For Now and Forever (The Inn at Sunset Harbor-Book 1)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Emily woke tangled in Daniel's limbs. The sun was shining fiercely, making it seem like the storm hadn't happened at all. But Emily knew it had, and she knew the damage would be extensive.

She untangled herself from Daniel's octopus-like grip and slipped on a thin camisole dress, then went downstairs to inspect the damage.

In the living room, Mogsy had clearly had a bit of a freakout during the storm. One of the cushions was all chewed up, the stuffing strewn around the room. The rug was also badly stained from her and Daniel's discarded, muddy, wet clothes. She smiled to herself at the memory of the way they'd peeled them off one another.

Well, if a muddy rug and a chewed up cushion are the only things that got ruined then I've done pretty well, she thought.

The biggest surprise to Emily was that Rain the runt puppy had survived the night and was suckling happily. But that also meant she now had a dog and five puppies to look after. She had no idea what she was going to do with them all, but figured she'd deal with that later—after she prepared some leftover chicken for Mogsy, who was probably hungry. And after she focused on the house.

She heard Daniel stirring upstairs as she continued to do her rounds of the house. When she passed through the dining room toward the ballroom entrance, she heard Daniel's footsteps pattering up behind her.

"Is it bad?" he asked.

Though he'd never expressly said it, Emily knew that of all the rooms in the house the ballroom was Daniel's favorite. It was the grandest, the most magical, and the room that had first brought them together, had sparked this whole thing. Without the ballroom, last night might never have happened. To think that anything might have happened to it was dreadful for them both.

Emily looked inside tentatively. Daniel was close behind.

"It looks okay," Emily said. But then she noticed something glittering on the floor and rushed over. Her suspicions were confirmed when she picked it up and saw it was a shard of glass. "Oh no," she cried. "Not the Tiffany window. Please, not the Tiffany window!"

Together she and Daniel pulled down the plywood covering the antique windows. As they did, more shards fell, shattering onto the floor.

"I can't believe it," Emily wailed, knowing that it would cost too much to replace, that it was indeed irreplaceable.

"I know someone who might be able to help," Daniel said, trying to cheer her up.

"For free?" she said glumly, hopelessly.

Daniel shrugged. "You never know. He might do it just for the love of it."

Emily knew he was trying to make her feel better, but she couldn't help but feel tearful. "It's a big job," she said.

"And the people here are good," Daniel said. He took her by the shoulders. "Come on, there's nothing we can do at the moment anyway. Let me make you breakfast."

He steered her into the kitchen by her shoulders, but it too was in bad shape. Daniel and Emily picked up strewn items, then Emily put the coffee on to brew, grateful that the coffee pot hadn't succumbed to the same fate of smashing against the floor like the toaster had.

"How do you feel about waffles?" Daniel asked her.

"I feel pretty good about waffles," Emily replied as she sat down at the breakfast table. "But I don't have a waffle iron, do I?"

"Well, technically you do," Daniel replied. When Emily frowned he went on to further explain. "Serena reserved it at the garage sale. Said she'd come back and pay for it another time. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not but she never came back so I guess she didn't really want it." He came over and plopped a steaming cup of black coffee in front of Emily.