Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
When it was just me, the house seemed much too big. I rarely had company—and never this kind.
I unearthed a box of peppermint tea and poured hot water into a thermos. I screwed on the top and braved a glance at the football star blocking the fireplace with his sheer size. Silas hadn’t moved a muscle…and I was beginning to worry that he couldn’t. I set the tea on the coffee table and googled hypothermia.
Step 1, call a medical professional. Silas had been very adamant about not doing that, and he was completely lucid. If I hadn’t thought his was a mild case, I would have taken him straight to the clinic. Or called my neighbor. But Dr. Shandley was in Florida for the winter, so, I’d done what Google had advised: The victim was warm and dry, and all wet clothing had been removed. The next step was to cover up with blankets or skin-to-skin contact.
I picked up the blanket he’d dropped and draped it over Silas’s shoulders.
He grunted a thank-you. “I’m gonna sit on the floor.”
“Stick close to the fire, but not too close.”
“Got it, Dad.”
“Smartass,” I grumbled.
“I’m okay here.” Silas grabbed my elbow for purchase and slowly sank to his knees in front of me.
I gave myself permission to use that imagery for spank bank material as soon as I knew he was in the clear. For now, we were at mission critical. Silas couldn’t stay on his knees or lie on the floor, for fuck’s sake. And the sectional was too cumbersome to move on my own. I was pretty sure I had a blow-up bed somewhere, though.
“Be back in a sec.”
I rummaged through the storage closet in the basement and found our camping gear: a tent, a portable propane stove, dozens of lanterns, a couple of blow-up mattresses, and thankfully, a pump. I brought a queen-sized mattress upstairs and shoved the coffee table out of the way while the motorized pump worked its magic.
Silas twisted toward me. “What’s all thissss?”
“A bed. It’ll be more comfortable than the floor, and you can stay close to the fire.”
“Oh.” He looked from the fireplace to me. “I can’t st-stay. I should g-go.”
“I know you want to.” And trust me, I felt the same. I pushed the coffee table against the sectional and continued. “But you’re still shaking, and the storm is just kicking into gear now. I don’t think you have any frostbite, which is a damn miracle, but you have a mild case of hypothermia, and the worst thing you could do is to go outside. So just…warm up and try to relax.”
I maneuvered the newly blown-up mattress in front of the hearth and tucked a sheet on it. I hoped Silas would take the hint and lie down, but no.
“This is a lot,” he commented with a wry grin.
“Just…do as I say. Please.”
Unbelievably, he did.
I covered Silas with the comforter and asked if he needed anything.
“N-no. I’m fine. Th-thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m going to call my kids. I’ll be in the kitchen in case—”
“Mmm…okay,” he intercepted, straightening his long legs.
I crouched to wrap his feet in the blanket and flashed what I hoped was a reassuring smile. I probably failed. The truth was…I wasn’t thrilled with the way my day was playing out. The kids should have been with me—not with their mom.
And Silas shouldn’t be here. At all.
I was low-key angry with him for embarking on his own like some kind of intrepid hunter. Silas didn’t know these parts. He was a Rolex-wearing city boy who didn’t know the first thing about snow.
I perched on a barstool at the kitchen island and made a few calls. I rescheduled my online meeting, made sure Layla had gone home, and told Pete, one of the warehouse managers, to let the rest of the crew go.
“Thanks, Boss. It’s a good call. The roads are nasty, and a few of our boys live in Fallbrook. They’re gonna have to take the long way around the lake. You heard they closed the pass out of Elmwood?”
“I did.” I gazed out the window at the winter white landscape. “Stay in touch. We’ll see what tomorrow is like, but if this is a hint of what’s to come, I don’t want anyone endangering themselves for a paycheck.”
“But you’ll be there,” he said drolly.
“We’ll see. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“All right. Be safe.”
I texted Hank to update him on the weather situation here, and what was beginning to look like an impromptu day and a half off at the mill. Then I scrolled to Ivy’s number.
She had nothing new to report. It was snowing too hard to do anything outside, so they were playing video games and if they could agree on a movie, they’d watch one later.
“Chase wants to watch Elf and he doesn’t even care that it’s not Christmas. Tell him not to be annoying,” Ivy griped.