Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
By midafternoon, as the storm raged on, they’d all had enough small talk.
They’d played Candy Land, tic-tac-toe, and The Game of Life with Winston; Emily had colored with him in his coloring book; and Blair had tested the obstacle courses he’d built with blocks for his Matchbox cars while Julia finished the laundry, taking advantage of the power still being on.
“I’m bored,” Winston said, climbing into Patrick’s lap on the sofa.
Patrick had been on the phone for quite a while, checking in with his crew.
He’d called the building team to be sure they’d safely dismantled the remaining scaffolding and secured the dumpsters; then he’d jumped right on another call, asking if they’d sandbagged all the low-entry points, telling them he’d gotten all the furniture and equipment to higher ground himself.
Once the restaurant was taken care of, he alerted a couple of clients that he’d have to reschedule their events due to the storm.
It was clear the locals had all been through this sort of thing before, every move seemingly done like clockwork.
After his calls, Patrick had clicked between baseball games and The Weather Channel all day. He turned away from the third inning of the Phillies and Reds to respond to Winston.
“Sorry, bud. There’s not much we can do with all of us stuck in the house. Wanna draw or something?”
“I already did that.”
“What about your Legos?” Julia offered, walking through the room with a laundry basket full of folded clothes.
Winston made a face.
They were going to have to get creative. Emily stood up. “I’ve got an idea. Want to play a game?”
Winston brightened.
“I’ll need some supplies from your room. Is that okay?”
He nodded.
“Be right back.”
She went into Winston’s room and looked through his shelves and toyboxes, collecting small toys.
In a few minutes, she’d gathered another Matchbox car, an action figure, a small parachute man, a large marble, a bouncy ball, and a slew of other items. She came back into the living room and dumped them on the table.
“What’s all that?” Winston asked, catching the runaway marble.
“It’s going to be part of your scavenger hunt.”
He gasped. “Scavenger hunt?”
“Yep. All I need to make it is a piece of paper and a pen. Know where I can get those?”
Winston scrambled off Patrick’s lap and ran over to the desk at the back of the living room. He retrieved a pad and pen from the middle drawer and ran back over to her, holding them out.
“Now, you can’t look at what I’m writing,” she said. “It’s a surprise.”
Winston giggled with anticipation. He went back over to Patrick and sat next to him. “This is gonna be fun!” he told his uncle.
Patrick chuckled.
As Emily wrote, she glanced at Patrick. His attention was on her with an interest she hadn’t seen before. She dared not meet his eyes again because when he looked at her like that, it sent her heart pattering.
She created the scavenger hunt, and Patrick made small talk with Winston about the baseball game, explaining the different pitches and why one of the players stole second base. Sienna looked on curiously while Blair’s attention moved from Emily to scrolling on her phone.
Emily finished. “Now, Winston, you’ll have to leave while I hide these. Want to go into your bedroom?”
“Okay!” Winston ran into his room. The door smacked shut.
“He’s excited about this,” Julia said, sitting next to Patrick when Emily got up to hide the items.
She wagged the action figure in front of Patrick. “I need to hide this in the sofa. Could I use your pillow?”
He leaned away from it, and Emily reached around him, burying the toy in the pillowcase.
She was close enough to catch his woodsy, spicy scent.
It was more masculine than Will’s, and her breath suddenly became shallow so as not to breathe it in.
Too much of that and her heart might beat right out of her chest.
She righted herself. That thoughtfulness flickered on Patrick’s face again, but he didn’t say anything. His sister seemed to notice, though, her attention moving between him and Emily. Sienna and Blair weren’t any better. Emily cleared her throat and went into the kitchen to hide the bouncy ball.
When all the items had been hidden, she called for Winston.
He raced out of his room.
“Ready for the first clue?” she asked.
The boy nodded excitedly.
“I’m quick and small, and I zoom on the floor, but right now, I’m hiding near the door.”
He ran over to the front door, lifting Patrick’s boots, and running his hand under the mat. He put his little hands on his hips and surveyed the area. “This door, right?”
“Yep,” Emily said.
Winston ran his fingers around the flowerpot on the shelf by the door, pulling the ball out from the back. “Found it!”
“Yay! That’s awesome. And quick,” Emily said. “Ready for the next one?”
Winston jumped around. “Yes!”
“I’m a tiny hero who’s taking a nap in a place where soft pillows fill in the gap.”
Winston ran down the hall and into Julia’s bedroom, making Sienna and Blair laugh.
“His enthusiasm is contagious,” Blair said.
“And look at Emily,” Sienna added. “Totally in her element and making us look like bumps on a log. The best I had for Winston was hangman.”
“She’s right,” Julia said. “I wouldn’t have thought of this.”
“I’m used to keeping kiddos busy,” Emily replied.
“You’re good at it,” Patrick said, his deep voice sailing across the room.
Emily swallowed. There went her pulse, racing. “Thanks.”
Winston ran back in, holding a bed pillow. He pushed it into Julia’s arms. “Nothing’s in there. You check.”
“Are those the only pillows in the house?” Emily asked.
“No, but I was in my room while you hid it, so it can’t be in there.”
Emily looked around dramatically.
Winston gasped and dove over to Patrick, sinking his hand under the pillow.
“You think it’s that easy? You’re gonna have to find this one while fighting off the Tickle Monster.” And with that, Patrick bombarded him with tickles.
Winston flailed around, giggling and wrestling Patrick while trying to find the action figure. He heaved with laughter, grasping Patrick’s wrists with his hands.
The sight of them made Emily’s chest bubble with affection. That brooding man she’d first encountered at the mansion was actually a lighthearted, affectionate guy under the right circumstances. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.
Then, suddenly, Winston raised his little fist in the air with the action figure.
Patrick let him go. “That’s skill,” he said playfully.
Winston doubled over, hooting with laughter and out of breath from wrestling.
Patrick glanced over at Emily, and she locked eyes with him. She smiled, and the soft lift of his lips in return gave her a rush she wasn’t sure what to do with.
That night, while Patrick cleaned up a crab-leg dinner worthy of a five-star restaurant, and they finished their final round of Candy Land, a call came through on his phone.
His tone was serious while he wiped parsley bits off the counter, the phone tucked between his ear and shoulder.
“I hear you, but I’m done. After the last thing, I’m done…
Look, there’s a storm raging right now. Let’s talk about promotion opportunities once we get through this. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay, buddy,” Julia said to Winston, standing from the kitchen table. “Time to get into your jammies and hit the sack.”
“One more game,” Winston whined, clutching his purple Candy Land game piece.
“That was the last game, remember? I think everyone’s tired,” she said, winking at Emily. “We’ve been going strong all day.”
“Maybe we can play again over breakfast,” Blair offered.
Just then, the lights flickered, and they were plunged into darkness. Until that moment, it had been pretty uneventful inside, once Emily got used to the smack of branches hitting the house, the loud shush of the rain against the roof, and the house creaking from the high winds.
There was a faint pop and a fizzle, and then a soft light bathed the immediate space. Julia sunk a match into a jar candle and set it in the center of the table, sending a gold light onto their faces.
They followed the storm on the radio, and while it was still wreaking havoc, it seemed to be turning out to sea again.
“It looks as if we’re going to get the back side of it,” Sienna said, “and the worst will be out in the Gulf.”
Patrick reached over to the counter and clicked on a flashlight, the white beam cutting through the buttery glow. “It’s still too early to know for sure. But for now, I’ll go get the power station.”
He opened the door between the kitchen and the garage and disappeared. Minutes later, he emerged with a contraption the size of a carry-on suitcase.
Winston clambered down from the chair. “You said I could help.”
“All right, bud, but then you need to get some sleep. It’s late.”
“Okay,” he said, already crouched down, pawing at the machine. “What’s this?”
“That’s the LED display,” Patrick said, unbothered, his large biceps flexing in the dim light as he maneuvered the refrigerator away from the wall. He handed Winston the flashlight.
“How about this?” The little boy shone the beam onto what looked like a cigarette lighter.
“DC ports,” Patrick said over his shoulder while creating a wedge of space between the back corner of the fridge and the wall. “Hey, can you come over with that light? I need your help.”
Winston jumped to his feet and ran to him excitedly.