Page 29 of Capture The Moment

Chapter 8

The second Harper stepped into the house, she knew something was wrong. For one, Daisy greeted her at the door without her usual enthusiasm, and two, it felt like an icebox inside. Shaking the snow of her coat, she removed her boots and then scooped up Daisy and went down the hall to check the thermostat. The temperature was set at seventy degrees in the winter, but the number on the read-out said fifty-nine.

“Just great!” Harper said. The furnace must have stopped working hours ago, and she hadn’t been home to notice. As the evening went on, and with the snowstorm picking up, the temperature was bound to drop even further.

Slumping down on the couch, she looked at Daisy and said, “Now what are we going to do?” She didn’t bother going downstairs to look at the furnace because she hadn’t a clue as to what she was looking for. She thought about calling a repair shop, but it was after eight o’clock, and she doubted that they’d be open. If only Blake were here. He’d know what to do.

“I guess we’ll have to snuggle up under a pile of blankets and call someone in the morning,” she said as she held Daisy close to her chest. And then it struck her. Who did she know that was handy and had a solution for everything? Finn! She immediately pulled out her phone from the back pocket of her jeans, but then she paused.

“I just told him that I didn’t want to depend on him so much, and now look, he’s the first person I thought to call.” Daisy licked Harper’s hand where she’d spilled beer on it earlier, seemingly unaware of her owner’s distress.

Harper’s fingertips were already feeling cold, and she buried them into Daisy’s soft fur to warm them up. “Ok, this is stupid. I can either sit here and freeze all night, or I can call Finn and ask for help.”

Upon hearing Finn’s name, Daisy perked up her ears and sniffed the air.

Harper giggled. “It’s ok, sweetie. The big lug isn’t that bad!” Standing up, she walked over to the window to see the snow falling in large clumps, quickly adding to the coating that was already on the ground. It was a pretty scene, and she would have been content to stay inside and watch the snow fall if her toes weren’t already going numb.

“That’s it,” she decided, setting Daisy down. She brought up Finn’s number and tapped on the call button before she could talk herself out of it.

Just when she was about to give up, he answered, sounding slightly out of breath. “Are you ok?”

Harper rolled her eyes. “Why would you assume something’s wrong? Can’t I be calling just to say hello?”

“Is that why you’re calling?” he asked skeptically.

“No. Something’s wrong.”

He chuckled loudly in her ear, so loudly, in fact, that Daisy whimpered where she sat by Harper’s feet.

“You scared Daisy.”

“She needs to grow some balls.”

“Hey!”

“So, tell me what’s wrong. It can’t be the car this time, because you picked up the new one today, right?”

“Yes. The car is great. It’s the house that sucks.”

“Leaky faucet again?”

“Nope.”

“Hot water heater on the fritz?”

“Guess again.”

“Furnace out?”

“Bingo!”

“Shit.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t suppose you know how to build a fire.”

“You’re kidding me, right? I’m afraid to light a candle, let alone set large chunks of wood on fire.”