Page 28 of Second Chances

“Don’t worry; I’ll protect you.” I could hear the humor in his voice, but I was too nervous to laugh.

“Maybe it’s a good time to start that fire.”

“Right.” Light suddenly appeared as Liam unlocked his phone. “I wish I had done that when we first got back.”

“Me too, but I kind of forgot once we got inside, changed clothes, and started playing our game.”

“Well, there’s no time like the present.” He motioned for me to come closer. “Can you hold my phone, so I can see?”

I scrambled out of my chair. “Yes. Sorry.”

I could barely see his smile as I took his phone from him.

“It’s fine.” He set a piece of wood in the stove. “This will give us a little bit of light, and then maybe we can look for some flashlights and candles.”

“Good idea. You only have twenty-three percent battery left.” I bit my lip. It was the end of the day, and I usually charged my phone when I went to bed. I was betting I didn’t have much battery left either. I hoped that the lights going out was the worst thing that happened to us tonight.

Within minutes, Liam got the fire started, and the room lit up with the yellow glow. It was enough to see the living room, dining room table, and part of the kitchen, but it wouldn’t hurt to have something more than just the wood stove for light.

I handed him his phone. “I’m going to start looking for flashlights and candles.”

“I think I saw one flashlight in the kitchen.” Liam stood and brushed off his jeans. “I’ll go outside and get more wood while you look for more.”

My eyes bugged out of my head. “You’re going to go outside. Now?”

“Yes. We don’t know when the power is going to come back on. The stove isn’t just for light. It’s our only source of heat, and I don’t want us running out of wood. I need to get some from under the deck and bring it up to the back door. Also, I need to bring some inside in case it does decide to rain out there. The woodshed can’t keep out all the rain, especially with the wind the way it is.”

He was right, but I didn’t like the thought of him being out there in the dark. It was like a horror movie outside. I pictured an ax murderer coming along and killing Liam while I was inside, like a sitting duck.

Liam stepped forward and took one of my hands. “Hey, we’ll be okay. The cabin is small. The fire will keep us warm, and the walls will keep the wind out. The only thing we’ll suffer from is boredom because I don’t think we should be wasting battery life on playing cards. And I grew up in the Midwest with the greatest winter storms. This is small compared to that.”

I nodded in agreement. He was right. And we were in a safe location. I doubted there was anyone outside, waiting to hurt us.

I squeezed his hand. “Okay. Do you need my help with anything?”

“No. You just look around for other sources of light. If you find some candles, maybe we can finish our game of cards after all.”

I smiled. “Deal.”

Liam went to his suitcase and pulled out a light jacket. I doubted it would do much, but it was better than a T-shirt. Then, he grabbed the only flashlight we had found so far and went to the sliding glass door.

He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and opened it before heading out into the night. Thirty seconds later, the door opened again, and he practically threw the wood on the ground before going back for more.

Meanwhile, I grabbed my phone, and I went into the kitchen. I started opening every cupboard there was in hopes that I would find something. I had been right about my phone. My battery was low—even lower than Liam’s—and it would be impossible to charge with no electricity.

I found a smaller flashlight in one of the drawers, but it wouldn’t offer too much light. Still, it was better than nothing.

I abandoned the kitchen and went to the bathroom. I didn’t have high hopes, but maybe the owners had put some candles in there for romance.

There were less cupboards in the bathroom, and it didn’t take me long to find absolutely nothing.

Next, I went to the bedroom. I could already feel the cold seeping through the walls, and I decided I’d better look for extra blankets in the closet along with sources of light.

The closet was pretty bare, but there were two extra blankets. And behind those blankets were two jar candles.

I was more excited than I should have been because two candles weren’t going to do much for us. But at least it was something.

I threw the blankets on the bed and took the candles out to the main room to light them.

---