Page 24 of The Widower's Nanny

Lilly seems satisfied with that and heads for the door.

I call after her. “Stay close and don’t go to the pond without us.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Rachel smiles at me shyly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to put ideas in her head.”

“The idea has been in her head for a while. It’s about time we do it.”

At the sound of thunder in the distance, we both go outside to the porch. The clouds are rolling in now and they are dark and heavy with rain.

7

Rachel

We watch the clouds roll in and Preston calls Lilly to come onto the porch. A few minutes later, the rain starts. Preston doesn’t seem too concerned, but it looks to me like it isn’t going to end anytime soon.

I glance at him. “So, do you get these storms here often?”

“A few each summer.” He looks at the sky. “It should blow over.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

He looks at me. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

He goes to a stack of firewood on the porch and picks up several pieces, then smirks at me. “It seems you don’t have a lot of luck when it comes to firewood or woodstoves. I’ll bring these inside in case this lasts awhile, and it gets cold.”

“It’s all yours, boss. I’m not touching it.”

I stay on the porch with Lilly and we watch the rain, which is coming down hard now. When Preston comes back out, he has the packed lunch with him.

“How about we eat our lunch while this weather clears up?”

I take the lunch from him and hand out the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while he checks his phone. He tucks it back in his pocket with a frown then smiles when he sees me watching him.

“No service out here.”

“Are we losing our optimism?”

He shakes his head. “Not yet.” He takes a bite of his sandwich and nudges Lilly. “What do you think about this rain, Lillybug?”

“It’s loud. And I wanted to go to the pond.”

“We’ll go when it stops. If it’s not too muddy.”

Lilly seems satisfied with his answer, but I have my doubts the rain is going to stop anytime soon, and even if it did, the path to the pond will be muddy. In fact, the trail all the way home will be muddy. Our day of adventure may get even more adventurous.

When the wind picks up and the rain starts coming onto the porch, we go inside. Preston lights another lantern, and we can see pretty well between the two of them and the gray light coming through the window.

Lilly goes to the couch and sits down. “What are we going to do now?”

Preston kneels in front of the woodstove. “Well, I, for one, would love a cup of coffee. How about you, Lilly?”

She giggles. “I don’t drink coffee.”

I glance toward the kitchen area. “I’ll go see what’s in the cupboards.”

Preston begins getting the woodstove ready for a fire, which seems to indicate he is beginning to believe as I do. The rain isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

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