Page 59 of Deadline

“I was reading. Just like Boy Scout camp.” He held up the flashlight in his hand. “What are you doing out in this?”

“Amelia’s with me. She and the boys are staying at my house for the rest of the night.” He gestured toward the car.

Bernie regarded him with surprise, then leaned around him and peered at the car. He waved at it, although the passengers were blurs behind the foggy, rain-streaked windows. “Stef, too?”

“She’s stuck in town.”

“Oh.”

Before the old man drew the wrong conclusion, Dawson explained. “The boys were afraid. The house I’m renting has a generator. Lights.”

“Ah, of course.”

“We think you should spend the night there, too.”

“No, no, I’m fine here.”

“You’d be more comfortable.”

“I’m snug as a bug, and I’ve got plenty of backup batteries.”

A bolt of lightning cracked nearby. Dawson instinctively ducked. When he recovered, he noticed Bernie regarding him curiously. Embarrassed by his conditioned reaction to the boom, he said, “That one was close.”

“You’d better get Amelia and the kids tucked inside.”

“I can’t talk you into joining the party? There are more than enough bedrooms, and it could be a long night.”

“Thank you. I appreciate the invitation, but I’m fine.”

“At least agree to come over for breakfast.”

Bernie smiled. “If you insist.”

Dawson bade him good night and plunged back into the torrent. He couldn’t help but sling rain onto Amelia as he got into the car, but she seemed not to notice.

“Is he all right?”

“I think I woke him up. He seemed to be okay. He didn’t want to relocate.”

“You explained why we were doing this?”

He placed his hand over his heart. “I made a point of preserving your reputation.”

“Thank you for checking on him.”

“No problem.” The road was a morass, but they made it to the back door of his house without mishap. “Hold on, boys, let me help you up the steps. They could be slick.”

He got out and opened the back door on the driver’s side. Taking a boy by each hand, he walked them quickly but cautiously up the three wooden steps, unlocked the back door, then ushered them inside. When he flipped the switch, the overhead light came on. He’d been keeping his fingers crossed that the generator did, in fact, take over during a power loss.

“Wow!” Hunter exclaimed. “Look at that ship model.” It was displayed on the long table that divided the kitchen from the living area.

“First, take off your shoes and leave them here by the back door so you don’t track up the floor. Then you can go look at the ship. But don’t touch. It doesn’t belong to me.”

He went back out, intending to assist Amelia, but she’d already alighted. Protecting the armload of clothes she was carrying, she was picking her way around the deepest puddles. He went down the steps and took her elbow. “I was coming back for you. You should have waited.”

“I’m okay.”

As soon as she’d cleared the threshold of the back door, she pulled her arm free of his grasp. “I haven’t been in this house since the owners renovated it. It’s—”