Free Last Light by Terri Blackstock Page A

child, about three years old, sat near the patio door playing with Legos. The sparse furnishings made it look as if they’d bought more house than they could afford, so had little left with which to furnish it.
    “You caught me at a bad time . . .” The woman set the babies down on the floor, and Beth plopped down to play with them. One looked around two, the other about nine months. “I was losing it. I’m out of diapers, and I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
    Deni didn’t know what to say. “You want me to put the chicken in the kitchen?”
    “Yeah. Hey, thanks for that. We need it. I haven’t eaten yet today.”
    As Amber followed her into the kitchen, Deni set the chicken on the counter and saw a dozen unwashed bottles near the sink. It looked like she was having a hard time.
    “I’m sorry for the mess,” Amber said, “but without water I can’t wash the bottles.”
    “Everybody’s house is a mess. You should see ours. We’re getting water down at the lake. You should ask your husband to go get you some.”
    Amber closed her eyes. “My husband isn’t . . .” Her voice broke off. “Well, he just isn’t home.”
    “Oh, no. He wasn’t stranded somewhere last night, was he?” Deni launched into the story about her journey home from the airport, but Amber didn’t seem that engaged.
    When Deni stopped talking, Amber said, “He isn’t stranded.” Tears sprang to her eyes, and she grabbed a paper towel and wiped her nose.
    Deni didn’t know what had set her off. Frustration at the outage? Three children under three? Marital problems?
    Amber stepped into the doorway and made sure Beth was all right with the children. Finally, she turned back. “Do you know anybody in the neighborhood who might have extra diapers? I should have gone to get some yesterday, but then the blackout happened, and I ran out.”
    “We could ask around,” Deni said. “I haven’t lived here for a while. I’ve been away at college, so I don’t really know the younger families.”
    “I know somebody who might have some,” Beth called from the living room.
    “Who?”
    “My teacher, Mrs. Abernathy. She lives two streets over. Before school was out last week, she kept gushing about her grandbaby who was visiting. I’ll bet she has some.”
    “We can go ask her,” Deni said.
    Amber blew her nose. “That would be great. Thank you.”
    Deni hesitated. “If your husband’s not here, are you going to be able to get to the lake to get water?”
    “No, it’s kind of hard with the children. I was hoping I could get them to nap later, and I could go then.”
    As much as Deni hated to help with that particular task, she supposed she’d have to offer. “I’ll bring you some. Do you have a way to boil it?”
    More tears. “I have a charcoal grill in back, but you can’t boil water like that. Oh, I’ll figure out something.”
    Deni couldn’t wait to get out of there, but she hated leaving her like this. “Are you all right?”
    Amber drew in a deep breath and tried to pull herself together. “Yeah, I’m okay. Frankly, I was a basket case before the power went out.” She tried to smile. “So are you home for the summer or just visiting?”
    “I’m visiting. I have to be in Washington to start my new job on Monday. I came home to do some wedding planning.”
    The two-year-old called out for his mommy and came running into the kitchen. Amber swept him up. “Married, huh? You sure you wanna do that?”
    Deni breathed a laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure. Why?”
    Amber got some plates out of the cupboard. “I don’t know. You’re just awfully young.”
    Young? Like Amber was any older! “I’m twenty-two. You don’t look that much older.”
    “I’m not,” Amber said. “I got married when I was your age. And look at me now.”
    “Yeah, look at you. You live in a beautiful house in a nice neighborhood, with three beautiful children and a husband—”
    “You should have stopped with the three beautiful