Surviving The Storm. Heather Woodhaven

sharp sting in her chest rocked her back to her heels. She bit her lip. Literally backed into a corner, she didn’t want to relive that painful time in her life. Her dad had just died, she’d been overwhelmed with handling the arrangements and her mother’s grief, let alone her own. Two days later, David had started a text-and-phone-call campaign wanting to know if she had received his card. At the time, it had felt as if he had sent the condolence only to earn brownie points.

      Most all of her mother’s friends had shown up to give support and casseroles—oodles of casseroles—but Aria’s friends showed their love through texts and emails. She understood. It was hard to be around such sorrow in person, and to be honest, she didn’t want to be around any of them and be forced to make chitchat. Tons of sympathy cards arrived in the mail, but she had enough to manage without making time to read the stack, his card included. She knew what they all said, anyway. With sympathy...

      “Yes, I received your card,” she had told him on the phone. “But David, I just need some time, some space. This is a little too much for me right now. It’s not personal, I just need—”

      “If you need space,” he had responded, his voice shaking, “then we don’t have the kind of relationship I thought we did.”

      She had been stunned at the emotion behind his voice, but she hadn’t known what to do. She hadn’t been exaggerating. She really had needed time. The interaction, meant to ease her burden, only made her feel even more alone, something she hadn’t thought possible.

      Now, in the attic, she stared at him. David held his hands out. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

      She nodded, accepting his apology but not sure she could trust herself to comment. His shoulders sagged forward.

      “I can carry the ladder myself,” he said, “but I’m worried I might knock you over in the process.”

      She stuck her phone in her pocket, and lifted the back end of the ladder. “You want me to help carry the ladder? I’d be glad to.”

      David raked a hand through his hair. “We’re going to twist the ladder so it’s sideways. Think you can carry it under your arm?”

      She nodded. The dim light illuminated his form. The past couple of years had widened his shoulders and thickened his already strong arms. David picked up the ladder, waited for her to grab her end and then led the way. Aria put one foot in front of the other. She trained her eyes on the shadowed wooden beam in front of her. “I wish we had more light.”

      “We’ll be across before you know it,” he said, his voice lighter. “Good thing I was inspecting the attic today or I might not have known there’s an exit at the opposite side. It’ll be close to the stairway.”

      “But then we’ll be out in the open.”

      “If we want to get to George, it’s our only hope. Besides, if we stay here, we’re sitting ducks.”

      “Why did George hire you in the first place? He didn’t tell me you were coming.”

      “Yeah, he didn’t mention anything about you either,” he said, dryly. “He’s been calling me the past two weeks. He had suspicions the contractor was using subpar materials.”

      She gasped. “Subpar?”

      David’s shadow nodded. “Another reason to watch your step. George was right, and clearly, these gunmen are determined to make sure no one else finds out.”

       THREE

      If David weren’t so worried he’d compromise their safety, he’d have released a little of his anger with a punch to one of the two-by-fours he had to crouch under. “Duck,” he muttered, not sure if Aria could see the diagonal piece of wood he just passed.

      Aria. Why’d she have to be here? It didn’t make sense. She should be off at some architecture firm somewhere by now, making the big bucks. What was she doing cleaning? Not that he cared.

      Well, at least he didn’t want to care. He was just as mortified as she was about that little jibe that came out of his mouth. He was over her, so why did he need to bring it up? He couldn’t afford to care, let alone notice she was even more beautiful than the last time he saw her.

      As soon as he got them out of this, he’d walk away before she could play with his heart again. Until then, he was in charge. No objections.

      “What do you mean, George was right? I didn’t think the remodel involved the attic.” She groaned. “I should’ve noticed. The new design added more rooms, so...”

      “They had to change the load-bearing walls,” he finished. “It was impossible to structure it otherwise. You didn’t design this train wreck, did you?”

      “No,” she said, her voice clipped.

      He exhaled loudly. Why was he so bent on antagonizing her? What had come over him? “I didn’t think so. George should’ve asked you to look over the proposals.”

      “I should’ve asked,” she said, her voice timid. “You’re sure the materials they used were subpar?”

      “Not just the materials. The engineering. No one factored in the point loads needing to be carried down to the foundation.” If it were anyone else besides Aria, he would have put it in simpler terms and said the walls could come tumbling down. Especially if there were an earthquake, as was high probability on the coast—the same risk as Japan, in fact.

      Aria groaned. “You...you know where we’re going?”

      “You don’t become foreman at my age without knowing your way around an attic.” He cringed the moment he said it. As his family could attest, his ego bristled easily in moments of stress, and his big mouth took over control.

      “I know my way around an attic too. What I really want to know is the plan.”

      He clenched the ladder tighter and took longer strides. He felt the back end of the ladder swing, and Aria shrieked. He froze and twisted so the light shining from his tool belt would find her. “You okay?”

      She was straddled across the wood joists set two feet apart. How she managed to move so fast without falling through the drywall was a testament to her time on construction sites.

      She gritted her teeth. “Yeah.” She blew out a breath. “Could you please keep in mind I have much shorter legs than you?”

      It was more an order than a question. “Sorry,” he grunted then leaned forward. His pride wanted to make sure she knew what she was missing, and instead it was making him behave insensitively. He needed the Lord’s help with his attitude. There was only so much a man could take in one day.

      David spotted the raised rectangle two feet ahead on his right. He walked forward until he remembered his maneuver a few seconds ago had almost sent Aria tumbling through the ceiling. “I’m setting the ladder down so I can open our exit.”

      She didn’t respond, but he could feel her movements—through the vibrations of the ladder—mimic his own. He flipped open the exit and took a tentative sniff. He didn’t think there were enough chemicals left in the jugs to harm them this far away, but he wanted to be sure. “Clear,” he whispered. “To play it safe, we need to be quiet.”

      They moved in unison, sliding the ladder down through the hole until it made contact with the floor.

      “It’s going to make noise when we step on it,” Aria murmured.

      “So let’s step fast.” David turned around and caught sight of her face, framed in curls. So trusting, so beautiful... He thought she had been perfect for him. He clenched his jaw and looked down. “Let’s go.”

      His foot made contact with every other rung. He reached the floor before Aria was even on the ladder. He rushed to the door leading to the hallway. Past the balcony, he could