Carnita didn’t look so amused, almost like she was wondering the same thing. “It’ll probably turn back on in just a moment.”

But it didn’t.

“How about I go out and see if anyone else’s power went out?” I said as I closed my notebook and got to my feet.

Relief filled Carnita’s eyes. “Good idea.”

I headed out the front door, but since it was daytime, it wasn’t so easy to determine at a glance. There seemed to be some commotion over at Watson’s Café, so I headed over and realized right away that their power was out too.

“We’re dealin’ with this as best we can,” Sheila, an older waitress, shouted over the excited voices in the dining room. Greta stood to the side, watching the uproar in dismay.

Sheila inserted her fingers between her lips and released a wolf whistle, and the room instantly quieted. She might be wearing a pink and white vintage style waitress outfit that made her look like a pushover, but she was tough as they come and wouldn’t put up with crap from anyone. She could likely give Ruth a run for her money. “Now that I have everyone’s attention,” she said as though scolding a child. “The power is out and will be indefinitely. Watson found out the construction crew out at Drummond’s new resort cut a power line and they have no idea when they’ll get it fixed. Might be today, might be tomorrow.”

There was another uproar, but Sheila whistled again, and the room quieted, although there was still some annoyed murmuring. “We’ll be gettin’ out as many orders as we can. The rest of you will be free to go, drinks on the house. We’ll come around table to table to let you know where you stand.”

I wondered what that meant for the tavern. I’d heard the power went out occasionally, but it hadn’t happened since I’d shown up in town.

Greta saw me, and her face brightened as she hurried over. “Sorry we won’t be able to serve you.”

“I wasn’t here to eat anyway,” I said. “I’m working over at the library and thought I’d see who else lost power.”

“The whole town from the sounds of it,” she said. Her eyes lit up. “Looks like we both got the day off. Want to hang out this afternoon? I’ll call Lula and see if she’s in.”

I knew I should say no, but part of me really wanted to have some girl fun. Besides, call me devious, but I was curious about Lula’s mother. “I have a few errands to run. Maybe I can join you two at some point?”

“We’ll probably just hang out at Lula’s.” When she saw my hesitation, she laughed. “Not her cabin. At Bingham’s. You should see how she’s fixed it up.”

Her cabin, where she’d spent her entire life up until last December, was not only literally falling apart, but it didn’t have electricity or running water. Still, I wondered if Bingham’s house was much better. I’d never been inside, but I’d spent some time on his rundown front porch. Lula must have been a miracle worker to make his house hospitable in such a short period of time.

I pointed my thumb toward the exit. “I’ll let Carnita know what’s going on, then check in with Max.”

“Great,” she said, then gave me a hug. “I hope we see you later!”

I headed back to the library to give Carnita the news. The other two people at the computers had left, but Carnita said she’d stay open. The two front windows and glass door let in plenty of light, and she didn’t need electricity to check out books and DVDs. She planned to write the checkout information down in a notebook until the system came back up.

I drove down to the tavern and used the key to let myself in the back door. It was close to eleven, but Max would be up and Tiny would be in soon to get ready for the lunch crowd. I could hear Max’s voice coming from his office, and he didn’t sound happy, so I stayed by the back door. I couldn’t completely make out his side of the conversation, just a word or phrase here and there, including, “you better make this right.” Then I heard the bang of the phone receiver slamming down on the cradle.

“Hey, Max?” I called out and was met with silence.

A few seconds later, he appeared in the hallway, his eyes wide. “Hey, Carly. I thought you weren’t coming in until Tutoring Club.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t planning on it, but I was at the library and checked in at Watson’s when the power went out. They found out the construction crew at Drummond’s resort hit a power line and we might be out of power until tomorrow.”

“Fuck,” he said with a groan as he turned away. “I’ll have Tiny and Pickle get the generators out of storage.”

“You have generators?” I asked in surprise.

“Gotta plan for a rainy day,” he said, but he seemed agitated.

“Is everything okay, Max?”

“It’s fine…other than this headache.” He made a face. “We’ll probably be busier than usual tonight. Some people have generators, but most don’t, so they’ll be hungry and we’ll be ready to help ’em out. I might need you to cancel Tutoring Club so you can do a supplies run to Ewing to buy us a bunch of hamburgers, buns, and potatoes. One generator can run the grill, fridge, and fryers, so Tiny and Pickle can fry up burgers and make fries pretty efficiently.” He’d switched to business mode pretty quickly, but I was still wondering about that phone call.

Could it have been about Pam?

“I don’t mind going to Ewing,” I said, figuring I could visit Thelma to ask more questions. It was obvious my hangout with the girls wasn’t going to happen anyway. “I can pay a visit to my friends at Greener Pastures, and maybe see if Marco has time to meet me for lunch. Just give me a shopping list, and I’ll get what you need.”

His gaze took in my dress, hair, and makeup, and a slow smile spread across his face. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

I cringed. “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

His eyes flew wide. “So you two really weren’t together before?”

My face flushed. “Max.”

“What finally convinced you to take the leap?” he asked, leaning his shoulder against the wall, a sly grin lighting up his eyes. “It was me, wasn’t it? All that pesterin’ wore you down.”

I snorted. “Hardly.” Then because I didn’t see a reason to keep it a secret, I added, “He got me a telescope.”

He blinked. “Say what? A telescope?” He laughed. “Okay…maybe I’ll have to try it sometime.”

I nearly told him it wouldn’t work, but I doubted he’d go to that much effort to bed a woman. Then again, although he’d apparently earned a reputation as a lady killer, I hadn’t really seen him with many women. Occasionally, a young woman would come in late and stayed at the bar past closing, but I’d only seen a few of them.

His rakish smile turned friendly. “Let me call Tiny and we’ll figure out what we need. Thanks for doin’ this.”

“Of course. No problem. Just tell me when you need it by.”

“I suspect we have enough to tide over the lunch crowd. It’s the dinner crowd that will bleed us dry. Let’s say four so Tiny doesn’t have a stroke worryin’ about havin’ enough food.”