Page 18 of Love in the Storm

Lyric laughed. “I don’t have a patient bone in my body. I think something and I say it, or I have an idea and I do it.”

Asa scoffed. “I’ve noticed. Who runs back out into a storm?”

“We needed your phone!”

Holding up his hands in surrender, Asa smiled. “Fair enough, but I still think you should have layered up a little more first.”

Lyric scrunched her mouth to one side. “That’s a valid point.”

“Thinking things through never gets anyone in trouble,” he said.

She held up a finger. “What if it’s a time-sensitive situation?”

“You still need to think. That part is important.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I’ll take that into consideration before I run out in the storm again.”

Asa looked at the windows. Nothing was visible in the darkness outside. “It sounds like it’s dying down.”

“We should check the weather forecast.”

“Good idea.” He covered his mouth while he yawned. “If the danger has passed, I’d like to hit the hay.”

Lyric tucked the robe tighter around her and headed for the living room where the TV was still muted on the weather radar.

“Are your clothes almost dry?” Asa asked.

“Well, I really don’t want to dry my sweater unless I have to. It’ll shrink. I figure I’ll let it hang overnight, and then maybe it’ll be close to dry, and I can tumble it for a few minutes.”

“Sorry. You should have put yours in first.”

She shrugged and fell back onto the fluffy couch. “It’s no big deal, as long as you’re not bothered too much by my robed state.”

Asa rubbed his forehead. “Not too much.”

The strain in his words made her pull the collar of the robe high on her neck. There, no peeks allowed.

He pointed at the TV. “Looks like this round is over, but another band is close behind.”

“Great. More snow on top of the snow we already have. I bet my car is buried.”

“You’re probably right. It might be a while before you can get down the mountain.”

“How long do you think we’ll be here?” she asked.

“Maybe a couple of days.” He sat up straighter and looked around. “Where is my phone? I just thought of something.”

Lyric spotted it on the end table and handed it to him.

“I was on my way home from taking food to Mrs. Grant when I wrecked, so I want to make sure she’s okay. If we can’t get down the mountain, she can’t either.”

“Oh, good point.”

Asa scrolled through his contacts. “Yeah, and she’s old, so if the power goes out and she doesn’t have a generator or gas heat, that might escalate our chances of getting rescued sooner. She’ll be a priority.”

Lyric liked the sound of that, and she was beginning to like this new comfortable state she’d fallen into with Asa. She watched the forecast while he talked to Mrs. Grant. Photos and videos of the devastation flashed one after the other, and Lyric’s stomach began to roll at the scenes.

By the time Asa was telling the woman to call him if she needed anything, Lyric’s eyelids were heavy.

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