Page 101 of Grace on the Rocks

Of course, he was eager to show her the new tub, and it was long past time to switch the power over to run off the fully charged solar battery.Juleswould arrive in a matter of days, and if anything went wrong with the cutover,Bryanwould need time to keep his head and get on with fixing it before they arrived.Forsome reason he didn’t want to face that moment of truth alone.

After a bit of pacing and wringing his hands, he tapped on her door.Whenshe didn’t answer, he peeked inside.

How far gone was he that wearing a t-shirt emblazoned withMindifIcheck you out?,purple leggings, and a bun so messy a bird could nest in it, she was the most appealing person he’d ever seen, hunched over her laptop with a pen between her teeth?

He swallowed. “Rios?”

“One sec.”

“Sorry to bother?—”

“You’re not,” she interrupted.

“I need to cut over to the solar power.”

“Awesome,” she replied, about as interested as if he’d told her he’d seen a seagull outside.

“Okay then…”

He wanted her to ask what all the noise next door had been about, but the headphones charging at her elbow had probably blocked most of it.

“Congrats,” she murmured in a way that sounded more dismissive than congratulatory.

He lingered in the doorway.Wasshe listening to him at all, or responding without hearing?Inhis imagination, she would have joined him as he switched over to the battery and then shared a celebratory dram, maybe even a hug, but those were purely selfish desires when clearly she was in the zone.

“I’ll just do it now then.”

“Sounds good,” she said, not looking up from her typing.

“The lights will go out.TheWi-Fitoo.”

“Uh huh.”

It was his fault, of course, for interrupting her when she was working.Herdeadline was looming for this book, another award winner, no doubt.Ofcourse this wasn’t the most important part of her day.Maybeshe still hoped he’d make good on their deal—cut the power over and then just fade away, leaving the house to her.Whyelse would she have put up with him so long?Butthere was still the cistern to install, completing his water reclamation circle, along with a few other odds and ends.

With something awfully like regret, he closed her door and headed to the fuse box inside his bedroom closet.Ittook only a moment to shut down power to the house and route everything over to the new solar battery.Thelights were back on in a few minutes.Sofar so good.

And thenGracehowled, “Areyou fucking kidding me?” and his stomach sank.

When he peeked in her room, she was slumped over the laptop with her head in her hands.

“What is it?” he asked cautiously.

“You!” she rounded on him. “Whatdid you do?”

“I—”

“Did you accidentally blow a fuse or something?”

“I—”

“I’ve lost everything!”

“What?”

She gestured at her laptop, hands splayed like she wanted to strangle something. “Days’ worth of work!Theentire last third is just…”Shemade apoofgesture.

Bryan blinked, not quite understanding. “But… but it’s a laptop.”

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