the thought of entertaining a hundred people with no power. “Whatever you’re thinking, knock it off. We’ve got this. Don’t worry about a thing.”
“How do you always know what to say to me?”
“I can tell by the way your lips are all tight that you’re unhappy. I don’t like when you’re unhappy.”
And that, right there, was the primary difference between her blissful second marriage and the nightmare first one. Charlie loved her and wanted only the best for her and the ones she loved.
He massaged her shoulders with strong hands that touched her only with love and gentleness. “Relax, babe. It’s all gonna be fine. Look at them.” He tilted his chin to include her kids, their partners, her mother. “Steph and the rest of them will be here in a bit. What else matters?”
“Nothing,” Sarah said, relaxing into his loving embrace. “Well, except food poisoning. That matters.”
Charlie’s bark of laughter made her smile. “We won’t let that happen.”
Chapter 8
Gansett Island Chief of Police Blaine Taylor had looked forward to a rare summer day off with his wife and daughters and a good time with their friends and family at Charlie and Sarah’s party. With the power out across the island, he’d been called back to work, which put him in a foul mood.
Jack Downing, the state police officer who was permanently assigned to Gansett, had joined him at the public safety building along with Linc Mercier, the Coast Guard commander who ran the Gansett Island station. They were waiting for Fire Chief Mason Johns to arrive when Big Mac McCarthy came in. As president of the town council, he had a role to play in the conversation, too.
“Well, gentlemen, this is a fine mess,” Big Mac said, his trademark humor unaffected by the lack of power during a sweltering heat wave. “I’ve been making noise about the power grid for years now. No one wants to spend the money to upgrade.”
“And no one wants to talk about wind or solar power either,” Blaine said. Both had been rejected out of fear of the necessary equipment sullying the landscape and views. “If this goes on for a day or two, people might change their tunes.”
“We can only hope,” Linc said.
“I’ve been in touch with the mainland, and they’re aware that we’re out,” Jack said. “I’m waiting for a call back from the power company.” Jack was tall, with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes, and according to Blaine’s wife, Tiffany, he was a “hot ginger,” whatever the hell that meant.
Mason came in a few minutes later, dressed in uniform. “I came as soon as I got your message, Jack. What’re we hearing?”
“Not much of anything yet,” Blaine said. “We’re waiting to hear from the power company and the governor’s office.”
“Is anyone looking at this as some sort of deliberate act?” Mason asked.
Blaine glanced at Jack, who shook his head. “I don’t think so. You’d have to know what you were doing to knock out power to the entire island, and if you didn’t know what you were doing, you’d be a fool to mess with the substations. I think it’s what Mr. McCarthy said—an old system that should’ve been updated years ago buckling under increased demand due to the heat wave.”
“What’s the chance of getting it back before the end of the day?” Blaine asked.
“If past history is any indication,” Big Mac replied, “not good. The last time it happened, six years ago, we were out for five days.”
The entire group groaned.
“I couldn’t believe it didn’t happen a couple of years ago with the heat wave that came through,” Big Mac said. “Held my breath the whole time it was hot like that.”
“What does this mean for emergency preparedness?” Linc asked.
“We’ve got generators for this building and at the clinic,” Blaine said.
“We’ve got some at the marina,” Big Mac said, “but most of them are accounted for.”
“Do we need to stop the incoming ferries?” Mason asked.
“I don’t think we can do that to the business people who rely on summer weekends for their livelihoods,” Big Mac said. “Everyone will have to punt.”
Blaine conferred with the others on what they needed to be ready for if the outage lasted a day or two. He didn’t want to think about it going beyond that.
“The last time this happened,” Big Mac said, “people got nutty after the first day. The bars will do big business.”
“Great,” Blaine said. Like he didn’t have enough trouble with drunks this time of year. “Let’s do a test of