Zoe woke up, unsure of her surroundings in the pitch dark. She couldn’t see a thing. Nothing.
Slowly she remembered. The storage room. But where was the lantern light?
She noticed the quiet, though. The pounding on the metal roof had turned into a gentle drumming.
She moved slightly, feeling trapped. Her legs were pinned. She struggled to put all her scrambled thoughts together.
Mason.
She and Mason were locked in the storage room. She moved again, feeling his strong arms tighten around her as she shifted. He mumbled something she didn’t quite catch.
She wondered how long they’d been in here. Surely Uncle Noah would have been looking for them. She moved slowly, yet again, trying to disentangle herself from Mason. Though… he was very comfortable to rest against…
“You awake?” Mason’s low voice drifted through the darkness.
“I am. Can’t believe I fell asleep.” On him. Tangled up with him.
“We didn’t get much sleep last night with all the hubbub of the storm.”
“How long have we been here?” She shifted against him, feeling the smooth texture of his shirt and the firm muscles of his arm.
“Not sure.” He rustled beside her.
She reached out one hand, searching for her phone. It had been right next to her. You know, before she’d fallen asleep all tangled up with Mason. Her fingers slid over the face of her cellphone and she grasped it, turning it on.
“Two hours. We’ve been here two hours. Why hasn’t Noah found us?”
“Maybe he’s been too busy and hasn’t noticed you’re missing?”
“I don’t know. That doesn’t sound like Uncle Noah. More likely he’s gone into a panic that he couldn’t find me.” She hated thinking about Noah all worried. “Now that it’s not so noisy with the storm, maybe we should try pounding on the door. Maybe someone will hear us.”
“We probably should.” Mason agreed, but reached over and pulled her into his arms again. “Or, we could just stay here and kiss some more.”
That didn’t sound like a half-bad plan…
But, no. Noah would be worried. But, maybe just one kiss.
Which led to another kiss. And another.
Suddenly the door swung open and an arc of light cut through the room. “Zoe, thank goodness. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Noah stood in the doorway, a lantern held high. “What are you doing? I’ve been so worried.”
She hastily jumped up and struggled with straightening out her clothing and pulling back her hair, feeling like a teenager caught necking on the couch. “We came looking for more blankets and got locked in here.”
She glanced over at Mason and his face held the same look as her feelings. Guilt at being caught kissing.
“It opened for me.” Noah cocked his head.
Mason jumped up beside her. “No, sir. The door was locked. We tried everything.”
“It is a bit tricky sometimes.” Noah looked from her to Mason and back to her. “But you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” She started to walk toward Noah, then turned around. “Wait, we need to find Sunny.”
“Who?”
“Sunny. Robin’s kitten. She’s in here somewhere.”
Noah held up the lantern and she spied Sunny stretching and arching her back on a pile of blankets, looking annoyed that they’d awakened her. She scooped up the kitten and turned to her uncle. “Has the storm passed?”
“It has. Just steady rain now. The sheriff went out a few minutes ago to check on things.”
Mason gathered up a stack of blankets. “So, now what happens?”
“We wait until we get the all-clear that we can leave the center.” Noah grabbed some of the blankets. “Let’s head back to the main room. Still a lot to do.”
She hurried after Noah and grabbed his arm. “I’m sorry to have worried you. I didn’t mean to. We were just trying to help. Getting more blankets. Then that silly door just wouldn’t budge.”
Noah hugged her with one arm. “I know. I was just so worried that something had happened to you or you’d gone out in the storm. Didn’t think of this old storage room until just a bit ago.”
“Well, I’m glad you found us.” And she was glad he wasn’t mad at her. But, to be honest, was she glad they were found? It had been awfully nice all cuddled up alone with Mason…
Chapter 18
Lillian turned to Gary. “I wish the phones were working. I’m worried about Jay and Robin.”
“I’m sure he found her and they’re holed up somewhere, waiting for the all-clear.”
“You’re probably right.” She stared at the phone, willing it to get a signal.
Noah, Zoe, and Mason came walking up.
“There you are,” Lillian said. “Gary was wondering where you two got off to.”
“We got locked in an old storage room, but Noah found us.”
“You okay?” Lillian looked them over, but they looked fine. They looked… She smothered a smile. They looked more than fine. And she was pretty sure that was some whisker burn on Zoe’s cheek. Looks like the two of them found a pleasant way to pass the time.
She turned at the sound of the door opening. Sheriff Dave came in, shaking off water from his rain slicker as he entered. “Well, good news. Only found one downed power line out by the bridge. Hopefully, power can be restored soon. There’s some localized flooding in our regular low spots. Looks like a few buildings have roof damage. Lots of branches down and a few trees are blocking some streets. We’ll get those cleared up as quickly as possible.”
“So it’s okay to leave?” Lillian asked.
“You can go check on your businesses and homes. But there will be a curfew after sunset. We don’t want people moving around in the dark until things get all cleared up. I’ve radioed about the bridge and we’ll get that checked out soon. In the meantime, I’m trying to arrange for one of the ferries that goes to Whisper Island to shuttle from here to the mainland.”
She turned to Gary. “I really want to go check on the inn.”
“I’ll go with you,” Mason
