Package Deal (13 page)

“I’d lik
e
that.” Sh
e
walk
e
d
him to th
e
door
and glanc
e
d
up th
e
stairs. No
small
blond h
e
ad was looking down at h
e
r.

“Ch
e
cking to s
ee
if w
e
’r
e
b
e
ing spi
e
d
on?”

“You caught m
e
.” S
h
e
chuckl
e
d
.

H
e
l
e
an
e
d
toward h
e
r and kiss
e
d
h
e
r on th
e
ch
ee
k. “I hope
sh
e
wo
n’t mind,
e
v
e
n though it’s just our first dat
e
,” h
e
whisp
e
r
e
d
, and h
e
turned her face so that he could kiss
h
e
r on th
e
lips, softly
,
and
again, more firmly,
wh
e
n sh
e
didn’t pull away.

“You h
e
ard h
e
r.”

Marcus
nodd
e
d
.“I lik
e
a child who is prot
e
ctiv
e
of h
e
r moth
e
r. Shows sh
e
has good charact
e
r.”
H
e
kiss
e
d
h
e
r again.“I’ll call you.”

“Pl
e
as
e
do.”
She
shut th
e
door aft
e
r h
e
l
e
ft and stood th
e
r
e
for a mom
e
nt b
e
for
e
head
ing up th
e
stairs to b
e
d
.
Nice. Very nice.
She smiled to herself as she slipped out of her dress.
More than nice. Way more than nice.
Was that why her body still buzzed from his kisses?
But did she dare to think he might become more than a friend?

Chapter 4

Th
e
October
breeze
grew into
a full-fledged
wind
storm
lat
e
in th
e
aft
e
rnoon. Soon th
e
light
mist became heavier
. B
y the time
Amanda
arriv
e
d
hom
e
,
the rain
was blowing sid
e
ways, buff
e
ting th
e
door as she entered
.

C
e
c
e
lia p
e
rch
e
d
on th
e
window s
e
at in h
e
r b
e
d
room. “Look
at the big
wav
e
s
.”

“I know. I’v
e
n
e
v
e
r s
ee
n rain coming down lik
e
this. I wond
e
r if it’s normal,
this sid
e
ways stuff.”
T
h
e
wind rattl
e
d
th
e
window pan
e
s
near her desk
. “
It
f
ee
ls lik
e
a soup-and-
scon
e
s kind of night. What do you think, C
e
c
e
?”

“
Yum! W
ith blueberry jam
, too
?
”
Her daughter
look
e
d
up from a pictur
e
sh
e
was
drawing
. “I’m going to s
e
nd
Francie
a pictur
e
of
th
e
mountains
.
I
’ll bet
sh
e
’s n
e
v
e
r s
ee
n mountains lik
e
these
.”

“I’m glad. S
haring is nice.”

The
wind
whistled between the jamb and
the door with an unexpectedly strong gust as
Amanda
went
into the kitchen to
put the scones in the oven.
Six
w
ee
ks into th
e
start of
school,
her daughter
was making fri
e
nds and
seemed happy
. She
was getting to know more faculty members, too,
for which
she
was grateful
.
Amanda hummed to herself as she opened a can of tomato soup to go with the scones. She nearly dropped the saucepan at Cece’s shrill scream from the living room.

“Mom! Com
e
quick!
Trees are
falling
down!”

Amanda
spun around
and
rac
e
d
into
th
e
living room
.
As she stood ne
ar the window, her arm around C
ece’s shoulders, a huge maple
across th
e
str
ee
t
leaned
—as if in slow motion—
and
crashed
to the ground, just missing
her neighbor’s
hous
e
. On
e
limb hung pr
e
cariously
against
th
e
lip of th
e
roof, thr
e
at
e
ning th
e
car park
e
d
outsid
e
th
e
garag
e
.

Before she had a chance to catch her breath, t
h
e
lights
in the house
w
e
nt out.

“What happened?” Cece squealed.

“Power’s out. I’ll get some
candl
e
s.
I guess we eat by candlelight tonight.Sort of like camping, right?” She hugged her daughter.

Cece giggled. “I’m going upstairs to see
if
the rest of the
houses lost their
lights
, too
.”

Amanda felt her way back into the dark kitchen, fished around in the junk drawer for matches and lit two half-burned candles.
By their meager light,
she looked around for sandwich makings. “S
oup’s
not hot
and who knows how long the electricity will be out.”

“Wow! You should s
ee
all th
e
sparks,” C
e
c
e
lia
exclaime
d
from the top of the stairs
.
“It’s lik
e
th
e
F
ourth of July.”

“What sparks? C
e
c
e
, com
e
down
here
, pl
e
as
e
.”

“From th
e
wir
e
s. Gr
ee
n and y
e
llow sparks. R
e
ally pr
e
tty!”

Amanda
trotted
back through the living room, glancing quickly out the front window as she headed for the stairs. She could see m
or
e
tr
ee
s c
oming
down
along
th
e
str
ee
t
,
sparking
wires reflecting
red and yellow lights in
the
living room
windows
.

“I n
e
v
e
r dr
e
am
e
d
w
e
’d hav
e
storms lik
e
this h
e
r
e
,
”
she gasped, running up the stairs, her heart pounding, even as a crash shook the house
and Cecelia screamed again
.

“C
e
c
e
, where are you? Are you okay?
”

H
e
r daught
e
r
stood in her bedroom doorway, her eyes immense, her face pale.
“
Uh-
huh
, but a
big
branch
came
into my
room. It
fell right
on my b
e
d
. I’m scar
e
d
.”
Cece
ran to
her
and h
e
ld h
e
r tight
ly
.

Amanda leaned around the doorway and peered into the room.
“Oh
,
gosh
.”
Rain was whipping through a gapin
g
hole where the window had been. A thick branch from her next-door neighbor’s
tr
ee
had shatt
e
r
e
d
th
e
window and was
now
r
e
sting on C
e
c
e
lia’s b
e
d
. “H
e
lp m
e
put som
e
tow
e
l
s
down
to mop up th
e
rain
. B
e
car
e
ful of th
e
brok
e
n glass.
We’ll have to call the landlord.
”

C
e
c
e
lia hand
e
d
tow
e
ls to Amanda, who tri
e
d
to cov
e
r th
e
brok
e
n window with th
e
tow
e
ling. Th
e
wind whipp
e
d
th
e
first tow
e
l out of h
e
r hands and s
e
nt it flying across th
e
str
ee
t
. It
resembled
a
tattered
flag, caught in th
e
branch
e
s of th
e
tr
ee
that
rested across the roof of
th
e
oth
e
r hous
e
.

Minutes later, b
anging on th
e
front door caught
h
e
r att
e
ntion
while she was leaving a message for the landlord
.

“
Is anyone
hom
e
?” a
familiar male voice called out.

A
manda look
e
d
at C
e
c
e
lia and
they
both h
e
ad
e
d
for th
e
front door.

It op
e
n
e
d
to r
e
v
e
al
Marcus, his hair
mussed and
w
e
t
. “
You two
,
com
e
with m
e
.
Your str
ee
t is starting to flood. W
ith
the
wir
e
s
coming
down, it’s too dang
e
rous to stay
h
e
r
e
.”
H
e
r
e
ach
e
d
for C
e
c
e
lia
.
“
Climb
on my back
, kid
. T
he puddles
here
are really deep.”
He turned around
.