whitewash-painted walls to the
hardwood planks, stained dark with age and covered in a few key spots with
pastel-blue area rugs. There was something solid and so real about this place,
her heart ached for the simplicity of her days of youth spent here.
This house was her haven, her salvation.
She never understood why her parents didn’t rent out this
place during the season when they weren’t here. It wasn’t as if they came down
here any longer. It wasn’t as if they needed the money either, the house had
been paid for years ago. But at least with summer renters the place wouldn’t sit
here hollow and alone. It deserved a better kind of life than to sit empty and
ignored.
Dust flew in the air as she yanked on the sheets covering
the living-room furniture and she sneezed a few times in reaction. The
cream-colored couch and loveseat had faded a little in color, but were
otherwise as she remembered. Her third-story apartment near the university
didn’t hold the same friendliness. It was stark and unfriendly compared to her
current surroundings.
Nothing inside those simple walls cemented her to the space.
She had no animals and lived simply in order to accommodate
her schedule, which gave her the ability to leave for days on end without a
second thought. She’d even tailored some of the lectures for her students so
they could be done online, that way she didn’t need to be in the classroom.
Gazing at the handmade knickknacks scattered around the room
with no thought to any kind of organization reminded her just how unfriendly
her apartment was. They also reminded her why she stood here right this very
moment and it wasn’t entirely due to the hurricane barreling toward the Gulf
Coast of the United States.
Shaking off her stupor, she scolded herself. There were a
lot of preparations to be made, and if she started now, she might finish before
the hurricane roared onto shore.
Kate had just put the last of her food supplies in the
cabinet a half hour later when her cell phone rang. She grabbed it without
looking at the screen and flipped it open. “Hello?”
“Twice in one day. Has to be a record.” Snyder’s smooth
voice washed over her, raising a line of goose bumps that made her even more
irate. She hated the way her body reacted to even the slightest hint of his
presence. As if she didn’t possess a brain in which to think with.
She scolded herself for answering without a glance to the
screen, especially when she knew both men were in close proximity. “What do you
want?”
“You.” She started to fire back at his answer, but he
continued on without allowing her to speak. “Actually, your vehicle. Rental
company doesn’t have anything that’ll get us where we need to go. Unless the
new Camaro comes equipped with four-wheel drive or some kind of tow hitch.”
And here she’d thought Tripp and Snyder were above being
seduced by the beauty of a sports car. “And how do you plan on getting out of
there if you need to evacuate?”
“Never ran from a storm before. Not going to start now.”
Kate drummed her fingers against the thick slab of wood that
served as a counter for the kitchen island. “Really piss-poor planning, which
is unlike you two, especially when it comes to hurricanes. You should know
better.”
“You know the call of the storm just as well as we do. You
go, settle in and figure it out as you go along sometimes. We made a
last-minute decision to come and assumed a beach community would have something
a bit sturdier than a sports car.”
He had a point, as much as it pained her to concede. It also
annoyed her to admit she’d rather see them ride out the storm here. At least
they could all keep an eye on each other in case things got a little hairy.
Judging by the size of this monster, they undoubtedly would.
“Fine. Where are you? At the airport still? I’ll come pick
you up, but Rutherford’s place is out of the question. That’s too dangerous,
even for me. And that’s
hardwood planks, stained dark with age and covered in a few key spots with
pastel-blue area rugs. There was something solid and so real about this place,
her heart ached for the simplicity of her days of youth spent here.
This house was her haven, her salvation.
She never understood why her parents didn’t rent out this
place during the season when they weren’t here. It wasn’t as if they came down
here any longer. It wasn’t as if they needed the money either, the house had
been paid for years ago. But at least with summer renters the place wouldn’t sit
here hollow and alone. It deserved a better kind of life than to sit empty and
ignored.
Dust flew in the air as she yanked on the sheets covering
the living-room furniture and she sneezed a few times in reaction. The
cream-colored couch and loveseat had faded a little in color, but were
otherwise as she remembered. Her third-story apartment near the university
didn’t hold the same friendliness. It was stark and unfriendly compared to her
current surroundings.
Nothing inside those simple walls cemented her to the space.
She had no animals and lived simply in order to accommodate
her schedule, which gave her the ability to leave for days on end without a
second thought. She’d even tailored some of the lectures for her students so
they could be done online, that way she didn’t need to be in the classroom.
Gazing at the handmade knickknacks scattered around the room
with no thought to any kind of organization reminded her just how unfriendly
her apartment was. They also reminded her why she stood here right this very
moment and it wasn’t entirely due to the hurricane barreling toward the Gulf
Coast of the United States.
Shaking off her stupor, she scolded herself. There were a
lot of preparations to be made, and if she started now, she might finish before
the hurricane roared onto shore.
Kate had just put the last of her food supplies in the
cabinet a half hour later when her cell phone rang. She grabbed it without
looking at the screen and flipped it open. “Hello?”
“Twice in one day. Has to be a record.” Snyder’s smooth
voice washed over her, raising a line of goose bumps that made her even more
irate. She hated the way her body reacted to even the slightest hint of his
presence. As if she didn’t possess a brain in which to think with.
She scolded herself for answering without a glance to the
screen, especially when she knew both men were in close proximity. “What do you
want?”
“You.” She started to fire back at his answer, but he
continued on without allowing her to speak. “Actually, your vehicle. Rental
company doesn’t have anything that’ll get us where we need to go. Unless the
new Camaro comes equipped with four-wheel drive or some kind of tow hitch.”
And here she’d thought Tripp and Snyder were above being
seduced by the beauty of a sports car. “And how do you plan on getting out of
there if you need to evacuate?”
“Never ran from a storm before. Not going to start now.”
Kate drummed her fingers against the thick slab of wood that
served as a counter for the kitchen island. “Really piss-poor planning, which
is unlike you two, especially when it comes to hurricanes. You should know
better.”
“You know the call of the storm just as well as we do. You
go, settle in and figure it out as you go along sometimes. We made a
last-minute decision to come and assumed a beach community would have something
a bit sturdier than a sports car.”
He had a point, as much as it pained her to concede. It also
annoyed her to admit she’d rather see them ride out the storm here. At least
they could all keep an eye on each other in case things got a little hairy.
Judging by the size of this monster, they undoubtedly would.
“Fine. Where are you? At the airport still? I’ll come pick
you up, but Rutherford’s place is out of the question. That’s too dangerous,
even for me. And that’s
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