Chapter 5
“Milo,” Grace called. “Where have you gotten off to?”
She looked under the sofa and got back up. He wasn’t anywhere, like he had disappeared.
“Milo,” she called again.
Finally she heard an answering meow. She followed the sound and opened the pantry for him to saunter out like she’d interrupted him.
“This isn’t home,” she scolded. “You have to stay where I can still find you.”
She sighed and set down his bowl of food. It was getting colder and colder in here and she needed to check the fire again. She’d gotten it going with very little issue but managed not to burn anything that wasn’t supposed to.
The last time she’d stoked the fire, it seemed to be fine, but now she was wondering what she might have done wrong since it wasn’t staying warm. The temperature outside had fallen too, she’d noticed when she checked for Milo outside earlier.
She got the paper with the instructions off the fridge and read them through again. She was supposed to check the fire more than she was, oops.
Opening the woodstove, she sighed. It had gone out completely. Now she’d have to start over completely.
That was what she was doing when someone knocked on the cabin door. In a manner that she was completely used to, she jumped, bumped her elbow on the woodstove door, and then landed on her butt when she’d turned.
The door opened, and she grabbed the poker in her hands before she saw who it was, preparing to defend herself.
“Grace?” Caleb called out.
“Here,” she sighed. “What are you doing here?” Was there no end to her embarrassing moments lately?
“What are you doing?” He was next to her to three long strides, holding a hand out to help her up.
“The fire went out, so I was trying to get it started again.”
He looked over her setup.
“I got it going yesterday.” For some reason, she needed to let him know that she was capable.
“You have to get all the old stuff out.” He didn’t wait another second and started undoing what she did.
Grace hung back and watched. If she knew where her phone was she’d record him to know what to do next time.
After he had a fire going, he turned to her. “Your friends are worried about you.”
It took her brain just one second to realize. “I forgot to call Kristen. Shoot. I don’t know where my phone is.”
He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her. “You left it on the front seat of the car. Which brings me to the fact that the car and the cabin were unlocked.”
“There’s no one up here.” She put her hands on her hips in defiance.
“But here I am, in the cabin with your phone because I was able to just walk into it all.”
“I know you, though.” Kinda.
The look her gave her said he knew she’d added that extra word in her head. “I’m not here to lecture you, but everyone’s worried and didn’t know if you knew about the storm?”
“What storm?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.
“Grace,” he sighed again. “It’s freezing in here and there’s already a couple inches of snow on the ground.” He went to the door and held it open.
“Oh,” she managed. “Thank you for getting the fire going. I would have figured it out, but this was helpful.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Do you need to get right back out? I promise to call Kristen right away.” She just stood there awkward in the open living space.
“I’m going to hang out for a little while and make sure the fire stays lit. But, I need to use your bathroom, if you don’t mind?”
“Of course.” She pointed to the door.
While he was in there, she picked up Milo’s bowl and cleaned it, setting it out to dry. How humiliating that Caleb would show up here and need to remind her to call her friends.
They had him drive all the way up here, too. This man was just trying to live his life and her friends had convinced him she needed rescuing. Not that it wasn’t her fault. She should have remembered her phone.
She didn’t like carrying it. Not that it wasn’t useful, she just didn’t use it that much. All she’d done in the day she’d been up here was read and pet Milo. She hadn’t even made food last night for herself.
When Caleb came out of the bathroom, Milo twined himself about his legs. Grace watched, prepared to jump in and rescue her cat if he didn’t like Milo.
“Where did you come from?” Caleb bent down and picked Milo up.
“Sorry. He’s mine.”
“Good to know you’re not alone, then.” He took Milo to the couch and sat, putting Milo in his lap and petting him.
Milo purred and looked up at her like he knew she was thinking she wished it was here.
“Is there anything else you need a little help with before I head out?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Do you have more wood than this somewhere?”
She shook her head. “I think that’s plenty, though?” “Maybe if it wasn’t going to get even colder. I’ll bring in some more for you.”
“I can do it,” she quickly went to the door to put her boots on.
“We both can, then, and it will be that much quicker.” Caleb rose and put Milo down on the couch. “You need as much as you can in, because it needs to be dry.”
“Thanks,” she muttered.
She hated feeling incapable. She hated that this man was here helping her and telling her the things she should have known.
As soon as they got back in from carrying in the firewood, she would call Kristen and charge her phone. Then he could leave, and she could go back to her books.
Grace made three trips with much less firewood in her arms to his five trips and triple the wood in his arms. The snow had continued to come down, and the wind had picked up when he told her they were done.
“I think this is enough. Let’s check the fire.”
He walked her through exactly what to do, his instructions made more sense than the paper Mr. Anderson had left.
“Thank you for all this. Do you need to get on the road soon?”