Page 61 of Out to Get Her
“How are you on laundry?”
“Towels are done. Just a load of clothes left drying.”
She was learning that storm prep was kind of a scam. It was just a way to make people clean their houses when they had a lot of nervous anticipation and not much else to do.
“Anything you want to cook before the power goes out? Anything we can’t grill later? I brought eggs.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Eggs?”
“Yeah, eggs. They’ll go bad if the power’s out too long, and you can’t eat ‘em raw. We can boil them before the power goes out, then we can keep ‘em in the ice chest.”
“I don’t really like the idea of a house full of people on a diet of boiled eggs.”
“You’ll like it more when you’re looking for easy protein in the mornings.”
“I thought this thing wasn’t supposed to be that bad?”
“Habits,” he said.
But something was bugging him.
“What?” Erin asked. “It’s not picking up, is it?”
The worst was waiting to see if one of these things that was supposed to be nothing blew up right before it hit the coast in the middle of the night. So much about these storms was unpredictable. She’d never had to worry about it before, but now she had to not only keep herself safe, but also a bird and a house and her guests.
She was turning into a responsible person she hardly recognized. With Zach’s assistance, of course. She’d still be the complete screw-up everyone expected if she’d be on her own through this. But she did want to make sure everyone staying with her was safe there.
“No,” he frowned. “Opposite. It’s slowing down.”
“That’s good though, right? The outer bands are moving over land, so shouldn’t be too much worse, I thought.”
They’d turned on the TV for weather updates while they went through the house prepping. It had a name now. Tropical Storm Tristan. But it wasn’t even a category one hurricane. Not yet, at least.
“Right,” Zach said. “But now they’re worried it might stall out over us and dump a whole bunch of rain.”
“Isn’t rain better than wind?”
“It is if you don’t flood.”
She looked around the house at Grandpa’s stuffeverywhere. Lord help them if they had to pick up everything off the floor. “But it doesn’t usually flood here at the house, right?”
“Right. We should be fine.” He gave a tight smile. “I’m glad you convinced Sam to come here. Her road floods bad. And most of town will be waterlogged for a few days after. Might make getting power back on tricky. So what we’ve got here supply-wise is what we’ve got. Maybe for a week if this thing doesn’t move out.”
Erin tried not to panic. “A week? I’m guessing runs to Addie’s will be out of the question.”
He snapped his fingers. “Good call. I’ve got bacon at my house. We can cook it while we boil the eggs, then tomorrow I’ll make you the second-best BLT you’ve ever had.”
“Now you’re talking.”
“I’m gonna run back and grab it. Might as well clear out the fridge and freezer anyway, in case the road does flood, and we can’t get to my place tomorrow. Even if the power’s out here, we’ll have meat in the ice chest to grill.”
She pointed at the big chest nearby on the porch. “I thought that thing was full of beer.”
He winked before heading down the steps. “I expect to make room in it by morning!”
“I’m not holding your hair tonight!” she shouted at him while he revved up his old truck.
Erin was about to shut the door when she spotted a blue Honda easing around Zach’s truck on the gravel driveway.
