“If you say so, but we do have electricity—at least, unless and until the power goes out,” Cody told her. “I just haven’t turned on the light, but the refrigerator works. Evidently the propane tank is empty because the burners on the stove won’t light, so we’ll be making our food on the woodstove. Max told me that he lived out here for a few weeks last spring when that tornado took the roof off his house, so I found some leftover food and supplies.”

“Too bad you can’t snap your fingers and make a nice warm shower, or better yet, a deep Jacuzzi tub appear,” she said.

“You haven’t lost any of your spunk, have you?” he asked.

“Nope.” She pulled a pocketknife from the pocket of her jeans, took a diaper from the box he had set on the floor, and made a hole in the middle of it. Then in a few fluid motions, she put it on Dixie. Still on wobbly legs, the tiny animal began to explore the room right along with the kittens.

“She thinks she’s a cat,” Cody said.

“Maybe so, but she’s alive and responding,” Stevie said. “If we’ve got to stay here for a while, I’m going to put things in order and take stock of what we’ve got to work with. I had just been to the grocery store when I got the call from Dale about Dixie. There are a couple of bags of food in the van. A loaf of bread and a few other things, but I didn’t buy any coffee or chocolate. I didn’t know that I was going to be stranded with you, or I would have spent all my money on candy bars. Chocolate calms me when I want to chew up fence posts and spit out toothpicks.”

“Looks like it’s going to be a tough few days,” Cody said. “I’m not easy to live with when I don’t have coffee. I drink gallons of it every day. We had a rule in the hospitals. The person who takes the last cup starts a new pot.”

“Think we’ll survive?” Stevie asked.

“If we don’t, maybe Jesse will take care of Dixie and the cats.” Cody was glad to hear there were a few more supplies but thought she could have mentioned food before he went out in the cold to get the diapers.

“Two bags?” He stood up again, put his coat on one more time, and headed out. “Anything else while I’m out there?”

“Thank you, and there’s a bag of potatoes and…” She grimaced. “Would you bring that half a candy bar from the console?”

“Sure thing,” he answered. “I live to serve.”