Chapter Sixteen

Reconnecting

 

 

Claire held onto the other end of the two-by-four piece of wood as Colin hammered nails into it. They only had three windows to board up before they were finished. By now her hair had stopped blowing and was matted to her head by the pelting rain. The howling wind that ripped through the trees made it impossible to hear if someone had something to say. Rain would come harder at times than others. Colin’s black suit jacket steadily flapped up in the back as he hammered with a vengeance. He was soaked to the bone, and wanted Claire to go in earlier before the rain broke loose, but she’d refused to go.

“Okay, Claire. That’s all for now. Let’s go inside.”

She shook her head and followed him to the back door. Colin flipped the switch to the light by the entryway. Nothing happened. The storm had taken the electricity with its fierce winds and blowing rains. It was 4:00, yet it seemed much later by the darkness of the rooms inside. The boards they nailed up made it almost impossible to see anything.

Claire’s teeth began to chatter. “I’m freezing. Are there any blankets around here?” She opened the front closet and stood on her tiptoes to see the top shelf. The wind whistled under the threshold of the door.

“I’ll run up to Mom’s room and see if I can find one.”

Colin ran up the stairs, pulling at his jacket sleeves on the way. The dampness was settling a coldness in his bones.

Claire was rubbing her arms when he brought the blanket back down to her. “Here, take off your jacket and put this around your arms. I’ll go back up and see if there’s anything for you to change into.”

“Don’t worry about it, Colin. This blanket will be fine.”

He took out his phone and tried to make a call. Claire sat on the sofa, shivering. His cell service couldn’t pick up a signal in the storm.

“I guess it’s pretty bad. I can’t even make a call.”

“Well, there’s no sense in thinking I’ll get any warmer under this blanket. I should just get going. I’m sure the hotel has power. If not, then a generator. I can take a shower when I get there.” She stood and folded the cover.

“I hope the ferry is still running. They usually stop in bad weather.”

He looked at her standing there in the living room. Like so many years ago, only now the dream of having her as his own was gone. Their fate had found them. She was married to another man and he was with Emily. He knew he’d probably never see Claire again. He wished he could touch her just once more. To pull her close to him, smell her hair, and hear her breathing in his ear.

“Colin, are you ready?” She stood at the back door, waiting.

He’d gotten distracted by the dream. “Sure.”

The wind pulled back the screen as he tried to lock the door. Claire caught it and held onto it while he finished locking the door. He turned to her. “Thanks for helping me, Claire.”

She yelled back to him, holding her hair from whipping in her eyes. “You’re welcome. Drive safe, Colin.”

They ran off the porch together and got in their cars. They didn’t get far. A tall pine tree had blown across the road, just past the driveway. There was no way around it. Colin backed up his car and turned around in the road. Claire followed him back to the house.

 

∞ ∞ ∞

 

Claire was shivering as Colin opened the back door, again. She was clutching her overnight bag. If she didn’t get changed into something warm, she’d freeze to death.

“I can’t believe it. Will they send someone to cut the tree?” She laid her bag down on the kitchen floor as he shut the door behind him.

“I doubt it’ll be anytime soon. The storm will have to stop before that happens. Plus, most people on the cove are gone for the winter. The ones who stay are older and wait for people to come and cut trees.”

“Great.” Claire sighed. How was this all going to go down with Alex when he found out she was stranded in the beach house with Colin? What was she thinking? He could never find out. It’d taken so long to assure him she was over Colin, it would be like opening a wound if she told.

“And there’s no way to call anyone. Hopefully when the storm passes, the cell tower will return service.”

“Have you got an important call to make?” Claire asked.

“Kind of. More than that, Emily thinks I’m coming back home tonight. She’ll wonder where I’m at.”

The only thing Claire could think when she thought of Emily was her being a little fashion twit who came with her big daddy and long-sleeved-wearing mother to ruin her life and steal Colin away. She deserved to worry a little bit about him. Furthermore, she wished the little socialite would know Claire was with him. That was, until Claire came to her senses and realized she’d grown up since then. Now everyone had responsibilities. Colin’s to Emily’s included. But still.

“If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to change out of these wet clothes. I don’t want to get sick.”

“Hey, remember that first time when I got back from London and you were in the shower?”

Her head tilted and she threw out her hip. “Um, yes. And you came barging in the bathroom—”

“Which was my bathroom.”

“Which was your bathroom. But certainly you could hear and see that—”

“I heard nothing. Had I, I wouldn’t have opened the door.”

“But you swore you saw nothing.”

A devilish grin crept to his mouth. She picked up a fake orange that sat in a basket and threw it at him. He dodged it. “Hey, we’ve all told white lies, right?”

She thought about the big one she told to have him forget he ever met her. Some might say that wasn’t exactly the shade of white. “I knew better.”

“I’m going to go in the back and bring some wood to make a fire. Hopefully there’s still some. It looks like we’ll be staying here tonight.”

 

∞ ∞ ∞

Claire returned downstairs to see Colin carrying in a pile of wood. She could only see his nose past the bundle he carried in his arms. “Need some help?”

“If you could just find some matches in one of the drawers in the kitchen and maybe some candles. We’re going to be in complete darkness soon.”

She heard the wood fall to the floor and searched for the matches. They were in the drawer next to the silverware. She took them to Colin before she searched for the candles.

“Here.” She handed them to him. “After that, maybe you should change, too. You’ll catch cold staying in those clothes.”

“I didn’t pack anything. Remember, I was leaving?”

“Well, I’ll go upstairs and look for something.”

She found a candle on one of the end tables and lit it first before going. When she returned, he was standing over the fire. It was small; only one or two places on the wood had begun to burn. He was tossing newspapers on top of it. Smoke was filling up the room.

“Do you have the flue open?”

He adjusted it and like magic, the smoke began drawing up the chimney.

“How do you know about chimneys?” he asked, taking the clothes she brought down for him.

“Last winter, we moved to a house that has a fireplace. Alex tried it out for the first time and it did the same thing. It was quite a learning experience.”

Colin drew a deep breath with the mention of Lucifer’s name.

“What is this?” He held up a tank top and a pair of boxer shorts.

Claire laughed. “It’s the only thing I found in your drawers. By the looks of it, you were in high school when you last wore it.”

He held it up and shook his head back and forth. “You really expect me to wear this?”
      “If you don’t want to die of pneumonia. Your clothes are dripping, Colin.”

“Okay, but no laughing.”

“I have a nightshirt you can put on over it. It’s too cold to just wear a tank top.” She yelled out to him as he ran up the stairs to change.

Claire fumbled through her bag and pulled out the silk nightshirt. It was feminine but would do in a pinch. The shirt she wore would never fit him.

She walked down the hall to his room and knocked and waited. She put her head against the door and didn’t hear anything. The dim light was quickly leaving the inside of the house. She cracked the door and called his name. She jumped when he touched her shoulder from behind.

“Colin, I swear, I’m going to kill you for scaring me.” She put her hand up to swat him and he grabbed it. They stood still, both looking into each other’s eyes. She could feel her chest rise and fall at feeling his touch. And she could see his eyes searching for a sign from her. She gulped and held up the nightshirt to his chest.

“I brought this to you.”

He didn’t say a word. His eyes looked at her lips and her knees buckled a little. They were inches apart from each other.

“Thanks.”

She edged away from him and walked back down the dimly lit hall.

∞ ∞ ∞

 

He found her in the kitchen, staring in the pantry. Why couldn’t she have just tilted her head the slightest…given him the okay with her eyes? He would’ve devoured her right there and then. Taken and laid her on his bed and had his way with her. His body burned with desire for her. Nothing had changed. His heart still longed to be beside its counterpart. This was not going to be easy to share the same house and not fall into bed with Claire.

“Find anything to eat in there?”

She turned around and laughed.

“What? It’s not my color?” He stood there in the silk nightshirt. Luckily it was blue. He wore it unbuttoned, just enough to cover his arms and some of his legs. The little boxer shorts had shrunk to speedo size and his muscle shirt clung to his chest. He felt like the Incredible Hulk in that getup.

She bent over, laughing at him. “No, it’s lovely. And now I’ll never be able to wear it again and not think of you.”

She stopped laughing and turned around. Something she thought stole her happiness.

“So, either Frieda was a cat, had a cat, or entertained cats on a regular basis. There’s nothing but canned tuna in here. Oh, and four boxes of Triscuits. Care for either one of them?”

“Well, it’s too cold to go out to the guesthouse, so pick your poison.”

“I guess Triscuits and tuna.”

She smiled and took a can from the pantry and went in search of a can opener.

“Check for something to drink, Colin. There has to be something around here that’s better than tap water.”

He pulled a bottle of wine from the cabinet and held it up for Claire to inspect.

“It looks like it won’t be such a dull evening anymore. Maybe the port will even make us forget we’re eating cat food.” Her eyes lit with excitement.