about a dozen other people, she was hauling branches and sections of tree trunk to waiting pickup trucks. Though Caleb’s gaze strayed to her over and over again, he told himself that this morning had been for the best. If she wasn’t ready, she wasn’t ready. And he wasn’t going to push her into something she’d regret.
In other parts of town, Caleb knew many other crews were working, while construction experts, carpenters and engineers assessed the damage to buildings and other town infrastructure.
His phone buzzed in his breast pocket, and he shut down the chain saw, setting it on the ground by his feet. He stripped off his leather gloves, releasing the pocket button and fumbling his way into the deep pocket to address the persistent buzzing.
“Terrell here,” he barked shortly.
“Caleb? It’s Seth.”
“Oh, hey, Seth.” Caleb swiped back his sweaty hair. “Everything all right with your dad?”
“Better and better. They’re going to start some physical and speech therapies in a few days.”
“That’s great news.”
“Agreed. Listen, have you seen any of the storm coverage? It’s all about how bad Lyndon got hit last night.”
“We’re in the thick of it,” Caleb replied, glancing around once more at the destruction. “Mandy and I are still in town.”
Seth’s tone turned worried. “Is she okay?”
“She’s a hundred percent. We’re helping out with the cleanup.”
“Good. That’s a relief. Listen, the cleanup is what I wanted to talk to you about. As the president of Active Equipment, is there a possibility of you making a donation to the town? Maybe a couple of loaders.”
“Absolutely,” Caleb responded, wondering why he hadn’t thought of it himself. “Let me see which dealers are closest, and how quickly they can respond.”
“That would be terrific.”
“Hey, no problem. They can use all the help they can get here.”
“And…uh…Caleb?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you be comfortable with me making the public announcement? I don’t want to steal your PR or anything.”
Caleb got it. “But it wouldn’t hurt your mayoralty campaign any to be the front man on this?”
“Exactly.”
“Hey, go for it,” said Caleb. “It was your idea. You deserve the credit.”
“Thanks.” Seth’s tone was heartfelt.
“Happy to help out. Are you coming into town?”
“I’m going to try. But it may take a while. The airport’s closed.”
“Wow.” Caleb was surprised to learn about the airport. “I’m working on Bainbridge. This thing must have hit the entire town.”
“Get to a television when you can. They’ve got aerials.”
“I’m on the business end of a chain saw for the moment. And I think power’s out all over the place.”
“Mandy’s okay?” Seth confirmed.
“She’s a trouper,” said Caleb, his gaze going to where she struggled with a section of tree trunk that had to be thirty-six inches across. To his astonishment, she smiled while she worked, obviously making a joke to the man beside her.
“That, she is,” Seth agreed. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Roger, that.” Caleb signed off.
After making a few calls to Active Equipment headquarters and giving them Seth’s contact information, Caleb resettled his gloves and yanked on the pull cord for the chain saw. The action restarted the engine, and he braced his foot on the big log in front of him, ripping his way through the next section of the downed cedar tree.
Working methodically, he made it to the end of the tree, sheering off branches and bucking the trunk into manageable sections. Then he glanced up to see Travis approaching, thirty feet away.
Caleb shut it down again, wiping his forehead. “Where’d you come from?”
Travis glanced around. “Whoa. This is unbelievable.”
“Tell me about it. You should have heard them coming down last night. You here to help?”
“I am now.” He tugged a pair of work gloves out of the back pocket of his jeans. “My original plan was to bring Danielle in to the airport.”
Caleb glanced around but didn’t see Danielle among the workers. “Airport’s closed.”
“We know that now. But she was getting pretty antsy this morning.”
“Where is she?”
“I dropped her off at the coffee bar. She wasn’t exactly dressed for brush clearing.”
Caleb cracked a smile. “I think it would be dangerous to let her loose out here.”
“She might break a nail?”
“She might get somebody killed.”
Travis raked a hand through his short hair. “Yeah, she’s definitely better with a computer than with power tools. She’s making calls to see what her options are for getting back to Chicago.”
“She can take my jet,” Caleb offered, seeing an opportunity to make amends for some of the unfortunate complications of her trip to Colorado.
Caleb retrieved his phone and dialed Danielle’s cell. He made the offer of the jet and asked her to touch base with Seth to make sure the heavy-equipment donation went quickly and smoothly. Then he signed off.
“That’ll give her something productive to do,” he told Travis.
Travis glanced around. “Where do you need me?”
“See the tall kid in the blue T-shirt?”
“At the black pickup?”
“He’s keeping the chain saws fueled and sharp. Grab one, and you can start at the other end of that tree.” Caleb pointed as he moved on. “If we can open up this next hundred yards, we’ll have a corridor to the highway.”
“Will do,” said Travis. “By the way, it was nice of you to let Seth organize that equipment donation.”
“His idea,” said Caleb, flipping the switch and setting up to restart the chain saw. “Besides, Lyndon will be lucky to have him as mayor.”
Mandy hopped up onto the tailgate of a pickup truck to take a break from the heavy hauling work. She was tired and sweating, and her shoulders were getting sore.
Somebody put a cup of coffee in her hand. She offered her thanks and took a grateful sip. She normally took cream and sugar, but she wasn’t about to complain. It was nearly two in the afternoon, and she’d been hauling brush steadily since breakfast.
Her animosity toward Caleb had been forgotten when the sun came up and they saw what the storm had done. In fact, it seemed frivolous now to have even been thinking about lovemaking this morning.
“You eaten anything?” Danielle’s voice startled Mandy, and she glanced up to see the perfectly pressed woman picking her way across the debris-strewn road to the pickup truck.
“What are you doing here?” Mandy couldn’t help exclaiming.
Danielle was wearing slacks today, but they looked like expensive, dove-gray linen, and they were topped with a jewel-encrusted mauve sweater and paired with pewter-colored calfskin boots. Her makeup was perfect, and not a single hair was out of place.
“Travis brought me into town.”
“Travis’s here?” Mandy glanced around, but didn’t catch a glimpse of her brother.
“I was hoping to catch a flight to Chicago. But the airport’s closed.”
As Danielle arrived at the truck, Mandy looked for a blanket or a stray piece of clothing to throw on the tailgate to protect the woman’s expensive slacks. She spotted a quilted shirt, grabbed it and shook it out, laying it inside up on the tailgate and motioning to it.
“Thank you,” said Danielle, awkwardly hopping up and settling herself. She snapped open her designer handbag
