Page 21 of Love in the Storm

“It’s okay,” Asa said quickly. “It sounded like a transformer blew.”

Lyric tucked her arms around her middle. “Is that dangerous?”

“It just means we don’t have power anymore, and I don’t think there’s much chance of it coming back anytime soon.”

Lyric breathed loudly. “We still have a while before sunrise.”

“Not long. Maybe an hour.” The sky wasn’t getting lighter yet, but the storm might be blocking the sunrise.

“Okay, what do we do now?” she asked.

Pulling his phone out, Asa turned on the flashlight and looked through his recent contacts. “I’ll text my mom and ask her to call if there’s any danger headed our way.”

“Then what?”

“Then we wait.”

Lyric’s pitch rose. “Wait? I’m not good at waiting.”

“You don’t say.”

She playfully swatted his arm.

“Are you assaulting an officer?” he asked.

That earned him a smile he could barely make out in the light from his phone. “Guilty.”

He tossed her a pillow and blanket from the love seat. “Get some rest.”

“What are you going to do?”

“The same. Right here.” He settled into the recliner and flipped the footrest out.

Lyric cuddled with the blanket on the couch andflopped from one side to the other. “It’s still so loud outside.”

He checked his phone, and a message from his mother was waiting. “Mom said she’d let us know if things get bad. You can relax.”

“Okay. Thank you,” she whispered.

“No problem. Sweet dreams.”

Asa rested his head back and stared at the ceiling. What was happening? Knowing his mom and Jacob were safe left him free to focus on the here and now, and Lyric was very much in the forefront of his mind.

Turning his attention back to her, he watched her shoulders rise and fall with her breaths. He liked helping people, even if it was only assuring Lyric that they’d make it through the storm. However, she seemed intent on taking care of him too. That was a dynamic he hadn’t experienced with a woman since Danielle passed.

Moving on had always been a blur in the future, but working through a tough situation with Lyric by his side felt nice in uncomfortable ways. Danielle had been his high school sweetheart before she’d become his wife and the mother of his child. They’d lived as one for half their lives. Working alongside another woman wasn’t something he’d planned to do.

But Danielle had asked him to keep his heart open before she died. He’d promised her he would,but it was a promise he hadn’t kept. He didn’t know how. His heart had stayed closed to everyone except his family and friends, and he liked it that way.

Now, he was being forced to spend time with a woman, and it was all new. Was this part of the Lord’s plan, or was it only the different dynamic that had Asa questioning everything?

Lyric wasn’t like any woman he’d met before, and she’d surprised him in countless ways in the last ten hours.

When her breathing evened to a deep, steady rhythm, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The ringing of his phone startled him from a deep slumber, and he patted around for the device. Where had he left it?

“Here.” Lyric handed it to him.

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