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She nods, and I turn and tug her close to my side as I guide us back onto the path that leads back to the way we came.
All is dark and quiet when we step back into the inn. Everyone has retired for the night.
“Looks like my ride left me,” Sela quips.
I offer to take her home, and this time, I pack an overnight bag before leading her to the SUV.
Just in case.
We park in the lot across from her place and hurry inside.
She locks the door and flips the switch on the wall.
Nothing.
She flicks it up and down a few times before walking to the kitchenette and trying the door to the refrigerator.
No light.
“Great. The power’s out,” she says.
The temperature outside is falling, but her apartment is still warm.
“It must not have been out long,” I say as I remove my coat and toss it on the sofa.
“Is that usable?” I ask as I assess the black iron woodstove that is nestled in the corner of the room.
“Yes, I’ve only used it once, but I have a small supply of firewood in the closet,” she says.
I take my phone and turn the flashlight function on. Then, I bend to my knee so I can look inside the stove and open the damper as Sela gathers an armload of wood.
I take it from her and stack it inside.
Sela brings me a furniture catalog from her nightstand, and I rip pages out, crumple them into a ball, and arrange them around and under the wood.
Sela sets candles around the room and lights them with a box of matches she fished out of a kitchen drawer. Then, she passes the box to me, and I strike a match to light the kindling.
Once the fire is crackling, she pulls the comforter from her bed and carries it to the rug that lies between the stove and the sofa. She spreads it out and places cushions from the back of the sofa against the ottoman. She grabs another blanket from the closet and the pillows from her bed, and we settle in front of the fire.
I fall onto my back as I watch the flames dance through the opening, and Sela cuddles into my side.
“What do we do now?” she asks.
“We can spoon.”
“Okay. I like to be the big spoon though,” she declares.
I look down at her tiny frame and grin.
“And how would that work exactly?” I ask.
“Like this.” She pushes me to my side and throws a leg over me as she snuggles into my back.
We lie in silence as she begins rubbing circles over the ribs under my arm.
She leans her face into my throat, and I feel her lips move to the spot below my ear. Her warm breath washes over me, causing my skin to prickle. I close my eyes as she peppers kisses down the back of my neck to my shoulder blade.
She feeds her knee over my hip, using her weight to bring me to my back, and slides on top of me, chest to chest.
