MIDNIGHT CASANOVA
by Lainee Cole
Maddie jumped at the sound of the large doggie door snapping shut behind her as she crawled into the dark farmhouse. Heart pounding, she scrambled back against the door, listening for any sounds coming from within.
A resident dog would have greeted her in one way or another before she ever made it this far. And even if it didn’t, she was confident in her abilities as a dog trainer to handle any surprises.
What she couldn’t handle was turning into a pumpkin at midnight. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes.
Baby, her trusty Ford Mustang, had malfunctioned as soon as the clock turned midnight. Despite her foot mashing the gas pedal to the floor, the car had slowed and the speedometer dropped. She’d gripped the steering wheel and barely made it onto the shoulder before the car shuddered to a stop. The dash lights dimmed, the headlights flickered, and then both had gone out, leaving her stranded on a dark country road.
Talk about experiencing a Cinderella moment.
Maddie sat in the darkness, thinking about her life. She’d loved fairy tales since she was a little girl. In some ways, she was living her very own, having been adopted by doting parents. But she knew nothing about being a princess, or a pumpkin. Well, aside from reading Cinderella many, many times.
Unlike the horses in her favorite childhood fairy tale, the horses under her hood hadn’t turned into mice and scuttled away, but their magic had definitely expired. Taking shelter in a deserted farmhouse in freezing cold Illinois was not how she had planned to spend her New Year’s Eve.
There were some positives. One, Baby hadn’t turned into a pumpkin so once she was fixed, Maddie still had wheels. Two, she was dressed in comfortable jeans. No dresses or fancy glass slippers for her. And three, there was no prince. She would have to save herself.
She blew out a deep breath. The few dates she’d made time for in her busy life had turned out not to be prince material, so while saving herself might not be a positive, it was definitely something she could handle.
Since she was likely to be stranded for at least a day, maybe she would try to locate her dad’s latest grantee applicant. It might be difficult to do without his contact information, though. She braced her hands on the floor and sighed. Tomorrow, when she called her dad, maybe she would swallow her pride and ask him for it.
Maybe.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, her heart settled into a quieter rhythm and her breathing calmed. When she’d peeked inside from the front porch windows, she’d seen the living room furniture covered in sheets. Either nobody lived here or they were gone for an extended time because she heard no sounds at all in the house.
She let the tension drain from her body. The brisk walk from her car had kept her awake but now she was inside and out of the wind, the long hours of driving were catching up with her. With a little luck, she could find a blanket and crash on the sheet-covered couch she’d spotted through the front window.
Maddie glanced at her phone as she pushed to her feet. It had taken less than half an hour to get here. She was lucky. It could have been a much longer walk.
She adjusted her phone flashlight to dim and looked around. Nestled between cabinets, a small window overlooked the kitchen sink. The counters were clear. An empty Lazy Susan sat in the middle of a round wooden table with four chairs. A cozy little kitchen for someone.
To the left of the table was a closed door, a broom closet maybe? She didn’t venture into the short hallway to her right, but guessed she would find a bathroom there. A wide arched doorway led from the kitchen to the living room. She kept her beam lowered but flashed it around the room. All the way to the left she spotted another closed door. Hopefully, it led to a bedroom.
Bingo! She wrinkled her nose at the stale smell but the room was clean and tidy, with an old-fashioned chenille spread barely covering the queen-sized bed. Her hand trailed across the quilt folded at the foot of the bed, feeling the yarn ties at the corners of the quilt blocks. It was almost like being at her grandmother’s house.
Maddie gathered up the heavy quilt, hugging it close to her chest and went back to the living room.
Knowing the house was locked and it was unlikely anyone would be coming “home” tonight, she shed her light winter coat and balled it up to use as a pillow. She tugged her sweatshirt down and toed off her fur-lined duck shoes.
Settling on the couch, she curled up under the comforting weight of the quilt. With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes.
Tomorrow would be soon enough to reinvent her fairy tale gone wrong.
* * *
CHANCE MARLOW EXITED the men’s room and glanced back into the main bar area of the Pine City Pub. Thank God he’d had the good sense to take a restroom break just before the countdown to midnight. If he hadn’t, he’d have been on the receiving end of Courtney’s affections. Instead, the lithe brunette was plastered against one of his buddies.
The music segued into another slow song. That was his cue. He turned the opposite way and escaped out the back door. The weight of the evening fell from his shoulders as he crossed the parking lot and climbed into his truck.
Everyone was temporarily otherwise occupied. It felt good to be free.
###
Stranded at midnight by a broken-down car, dog trainer Maddie Lockhart finds refuge in a deserted farmhouse. When the owner of the house, Chance Marlow, tries to oust her, Maddie uses the stray mutt he calls Casanova to convince him she can help with his collection of homeless animals. While their paths seem incompatible, working side-by-side to rescue animals, they discover otherwise.
AT MIDNIGHT also contains Two Days Until Midnight by Lynn Crandall and Midnight Deadline for Love by Rena Koontz
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