4. Forget I said anything
Chapter 4
Forget I said anything
Phin
I was freezing, so getting out of the wind and snow was a priority, but I kind of wanted to make Skye tell me what the hell her problem was before we went any farther. It was something major if just asking about selling their cottage had put us in the ditch. She grabbed the duffel and one of the bags from the grocery, so I hauled out the cooler and the other bag.
She trudged up the driveway. It was full dark. I followed Skye’s footsteps, the cooler rolling behind helping with my balance. I picked up the pace, anxious to get inside.
I was right behind Skye when she stopped at the steps to the building.
“You got a key?”
“There’s a code.” I slid the groceries onto the floor of the porch before picking up the cooler and climbing the steps. My shoes, with no traction, slipped a little but I was able to balance this time, thanks to years of being on skates. I did not want to fall flat on my ass in front of her again.
I punched in my stepmother’s birthday digits and nothing happened. I tried again.
“Power’s out,” she noted.
Fuck. How the hell was I supposed to get in?
Skye knelt down beside me and slid her hands under the welcome mat. As if Lina would?—
“Here’s a key.”
No fucking way.
I stepped back. “Go ahead.” After all, she’d been the competent one here.
She shook her head. “Not my place.”
It wasn’t mine either, but I took the key in fingers numb even inside my gloves and slid it into the lock. My whole body unclenched when the key turned and I was able to push the door open. I’d never thought I’d be in a place where my literal life would be at risk because of stupid mistakes I’d made, but without Skye, I could have been in real danger in this storm tonight.
In case she was still concerned about breaking in, I stepped through the door first. The place was dark, and my hands slapped the wall for a light switch by habit. Damn it. It was a little spooky with no lights and the wind howling around the building. I turned to bring everything inside.
I pulled out my phone and used my mouth to take off my glove so I could turn on the flashlight.
“Don’t blind me with that!”
“Sorry.” I kept the light focused on the floor, and we dragged everything in.
She huffed a breath. “Water now?”
“I’ll get that.”
“Water is heavy and your shoes have no treads. We’d better both go.”
I hated that she was right, but I reluctantly followed her back into the storm. The water jugs were heavy, so as much as I would have liked to deal with it all myself, we both lugged a container back to the cottage. By then I couldn’t feel my toes or fingers.
It was a relief to shut the door behind us. I didn’t bother taking off my footwear but used the phone’s light to head directly for the great room. I hadn’t been here often, but I remembered a huge gas fireplace. It was another indication of how over-the-top Lina had gone, since no one came out here once the summer heat was over.
There it was. Would it start without power? Or would I have to find a match to light the pilot? I flicked the switch on the wall and almost collapsed when the flames lit up. With light and heat, we could survive. I wasn’t sure how much the gas fireplace could warm up a room this big, but we could camp out on the couches here to be as warm as possible.
“This place is huge,” Skye commented from behind me.
I turned, making sure to keep the phone flashlight down. “Yeah. I don’t know if this fireplace can warm up everything, but we can hang out here for tonight, right?”
She nodded slowly.
“I’ll see if I can find some matches. There should be candles around.”
I headed for the kitchen and started pulling out drawers. Wasn’t there anything like a junk drawer? I finally found one with flashlights, lighters, matches and some candles, as well as a first aid kit and batteries.
Skye spoke from behind me. “Someone is prepared.”
“Fortunately for us.” I pulled out a flashlight and passed it to her. She flicked it on and thankfully the damn thing lit up.
I grabbed one for myself. “There’s a bathroom by the front door, and one near the glass doors for the pool. Pick whatever one you want.”
“Water for the toilets?” she asked.
I looked at the two jugs I’d brought. I’d only expected me to be using the water. “We’ll have to be careful.”
“Do you know where there would be buckets?”
“No idea. Why?”
“We can melt some snow for non-drinking water.”
Right. “I’ll look.”
She shook her head. “No, you need to warm up. I’ve got Oscar’s old work jacket so I’m not as cold. You don’t mind if I look around for anything useful?”
Because I was not prepared. I felt like an idiot. “Go ahead, take what you want.”
“Family motto?” she asked.
“What?”
“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
No, I wasn’t going to, but I’d wait. Time was apparently the one commodity we had an excess of. “I’m going to look around upstairs—there’s gotta be a linen closet or something with blankets and I’ll grab a couple of pillows.” She frowned, but I wasn’t going to sit and let her do everything. “Meet you back here.”
I turned off the phone to save battery and followed the flashlight upstairs. There were five bedrooms, I counted, all with their own bathrooms. The beds had been stripped for the winter, but I found a walk-in linen closet with blankets, sheets and pillows all packed in plastic storage bags. I grabbed enough for the two of us and even found a spare toothbrush still in the packaging in the bathroom of the room I’d stayed in last time.
I headed downstairs, finding the air marginally warmer. Skye was in the kitchen with a couple of buckets of snow at her feet.
“This place have a can opener?”
“No idea. Why do you need one?”
“I found some soup and beans. Also diced tomatoes and tuna. Sound like a good meal?”
I dropped the bedding on the ground in front of the fire. “I brought better than that. We might as well eat the fresh stuff first and save the canned goods in case we’re here for a while.”
She came back. “You found blankets.”
“There’s more, if this won’t keep us warm. And bonus, I got this.” I held out the toothbrush.
“Just one?”
“I packed mine. This one is all yours.”
She eyed it for a moment before taking it. “Uh, thanks.”
I considered asking what her problem was but decided to wait till we’d eaten. Because suddenly I was starving.