Chapter 3

RILEY USUALLY wasn't this forward, but Wayne seemed to need some sort of care. The two of them sat like that for a few seconds, their gazes locked, and then everything went dark. Riley pulled back, holding Frosty and sitting still. "Maybe the power will come back on."

The lights flashed back on, and Riley relaxed before they were plunged into darkness once more. He waited, but there were no more flashes of light, and the darkness seemed to settle in to stay. Wayne's phone lit his face for a few seconds, and Riley's chimed with a message. He checked it and groaned. It was from the power company telling him that his power was out as well and that they would message with an ETA for restoration. "Great," he said softly. "It looks like it's going to be out for a while."

"I think so." The wind blew outside the windows.

"It's probably best if I get home." He stood and realized he had no idea where anything was.

"Give me a minute," Wayne said and hurried to the kitchen, returning with a battery-operated lantern. Now that he could see, Riley clipped the lead on Frosty, and then Wayne opened the door to the front stairwell. "When do you want to meet again… for dog training?"

"Is next week good? Same day and time?" Riley asked.

"Sure. That works." Riley and Frosty headed down the stairs, but he stopped halfway down. "If you want to get together for dinner or something before then, just message me." He watched as Wayne returned his smile and nodded. Then Riley continued the descent and went out the door. He headed right to the car and got Frosty inside before looking up. The wind was picking up and the sky was clear. It was going to be a cold night without any heat or power.

THE AIR was cold, but Riley was nice and warm with Frosty pressed to him, generating enough heat to warm the Arctic. The power had come back on near midnight, so the room wasn't all that cold, but after a night like that, it was good to have all the heat he could get. He sat up, and the dog scooted into his warm spot. "I hope you know that last night was a special treat because there wasn't any heat, and you're going to sleep in your own bed tonight."

Frosty blinked up at him, and Riley groaned softly as he slipped out of bed.

His phone chimed, and Frosty growled at the sound, probably because it was disturbing her sleep. "Come on. Get up and off the bed." He got her down, and she stretched before leaving the room, probably to see if anything had been added to her food dish. Riley checked his phone. He had a message from Davis about the upcoming plans for Christmas. Riley responded to his message just as another text came in. He smiled when he saw it was from Wayne.

Dinner on Thursday?

Riley smiled. That sounds great . He stretched and began getting dressed before going to his office. He signed onto the computer and logged into work in plenty of time, then checked on what he had to do. He left the window open and hurried to let Frosty out and give her food and fresh water.

Do you have power back? Wayne asked.

Yeah. It came back about midnight here. You? He sent the message as he went to the back door to check on Frosty, who bounded through the yard as she played.

Not yet. They say it should be back on by noon. The place is cold, and I'm afraid to use the fireplace because I don't know the last time it was checked. He sent a sad face.

You can come over here if you and Buster need to warm up. He made the offer before he could stop himself. There was no way he was going to let both of them be that cold. The wind still hadn't let up, and without heat, that upper apartment was going to get icy pretty fast. Just let me know. He opened the back door for Frosty. It really was starting to feel like Christmas, and he tried to get himself in the holiday spirit.

"Did you go?" he asked as Frosty hurried back inside out of the cold air. She blinked at him before attacking her food dish, and Riley went back upstairs to work.

He liked his job. It was a pretty good one, even if the people he worked with were strict about his work-from-home hours. Riley liked that he didn't have to commute into Harrisburg every day, and he was a stickler for making sure he got his work done. Once his project was well underway, Frosty came into the room with one of her toys and placed it in his lap.

"I can't play with you right now." Riley continued working, but she kept putting the squeaky hedgehog in his lap. He hated to crate her during the day, but he needed to get his job done. He set the toy on the floor and returned to work, and Frosty finally settled down with a sigh. "You know, you're really good company, but I can't play with you now. I have to work." He gently patted her head and returned to what he needed to do.

He continued to work until his phone rang. "Riley?" It was Wayne. "Were you serious? The power is still out, and I got another message that it's going to be hours before they get to us." He sounded miserable.

"Of course. Let me text you my address." He switched to text and typed in the address. "Come on over, and bring whatever Buster is going to need. I have Wi-Fi if you need to work and stuff."

"Thanks." He seemed totally stressed, and that piqued Riley's curiosity. He'd messaged him just a few hours earlier. Was this more than just the power being out?

"I'll see you when you get here." He ended the call and turned to Frosty. "It looks like you're going to have some company. Your friend Buster is going to come over." Her tail thumped the wood floor. "You need to be good and not go all nuts, okay?" He returned to work and got as much done as he could before the bell sounded. Riley hurried to the front door and let Wayne and Buster inside.

Buster hurried right up to Frosty, and the two of them greeted each other before hurrying off toward the kitchen, where Frosty's food and water were.

Wayne shivered. "It's so cold, and the downstairs neighbors are gone on vacation. I hope the pipes don't freeze. The inside of my place was below fifty degrees."

"I can make some tea or coffee to warm you." Riley stowed Wayne's coat and led him through to the kitchen where he put the kettle on the stove. "Can you watch that? I need to go upstairs and make sure I didn't miss anything. My boss can be an ass and messages for no reason just to make sure we aren't goofing off while we're working from home." He returned to his office, checked his computer, responded to an outstanding message, and answered an email that had come in.

"This is really nice," Wayne said from the door.

"You can set yourself up in the chair if you want. Frosty will be in here pretty soon." Sure enough, the dogs came inside, with Frosty settling next to his seat and Buster cozying up next to her. "I'll go get the tea made and bring some in here for you." He hurried to the kitchen, set up a couple of mugs, and poured in the hot water. He only had teabags, but at least it would be warming.

"Thank you for doing this. I called a couple of friends, but they were at work, and it kept getting colder. I thought about staying in bed, but I have work to do too, and the idea of sitting in Panera all day did not appeal. And I wouldn't be able to bring Buster, so he'd end up at home in the freezing house."

"It's okay." Riley handed Wayne his mug. "Don't worry about it. I'm happy to share my warmth." He liked having Wayne here. Since he'd moved in, the place had always felt a little empty. Frosty had helped fill it, but he really liked having Wayne and Buster here too.

"I couldn't help noticing that you don't have any Christmas stuff out. Do you not celebrate?" He sipped the mug, those big eyes watching him. Riley could feel that gaze on him.

"I do. I spend the holidays with my brother, his wife, and my niece, Lilly, so I don't decorate or anything here. There's really no need, because they have every decoration known to man taped to every window and hanging from every light, archway, and door. Lilly is a Christmas fiend, and it doesn't help that her birthday is in December as well."

"So she gets two rounds of gifts," Wayne said with a smile on those luscious lips that Riley found hard to look away from.

"Yeah. This year she got Princess, her first dog. I was the one who was sent to pick her up, and I came home with Frosty as well. Anyway, what do you do for the holiday?" Riley checked his work queue, answered another email, and pulled up the data he needed to get the next item on his list completed.

"My folks are in Arizona, and they don't come back here this time of year. Mom can't stand the cold, and it's a long way to travel for just a few days. They send me presents, and I do the same. Then we call each other on Christmas." He shrugged. Riley couldn't help thinking how lonely that sounded. Christmas at Davis's was always a huge affair, though it often got overwhelming with all the gifts, the people, and walls of sound. Still, it was his family, and he loved them and knew they were there for him. "So I put up my little tree and decorate the apartment just so I have some cheer."

Riley sipped his tea and went back to work. He wanted to sit and talk with Wayne, but he had his job to do, and the work was not going to go away. Wayne got out his computer, and Riley gave him the passcode to his Wi-Fi so he could log on. Then the room grew quiet, broken only by the sound of typing. The dogs were both so good, lying together with Frosty sprawled out on the floor and Buster pressed up against her.

Wayne's phone chimed a few times, each greeted with a soft sigh. Apparently the electric company was messaging to say that they were still working on the issue.

At noon, Riley took a break for lunch and got out sandwich stuff for both of them. The dogs crowded into the kitchen, tails wagging as they watched for anything that might hit the floor. Wayne's phone chimed, and this time he smiled. "It looks like the power is back on at home."

"Finish your lunch and give the heat at your place a chance to catch up," Riley suggested. He liked that Wayne was here and wasn't in a hurry to see him leave. "I have half an hour for lunch and then I have to be back at my computer."

"Do they really watch that closely? It seems kind of dumb. I work from home too, and I always get everything done. The boss isn't such a dick about it."

"Yeah, well. Dewey hates that we have a work-from-home policy. He wants everyone in the office so he can micromanage us to death. If we're here, then he can't see us, so he has his other little annoying tricks." He checked his phone and answered the text from his boss by saying that he would get the answer to him right after lunch. "What I'm hoping is that they'll either realize what a jerk this guy is and get rid of him or he'll move on. As soon as he does, I want to apply for his job. I know I can do it and be better at it than he is." He checked the time and grabbed his plate. "I should get back up to the office or he'll call again."

"God," Wayne breathed. "And I bet you work late to make sure everything is done."

"Nope. All his baby antics mean that no one does. We give nothing extra, and that pisses him off too. See, productivity is down since he came in, and he's pissed about that. But everyone liked Judy, the previous supervisor, and we worked hard and didn't think twice about an hour extra here and there. With Dewey, we all log out at the exact time we can and don't work a minute over."

"I'll let the dogs out," Wayne said and Riley thanked him before carrying his plate up to his office and going back to work.

When Wayne returned with both dogs following, Riley was finishing up what Dewey needed and sent it to him.

"I'm going to head back to my place," Wayne said. "But you and I are still on for dinner?"

"You bet. I've been looking forward to it." He checked that there were no immediate messages and walked Wayne to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow night." He flashed what he hoped was his best smile, and his stomach fluttered as Wayne returned it.

"Thanks for letting us warm up." Wayne left, and Riley blocked Frosty from following him out the door as he watched Wayne go. Then he closed the door and turned to his now-empty house. Frosty lay down on the floor with a soft whine.

"I know, girl. I feel the same way." The place seemed a little less warm and a whole lot less cheerful now that Wayne and Buster were gone. For the first time in years, he thought about digging out some of the decorations he had in the back of the office closet, but instead of pulling them out, he sat at his desk and got back to work before he got in trouble.