My head falls back with laughter, something I haven’t done in months.
“Alright, have it your way.”
Before she can respond, my phone goes off. I glance down and see another weather warning.
“What’s it say?” she asks as I unlock my cell.
“Shit,” I mutter, reading over the words. “There’s now a state of emergency in place due to the excess amounts of snowfall and ice caused by below zero temps and negative windchill. Another ten inches of snow is expected overnight.”
“Jesus.” She blows out a breath. “I can’t remember ever seeing that much snow.”
“More common in Upstate than in the city,” I say. “And in these small mountain towns, it’s common to be stranded for weeks waiting for roads too clear.”
“Weeks?” she screeches.
“Yeah, I did some research this morning. It’s been a while since they’ve experienced weather like this, but it happens.”
“Of course on the weekend we come up here.” She sighs. “Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to make the best of it. I mean, it could be worse. You could’ve been stuck with a crazy person.” She flashes a wink, and I chuckle.
“Yeah, thank God.” I snort. “Alright, we should prepare and get supplies together just in case we lose power.” I tap my knuckles on the counter and stand. “Better to be ready instead of scrambling in the dark.”
“Lose power?” Kendall’s eyes widen in fear. “You said that on the phone, but doesn’t the cabin have a generator?”
“Uh…” I scratch the back of my head. “A small one but I don’t know if we have extra fuel. Even if we did, it’d only be enough to power the fridge for a day.”
“Ugh, great.” She brushes off her hands and wipes the counter, then puts her empty plate in the sink. “If it happens, how long do you think it’d be out?”
“It’s hard to say,” I tell her honestly. “It could be days until it’s safe for crews to come out and fix the power lines, especially if the roads aren’t clear.”
“So what do we need to do?” she asks once she’s done cleaning.
“Well, we’ll need flashlights, extra batteries, candles, and matches. I think we have enough wood to last a while but we’ll have to sleep down here to stay warm if that happens. We should fill the tubs and sinks with water so we can flush.”
“Wait…what? Hold up. What do you mean so we can flush?”
Kendall looks like she might have a panic attack. Her face goes pale and she starts pacing.
I hold back a chuckle because I know she’s freaking out but it’s a little funny. The girl has obviously never camped a day in her life and doesn’t know how to be without electricity.
“If the power goes out, the well pump won’t work and you’ll need to pour a bucket of water into the toilet so you can flush it.”
“Great,” she mutters, wrapping her arms around her waist. “What else? Will I have to hunt for our dinner and cook it over the fire too?”
My lips tilt up. “Not exactly but if the power’s out long enough, we can’t eat anything out of the fridge. If it’s longer than a day, then nothing out of the freezer either.”
“That leaves what…bread and crackers?”
“Well good thing you brought enough to feed an army for a month.” I flash her a wink.
“Yeah, but if we can’t use anything from the fridge that really limits what we can make.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out as we go. No stressing until we need to.”
Kendall’s visibly upset. I hate that I’ve scared her but she needs to be prepared because losing power is a possibility.
“Hey…” I step around the island and gently grip her arm. “It’s gonna be fine. We’re smart and can live without power for a couple of days if we have to.”
She nods and her brown eyes stare into mine as she holds onto every word I say. I love that she trusts me and it makes me want to do everything I can not to let her down.
I release her though we’re still standing close. “Why don’t you collect some extra blankets and pillows and put them in the living room so they’re ready if we need them. I’ll check the generator and start working on our backup water supply.”
“Alright, and I’ll fill the tubs and sinks upstairs, then search for candles.”
“Sounds good.” I flash her a smirk and a wink, hoping to ease her nerves.
After we separate to do our tasks, I grab my phone and send Eli a text update. I’m sure Kendall will tell Cami but I want to make sure he knows I’ll keep a close eye on her and not to worry about us since I’m sure Cami will be.
Just as I suspected, there’s no fuel in the generator and the extra gas can is empty. Honestly, I should’ve thought of it before we left.
I find some extra flashlights and batteries, fill the sinks downstairs, then grab the matches. When I make it back to the living room, I see Kendall and drop everything on the coffee table so we know where it is.
“Everything is taken care of upstairs,” Kendall says.
“Great, thanks.”
Taking a seat in the chair, I keep an eye on her and notice how anxious she is. “How about you pick something on TV to keep your mind off everything?”
Her bright smile returns and it sends a rare shiver down my spine. “Okay.”
We watch comedy shows for hours and eat dinner on the couch. The wind continues to gust and more snow falls. Though I don’t want to cause her anymore panic, it’s likely we’ll lose power tonight.
“Make sure you have an extra blanket,” I tell her after we call it a night. “Oh and take a flashlight, just in case.”
I hand one to her. “Thanks.”
Kendall watches me and I stare at her, unspoken words sizzle between us but neither know what to say. We actually had a nice evening together, and I didn’t hate most of the Hallmark crap she made me watch.
“No problem. I’m just going to clean up down here, then I’ll be heading to bed myself.”
“Okay. Good night, Ryan.”
Her soft voice is like heaven.
“Sweet dreams, Kendall.”
Chapter Five
Kendall
DAY 3
I wake up shivering.
My hands are ice cold and even though I put on socks before I crawled into bed last night, my feet are too. Wrapping the extra blankets around me, I get up to turn on the light. Nothing. We must’ve lost power overnight. Instead of freezing my ass off, I grab my flashlight and make my way to Ryan’s room.
On the way there, the wind screams outside and my anxiety gets the best of me. When I’m outside of his room, I lightly tap on the door and wait. He never answers, so I let myself in. Ryan’s sleeping like the dead and I almost feel guilty for waking him.
“Ryan,” I whisper, not wanting to freak him out. I repeat myself a few times until he finally shifts awake.
“What’s the matter?” He sits up, the blankets fall down and I see he’s shirtless. I catch a glimpse of his chiseled abs and force my eyes back to his.