Frame Eight
SAFETY
The thunder outside still rumbled, though more distant now.
The rain still lashed against the windows, and the emergency blanket still rustled around our shoulders as we huddled back under it.
As it turned out, even after all the warming sex, the cold eventually caught up with us while we cleaned up.
Theo’s hands searched for mine, now seeking comfort instead of trying to dominate me. He leaned his head against my shoulder. “Is that okay?”
“Sure it is,” I replied, enjoying our closeness as much as—if not more than—he did.
I picked up the heating pad and dog-eared the small metal disk floating inside the transparent gel.
Within seconds, the whole thing turned white, solid, and hot.
“Here, take this.” I placed it on his lap, but he set it right back in mine, interlacing our fingers and resting our hands on top so we could both enjoy the temporary warmth.
It only took a few minutes for Theo’s breathing to slow and his head to sink deeper into my shoulder.
A small twitch ran through his body, marking the exact moment he fell asleep.
I couldn’t blame him. He almost got himself killed today.
It was a miracle he wasn’t seriously hurt—one I was grateful for and intended to honor every single day he wanted to spend with me in the future.
I gave him a sideways glance, careful not to turn my head and risk waking him. I caught only a glimpse of his hair, but that was more than enough. I just needed to confirm that this remarkable man was truly by my side, snuggled up to me, and that I wasn’t dreaming.
Theo was a miracle. If I weren’t so worried about how it might sound at my age, I would ask him to be my boyfriend.
For now, maybe a simple invitation to a date would be more appropriate to show him that I wanted us to spend more time together.
In any case, all of that would have to wait until we were out of here and safe again.
With him asleep, I knew it was going to be a long night. I certainly wasn’t about to risk missing any more lurking danger by falling asleep. So I rested my head against his, lifted my gaze to the dome, and did what I had trained myself to do on every one of my storm-chasing trips: wait.
The clock-shaped windows flickered white every once in a while. Each time it seemed to quiet down, I checked my phone for a signal, only for the storm to flare up again as if mocking me.
At around four, the thunder faded, but the signal didn’t return.
Two hours later, it stopped raining, yet there was still no signal.
It was only when the sky behind the windows lightened that my phone finally connected again.
I texted Matt, one of my employees who was staying in the little guest room above the bar, more to confirm I had a signal than to ask for help.
A minute later, he texted me back with the news that the entire park had flooded.
He had already inspected the area while walking his bulldog puppy and had seen firefighters in a dinghy assessing the damage, which was good news for us. It could mean a quick rescue.
As I typed my reply, Theo raised his head and looked around as if he needed a quick reminder of where he was. His eyes blinked as they settled on me.
“Hey,” he said, his voice so hoarse that the word nearly got stuck in his throat.
“Whoa, I knew I sounded horrible in the mornings, but this is a whole new level.” He squeezed his right eye shut and narrowed his left—it was the cutest I had ever seen him.
He pulled the emergency blanket tighter around his shoulders and rested his head back against me.
“You’re warm. I want to stay a little longer. ”
His right hand searched for my chest and caressed it with his thumb. Despite my urge to call 911 or go downstairs to see if we could maybe simply walk out now, I set my phone aside, leaned my head against his, and closed my eyes too. A few more seconds wouldn’t matter.
“Is it over?” Theo asked, not showing any sign of breaking free from our embrace.
“Looks like it. Though I’m not sure if we can easily walk out of here.”
“Probably not.” He took a deep breath, his exhale tickling my neck, before sitting up.
His hand moved to my chin, guiding my face toward him.
Our lips met in a soft kiss—not rough and lustful like yesterday, but rather a gentle reminder that the end of our odyssey didn’t mean the end of us.
His fingers brushed up against my cheek and slid through my hair, tucking a strand behind my ear.
His gaze swept over my face, and when it settled on my eyes, his mouth curved into a smile.
“Shall we have a look at the lay of the land?”
With a final wink, he slapped his hands onto his knees, marking the end of our night.
He let out a groan, stretched his arms overhead, and rose to his feet.
Setting one foot in front of the other, he wavered slightly as he walked toward the right clock face.
He opened the small window we had used yesterday to take photos and peered through it.
“Still water everywhere, but it looks calm now.” He glanced at me. “Wanna try to get out of here?”
“I sure do.”
We went downstairs—without our stuff for now—to see what was going on.
The wooden door was still wide open and pressed against the wall, held there by a thick layer of dirt the flood had washed inside.
The park was still submerged as far as we could see, but the water now looked more like a lake than a river.
At the far end of the park, a red dinghy floated through the playground, and two men in safety vests craned their heads in all directions, assessing the damage.
“Hey,” Theo yelled, waving his arms to get their attention.
The guy in the front, with a beard long enough to play Santa on Christmas, waved back at us.
Two minutes later, they had paddled over and offered to get us out of there.
We hurried upstairs and packed everything into my backpack, including Theo’s dirty clothes.
Before we made our way back down, I cast one last glance at the clockwork, still moving as sedately and quietly as ever.
This room had provided us with a sense of safety—both as shelter from the storm and as a space to open up about our feelings—that I couldn’t have been more grateful for.
I waved one last goodbye to it and closed the door behind me.
We climbed onto the rescue boat and set off, gliding through the park.
Floodwater stretched across the meadow to the street on the other side of the creek.
The bridge that usually led to the houses now sat right on the water’s surface.
The surrounding trees still sagged under the weight of the storm; many of their newly grown leaves had been torn away.
One tree had even lost half of its crown.
The two men, who introduced themselves as part of the fire department, kindly gave us a ride to the far end of the park, where it met Main Street—only a few hundred feet from my car.
“Do you know if there’s a way to get to the other side?” Theo asked the guys. “I parked my car over there.”
“You could try Second Street, but it's unlikely you’ll make it. The whole area is flooded,” Santa replied, his brows knitting together.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it might be underwater too. I’d wait for the water to go down.
If your car got caught in it, the city will probably reach out to you soon anyway. ”
“Thanks,” Theo said, turning toward me. “Can I ask you for a ride, then?”
“As if that’s even a question.”
Besides a few leaves on the windshield, my car was unharmed.
Unlocking it and getting inside felt strangely ordinary, as if we hadn’t just spent the entire night trapped by the storm.
I checked the Maps app on my phone for the fastest route to Theo’s place.
It shouldn’t have taken more than ten minutes.
However, once we started driving, we kept running into one police car after another, blocking every road the app told us to take.
We had to drive all the way out of town and around it, extending the quick trip to over an hour.
By the time we finally parked in front of the apartment complex where he lived, I could barely keep my eyes open.
The weight of the sleepless night was taking its toll.
“This might sound like I mean something else, but… can I come inside and take a nap? I don’t think I’ll make it home like this.”
“Do you even have to ask?” Theo said, nodding toward the house to invite me in. He yanked the door open, walked around to the trunk, and retrieved my backpack without me having to remind him that I still had all his clothes in it.
“I can carry it,” I said, climbing out of the car. My muscles suddenly ached as if I had aged another ten years in an instant.
“You’ve carried enough already,” he said, shutting the trunk and heading around the car to lead the way to the entrance.
I followed him, blinking my eyes against the cloudy sky.
The four-story building had three separate entrances, though everything seemed connected on the inside. Trees lined the front of the complex, shielding the ground-level apartments from prying eyes.
He led me to the first door on the right, entered a code into the keypad mounted beside it, and buzzed us in.
He held the door open for me, but once I stepped inside, I let him take the lead again because I had no idea where to go.
He walked straight toward the elevator, then turned left when he reached it, guiding us down the hallway to the third door on the right.
He unlocked it with yet another code and held it open for me once more.
“Thank you,” I said and stepped inside.