Eve I didn’t feel like cooking for only one person, so I curled up on the sofa with my bag of trusty salted almonds and slowly crunched them one-by-one while reading Pride and Prejudice for the third time. Just when I got to my favorite chapter—when Mr. Darcy finally declares his love for Elizabeth—the power went out.
Like a scene from a horror movie, I was alone in a big house and in total darkness.
The wind lashed against the windows outside in what was to be the biggest ice storm of the last ten years. I tried the breakers just in case, but I knew there was a power line down somewhere, and I wouldn’t be watching all the fantastic TV I had planned for later on.
I lit some candles and then sulked for a moment.
Could it get any worse? Could this be the saddest Christmas of my life? Even when my mother had left us, Dad still found the heart to string up lights and put out a plate of cookies for Santa. Now that he had a girlfriend and a new family to celebrate with, was it my destiny to be alone like this?
With nothing left to do, I blew out all but one candle and decided to go to bed. I checked the locks and the alarm—but it wasn’t working.
No power, no alarm. Crap.
Upstairs, I double checked to make sure the baseball bat was within arm’s reach. Amazingly, with the covers over my head so I wouldn’t focus on the creepy shadows in the room, I finally fell asleep.
Suddenly I was wide awake.
Something had jarred me out of my sleep. Maybe it was the wind, which still howled outside. Or maybe it was the cold. The heat was off and it had to be 20 degrees outside. I slipped out of bed, grabbed Dev’s sweater from my closet, pulled in on over my short nightgown, my long legs, still bare. I was searching for sweatpants when I heard a bang downstairs.
I froze.
I told myself it was probably nothing. But maybe I should take a peek or there was definitely no chance of falling asleep again.
I grabbed the baseball bat and tiptoed down the steps, trying to control my breathing. When I got to the bottom, I peered around the corner into the foyer.
My heart stopped.
A tall, shadowing figure was inside the house and messing with the security alarm, a pocket flashlight in one hand.
He’s turning it off so that when the power comes on, it can’t be tripped and alert the police.
In that moment, I finally understood the meaning the phrase, kill or be killed. My hand tightened around the bat and I stepped quietly toward his exposed back. When I was just behind him, I closed my eyes and cocked the bat behind me. I was going to hit him with everything I had.
I swung.
The crunch of the bat on his side was sickening. The intruder turned around quickly, and I prepared for another attack, the bat poised dangerously over my head.
Then I smelled his cologne.
It was Dev.
“Dev?”
“Scarlett…” He crouched before me, arms placed protectively around his face.
I dropped the bat in horror.
“Oh no…I’m so sorry…did I hurt you?”
I prayed he hadn’t broken a rib.
He slid down to the floor and… laughed . Then he grabbed for his flashlight and shined it over my half-naked, shivering body. I tugged the sweater down to cover my thighs.
“Is that my old Little League bat?” He asked.
“Maybe,” I said, guilty. “Please tell me you’re not hurt. I hit you really hard.”
I kneeled down by his side and tried to see where I inflicted my injury. He had his hand over his left ribcage.
“If that was the best you got, Scarlett, then you might not want to quit your day-job.” He smiled at me through the shadowy darkness. “I’m fine, really. It will probably bruise a bit, but that’s all.”
“What are you doing here?”
I wondered, was the whole family back? Did the wedding get called off? Was Shyra with him? Was he engaged to her? Could he tell how happy I was seeing him?
“I needed to check on some things at the hotel…and I didn’t like the idea that you were here alone,” he answered.
Like a scene from a horror movie, I was alone in a big house and in total darkness.
The wind lashed against the windows outside in what was to be the biggest ice storm of the last ten years. I tried the breakers just in case, but I knew there was a power line down somewhere, and I wouldn’t be watching all the fantastic TV I had planned for later on.
I lit some candles and then sulked for a moment.
Could it get any worse? Could this be the saddest Christmas of my life? Even when my mother had left us, Dad still found the heart to string up lights and put out a plate of cookies for Santa. Now that he had a girlfriend and a new family to celebrate with, was it my destiny to be alone like this?
With nothing left to do, I blew out all but one candle and decided to go to bed. I checked the locks and the alarm—but it wasn’t working.
No power, no alarm. Crap.
Upstairs, I double checked to make sure the baseball bat was within arm’s reach. Amazingly, with the covers over my head so I wouldn’t focus on the creepy shadows in the room, I finally fell asleep.
Suddenly I was wide awake.
Something had jarred me out of my sleep. Maybe it was the wind, which still howled outside. Or maybe it was the cold. The heat was off and it had to be 20 degrees outside. I slipped out of bed, grabbed Dev’s sweater from my closet, pulled in on over my short nightgown, my long legs, still bare. I was searching for sweatpants when I heard a bang downstairs.
I froze.
I told myself it was probably nothing. But maybe I should take a peek or there was definitely no chance of falling asleep again.
I grabbed the baseball bat and tiptoed down the steps, trying to control my breathing. When I got to the bottom, I peered around the corner into the foyer.
My heart stopped.
A tall, shadowing figure was inside the house and messing with the security alarm, a pocket flashlight in one hand.
He’s turning it off so that when the power comes on, it can’t be tripped and alert the police.
In that moment, I finally understood the meaning the phrase, kill or be killed. My hand tightened around the bat and I stepped quietly toward his exposed back. When I was just behind him, I closed my eyes and cocked the bat behind me. I was going to hit him with everything I had.
I swung.
The crunch of the bat on his side was sickening. The intruder turned around quickly, and I prepared for another attack, the bat poised dangerously over my head.
Then I smelled his cologne.
It was Dev.
“Dev?”
“Scarlett…” He crouched before me, arms placed protectively around his face.
I dropped the bat in horror.
“Oh no…I’m so sorry…did I hurt you?”
I prayed he hadn’t broken a rib.
He slid down to the floor and… laughed . Then he grabbed for his flashlight and shined it over my half-naked, shivering body. I tugged the sweater down to cover my thighs.
“Is that my old Little League bat?” He asked.
“Maybe,” I said, guilty. “Please tell me you’re not hurt. I hit you really hard.”
I kneeled down by his side and tried to see where I inflicted my injury. He had his hand over his left ribcage.
“If that was the best you got, Scarlett, then you might not want to quit your day-job.” He smiled at me through the shadowy darkness. “I’m fine, really. It will probably bruise a bit, but that’s all.”
“What are you doing here?”
I wondered, was the whole family back? Did the wedding get called off? Was Shyra with him? Was he engaged to her? Could he tell how happy I was seeing him?
“I needed to check on some things at the hotel…and I didn’t like the idea that you were here alone,” he answered.
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