hand.
“I’m Nate Coates and this is Lily Hansen, one of our local ranchers. Thanks for flying in to help with this project.”
Eddie’s gaze lowered to the gentle bulge of Lily’s stomach and his eyes widened. The pilot looked doubtful, but before he could speak, Nate interceded. “She has a release from her doctor to fly.”
Eddie’s expression softened and he turned back to his controls. “Okay, if you say so.”
Lily sat back and buckled her seat belt. Nate did the same, his warm gaze resting on her face. “You okay?”
She nodded, hoping he didn’t get the wrong idea. She hadn’t tagged along because she was interested in him. “I’m just worried about Emerald Ranch. I want to make sure we’re not in danger.”
He flashed a consoling smile. “Me, too.”
Did he really care, or was this just the forest ranger talking?
As the chopper lifted off, Lily gazed out the window, concentrating on the ground below. She would have gone online last night to check out more info on debris torrents, but Dad didn’t own a computer or have an internet connection at the ranch. If she decided to stay here, she’d have to remedy that.
She’d never heard of anything but a flash flood, and she couldn’t imagine the kind of damage Nate had described. On the evening news several years earlier, she recalled seeing the damage mudslides had caused to some homes in California. But here in sleepy Jasper, Nevada, she couldn’t imagine something like a debris torrent taking out an entire ranch.
Eddie flew the helicopter over town and then toward the mountains. In the lower valleys, pools of water surrounded green fields of alfalfa. The chopper skirted the side of long stretches of road where a narrow bridge of six-inch layers of asphalt stood with no support underneath. Lily had never seen anything like it before.
“Did the floods cause that?” she asked.
“Yep, the water was so intense that it just swept away the base beneath the road,” Nate said. “You can see why we’ve closed it off. It looks innocent enough, but a car passing along that road wouldn’t realize the danger until it’s too late. The weight of the car would collapse the bridge of asphalt and cause serious injury to the driver.”
Lily shook her head in awe, wondering how Nate knew about these things. His expertise and caution on behalf of the community impressed her.
Within minutes, the chopper climbed high into the Ruby Mountains where twenty-foot poles had been set up to measure the depths of snow. Nate lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes before scanning the area with his gaze.
“Where are the poles? I can’t see a single one.” Lily squinted out the window.
“That’s because they’re all buried beneath the snow.”
Eddie gave a low whistle. “That means the snow is over twenty-feet deep here. And it’s the end of April. Even with the level of melt-off and flooding you’ve been having, I don’t think the floods are finished yet.”
“Me, either,” Nate agreed.
This revelation amazed Lily. “How many feet of snow did we get this year?”
“We estimate over thirty-three feet. In February, we had to bring in dump trucks and front-end loaders to clear the snow away from Main Street in town just so cars could drive through.”
Eddie steered the chopper away from the enormous white drifts, following the rivulets of melt-off as they ran into the nearby creeks. The chopper followed the headwaters leading down the mountain to the valleys below. The runoff started out small, but quickly became rushing torrents of water.
Near Secret Valley, Lily gasped. A geyser sprayed outward from the mountain, taking them all by surprise. It came from nowhere, reminding her of a broken fire hydrant she’d seen in Houston, spraying high into the air before splashing down below and soaking everything in sight. The kids had played in the water before the fire department had shut it down.
“Where is that much water coming from?” Lily
“I’m Nate Coates and this is Lily Hansen, one of our local ranchers. Thanks for flying in to help with this project.”
Eddie’s gaze lowered to the gentle bulge of Lily’s stomach and his eyes widened. The pilot looked doubtful, but before he could speak, Nate interceded. “She has a release from her doctor to fly.”
Eddie’s expression softened and he turned back to his controls. “Okay, if you say so.”
Lily sat back and buckled her seat belt. Nate did the same, his warm gaze resting on her face. “You okay?”
She nodded, hoping he didn’t get the wrong idea. She hadn’t tagged along because she was interested in him. “I’m just worried about Emerald Ranch. I want to make sure we’re not in danger.”
He flashed a consoling smile. “Me, too.”
Did he really care, or was this just the forest ranger talking?
As the chopper lifted off, Lily gazed out the window, concentrating on the ground below. She would have gone online last night to check out more info on debris torrents, but Dad didn’t own a computer or have an internet connection at the ranch. If she decided to stay here, she’d have to remedy that.
She’d never heard of anything but a flash flood, and she couldn’t imagine the kind of damage Nate had described. On the evening news several years earlier, she recalled seeing the damage mudslides had caused to some homes in California. But here in sleepy Jasper, Nevada, she couldn’t imagine something like a debris torrent taking out an entire ranch.
Eddie flew the helicopter over town and then toward the mountains. In the lower valleys, pools of water surrounded green fields of alfalfa. The chopper skirted the side of long stretches of road where a narrow bridge of six-inch layers of asphalt stood with no support underneath. Lily had never seen anything like it before.
“Did the floods cause that?” she asked.
“Yep, the water was so intense that it just swept away the base beneath the road,” Nate said. “You can see why we’ve closed it off. It looks innocent enough, but a car passing along that road wouldn’t realize the danger until it’s too late. The weight of the car would collapse the bridge of asphalt and cause serious injury to the driver.”
Lily shook her head in awe, wondering how Nate knew about these things. His expertise and caution on behalf of the community impressed her.
Within minutes, the chopper climbed high into the Ruby Mountains where twenty-foot poles had been set up to measure the depths of snow. Nate lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes before scanning the area with his gaze.
“Where are the poles? I can’t see a single one.” Lily squinted out the window.
“That’s because they’re all buried beneath the snow.”
Eddie gave a low whistle. “That means the snow is over twenty-feet deep here. And it’s the end of April. Even with the level of melt-off and flooding you’ve been having, I don’t think the floods are finished yet.”
“Me, either,” Nate agreed.
This revelation amazed Lily. “How many feet of snow did we get this year?”
“We estimate over thirty-three feet. In February, we had to bring in dump trucks and front-end loaders to clear the snow away from Main Street in town just so cars could drive through.”
Eddie steered the chopper away from the enormous white drifts, following the rivulets of melt-off as they ran into the nearby creeks. The chopper followed the headwaters leading down the mountain to the valleys below. The runoff started out small, but quickly became rushing torrents of water.
Near Secret Valley, Lily gasped. A geyser sprayed outward from the mountain, taking them all by surprise. It came from nowhere, reminding her of a broken fire hydrant she’d seen in Houston, spraying high into the air before splashing down below and soaking everything in sight. The kids had played in the water before the fire department had shut it down.
“Where is that much water coming from?” Lily
Similar Books
