“Well, that’s both TMI and far too sad,” Jess joked. “But seriously, are you sure Nick’s okay about coming out in this weather to rescue me?”

“Of course!”

“I guess I can wait for the emergency service if I have to.”

“You won’t have to but if it makes you happy I’ll ask him. Hang on.” Libby muted the phone and faced Nick. “Jess’s bedroom ceiling is full of water.”

“Sounds like a job for the volunteer emergency service.”

“Nick!” She punched him gently on the arm. His lack of sympathy was surprising, especially as he often helped Jess out with general repairs like changing washers on faucets and high pressure cleaning her deck. He’d recently installed her new dishwasher. “She’s already called them and there’s a long wait.”

“But tonight’s our night,” he moaned. “Surely there’s someone else she can call? Someone on her side of the creek?”

“Will’s on the platform this week. You know she wouldn’t ask unless she was desperate. Do it for me,” she implored, stroking his cheek. “Please.”

He let out a groan, swung his legs onto the floor and grabbed his boxers. “Just for the record, Libs, I’m getting tired of being Jess’s Mr. Fixit. We’re giving her a tool kit and DIY classes for her birthday.”

Libby laughed, knowing he wasn’t serious, just a tad testy because of the timing and the wet weather. Nick loved his community and prided himself on being helpful. The widowed Italian nonnas in town adored it when he arrived on their doorstep with his tool kit. Once, one of the tech-savvy oldies posted a photo of a bare-chested Nick digging out her septic on the town’s Facebook page. She’d tagged it #ifonlyIwasthirtyyearsyounger. Nick didn’t have the heart to ask her to take it down and the blokes at the coast guard had ribbed him about it for weeks.

Libby scrambled to her knees and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Thank you for being such a wonderful man. I’ll be right here waiting with my grateful thanks.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He gazed down at her, his face softening. “Love you, bella.”

“Love you too.”

The headlights of Nick’s car swept into Jess’s living room, casting shadows on the walls, and then the light faded along with the throb of the diesel engine. Jess was surprised she’d heard the noise over the clamor of the rain, which didn’t seem to be letting up. According to the weather bureau, Bairnsdale and Kurnai Bay were being hammered by a once-in-fifty-years storm. Luckily, she lived on a hill—the low lands would be flooding.

Despite the tumult and the racket Jess had made finding buckets, Leo was sleeping soundly. Even so, she didn’t want to risk Nick ringing the bell and waking him so the moment she heard Nick’s familiar tread on the veranda, she opened the front door.

“Hi.”

“Seriously, Jess? Tonight?”