Page 55 of The Wayward Son

“Yeah, you do.”

Sage laughed. “I remember. You do.”

Jake raised a hand. “I remember too.”

Jade shook her head. “Fine. I have some impulse control when it comes to crackers.”

“It could be worse, Jade.”

Sawyer sat at the table. “I don’t think so. I think this is a serious problem. We might have to stage an intervention. A cracker intervention.”

Sage went to the cupboard and opened it. “Actually, we don’t have any crackers.”

“Crisis averted.”

Chapter seventeen

"Are we really having this conversation?"

When the power went out, the lack of ambient noise woke Sawyer. He reached for his phone and checked the time. It was ten minutes past midnight. He got out of bed and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders, then went to the woodstove and put another piece of wood on the fire. He sat on the floor in front of it and let the heat warm his back.

As nice as the loft was, being situated over the barn, which was only heated enough to keep the horses comfortable, made it hard to heat with just the woodstove. Once the power went off and he lost his central heat, it got cold unless you were near the stove.

He looked at the couch. “I guess I’m sleeping on the couch for the rest of the night.”

In the silence, he heard the hum of the house generator come on. His father had woken up when the power went out and had gotten up to turn it on. The house would stay warm. Even upstairs.

Sawyer stood and went to the window. But without any light from the stars or the moon, all he could see was the snow falling heavily right outside his window. He took several blankets from the bed and laid down on the couch. As long as he kept the fire going, he’d be warm enough to sleep. In the morning, though, he’d need to move to the house.

When the cold woke Sawyer, he checked the time on his phone again. This time it was four a.m. He was cold, even under all the blankets he had over him. He willed himself to get up and put more wood on the fire. In the big open space, the woodstove didn’t do much.

He went to the window again. The snow was still coming down. He could stay here and be cold for another couple of hours, or he could brave the snow and go to the house. At least he’d be warm once he got there.

He put pants and a shirt on over his long johns, then put on a coat and a stocking cap. As a final layer, he wrapped a heavy blanket around his shoulders. After putting on his snow boots, he left the loft and went down the stairs.

The barn with the gas furnaces going and the heat from the horse’s, was warmer than the loft. He thought briefly of staying in the barn. But it wasn’t really that appealing.

“I just need to cross the yard to the house, and then I’ll be warm and hopefully somewhat dry.” He wasn’t too sure about the dry part. Especially when he opened the barn door and saw how much snow was on the ground. It was at least a foot and still coming down. He almost changed his mind and went back to the loft. Then he took a breath of resolve and stepped into the snow.

It was knee-deep. “No going back now.” He made his way to the back door, then went inside and dropped the snow covered blanket to the floor. He took off his boots and brushed the snow from his pant legs. Then he hung his coat on a hook and took off his stocking cap.

The house was dark, and he hoped he wouldn’t wake up Jade, who was sleeping on the couch. Sage had offered her the bed in her old room, but Jade insisted she was fine on the couch. He walked slowly through the house, heading for the fireplace. There were a few folded blankets on the chair, and he took one and wrapped it around his shoulders, then sat on a cushion in front of the fireplace.

Jade stirred, then opened her eyes. “Sawyer?”

“Hey. Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Are you okay?”

“I was freezing my ass off in the loft once the power went out.”

She adjusted her blankets. “The power is off?”

“Yeah. A couple of hours now.”

She raised onto an elbow. “Is it still snowing?”

“There’s about a foot out there and still coming down.”

---