by Kate Hardy
He shook his head. “Not until that wire’s taken care of.”
She sighed. “All right. Hopefully, the power company will be here soon. Maureen and Joe have extra stuff for them, anyway. But there’s other things they like to have with them....” Her voice trailed off and he took her hand. Her fingers were cold in his, even though it wasn’t really that chilly out. She didn’t seem to notice as she continued.
“I told my in-laws we were staying with you. They didn’t know you were back.” Her tone was almost absent as she stared at the tree. The smell of singed wood still filled the air. “Why didn’t you tell them?”
He sighed. He hadn’t been sure what to say. “I was going to look them up, too,” he said. “But I guess I’ll get a chance to see them tomorrow.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE POWER TRUCK pulled up at her house later that evening. Callie was surprised to realize it wasn’t even nine yet. After everything that had happened in the past few hours, it felt so much later. After the workers took care of the wire, Matt pulled on his coat. It was still raining lightly. “Do you want to come, too? Or wait here? It’s fine either way.”
She looked out into the gloom at the tree in her yard, and squeezed her eyes shut. Her earlier bravado had fled. Somehow she wasn’t ready to face it. She wasn’t strong enough.
“I’ll just wait,” she murmured, and he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her temple. It startled her, but pleased her, too. The gesture was unexpected and sweet. An almost natural extension of the closeness that had developed between them in the past few hours.
He went out in the rain and she watched him carefully pick his way across the street. It wasn’t safe for the kids to be outside until that mess was cleaned up. Just as well they’d be at their grandparents’ house for the weekend. Matt disappeared around the tree, but she could see the bob of the flashlight.
What seemed like an eternity later, he returned. From the grim set of his face, she knew. She pressed her hand against her mouth, feeling the burn of the hated tears already.
He shucked his jacket and pulled her in for a second time that evening. She didn’t fight him, and didn’t want to.
“How bad?” she asked, her words muffled against his chest. “Matt, how bad is it?”
She felt him sigh. “The front window is broken, the front porch partially crushed. I can’t tell about the roof—the tree is lying on it, but I don’t know if it pierced through. I’ll need to go up there to check.”
The sobs she’d been trying to hold in earlier broke free. He rocked her slightly, and held her tightly. She felt his lips on her hair. “We need to get the window boarded up,” he said. “Then I’d like to get a tarp on that roof. Just in case.”
She gave a sharp laugh as she stepped back. It had rained so hard for so long. The weatherman had said they’d gotten an inch in just over an hour. “Isn’t it too late for that?”
“I don’t know,” he said softly. “If there are holes, we may be able to contain the water damage.”
“Where do I get wood to board it up this time of night?”
“I have some plywood. I bought it for Aldo, the escape artist,” Matt admitted. “But I can always get more later. This is far more important.”
“I—okay. Okay. I need to think,” she muttered, and paced away from him. He fogged her brain, and on top of the stress of the evening, that wasn’t a good thing. She was weak right now, vulnerable. And she knew it. “Do you think I can go in now? At the back?”
“Probably. But, Callie—”
“I need to grab a few things,” she said. “The bedrooms are at the back of the house. If I could grab their bags and a few things from my room...” Like the pictures of Jason. Her laptop. A few clothes. The panic bubble pressed against her chest. “Please, Matt.”
“I’ll go in with you,” he said firmly.
Rather than waste time arguing, she nodded.
“But first I’m going to put that plywood up,” he said. “Then we’ll go in.”
“All right. Let me help,” she said. Now that she knew, she needed to see it. “The boys are asleep. Come here. You need to see this.”
She turned and walked down the hall, Matt behind her. She aimed her light in. Aldo lifted his head and wagged his tail slightly, but didn’t get up. He’d lain down between the boys, and both kids were curled on their sides facing him.
“Good dog,” Matt said softly, and Callie couldn’t help but smile when Aldo let out a sigh and closed his eyes again.
“I guess he doesn’t want to be disturbed,” she whispered, and Matt chuckled quietly.
He waited while she slipped her shoes on and grabbed the too-big jacket. She followed him into the garage and waited while he pulled out hammers and a saw and nails. They hauled that plus the plywood over to her house. Callie gasped at the damage. He hadn’t been kidding about the porch. It was splintered and smashed and would need to be entirely replaced. The tree branch that went through the window wasn’t huge, but had landed right where she and the kids would have been sitting if they’d been home. Nausea rose up.
Matt touched her arm. “You okay?”
“That branch.” She nodded toward the broken window. “It’s right where—right where we could have been.” The words caught in her throat. Her boys could have been hurt. She tried so hard to protect them—and they could have been hurt right here at home.
He nodded grimly. “I know.”
She cleared her throat. “Where do we start? Should I just call Bill?” Jason’s brother was a contractor. It all looked like one big mess to her. Overwhelming.
“I can do this part,” Matt replied. “But yeah, you’ll want to call him soon.”
“I’ll do it in the morning,” she said. If Maureen hadn’t done so already. Callie hadn’t looked at her phone since she’d called them.
She watched as Matt cut the branch reaching through the window, and pulled it out. Despite her shock and sorrow she couldn’t help but notice the flex and play of muscle as he worked. She kept the light trained where he asked her to, and helped nail up the board.
“Done,” he said, after the last nail went in. “Let’s get the tarp on the roof. Then you can get your things. Do you have a ladder?”
She led the way to the garage. Briefly stymied by nerves and the garage door—of course it wouldn’t go up when she hit the button; there was no power—she pointed out the extension ladder and they went back out.
“I’ll need your help, if you can manage it,” Matt said.
“Ah. Okay.” She climbed up the ladder after him and they worked together to get the tarp to cover the worst of it. There were holes up here, too, and that made her heart hurt. She wondered what kind of damage this was doing inside her house.
They put away the ladder in silence, and she went into the kitchen, with him behind her. He flashed his light around and up, and she could see the water damage on the ceiling. Those blasted, useless tears burned again.
She felt Matt squeeze her shoulder in sympathy. “I’ll go find the breaker. We’d better turn it off, just in case, to prevent problems when the power comes back on. Is it in the basement?”
“Yes. To your left when you go down the stairs, in the corner.”
“All right. Be careful up here,” he said as he turned toward the stairs. “There’s probably glass all over the living room.”
He wasn’t wrong. She crunched over the glass and saw the capsized chair and knocked-over TV where the branch had hit. The kids’ toy box was overturned, too.
Yes, if they’d been at home, they would have been right here, in this room. It hadn’t occurred to her that the tree might come down. The little panic bubble kicked up again. What else hadn’t she thought of that was potentially harmful? Could she ever cover all the possibilities?
Shoving her
useless thoughts away, she automatically flicked the light switch in the hall, which of course did nothing. She sighed. Just like the kids, who would go in and flick lights when the power went out, confused as to why the switches didn’t work.
She hurried toward her room and tripped over a plastic truck that had been abandoned in the middle of the hall. Of course, where else would it be? She gritted her teeth and moved on.
She thanked her lucky stars that she’d been so busy earlier on and had packed both boys’ bags. She grabbed them and dropped them in the hall. Then she went back and threw some clothes and toiletries for herself into a bag. She collected her laptop, pictures, and a few photo albums from the living room on her next pass through—just in case the tree came through the roof.
She gathered everything up and picked her way in the dark, since she had no free hands for the flashlight.
Matt was in the kitchen. “Can I take something?”
She relinquished a couple bags without argument and followed him back across the street. It hit her that she was bone-tired. It must have shown on her face, because Matt said, “You can take my room. You’ll be more comfortable there.”
Callie couldn’t imagine sleeping in Matt’s bed. It seemed wrong on so many levels she couldn’t even fathom them all. “I couldn’t run you out of your room.”
“You won’t be,” he assured her. “I can sleep quite comfortably on the couch. Plus I want to get an early crack at that tree tomorrow.”
She looked at him, startled. “Oh, Matt. That’s not necessary. I can find someone.... My brother-in-law will help. You’re not required to take care of us,” she said. It seemed like the thing to do, to point that out. For his sake or for hers?
He gave her a small smile. “I know that. I’m not doing it because I have to. I’m doing it because I want to.”
“Okay,” Callie said, since she was too tired to argue. “Well, I guess I’ll go to bed, then.” But when she looked up at him, she found herself snared by the intensity of his blue, blue eyes.
She couldn’t move even if she’d wanted to, as he edged closer. Her heartbeat picked up so fast she couldn’t hear anything over the rush in her ears. He lowered his mouth to hers slowly, pausing just a breath above her lips. Unable to stop herself, she rose up on her toes to meet him for that last little bit and pressed her mouth to his.
He was so solid under her hands, warm and muscular, with the scents of something spicy, and sawdust and rain and fresh air, all mingled together. His lips were gentle, as if maybe he thought she’d bolt if he applied too much pressure.
Need welled up in her, a force that would have knocked her right over if she hadn’t been hanging on to him. She made a little noise in her throat and it seemed that was the signal he’d been waiting for. He finally deepened the kiss and she opened to him.
God, it’d been so long since she’d been kissed.
It was that vague thought that acted like a bucket of cold water, and she wrenched herself away with a little gasp. What was she doing? She still wore her husband’s rings, for Pete’s sake!
“Callie...” His voice was a low rasp, and even as horror filled her, the delicious sound of it made her shiver.
“I—no. I’m going to go to bed,” she muttered, and darted around him down the hall, snagging her bag as she went. Cripes. She was going to get in his bed. Without him. But still. That kiss...
She shut the door behind her and rested her head on it, her pulse still hammering and everything in her tingling. What had she done?
* * *
The next morning, Matt still wasn’t sure what had come over him. He hadn’t meant to kiss Callie. Ever. He’d intended to leave her alone, to ignore all this emotional stuff she kept bringing out in him, but apparently he sucked at it. He’d spent all night tossing and turning on the couch over it, and having inappropriate dreams about a buddy’s widow, while said widow slept in his bed.
Yeah.
Her brother-in-law, Bill—Jason’s big brother—stood with him in front of Callie’s house. Callie would be joining them shortly. He hoped like hell the other guy wouldn’t pick up on any tension between them.
Bill gave Callie an affectionate hug when she came over, and Matt had to squash a snap of jealousy. How stupid was that? They were family.
He was not.
Callie didn’t really look at him. He caught her gaze once and she turned pink. So she hadn’t been unaffected by that kiss, either. Which he’d kind of figured when she’d fled to his room. Without him.
“I called the insurance company last night,” she told Bill. “They said they’ll be out this morning.” Matt glanced at her face again and saw the sadness there. “It looks worse in the daylight,” she said, almost to herself.
Bill slipped an arm around her and she leaned on him a little. Matt gritted his teeth. He knew the other man wasn’t putting the moves on Callie—he was happily married—but it still got up in Matt’s grill to see them touch so familiarly. He shoved his hands in his pockets. Last night she’d leaned on him. Now she wouldn’t even look at him. He’d made a hell of a mess of this.
“I’m so sorry, Cal,” Bill said. “We’ll get it done as fast as possible. I’m going to have the window measured and ordered today.” He walked away and Callie’s gaze stayed fixed on the roof.
Matt moved in next to her. It was now or never. “I’m sorry about last night,” he said quietly. It was true, but not for the reason she’d think. He regretted freaking her out, but not kissing her.
Her head snapped around and there was something that looked a lot like hurt in her eyes. “Don’t talk about it. Please. Bill’s here.” Then she stomped away, back across the street.
Now Matt really felt like a heel. He’d put that look in her eyes. All because he’d just wanted a taste of her. Just one taste.
He was beginning to realize it wasn’t going to be enough.
* * *
Even though she’d known what to expect, the mess at the house had shocked Callie. Plus she was thrown off balance by Matt and that kiss. The combination had her reeling. Still, the cleanup was well under way. Chain saws were running by seven, and from her neighbor she’d learned the power was expected back on that evening. She called her in-laws to warn them of the mess on the street—mostly small branches—so they’d need to drive carefully. She let the dog out, realizing that he’d need to do his business, then remembered his penchant for escape and went out to stand on the deck while he sniffed around in the backyard. She really missed coffee but there was no way to make any, even if there had been power. She didn’t trust herself with Matt’s monster of a machine, and she couldn’t get her van out to drive even if she’d wanted to go on the hunt for an open coffee shop.
She woke her boys and got breakfast in them. But now she had to show them their house.
“I’ve got to show you guys something,” she told them when they were done with their cereal. “It might be kind of scary, but it will be okay. I promise.”
When they went out front, both boys gasped. “Tree fell down,” Liam said, his worried eyes a mirror of Eli’s.
She hugged them both and pressed kisses to their heads. “Yes, it did,” Callie said. “And it broke a window and hurt the porch. There are holes in the roof, too. So we need to do some fixing before we can move back in.”
Where would they stay? She pushed that aside for now. One thing at a time.
The kids were concerned, but after Callie assured them the inside was mostly fine, and their toys were fine, they settled down. Though the TV had been hit by the branch and smashed, that didn’t seem like a detail they needed to know, since they hadn’t specifically asked about it.
“Can we sleep there?” Eli asked. “Or will we sleep at Mr. Matt’s?”
The question nearly gave Callie a seizure. Trust a five-year-old to get right to th
e heart of the matter. “Ah. I’m not sure yet. I’m sure Mr. Matt doesn’t want us underfoot.”
“But we like Mr. Matt,” Eli said.
“And doggie,” Liam added.
“I know,” she said, steering them back across the street. “But we don’t want to be a bother. I’ll find somewhere for us to stay. So we’ll get the roof and window fixed, and use the back door for a while until we can get the porch replaced.”
Assuming there was no structural damage to the roof, of course. She mentally crossed her fingers it would be fine and stable.
Her in-laws showed up shortly after that. With coffee.
“Oh, bless you,” she said, when Maureen offered her the to-go cup.
“It’s probably not so hot now,” her mother-in-law said ruefully. “But it’s caffeine. And Callie—oh my goodness! Look at your poor house!”
Callie sipped the brew. Not superhot, not great, but it tasted wonderful this morning all the same. She swallowed. “I know. It’s not as bad as it looks. Really,” she added, when Maureen gave her a look. Joe walked around, examining the damage.
“Good thinking on the plywood,” he commented. “Where is Matt? Haven’t seen that boy in ages.”
“Not sure. He can’t be too far.” To Maureen, she said, “Their things are right here. Luckily, I’d had them already packed. I did throw in an extra couple sets of clothes.”
“We don’t mind the extra days,” Maureen assured her. “We’ll be fine. You’re coming, too, of course. There’s no way you can stay here.”
It was tempting to leave, but Callie knew she needed to be close by. Maybe not as close as Matt’s house, however. “No, I’m going to stay around here. I need to oversee what’s going on. Once the tree’s gone and the window’s fixed, I’ll get the boys back home. Bill’s already on it.” The benefit of having a contractor in the family.
Maureen frowned. “Where are you going to stay?”
“I’m not sure,” Callie admitted. “Probably with Lori.” Her boss and friend didn’t live close, but it seemed like a better alternative than the temptations that awaited her at Matt’s.
