5
NATALIE
A few hours later, after doing a load of laundry in the creepy basement then pinning it out to dry on the line outside, I finally got around to dealing with the coffeemaker. As Nash had suggested, I carried the coffeemaker into the living room—its new home until I knew it wouldn’t zap me or blow a fuse. I set the machine on a side table near a plug as I heard the sound of someone coming down the driveway and park. I wasn’t going to think about how I got strangely giddy at the idea of it being Rand. He’d said he was coming back, and I hadn’t realized how much I’d looked forward to it until now.
But when I pulled back the curtain and looked out, it wasn’t Rand but an older man climbing from a late model pickup truck. I’d never seen him before, but unless I’d poured someone a dri
