Chapter 11 #2
They had to park at the head of Sandalwood Drive, which was at a slightly lower elevation and prone to flooding even before this recent weird phenomenon had started to take place.
The flashing lights of several emergency vehicles could be seen, along with a short flatbed truck stacked high with sandbags.
“We started filling these after Tropical Storm Lucy,” Harlon called over the crack of yet more thunder.
They all joined in with the people shuttling sandbags in an assembly line.
It seemed as if it would take a million of them to stave off the water streaming in from the toppling creek, but with every sandbag that fell into her waiting arms, Paxton knew it was potentially another pet saved, another home spared.
The rain sluiced down the slick blacktopped roadway, running in swift rivulets. She’d never seen anything like this in Gauthier. The sight caused chills to cascade down her spine as powerfully as the water down the street.
“We’ve gotta move faster,” Donovan called as he tossed another sandbag her way.
They continued their coordinated assembly line, the water reaching their ankles. Headlights shone as several other cars pulled up to the head of the street.
Paxton peered through the darkness and spotted Sawyer running toward them.
Her heart flip-flopped within her chest. He acknowledged her with a slight nod before jogging past the assembly line toward the animal shelter.
He returned minutes later with a pet carrier tucked under each arm.
Webster Detellier followed behind, also burdened down by animals.
They worked for two hours straight, hauling sandbags and pets, until they finally had some control over the water. By the time they were done, the rain had slowed to a steady but much less powerful downfall.
Members of the community huddled in the street, talking strategy for how to clean up the mess in the houses that had taken in water.
Thankfully, only four on this street, along with the animal shelter, had seen any accumulation.
And that had only been about two inches, not even enough to reach the top edge of the baseboards, so at least they wouldn’t have to rip out any walls.
As she held a shivering cocker spaniel/poodle mix in her arms, Paxton couldn’t help the tears that began to stream down her face. The adrenaline from the past few hours had worn off, leaving her drained, her emotions raw and exposed.
Not a single photo or secondhand story could tell the full picture of exactly what this town was up against. Tonight, she’d seen it with her own eyes; she’d felt the anxiety and desperation deep in her bones.
And, just like that, she made her decision.
“I need you.”
Sawyer turned at the sound of Paxton’s breathless plea. Droplets of the still-misting rain peppered her smooth brown skin, making it glisten under the gleam of the streetlights overhead.
“What?” he asked, wondering if he’d heard her wrong.
“I said I need you.” She held her hands out in helpless appeal. “I need to see this project through to the end. I can’t leave Gauthier without making sure it’s done right. Not after what I saw tonight. But I need your help. If we work all night, we can get the revised ICP done before I leave.”
“So, you’re still leaving,” he said, the truth crushing his soul all over again.
“Yes, I am. I have to.” She paused, then said, “But you can come with me.”
His body went rigid, his eyes narrowing in confusion.
“Just hear me out,” she said. “The army corps’ Charleston district is sending three engineers to the Netherlands with us to study this system. I know you can make a case with the New Orleans office to come with us. We can make this work.”
He cursed the thread of hope blossoming in his chest, but he couldn’t fight it.
Still, he managed to keep his expression neutral as he glanced toward the activity taking place at the animal shelter before looking back at her.
“When you say that we can make this work, what exactly are you talking about? The project or—”
“Everything,” she said. She closed the distance between them and took his hands in hers.
“I’m stubborn and hardheaded and when I get mad at you I’ll probably say some things that I regret, but if you’re willing to put up with me, I will gladly hand over my heart to you, Sawyer. In fact, you already have it.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him.
“It’s an even swap,” he said. “You’ve had my heart for longer than you can possibly know.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then lifted her chin so he could look her in the eyes. “I’ve got a fresh bag of coffee grounds from The Jazzy Bean. What do you say we tear it open and get to work?”
She smiled up at him. “That sounds like a plan.”
Once they established that everything was under control on Sandalwood Drive, Paxton checked in with Shayla, letting her know that she was leaving with Sawyer.
The rain continued to fall in a light mist as they drove over the bridge and into downtown Gauthier.
Sawyer pulled into his garage and popped open his trunk, where he kept duplicates of the maps that were currently on the walls of the conference room in the Gauthier Law Firm.
Everything else they needed was on his computer.
He placed several maps in Paxton’s waiting arms and ushered her toward the door. Then they spread everything out over the dining room table.
Sawyer looked over at her, still drenched from the rain, her short hair plastered to her forehead.
“You have no idea how badly I want to strip you naked and haul you to my bed, but I know it has to wait.”
Her gaze traveled appreciatively down his body. “It can be our reward for all of our hard work.”
“God, yes,” he said. “We’re getting this done tonight, and then spending the next two days locked in this house with no clothes on. I’m not letting you wear clothes in the Netherlands, either.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”
Sawyer made coffee, and, armed with caffeine, they began the arduous task of writing up the revised initial concept package report.
Sawyer had always considered this part of the project to be an exercise in bureaucratic red tape, but after the inaccurate topography map discovery, and the mess they’d witnessed tonight with the flooding on Sandalwood Drive, he would never think of the review stage in the same way again.
He had never been more confident that the work he and Paxton had put in over the past few weeks would save more property in this town—and possibly even some lives.
“The recommendation portion will probably be the most difficult to write,” she said.
“Don’t second-guess yourself,” he told her. “You’ve studied this project. You know it inside and out.”
“Can we do it together?” she asked.
Sawyer nodded. After putting aside his coffee, he walked over to where she was sitting on his chaise longue, the same chaise where they’d made love several nights ago. He planned to make love to her in that very spot again once they were done with this.
Putting thoughts of the hot sex in his near-future out of his head, Sawyer studied the computer screen on her lap.
Together, they drafted their opinion of what would be the best fit for the Gauthier flood-protection system.
Even though it was not part of the official proposal requirements, Paxton insisted that they include a section on some of the potential unexpected consequences that could arise if they built the flood-protection wall to the specs laid out in the ICP by the Bolt-Myer engineers.
In the end, they recommended a new system with slight modifications, including floodgate walls along the lowest banks of Landreaux Creek.
Paxton saved the document to the hard drive and a separate flash drive, and then emailed copies to both herself and Sawyer’s personal email.
“I say we go over this one more time tomorrow, just to make sure we didn’t forget anything.”
“That sounds good to me,” Sawyer said. He moved a wisp of short hair from her neck. “But you know what sounds even better?”
“A shower?”
He tilted his head to the side. “Yeah, a shower would work with what I have in mind.”
Paxton turned on the chaise, placing each of her thighs over his. She grabbed the hem of his shirt and raised it over his head. “Okay, let’s get just a bit dirtier before we take that shower.”
“I can definitely work with that,” Sawyer said. He stopped, placing his hand over hers. “I just have one promise I need you to make.”
“What’s that?”
“That you’ll stay with me forever. No more running away, Pax. I don’t care where we are in the world, physically, but I want you here.” He pointed to his chest. “I need you here with me. Always.”
She leaned forward and, with her lips against his, whispered, “There is nowhere else I’d rather be.”