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“Give me one sec,” she told Bo and stepped away from the table but not from the kitchen. “Hey, babe. Thanks for calling... Yeah, I’ve got power. The generator’s still working. Bo says the propane tank holds three hundred gallons and can last for a couple of days, at least. But you’ll never believe this—a tree fell on Bo’s cabin and caved in the roof... Yeah, he’s okay. He’s here at the cottage with me... I have no idea, but it’s still going strong right now. We’re just hoping it’ll blow over by morning... What’d you say?... We’re in the middle of a terrible storm, Remy. We’re just trying to get through it... Of course not! I can’t believe you’d even say that!”
Bo began to feel uncomfortable again. Ismay had insisted that having him come to the cottage was the only logical choice they had, but he could tell Remy wasn’t happy about it.
“Where else would you like him to go?... Forget it,” she said. “You must be too tired to think straight, or you wouldn’t be saying any of this... Who cares what the neighbors will think? This could be life and death!”
“I can leave,” Bo murmured after standing up and touching her arm to gain her attention, but she waved emphatically for him to sit back down.
“Go ahead and go to sleep,” she said into the phone. “I can’t deal with this right now... No, we’ll talk about it in the morning... Well, maybe this is one time you won’t get your way,” she said and disconnected.
“I should go back to the cabin,” Bo said and got up again.
“No.” She followed him to the door, putting her hand on the panel when he tried to open it. “If you leave, I’ll just have to come out in the storm again to check on you. Why keep me up all night, worrying? Remy is safe in California, where it’s probably hard to imagine what we’re going through over here, especially because he believes I must be exaggerating. He says it’s not the season for nor’easters or hurricanes.”
She’d told Remy about the tree that’d fallen on the cabin. But Bo didn’t point that out. Maybe hewouldn’tleave. Why give the spoiled Remy what he wanted when they had such a good excuse not to, one they could easily explain to Annabelle so there would be no risk of him losing his job? Why not let Remy worry all night that his fiancée was stranded in the cottage with another man?
It would probably be the greatest adversity Remy Windsor had ever faced... “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. Let’s go ahead and play cribbage. I’ll teach you how.”
Her phone went off again. She looked at it but silenced the ringer.
Bo nodded his head toward it. “That him?”
“He’s not used to anyone hanging up on him, especially me,” she said ruefully. “But I don’t want to get into it with him. You and I are in an unusual situation. If he’s not going to be understanding and supportive, it’s better I talk to him when this is all over. I mean, it’s not like I’ve ever cheated on him. I don’t deserve his distrust.”
Maybe she hadn’t cheated, would never cheat, but Ismay was a beautiful, smart, engaging person with a kind and generous heart. As far as he could tell, she had it all. Who wouldn’t want a woman like that? If she were his fiancée, he’d probably be jealous, too—just because he’d be so afraid of losing her. A man with his background couldn’t even hope to attract someone like her.
But Bo was pretty sure Remy’s jealousy stemmed more from control than fear. He wanted to tell her what to do, even though he was three thousand miles away. “Okay,” he said. “I guess I’ll learn cribbage.”
She beat him in the first two games; he beat her in the third. By then, it was getting late, and the storm finally seemed to be waning. But Bo didn’t leave. She wouldn’t hear of him going back to a house with a tree fallen through it. Instead, they got pillows and blankets from the bedrooms and curled up on separate couches with the lantern he’d brought glowing softly on the coffee table between them.
“It was nice of you to come check on me,” he said, breaking the silence before she could drift off to sleep.
“Be careful,” she warned with a yawn.
He adjusted his pillow so that he could better see the outline of her shape. “Or...?”
“You might end up with a friend, and I get the impression you’re not too keen on letting people get that close to you.”
“Is that how I come off?” he asked.
“You didn’t know?”
Of course, he knew. But he also regretted it. It wasn’t what he’d choose if he had a choice. Some things just couldn’t be helped. “It’s not acompletesurprise.”
She drew her blanket up higher. “Will you make an allowance for me?”
“Sure,” he replied with a chuckle. Why not? She lived clear across the country. He just had to get through the next couple of months without revealing too much about himself. Then he’d probably only see her when she returned now and then with Remy, as Remy’s wife—and Bo had no doubt that would be an entirely different experience.
Ismay woke to the smell of coffee and...sausage? She inhaled again. Yes, sausage. “You’re up already?” she called out to Bo with a stretch.
“Already?” Bo echoed from the kitchen. “It’s nearly eight o’clock.”
She chuckled. He’d said that as if it were almost noon. “Clearly, I’m being lazy,” she said. “But I’ve spent the last several years studying until all hours of the night only to get up a few hours later to take a test or attend a class. I plan to sleep in all I can while I’m here.”
“Might as well enjoy it,” he said, his voice still drifting from near the stove. “You’ll have to get back on a stricter schedule when you start your practice in July, won’t you?”
“Not necessarily. I’ll be in business for myself, so I’m hoping to set my own hours.” She pushed the few strands of hair that’d fallen from her ponytail out of her face. “The money and other effort I’ve put toward getting through college should bring me something.”
