Twister–Chapter One
Daniel
Talking to my adopted twelve-year-old daughter about her first period on the day there was a tornado warning had not been on my bucket list.
If I was being totally honest with myself, I should have been expecting this day to have happened well before now, meaning that I should have already purchased her what she needed so she wouldn’t have been caught out like she was.
But I hadn’t.
I was a single thirty-six-year-old gay man that worked far too many hours a week on his farm. Period care didn’t really factor into my life.
Therefore, on the day we should have been staying at home where we could shelter safely if one of the predicted twisters actually touched down, we were instead headed to the local gas station to buy sanitary products that, again, I realized I should have had enough forethought to have already purchased in readiness of the day that they were needed.
I’d obviously forgotten that I had a daughter who was diving headlong into puberty whether I was ready for it or not.
Understanding that I had only myself to blame for the predicament we both now found ourselves in, I scrubbed my nails against the coarse hair on my chin as I drove, darting a glance Rose’s way every now and then to make sure she was okay.
She was in the front passenger seat, staring out at the passing scenery. And she was unusually quiet, which utterly terrified me.
More than the period talk, I mean.
Bucky, our white three-year-old mutt, was whining quietly in the back seat. No doubt he could feel the awkward unease in the cab and wasn’t sure how to process it. He had doted on Rose ever since I’d brought him home a couple of years ago, and now whenever she was stressed, so was he.
“Storm’s looking nasty, huh?” I said idly, trying to break the tension, glancing up at the ominous dark clouds above us. There was definite slow rotation off in the distance, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we got at least one twister by the time the day was through. We didn’t see as many as some other states, but we still got the odd one here and there every year, even this late in the season.
Rose shifted her gaze from the side window to the windshield to get a better view. “Mm.” She nibbled her bottom lip, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of the storm or because of our far too uncomfortable conversation that we’d finished only minutes ago.
As silence fell between us again, the sound of multiple motorcycle engines came roaring up behind us. No one else was on the road because of the tornado warning, so they quickly overtook us. Five bikes, all Harleys. It was the second grouping we’d seen in our reasonably short drive, so I assumed there had been a rally or something going on.
“Hey, Daddy Danny,” Rose said uncertainly. “Can I ask you something?”
When I tore my eyes away from the bikes zooming past us to peer at her, I noticed she was nibbling at her bottom lip again. Something was obviously on her mind, and it was making her nervous. Was it more puberty talk? God, I hoped not. One revelation a day was enough for this old man. “You can ask me anything you want, Rosey.”
“Why don’t you date?”
My eyebrows shot up as I blinked in shock, and then my mouth opened and closed a few times before I forced my jaw shut. This wasn’t at all what I was expecting her to ask, and to be honest, I kind of felt like more uncomfortable puberty talk would have been preferable. “Uh….” I needed time to come up with a viable answer. What did the parenting books always say? Answer a question with a question? Hell, maybe that was standard business practice or generic friendship etiquette. Whatever. It’d work here, surely. “Why do you ask?”
She shifted in her seat so she could look at me front on, her soulful brown eyes as wide as dinner plates as she sucked on her bottom lip in thought. “Pappy Jacky has Brett, and they’ve been together for a couple of years. I wondered why you don't have someone.”
I grimaced. Bringing up my ex-husband and his boyfriend was always a mood killer. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy for Jackson to have moved on after our divorce had gone through, but that didn’t mean I wanted to hear about it.
A small spark of contentment settled in me, however, when I realized Rose still hadn’t given Brett a nickname, even after all this time of them being together. Was that petty? Probably. Did I care? Not. At. All.
“Well,” I began, swallowing to give myself just that little bit more breathing space while the resentment of the way Jackson had left us swirled within me. “I’ve been busy looking after you and the farm. Just like you’ve been busy with school and your volunteer work at the vet’s.”
She hummed. “Yeah, but you don’t even go out on any dates.” She frowned at me, her mind working overtime. “Is it because you don’t want to leave me home alone? ’Cause I’m twelve now and more than capable of looking after myself, you know.”
I pressed my lips together to stifle my grin. There was the return of the sassy little queen I adored so much. “Yes, I’m well aware of that fact.”
Rose crossed her arms and pouted at me. “So why aren’t you even going out on dates? It’s because you don’t trust me, isn’t it?”
Raising an eyebrow at her, I mustered up the biggest what on earth are you talking about look I could possibly create and responded, “Trust has nothing to do with whether I date or not. You know I trust you.”
“Then why ?” she asked, drawing the question out like only a truly precocious twelve-year-old could.
“ Because ,” I said, obnoxiously drawing out my response in the same exact way as I rolled my eyes at her theatrics before ruffling her hair. I breathed a sigh of relief when she started giggling at me. With the tension from earlier gone, it appeared that I had succeeded in this crazy thing called parenting. At least, for now.
On the outside, we were both all smiles, but inside, my heart splintered at the knowledge that she was getting to an age where she noticed more adult things like this. How could I tell her that running the farm was a two-man job? Jackson and I were supposed to have been looking after it together, but I had to do everything myself now. Once he’d ditched us, he had the time spare that he could go out and meet people, hook up, whatever. I didn’t because I was essentially working two full-time jobs and being her primary caregiver. Where was I supposed to find the time to date?
Thankfully, I was spared any more humiliating questions about my social life, or lack thereof, when we pulled into the gas station. I’d already noted that my fuel was lower than I liked it being, so I parked next to one of the pumps, figuring I could grab some gas while we were there. I hopped out of the cabin and waved at the attendant, Gabe, who was standing at the window, watching for customers. He waved back and flicked the switch to allow me to pump what I needed.
Rose hopped down from her seat and called Bucky to follow. He was a well-trained pup, and Gabe knew him well, so I wasn’t worried that she was taking him into the store with her. “If you wait for me to finish pumping the gas, I can help you find what you need.”
After making sure Bucky had his leash clipped to his harness securely, she shook her head. “Nah. Starlet Scarlett’s in there. She’ll help me.”
Sure enough, when I looked through the windows to the rest of the store, Scarlett, Gabe’s work colleague, was packing the shelves. Somewhat relieved that Rose had a woman she could ask about these things and proud as all hell that she didn’t feel embarrassed to ask for that help, I said, “Okay. Don’t take too long, yeah? We need to get home just in case a tornado touches down.”
She waved over her shoulder at me as she walked into the store and headed straight for Scarlett, her long brown hair swinging in the breeze that had been present all day.
I watched Scarlett stand up straight, then tilt her head to the side as she listened to Rose, then nod before she cast a quick glance out the window to see me watching them. With a cheeky grin on her face, she signed something to Rose, who laughed and nodded. They both then headed to a different shelf and paused like they were discussing something.
Eventually, Rose nodded again and hugged Scarlett before she headed to the rear of the store, where the restrooms were located. Given the high windows somewhat hindered my view of the store interior, I couldn’t see where Bucky was, but I was sure he’d dutifully followed Rose. We’d trained him early on that whenever he had his harness on, he was to stick close to whoever held the leash. Regardless, both Gabe and Scarlett loved him, so if he hadn’t clung to Rose, he’d be fine with them until I went in to pay for everything. I watched Scarlett grab a couple more things from the shelves before she headed to the counter to leave them there, no doubt for me to pay for when I went in.
After the pump kicked off to let me know I’d filled the tank, I replaced the nozzle and frowned when I realized how dark the sky had become in the short time since we’d arrived. The pumps were all under a canopy, so I didn’t have a clear view of the sky, but looking out at the horizon, I could see the dark clouds from before had dropped further and had tinted a worrying shade of green.
Clenching my jaw, I grabbed my phone, wallet, and keys from the cab, locked the truck, and hightailed it to the store. I needed to pay for our stuff immediately and get Rose and Bucky home now .
The sound of the bell tinkling when I opened the door to the store barely registered as I walked briskly in. I hadn’t bothered to put my wallet away while I approached the counter, finding ibuprofen and chocolate alongside an opened pack of pads waiting for me. I scanned the store only to gather that Rose was still in the restroom with Bucky. Not having her in my sight when the weather had turned so nasty worried me something fierce, but I figured she’d be out soon enough. It couldn’t take that long to do whatever she needed to do, surely.
Gabe greeted me with the total of my gas and goods and his own look of worry. As I tapped my card to the machine, Gabe turned the radio he’d been listening to up so I could hear it too.
“We have reports of a tornado on the ground in the township of Rockdale. I repeat, we have reports of a tornado on the ground. If you are in Rockdale, we urge you to move to shelter immediately. This is not a drill. A tornado emergency is now in effect. Find shelter immediately.”
What fingernails I had were rapidly tapping away on the counter as I stared at Gabe. In unison, we turned to look outside to see heavy droplets of rain begin to fall.
My heart thumping hard, I grabbed the bag of stuff I’d purchased off the counter. “You’ve got a storm shelter in here, Gabe?”
“Yeah,” he said, kicking into high gear as well and putting things away behind the counter. “In the back.”
“Anyone else here? Or is it just you and Scarlett?”
“Just us. Drew’s running errands.” He looked around the store, locking onto his colleague who had resumed packing shelves. “Hey, Scarlett! Emergency closure procedure!”
I took a deep breath in. With Gabe’s boss, Drew, away from the store and no other customers that I could see, we might be okay. “I hope it’s big enough for four people and a dog.”
He nodded as he flicked the radio off, and Scarlett hurried up to the counter to check in with him. “Plenty of room.”
“Good.” Leaving them both to do what they needed to do and with the bag in hand, I ran first to the shelves for a flashlight, figuring that we were going to need one if the power went out, then for some batteries. “Gabe, I’ll pay for these later!”
“Yup!” he called distractedly, his and Scarlett’s sneakers squeaking on the shiny linoleum as they rushed around the store to complete their tasks.
I held the flashlight in the crook of my underarm as I ripped into the packaging for the batteries and pulled out what I needed. While dumping the trash and leftover batteries into the bag, I headed to the restroom to pound on the door. “Rose! We need to take shelter!”
“You’ll see the sign on the door out back,” Gabe called after me. “Open it to find the stairs.”
“Got it!” I called back.
There was some sound of movement before the door opened, and then all I could see were two wide brown eyes staring at me in concern. “What?”
“Twister.” I handed her the bag and fiddled with the flashlight to pop two batteries in as I walked her and Bucky to where Gabe had said the shelter was. I looked over my shoulder to see him talking to Scarlett, who was just as wide-eyed as Rose was, but she was nodding at whatever it was he was saying. Turning my attention back to my daughter, I handed her the flashlight and searched for the door Gabe had said to look for, letting out a quick breath when it appeared quickly and exactly where he had said it would be. I held the door open for Rose and ushered her inside. “Take this. Go down the stairs and get as far back from the door as you can. Stay there, okay? We need to lock up the store.”
Her hands shook slightly as she took the flashlight from me, but her obvious concern didn’t stop her from saying, “I can help.”
I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in for a tight hug while Bucky fidgeted at our feet. His tail was low and not swinging from side to side like it usually did. It was obvious that he knew something was up. “The best thing you can do to help is to get in the shelter and wait for us.” I kissed her on the forehead. “Love you, kiddo.”
“Love you too, Daddy Danny.” She gripped my waist, then pulled away and tugged on Bucky’s leash. “Come on, Puppy Bucky.” With a mixture of love and worry in her eyes, Rose glanced at me one last time before she disappeared down the stairs.
I darted back to Gabe, who was staring outside with a frown. “Talk to me, Gabe. What can I do to help?”
He shook his head and flicked his thumb at something outside. “What the fuck is this guy doing?”
I looked outside and could barely see through the heavy rain that was now coming down in a distinctly horizontal fashion, but I could see the bright sheen of car headlights bouncing around as someone drove way too fast into the station. Not stopping at any of the pumps, he headed straight for the parking bay to the side of the store, narrowly missing my truck as he went.
“Recognize the car?” I asked Gabe, my brow now furrowed in concern too.
“Nope.”
“Maybe he’s looking for shelter too?”
Unconvinced and still wearing a frown, Gabe hummed before he turned around to look for Scarlett. “Everything good to go, Scar?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her pop a thumbs-up to Gabe from behind the counter.
He headed toward the lock on the door, calling back to her, “Then get ready to release the shutters.”
“What?” I turned to glare at him, trying to pull him back from the door. “There’s someone out there. You can’t lock them out!”
“The fuck I can’t!” Gabe responded, attempting to shake himself free of my grip. “They’re safe in their car. We need to secure this place, Daniel. Now.”
Just when I was about to really start arguing with him, I heard thumping on the glass.
“Twister!”
Gabe and I turned together to find a terrified young man frantically pounding on the glass. His dark hair was plastered to his scalp as the rain pelted into him, drenching him in seconds. “Well, he’s not in his car anymore, is he?” I asked Gabe pointedly.
“Help!” The young man had made it to the door and was slapping his palms against the glass in a last-ditch effort to get inside.
“Gabe! Open the fucking door!” I shouted over the now-howling wind, my heart in my throat as the noise that we’d all been trained to listen for in our tornado drills echoed through the store.
A freight train was coming.
“I can’t! It’s against protocol!”
“Shove the fucking protocol up your ass!” I rushed at the door, horrified that the young kid had almost given up on gaining entry and was now facing away from us and tearing his hair out. “We can’t let him die out there!”
When I pulled the door open, Gabe screamed in frustration before catching it with a huff once it flew away from me. “I swear to God, I’m going to fucking kill you if the fucking twister doesn’t do the job first!”
His words barely registered over the roaring noise of the oncoming tornado. My focus was solely on the kid that I was hauling through the door by the back of his top before I lost my grip, forcing him to fall on his ass at my feet.
“Daniel, get him to the shelter!” Gabe shouted as he forced the door shut against the insanely strong winds and pelting rain. “Scarlett, hit the button for the shutter! Move, move, move!”