“A good idea would have beennotto stay in this cottage during a storm like this,” he says. “And abetteridea would have been not to buy this crappy cottage to begin with.”
“Ilikethis cottage,” I snap back at him.
“Great. Can you hold your stubborn snappiness until I get you out of here, please? Get down from there.”
“I can’t swim,” I admit with embarrassment. Actually, I amterrifiedof water. Growing up in upstate New York meant that I wasn’t really near any large bodies of water, and never took swimming lessons as a kid. The water might be just below Chad’s shoulders, but that is stillmuchtoo high for me to be comfortable with.
“Okay,” he says, sounding a bit gentler now. “Reach down and I will help you. Hand me down all that stuff you are holding.”
He lifts up a bag that is strapped around his waist and opens the top of it.
“It’s waterproof,” he says as I dump my stuff into it and zip it up.
Then, he reaches his arms up toward me.
It’s silly—Iknowthat it is—but I can’t help but think that the best part about all of this is the feeling that I get when Chad lifts me down from the bookshelf and I find myself resting in his strong arms.
Chapter Six
Chad
I hadn’t even gone to bed yet when it occurred to me that Seraphine was alone in her house during the storm. The valleys here flood quickly, and that cottage of hers was barely still standing as it was. I knew instantly that it would flood, and that she would need help.
“Where are you going?” Lilly asks as she wobbles on her crutches sleepily toward the front door where I am putting my jacket on. “It’s storming out.”
“Yes, I know. That’s why I’m heading out. Don’t worry Lillybean, you’ll be perfectly fine here until I get back.”
This house is like a fortress. Not only is it higher up on the hill, but it’s also built to withstand just about anything. This rainstorm won’t leak a single drop of water into it.
“Our new neighbor down the hill isn’t used to the storms here,” I explain as I walk over and give her a kiss on the forehead. “And that house of hers is equivalent to a pile of matchsticks. I’m betting it’s already flooded by now.”
“So, you’re going to help her?” Lilly smiles as her eyes become more awakened with excitement. “That’sromantic,dad.”
“No, not romantic at all,” I scoff, quickly dispelling any ideas that she has. “Seraphine is our neighbor and my assistant, and without her, I’ll be working even longer hours than I already do. I’m just going to make sure that she’s okay and see how badly her house is flooding, then I’ll be right back, okay?”
Lilly nods and turns around to head back to bed.
In my driveway, I walk right past my fancy sportscar that I like to take back and forth to work, and head behind the house to the truck. It’s a beast of a machine, but even this truck won’t make it all the way down to the bottom of the valley if the flooding is as bad as I expect it to be.
I manage to drive most of the way there, and then need to get out and walk. I feel a strange sense of worry and urgency as I push my feet through the water being careful where I step, so I don’t lose my balance. I haven’t felt like this since the cops called me about Bella’s accident. I try to shake it off because it’s uncomfortable—formanyreasons.
Pushing the door open to Seraphine’s cottage is no small task with water up against it on both sides. I knew this cottage wouldn’t hold up, not even in a light rain. And by the time I get inside, I can see that it’s almostmoreflooded inside the house than outside.
“Seraphine!” I call out.
Her van is still outside, so I know she’s here.
It takes a few minutes and then I find her in her bedroom, sitting on top of a bookcase and looking like a scared, drenched cat.
I don’t mean to scold her, but I am angry at her for being naïve enough to stay inside a flooding house. If I hadn’t come to help her, who knows what might have happened. But when she tells me that she can’t swim, and looks absolutely terrified of the water, my heart softens. I lift up my waterproof bag for her to set her art supplies in that she is clutching to her chest, and then carefully lift her down from her perch. It’s not her fault that she is out of her element here, and it’s not like she has anyone else to help her. Besides, I feel a bit of guilt for not having helped her make the repairs on her cottage when she first asked me. I’m not sure it would have made any difference, but it might have kept the cottage from floodingthisbad.
After carrying Seraphine out of the cottage and back up to where my truck is waiting, I set her down on the ground near the truck door.
“Where are we going?” she asks. The rain is still coming down and the poor woman is standing there shivering with her pajamas stuck to her skin.
“You can stay with me until the storm passes,” I offer before giving myself a chance to overthink it. “You can’t stay there until the water recedes and you are able to assess the damage to your home. It’s not safe.”
I’m not keen on the idea of bringing Seraphine into my home. I don’t allowanyoneinto my home or around my daughter. I know I’m overprotective of Lilly, but it’s for good reason. And I know that bringing one of my employees into my home is asking for a whole slew of trouble. But I can’t leave Seraphine here alone in a flooded house looking like a petrified wet cat.