She barely felt the cold or rain as she stood on her welcome mat and watched his truck back out into the street and disappear. Then she met her son in the house.

  “All right, kiddo, lets get you ready for bed.”

  By the time Dax got to bed it was close to three in the morning. Luckily, he was a deep sleeper, and it took him nothing to reach his REM cycle.

  His only hope was that the goats or rooster didn’t wake him up at the crack of dawn.

  None of them really liked the rain, so if it was still raining, they’d probably sleep in. As they all should.

  He was in the middle of a fantastic dream when his phone started to ring.

  At first, he thought that the ringing was in his dream. That the music he and his band were playing to a cheering crowd of thousands had some weird background acoustics that they were experimenting with. But that wasn’t it at all.

  It was his phone.

  Slowly, he roused enough to shoot his hand out to his nightstand and grapple for his phone. He had blackout blinds in his room, so it could be noon for all she knew.

  He didn’t bother to check the time before he put the phone to his ear after hitting the green button. “Hello?” he gritted out.

  “D-Dax?” came a breathy feminine voice.

  He grunted and wiped the sleep from his eyes. Then he realized who it probably was, and suddenly, he was awake. “Jennifer? Everything okay?”

  “I woke you up?”

  “I-it’s okay. What’s wrong?”

  “I … I shouldn’t have called. I’m so sorry.”

  “Jennifer. Stop. It’s fine. What’s wrong?”

  She was quiet for a moment.

  He sat up in bed. “What’s wrong, Jennifer?” he probed again.

  “Is your power out?” she finally asked.

  He reached over to turn on the bedside table lamp. It didn’t turn on. He tossed off the covers, then went over to the light switch on the wall and tried it. That was when the chill of the house settled on his skin, causing goosebumps to break out on his bare arms and legs.

  He slept in nothing but boxer briefs, but generally didn’t have an issue with the cold. The house was freezing, though.

  He dove back under the covers. “It would appear so.”

  “Oh,” was all she said.

  “Wait, are you guys okay?”

  “J-just cold. We’ve got layers on, but the power was actually out when we got home. We just didn’t know. We thought it’d come back on over night, but it hasn’t. A lot of this part of the island is out. A few trees fell on powerlines.”

  “Okay. I have a generator, so yes, my house is without power and currently cold, but that doesn’t mean it will be forever. I also have a woodstove.” He climbed out of bed again, put her on speaker and started pulling on his jeans, a Henley and wool socks. “I’m just going to get dressed, build a fire and start the generator, then I’ll come get you guys, okay?”

  “N-no. You don’t have to do that. I … I’m supposed to be at work.”

  “Yeah, but is your work going to be open if there is no power? Is Levi at school?”

  “The school has no power. Neither does my work. And they’re both closed because of it.”

  “All the more reason for you to not stay home and freeze to death, and come here where it’s warm.”

  “I …”

  “I told you to call me if you needed anything. I’m glad you did.”

  She swallowed. “My uh … my landlords … they’re an older couple and—”

  “I have room for them, too. Everybody pack bags and I’ll be there in half an hour.” Then he hung up and went out to the kitchen to make coffee. The clock on his phone said it was just past nine. He’d slept for a little under six hours. Not ideal, but he’d functioned on less.

  A lot less in his partying and touring days.

  He’d functioned on a lot less sleep and a lot more drugs.

  While the coffee brewed, he built a fire in the woodstove in the living room, then went out into the gray, windy and still very wet morning and started up the generator.

  The chickens and goats made noises that they heard him, so he quickly opened up the barn and coop and let them all out, which wound up being a mistake, because every single one of them felt the need to come up to him and tell him all about their weekend.

  Normally, he didn’t mind a slow morning where he petted each chicken and snuggled each goat, but this morning he just didn’t have time. And the animals were not happy about that.

  He hadn’t bothered to unload his truck last night since he got in so late and it was dark, but he did so now, so that way the guests could fill up the bed of his truck without any issues.

  He was on the road in twenty minutes, taking in the streets covered in tree branches, pinecones and leaves. He nearly didn’t stop in time when he took a corner and came across a big branch draped across both lanes of the road.

  “Shit,” he muttered, throwing on his hazard lights and opening up his door.

  He made quick work moving the branch off the road, despite how heavy it was, and prayed nobody came around the corner Tokyo Drift-style taking him out.

  He was nearly hit by a car coming in the opposite direction, but when the person spotted Dax on the road, they managed to brake in time. The sizzle of tires on wet road, combined with a sudden brake rattled Dax’s nerves. He gave the driver a glare that he hoped sent the message for them to slow the fuck down, as they passed him. Then he climbed back in his truck, clenched his asshole that nobody came whipping around the blind corner, and pulled back out onto the road.

  Okay, he’d be a little later than thirty minutes getting to Jennifer’s, but hopefully that was okay.

  Houses and commercial buildings all through Nanoose Bay, Parksville and Qualicum were without power. Even some streetlights had been reduced to frustrating and dangerous four-way stops.

  Nobody knew what to do when the streetlights stopped working. So, he left the highway and took the back roads for as long as he could to avoid having to deal with idiots.

  He was in Jennifer’s driveway about forty-five minutes after she called.

  His belly rumbled as he climbed out of his truck and went to her front door. Levi answered. “Hi Dax!” The kid was all big smiles and unruly brown hair.

  “Hey kiddo. How’s the wrist?”

  “Itchy under the cast. But otherwise, fine.”

  Jennifer came into the kitchen from down the hall. “Hey. Thank you so much. I wasn’t sure why I called you, but when we woke up to a freezing house and I vaguely remembered seeing a woodstove in your living room, I just called you.”

  “And that was a very good idea. It should be toasty warm by the time we get back.” He leaned down and picked up a small duffle bag. “This your bag?” he asked Levi.

  Levi nodded. “Yeah.” Then he slung his backpack over his back. “Mom’s making me bring my homework and books.”

  “That’s a good mom you have there.”

  Levi rolled his eyes, but he was smiling as he headed out the door.

  “Truck’s open. Climb on in.”

  Jennifer slouched into her jacket and tugged on her ankle-height dark purple rainboots. “Thank you,” she said, gazing up at him with those beautiful pale green eyes.

  “Don’t mention it. This your bag?”

  She made to grab it but he reached down before she could and hoisted the dark purple duffle bag over his shoulder.

  Nodding, she followed him out the door, locking up.

  Her landlords were already out their front door, hiding under their porch overhang.

  “Phil, Gloria, this is Dax.”

  Dax shook both their hands, the long duffle bag straps crisscrossed across his chest and the bags hanging at his ass. “Nice to meet you. Just hang tight and I’ll come back and help you.” He ran to the back of his truck and tossed in Levi and Jennifer’s duffle bags, then jogged back to grab Phil and Gloria’s.

  “You’re too kind helping us,” Gloria said, taking her husband’s hand and heading to the truck.

  “Not at all, ma’am. Happy to help.” Dax stowed their bags in the back of his truck, as well, then reached them just in time to help Gloria climb up into the back of the truck. Phil was tall, but had a slight tremor to his hands, so Dax helped him up, too.

  Jennifer climbed into the front seat.

  “All right. All the doors are locked? Gas has been turned off?” Dax asked, hitting the button to turn his truck back on.

  Everyone nodded.

  “Good. And we’re off.”

  “Wait!” Gloria called out. “We forgot the cooler. We’re bringing food. So it doesn’t go bad if the fridge and freezer don’t come back on for a while. And so that we can contribute.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Dax noticed Jennifer’s cheeks go pink. “I never even thought of that.”

  “I have food,” Dax said.

  “Yes, but we are four more people,” Gloria argued. “And it might go bad. It’s just in the foyer.”

  Dax held his hand out to the backseat. “Give me your house keys and I’ll run in and grab it.”

  Phil handed over the keys, so Dax ran through the raindrops, unlocked the house and grabbed the cooler only to find Jennifer no longer in the front seat when he returned. What the hell?

  He stowed the cooler in the back of his truck, grateful that he had removed all his instruments before he came to pick everyone up. Then he climbed back in behind the steering wheel. “Where’s Jennifer?”

  “Mom ran back in to get food,” Levi said.

  Dax rolled his eyes. “She didn’t have to.” Then he bailed back out of the truck and ran to her front door again, opening it only to find Jennifer with both the fridge and freezer doors open and a big collapsable cooler at her feet. She was throwing in all kinds of things. Perogies, French fries, a salmon filet, eggs. “What are you doing?” he asked, shaking his head.

  She glanced at him and more pink filled her cheeks. “Well, Phil and Gloria had a point. We should bring food. So it doesn’t spoil, but also so we don’t eat you out of house and home. You’re already kind enough letting total strangers come stay with you.”

  “Life has a way of balancing out,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about it.”

  “Well, I already owe you for your help last night. I—”

  He reached into the freezer and grabbed her hands. They were ice cold and wrapped around a big bulb of frozen ginger. “You don’t owe me for anything, Jennifer. Life is not just one transaction after another. Some people still do things just because it’s the right thing to do.” He removed the ginger from her fingers and put it back in the freezer. “This will not spoil. And I also have a lot of ginger at home.”

  Her eyes met his.

  He brought both her hands between his and just held them there to warm them up, their gazes locked. A small smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “Come on. I’m starving. Let’s go home and have breakfast.” Then he closed the fridge and freezer, grabbed the cooler and zipped it up. “Out your go.”

  She preceded him.

  “Good girl.”

  He waited for her to lock the house again, and together they headed out to the truck. He stowed the cooler in the back of his truck and rejoined everyone in the cab a moment later.

  “One more time. Doors are locked? Gas is off?”

  Four people said, “Yes.”

  “Then let’s get the heck out of here.”

  “Gloria, my love,” Dax said, pressing his hand to his heart and leaning back in his chair in the kitchen, “divorce Phil and marry me. That was the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.”

  Gloria chuckled and swatted her hand playfully at Dax. “Oh you. But if you’re swooning about the hollandaise, that was all Jennifer. This is her masterpiece, I just assembled.”

  Dax pivoted his attention to Jennifer whose cheeks had once again turned pink as she sat there nibbling on a piece of pineapple. “It’s just a simple seafood eggs Benedict. Cold smoke instead of ham. Nothing fancy.”

  “No. Scrambled eggs and bacon is nothing fancy. Oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar is nothing fancy. This is five-star decadence.” Dax swept his finger through some of the remaining hollandaise on his plate and popped it into his mouth, humming with delight. Then he turned to Gloria. “I take back my marriage proposal. Sorry.”

  She giggled and swatted her hand in his direction again.

  “You sure have a nice place here, Dax,” Phil said, taking a sip of his coffee. What hair remained on Phil’s head was bright white. He had an uncountable amount of well-earned lines on his face from his thirty years running a log loader in the woods. But it was his crystal-blue eyes that twinkled when he laughed or cracked a joke that really spoke of his good nature and kindness. “What is it, about an acre?

  “Yeah. Just enough for me to manage. I didn’t want anything too big. Perfect for the chickens, goats and me.”

  “You have chickens and goats?” Levi asked, his eyes bright with excitement.

  “All outside. Though, I’m sure with the rain, they’re being little wimps and huddled up together in the barn and coop.”

  “Can we go see them later?” Levi asked.

  Dax nodded. “I’ll have to go out and see them eventually. You can come with me.”

  Jennifer got up from the table and reached for Dax’s plate, but his hand gently rested on her wrist and he stood up. “I can do it. You cooked.”

  “Yes, but this is your home. It’s the least I can do.”

  He shook his head. “Sit.”

  She sat.

  He smirked and collected everyone’s plates. “Levi, why don’t you help me do the dishes?”

  Nodding, Levi stood up and together they made quick work washing the dishes, drying them and putting them away.

  “I hope we’re not keeping you from anything, Dax,” Gloria said, sipping her tea. Unlike her husband who had not much hair left and what was left was bright white, Gloria had a head full of bright red curls. She reminded Dax a lot of Lucille Ball, actually. She even had a similar raspy voice like Lucille.

  “Not at all.”

  “What is it you do, exactly?” Phil asked. “I noticed the farm stand at the end of your driveway, but surely you don’t make enough from eggs to afford a place like this.”

  Dax huffed a laugh. “Well, I sold my condo in Vancouver a few years ago, which allowed me to afford land over here. But I’m an artist, as well as a musician. I’m in a couple of bands on the mainland and I go over to Vancouver a few times a month for gigs. I also have my paintings in galleries over there, a few on the island, a few in Seattle and one on the Sunshine Coast.”

  “An artist,” Gloria crooned. “Mind if we see your work?”

  He shrugged. “Not at all. Both my music studio and art studio are above the barn. I soundproofed it so I didn’t torture the animals. I have a few unfinished pieces up there right now.” He caught Jennifer watching him out of the corner of his eye and he flashed her a smile. “But you’re not keeping me from anything. I paint when I feel like it. I make my own schedule. So go about your business as per usual. Do what you like.”

  “We’re retired,” Phil said. “And we have friends that we get together with. We walk, we go to the seniors’ center, but with this weather we prefer to stay home.”

  “I’m knitting a blanket for my friend’s new great grandbaby,” Gloria said, reaching down beside her and bringing up a whicker basket with knitting needles sticking out of it.

  “And I like to whittle spoons,” Phil added.

  “Very cool,” Dax said.

  “I’ll make you a spoon.” Phil stood up. “I’ll go get my wood and whittle.”

  “Oh you don’t have—”

  “There’s no stopping him now,” Gloria said, getting out her yarn. “It’ll be nice to have someone else be the recipient of a spoon for once. Our house is full of them.”

  Dax approached Jennifer with the coffee pot. “More coffee?”

  “Please,” she said, her voice soft.

  “I hate that my Nintendo Switch wasn’t plugged in to charge,” Levi said. “Not that it would have helped since the power was off when we got home.” He pouted. “I’m bored.”

  “Go read a book,” Jennifer said, shaking her head.

  Levi lobbed a sigh. “Yeah, I guess.” He stood up from the table and trudged off to the guest room he was sharing with his mother.

  Gloria stood up from the table, too. “I’m going to grab my slippers from my suitcase.” Then she toddled off in the same direction as Levi and Phil.

  That left Dax and Jennifer.

  She really was a very beautiful woman.

  He probably put her around thirty-six, but she definitely wasn’t a day over forty. She’d seen some shit, though. There was a lot of trauma behind those pretty eyes. A lot of sadness. A lot of fear. A lot of deep-seated exhaustion.

  “Why don’t you go lay down on my bed,” he offered. “It’s the quietest room in the house.”

  She shook her head. “I couldn’t.”

  “Why? What else is there to do?”

  “Well, I—”

  Resting a hand on her shoulder, he felt her tense beneath his touch for just a moment, then truly relax. Her gaze dropped to her lap and her chin dropped to her chest. She shuddered a little like she had last night. This was a woman who had been keeping it together for way too long without any source of an outlet or reprieve.

  “Go and have a nap, Jennifer. I mean it. I have a free-standing tub in my bathroom and some pretty amazing body wash that makes great bubbles. Use it.”

  When she didn’t respond or move, he pulled her chair out and helped her to her feet. Then he escorted her down the hall and up the stairs to his bedroom and into his ensuite. He made her sit on his bed while he ran her a bath, filling the bathroom with the scent of his hemp and jojoba bodywash.

  He dimmed the lights, set out some towels and faced her. “Nobody will disturb you. I promise.”

  Her bottom lip and chin trembled and her throat moved on a hard swallow. “I—”

 

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