Hurricane After Dark by Marie Force

Author:Marie Force [Force, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781958035375
Publisher: HTJB, Inc.

* * *

At the island’s only medical clinic, Victoria Stevens, nurse practitioner/midwife, was locked in a fierce Yahtzee game with Dr. David Lawrence and his wife, Daisy. They’d spent hours glued to the TV news coverage of the storm and had learned the storm had been upgraded to a Category 3, packing nearly one-hundred-twenty-mile-per-hour winds and a ten-foot storm surge that threatened Gansett’s pristine coastline.

An hour earlier, the clinic had lost power, and rather than deploy the full-facility generator, they’d chosen to use a portable generator only for the refrigerator where they kept perishable medications. Since they had no idea how long they’d be without power, they were keeping the main generator available for after the storm.

“He cheats,” Victoria said bluntly as candles flickered. “That’s the only possible explanation for how he rolls exactly what he needs every time.”

“It’s pure skill, my friend,” David said smugly after he notched his third straight win.

“Cheater.”

“I wouldn’t even know how to cheat at Yahtzee. The dice are what they are.”

“And why is it called Yahtzee, anyway?” Victoria muttered as she tossed her pencil on the table in defeat. “Such a dumb game.”

Daisy giggled at their banter. “My husband doesn’t cheat.”

“Not anymore, that is,” David said dryly.

The two women laughed at the grimace he made.

“We don’t joke about that,” Daisy reminded him.

“Sorry, dear.”

“Those days are long behind you now.”

He took her hand and kissed her palm. “They certainly are.”

Everyone knew that he’d once cheated on island golden girl Janey McCarthy when they were engaged, and he’d been stricken with lymphoma. Life had moved on for all of them. Janey was happily married to Joe Cantrell. David was in remission and married the love of his life, but the journey from then to now had been difficult and fraught.

“If you two are getting romantical, I’m outta here,” Victoria said, bitter to be riding out the storm without her own love, Shannon O’Grady, to snuggle with. He’d decided to go to sea with his cousin, Seamus, over her strenuous objections. She’d been overruled and would be sleeping alone tonight.

“We’ll try to control ourselves,” David said.

“Do that.” Victoria checked her phone, hoping for something from Shannon, but she hadn’t heard anything for a couple of hours. Hopefully, he was getting some sleep, which was what she ought to be doing, too. Who knew what would be needed from them tomorrow after the storm hit the island?

“No word from Shannon?” David asked.

“Not for a while, but I’m sure they’re fine. They were well to the east of the storm the last time we talked.”

She was far more worried about whether the wedding they’d planned for the following weekend would be able to go forward. They were getting married at Seamus and Carolina’s, but that would depend on whether they had power and water and everything else they needed—including Shannon’s family, coming from Ireland—to go forth.

There were so many unknowns at this point that she could drive herself crazy worrying about whether it would happen or if his family could even get to the island.

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