7. Rachel
7
Rachel
W e watch the clouds roll in and Preston calls Lilly to come onto the porch. A few minutes later, the rain starts. Preston doesn’t seem too concerned, but it looks to me like it isn’t going to end anytime soon.
I glance at him. “So, do you get these storms here often?”
“A few each summer.” He looks at the sky. “It should blow over.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
He looks at me. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
He goes to a stack of firewood on the porch and picks up several pieces, then smirks at me. “It seems you don’t have a lot of luck when it comes to firewood or woodstoves. I’ll bring these inside in case this lasts awhile, and it gets cold.”
“It’s all yours, boss. I’m not touching it.”
I stay on the porch with Lilly and we watch the rain, which is coming down hard now. When Preston comes back out, he has the packed lunch with him.
“How about we eat our lunch while this weather clears up?”
I take the lunch from him and hand out the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while he checks his phone. He tucks it back in his pocket with a frown then smiles when he sees me watching him .
“No service out here.”
“Are we losing our optimism?”
He shakes his head. “Not yet.” He takes a bite of his sandwich and nudges Lilly. “What do you think about this rain, Lillybug?”
“It’s loud. And I wanted to go to the pond.”
“We’ll go when it stops. If it’s not too muddy.”
Lilly seems satisfied with his answer, but I have my doubts the rain is going to stop anytime soon, and even if it did, the path to the pond will be muddy. In fact, the trail all the way home will be muddy. Our day of adventure may get even more adventurous.
When the wind picks up and the rain starts coming onto the porch, we go inside. Preston lights another lantern, and we can see pretty well between the two of them and the gray light coming through the window.
Lilly goes to the couch and sits down. “What are we going to do now?”
Preston kneels in front of the woodstove. “Well, I, for one, would love a cup of coffee. How about you, Lilly?”
She giggles. “I don’t drink coffee.”
I glance toward the kitchen area. “I’ll go see what’s in the cupboards.”
Preston begins getting the woodstove ready for a fire, which seems to indicate he is beginning to believe as I do. The rain isn’t going to stop anytime soon.
There is a set of cupboards above the counter in the kitchen and three more below it. I search through the ones above first. There are several cans of food we can eat if we are still here for dinner. I also find a can of coffee and a plastic container with small packages of hot chocolate .
I turn toward the living area. “How about some hot chocolate, Lilly?”
She turns on the couch and gets onto her knees as she looks at me over the back of it.
“I love hot chocolate.” She exclaims.
“How about you, Preston? There’s coffee.”
“Coffee sounds great. I think I’ll start this fire, too. It’s starting to cool off a little.”
I smile at him. “You know, I’m an expert at lighting woodstoves. I can do it if you want.”
He chuckles. “I’ve got it, thanks.”
I laugh. “Alright. I’ll just heat some water for the hot chocolate and get this percolator going.”
There is a ten gallon container of water with a spigot. I fill a kettle with water then fill the percolating coffee pot. It will make four cups of coffee. I figure we might need it all and then some.
While the water heats, I look through the remaining cupboards. Most everything is in cans, but there are two different kinds of pasta in plastic containers. There are also crackers, cookies, and some cans of nuts. Everything had been packaged to keep the bugs and rodents out. I imagine in a house that sits empty most of the time, it’s a necessity.
Lilly is still watching me over the back of the couch, and I smile at her. “Almost ready.”
“Are there marshmallows?”
“No, but there are some chocolate chip cookies.”
She claps her hands in excitement then turns back around to watch Preston. He’d lit some paper under the kindling and is watching to make sure it ignited the wood. I watch him for a moment too. Out here, in this place, he isn’t the rich Preston Michaelson or even my boss. He is just a man making sure his daughter and I are warm and comfortable.
When he closes the door and stands, I look away. I don’t need him to know I am admiring him in a way that I shouldn’t. Regardless of how I am seeing him right now, he is still my boss. My extremely good looking boss who I’m very interested in getting to know better.
When the water is hot, I make Lilly’s hot chocolate then pour two cups of coffee. I bring Preston and Lilly their cups then retrieve my own. Preston is sitting in the chair, so I sit on the couch next to Lilly.
She looks at me. “Cookies?”
“Oh right.” I start to get up, but Preston stops me. “I’ll get them. Sit. You’ve been slaving away in the kitchen for…ten minutes or so.” He smirks at me.
I smile. “Thank you. I am pretty worn out from boiling the water.” I tease.
He gets the cookies and hands one to Lilly then offers me one. “Care for a cookie?”
“I think I will, thank you.”
He takes one for himself then sets the package on the table next to his chair. While he takes a bite, he goes to the front door and opens it. The rain is still angling onto the porch and he closes the door.
“No change.” He returns to his chair. “So, it’s not looking super great out there.”
“Do you still think it’s going to blow on through?”
He glances at Lilly, then shakes his head. “I think the rain is here to stay for a while.”
I finish my cookie. “So what does that mean, exactly?”
He leans forward. “Lilly, how’d you like to spend the night in the cabin tonight? ”
I grab her cup of cocoa right before she jumps up to celebrate. “We’re going to have a sleepover?”
He looks at me. “Um…Sort of.” He raises an eyebrow at me. “What do you think?”
“I guess we don’t have a lot of options if it keeps raining.” This is an interesting development, and I need a moment to let it sink in. I get up and go to the kitchen and open a cupboard. “There’s plenty to eat. We won’t go hungry.”
When I turn back around, Preston is right behind me. I gasp, and he takes a step back.
“Sorry.”
“No. It’s fine. I just didn’t hear you get up.”
“If you’re not comfortable with this, we can bundle up Lilly and attempt to hike on out of here.”
“Of course not. It’s fine. Really.”
He looks at me for a moment. “Maybe it’ll stop in time for us to leave before dark.”
“Maybe.” I’d be lying if I said a part of me didn’t want it to stop. I wanted the three of us to stay in this cabin in the rain.
“We’ll see how it goes.” He steps back again, then crosses the room to the door. “I better bring in some more firewood before it gets too wet. I think the pile is catching some of the splashes from the rain on the porch.”
“Good idea. Just in case.”
He goes outside, and I go to the door so I can open it for him. I step outside, and he looks at me. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Yes. It’ll make Lilly’s day of adventure into a night of adventure.”
He moves to the woodpile. “Well, I don’t know how adventurous it’ll be. Not a lot to do in there. ”
“We’ll figure out something. Do you know any good ghost stories? Appropriate for a child, of course.”
He thinks for a moment. “I don’t think so.”
“Don’t tell me you and your friends at boarding school didn’t exchange a story or two.”
He grins. “Sure. But nothing I want to share with Lilly.”
“I’ll come up with something.”
“I’m sure you will.” He loads his arms with firewood, and I open the door for him.
As he goes through the door, I ask, “Do you want me to grab a couple more pieces?”
“Are you going to threaten me with them?”
I shake my head and smile. “You really need to let that go.”
He drops the wood by the woodstove. “I would, except you’re the only person who ever accused me of being an intruder. And you were prepared to run me off.”
“I wasn’t thinking, clearly. It was my first day! I was nervous and wanted to make a good impression. Then there was someone I hadn’t met yet just standing there…I guess I went into protector mode.”
“You made an impression all right.” He mutters while he returns to the chair and picks up his coffee. “I was wearing a suit. I’m pretty sure I didn’t look too much like someone who’d break into someone else’s house.”
“You were on the back porch with a big box in your arms.”
He laughs. “My back porch.”
“Yes. We established that.” I love how this trip has brought out a more playful Preston. He seems more relaxed and comfortable around me. That is a good thing, and it makes me quite happy.
Lilly jumps to her feet. “I know what we can do.”
Preston smiles at her. “What, Lillybug? ”
“We can make a fort!”
He looks at me and I smile. “I think that’s a great idea.” I stand and take Lilly’s hand. “Let’s see if there are some extra blankets in the trunk by the bed.”
The trunk has blankets and pillows in it, and I take a few of them out.
“Okay. Where should we build it?”
Lilly looks around the room. “We can use the couch and the kitchen chairs.”
“That’s perfect.” I glance at Preston, who is smiling at me. I return it, then look away. His smile is infectious and does things to my stomach. I’d felt butterflies a time or two in my limited experience around men. But this is a whole new level. The effect seems to be exaggerated now that we are in this small cabin with the prospect of spending the night here.
He gets to his feet. “What can I do?”
I hand him a blanket. “You can figure out how to attach this to the back of the couch.”
“Hmm. Okay, I went to Princeton. I should be able to come up with something.”
“Did you study engineering?”
He laughs. “No, business.”
“So, that probably won’t help you much.”
“I guess not.” He sets the blanket down. “But I know what might. I’ll be right back.” He goes to the door and takes a raincoat from a hook hanging next to it.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m accomplishing the mission you gave me.”
“And you need a raincoat to do that? ”
He nods then goes through the door. A few minutes later, the door opens, and he is on the other side of it, soaked. He smiles and holds up a handful of clothespins.
I laugh. “Oh my gosh. Stay there. Let me get you a towel.” There is a beach towel in the trunk and I bring it to him. He takes off the raincoat and hangs it outside. Then comes inside the door and takes off his boots.
“You’re kind of crazy, you know that?”
He shrugs. “Just wanted to do my part.” He dries his face and hair. His shirt is dry because it has been under the raincoat. But his pants are wet from the knees down. He hands me the clothespins. “If you can handle this, I’m going to go stand by the woodstove for a bit.”
“Good idea.” Well, that was pretty darn cute.
Lilly laughs. “Daddy, you’re our hero.”
I have to agree with her.