded like two really good excuses.
When she went in and the bell on the door jingled, Xander came out from the kitchen.
He gave her his adorable, crooked smile. “Morning.”
“Hi.”
“What can I do for you today?”
She thought about all the possible answers to that question. “Um…what kind of muffins do you have today?”
He tapped on the glass display case. “Pretty much anything you want. It’s been slow today. I think everyone is preparing for the storm. Pastries seem to be low on the list of priorities.”
“Not mine. They’re high on my no power survival list.”
“I suppose I should close early tomorrow and not even bother opening on Saturday.”
“I think that’d be best. It’s supposed to be a bad one. Even though it’s a summer storm, it’s predicted to dump a lot of rain on us.”
