CHAPTER 12
WILL CONFESS FOR COOKIES
OWEN
Iam working on a grant application when the room goes dark, and all electrical humming, including from my refrigerator, goes silent. Is this related to the flooding issues? Or is this just a cursed townhome? I go over to my patio door and move the curtains aside. Okay, so the lights are out everywhere. That’s actually comforting.
I hear a muffled bang from Charlie’s place, followed almost immediately by an “Ow.” A couple more minor crashes and bangs. I think I can hear her walking, maybe even toward the patio to check to see if the lights are out everywhere, then a louder bang followed by an even louder crashing sound and a grunt.
“Charlie? You okay over there?”
She sighs audibly. “Yes.” Then after a short pause,she says in a more frustrated tone, “No. It’s just really dark, and I left my phone on the coffee table when I went to the fridge, so I don’t have any light. Which normally would’ve been fine, but I panicked and really needed to see if the power outage was just me, because that’s a whole different issue if it is, and there are cabinets in all the wrong places and, well, now at least one of them is on top of me.”
I gasp. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Just trapped.”
“I’ve got a flashlight. Do you want me to come over and help?”
“Yes. I’ve got one in my safety kit, but it’s in a cupboard. I don’t even think it’s in one of the ones on me. Owen?”
“Yeah?”
“I give you my express permission to come through our door-shaped, fabric-thin plastic that’s held together by painter’s tape and a wish.”
I use my cell phone to find the flashlight in my toolbox. And on the way to our shared wall, I grab the plate of cookies that Luis brought me today before pulling the tape back from the “door” and heading to Charlie’s side of the wall. The light from my flashlight finds her next to her table, with a cabinet on top of her and a second one fallen onto it.
I set the cookies and my flashlight on the one cabinet that’s still in place so I can see what I’m doing.I lift each of the cabinets and put them back where they should go, then I give Charlie a hand up and help her to the couch. She’s moving like she’s a bit achy, but she says, “I’m okay. Really.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Is Reese here?”
Charlie shakes her head. “My brother is her best friend, and they’re both at a musical in Baltimore. She won’t be home until Elphaba defies gravity and Miles defies the traffic back from Baltimore.”
I remember that Charlie said she was passionate about safety, and I wonder if the power going out has triggered some safety fears for her. So, I ask, “Do you want me to check your door locks?”
“Yes,” comes out in almost a whimper.
I go to her front door, open it to take a look around, then shut and lock it before grabbing the cookies and my flashlight on the way back and checking the lock on her patio door. “Power’s out as far as I can see out the front door and the back.”
“Thank you,” she says very earnestly.
I stand my flashlight upright on her coffee table so it’s giving the room a dim glow. “Cookies?” I ask, holding the plate out to her. “One of the guys on my crew made them with his little girl last night. His wife suggested that he bring me some, since I haven’t had use of my kitchen and was probablycraving something homemade. I can’t say I’ve ever used my kitchen here for baking cookies, but I have definitely been craving something homemade.”
“Oh my gosh, me, too.” She grabs one and takes a bite. “And these aresogood.”
So we aren’t sitting in the dark and the silence, I ask, “What were you doing before the power went out?”
Charlie leans back into the couch. “Work has been exhausting lately, especially with how many extra hours I’ve been putting in, so I’ve been coming home and crashing. I decided to read more of that book I had started when I overheard your phone call with your sister.” She motions to the book on the coffee table as she talks, and I glance at it and smile to see that she’s using the bookmark I gave her. “How is she doing, by the way?”
“Great, actually. She got off with a warning from the school, and the leg is healing nicely.”
“Oh, good.”
“And,I told her I was proud of her for showing so much independence, and that seemed to make her really happy. I don’t think I ever did thank you for that.”
