Page 15 of Arctic Panda's Secret Mate
The password was rejected.
Tristan furrowed his brow in confusion. Even if the internet connection to town had failed, he ought to be able to connect to the router itself.
He reset it again, and tried the password again, failing a second time.
He checked the password, trying a zero for the O, even though he was sure there hadn’t been one, restarted the router, and still failed to get in. It was an hour before he slunk back to the rest of the group with news of his failure.
Chef and Breck were in the kitchen, talking about the menu for that night. They took the news better than he expected, and he almost wanted to shake them and demand their disappointment.
“We’re here on vacation,” Chef said expansively. “And I don’t think Scarlet needs us to check in on her.”
“I was used to not having wifi at Shifting Sands,” Breck said with a shrug.
They went back to the recipe book, discussing the pros and cons of truffle oil or something.
Half-hoping to be scolded, Tristan went out to report to the ladies in the great room.
“It doesn’t bother me in the least,” Magnolia said.
“I wasn’t planning to do any work here,” Alice said carelessly.
“It’s just as well,” Lydia said. “I’d only be using it to google obscure childbirth complications and scare myself silly.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t try to fix it,” Wrench said. Tristan couldn’t tell if he was joking or threatening him.
14
HAISLEY
Sabotaging the wifi accomplishednothing.
As far as Haisley could tell, all it did was gather them all together even more for chit-chat and socialization.
She waited for the sniping and arguing to start, now that they had less streaming entertainment and more forced proximity, but no one did. Instead, they lingered longer in the dining room thanever, eating their jovial chef’s apparently-amazing food, half-killing her with the tantalizing smells and general jealousy.
Her half-witted plan to secretly stay seemed dumber and dumber the longer it went on, and she was deeply relieved when they finally went to bed and she could creep out and see what they’d done to her kitchen.
Aside from rearranging things and putting the towels in the wrong order, they seemed like good guests and solid people, however much Haisleywantedto dislike them. Their chef really was amazing, and Haisley helped herself to their leftovers; they’d never know it was her, they’d justassume it was one of their own, and perhaps it would start some infighting when no one fessed up to it.
As she ate the rest of the cold pork eggrolls from the fridge (just the right amount of spice, and perfectly fried—they were delicious even cold!), she pondered her next move.
She didn’t want to inconvenience herself too much, or cause any actual pain, just push their limits until theyleft. The hot water heater seemed like a likely next target. She could simply lower the temperature, day by day. Cool showers (if not outright cold) would dampen their enthusiasm for the snow and cold outside.
Haisley had basically settled on this tactic and was washing her hands, trying to decide how much to lower it the first time, when she heard a noise at the kitchen door.
She shut off the water automatically, then dove for the floor without bothering to dry her hands. The island would protect her from immediate view, but if the unwanted guest was going for a late night snack from the fridge, she’d have to find better shelter.
She waited, leaning on her wet hands, listening to the quiet footsteps that followed the creak of the kitchen door.
Were they sneaking? Why would they be going around so silently? Haisley strained to hear which direction they were coming from, and tried to crawl as soundlessly as she could the opposite way around the island to get out. The only light on in the room was the under-counter light by the bread mixer; it was the only light that Haisley wanted when she got up very early in the morning to make bread. The interloper didn’t turn another on, padding for the refrigerator in the near-dark.
One wet hand slipped beneath Haisley and she nearly face-planted, giving a hiss that no human ears could possibly have heard.
The footsteps stopped.
Haisley held herself still, not daring to breathe, until the footsteps slowly resumed towards the fridge.
She hadn’t quite made it around the corner of the island, willing the person not to look her way, and she was not quite surprised when a shy voice said, “There you are!” It was the voice she’d been callingWhisper.
