Page 54 of She Likes It, Hey Micah
Though I will not complain that she wants to be close to me, I’m more than glad when she pulls her phone from her ear and changes it to speaker. “Fischer is here too,” she says. “He works for the company that owns the lodge.”
I have no idea what to say, but I feel like I need to say something. “Hello, sir.”
“Learn any survival skills at Columbia?” a deep voice says from the phone. I don’t know a lot about Chad except that he’s older than Micah and works as a private investigator. For all I know, he could be a couple years my junior, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking of him as an intimidating beast of a man.
I swallow. “Not really, sir.”
“Pity. What about fireplaces?”
“They turn on with electricity,” Micah says.
“Do you have any batteries?”
There are probably some stashed away somewhere. “We can find some,” I say.
“The fireplace should have a battery tray you can use. As long as there’s gas, they’ll work.”
Micah breathes a sigh of relief right along with me. “Really?”
Now I really hope we can actually find some batteries. If nothing else, there should be some in the lantern that Kenny found, and maybe one of the travelers has some in their luggage. If not, we may all end up huddling together in one of the bedrooms for warmth.
“You’re going to be okay, Half-pint. As long as everyone remains calm and is willing to work together, you can make it through this. Fischer?”
I stiffen. I forgot that this guy looked into me, and he probably knows way more about me than I’m comfortable with. “Yes, sir?”
He grunts, probably unimpressed by the crack in my voice just now. “Look after her, will you?”
“Of course, sir.”
“What about you?” Micah asks quietly. “Do you have power?”
“No,” Chad says. “I have my neighbor over at my place to wait out the storm, but—”
“She’sat your house?” I don’t know who this neighbor is, but with the way Micah instantly perks up, I have a feeling there’s a story there. “Go take care of her!”
Chad clearly doesn’t like that response. “Micah, I told you not to—”
“Go. I’ll be fine.”
He sighs. “Call if you need me, okay? As soon as the storm lets up, I can come get you.”
“Don’t do that. We’ll drive back to Sun City as soon as we can.”
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind this guy showing up to take over this nonsense, regardless of what he knows about me. I’m tempted to tell Micah the rest can fend for themselves and we should just crawl into my bed and wait out the storm together. Nottogether. Not in an intimate way. Just…together. With her in my arms, our feet tangled together, my chest pressed against her back.
I’ve never been gladder to know Micah’s brother is a PI and not a psychic. Ido notwant him in my head right now, though a part of me wonders if Kale will somehow figure out some of the fantasies that are currently playing out in my mind. They’re more vivid than I would like.
“I should go,” Micah says, and though Chad protests, she hangs up and frowns at her phone. “My battery is going to die.”
I don’t miss the rise in her voice, probably as some of her panic settles back in. “I’ve got plenty of battery if we need it,” I tell her. ByplentyI mean twenty percent, but it’s better than nothing. Though, I should probably save my battery as much as I can, so I turn off the flashlight and stash my phone in my pocket.
Micah takes a deep breath. “We need to find some batteries.”
Or we could stay right here the rest of the night.“Yeah. I’ll ask Kenny if he saw any in the storage closet.”
“I’ll ask all of the passengers.”
I frown. “I can ask some of—”
