Chapter 22
Liam
Ihad never tried so hard to appear calm and collected on the outside while absolutely freaking out on the inside.
After two hours of driving across the state, we finally caught up to what Emma called supercells. I didn’t know what that meant, but to me they just looked like giant, dark, ominous clouds that threatened the destruction of everything in their path. She claimed that not every supercell spawned tornadoes—and I secretly hoped this was one of the ones that didn’t—but clearly, she really hoped it would be.
Emma was nuts.
And I meant that in the most loving way possible.
Straight ahead of us was a huge…thunderhead? Was that what she called it? It was dark with streaks of rain falling beneath it. Emma made me hold a small screen, which kept playing the radar on a loop, updating every so often. She glanced over at it every minute or so, and I wanted to tell her to keep her eyes on the road, but I bit my tongue. I would trust her, even if every instinct inside me was screaming to turn around and run the other way.
“There’s no rotation on the radar yet,” she commented. “But it looks like there might be hail wrapped in the rain. I’ll hang back so Bluebell doesn’t get pelted, but if it starts rotating, I’m going in.” Emma said the words so nonchalantly, as if chasing tornadoes was a household hobby.
I worked hard to keep my shaky breath silent. For the moment I was just thankful that she had slowed down and wasn’t about to drive directly into the path of the storm. Fat raindrops pattered on the windshield, and Emma kicked on the wipers just as it started pouring.
The chill of the air conditioning cut beneath my skin, mixing with my nerves, making me shake. I hated that I was so scared. I trusted Emma—she was one of the smartest, not to mention most dedicated—people I knew, and if she said she had this covered, I would believe her. But it still didn’t stop my heart from racing and my palms from getting clammy.
It put me right back to that day when I was a little kid—when the tornado sirens had gone off, and the sky was ominously dark, and all my older siblings left me upstairs instead of bringing me to the basement. My parents hadn’t been home.
I’d been forgotten—again.
Thankfully the tornado had ended up touching down miles from the farm, and everything was fine, but the terror I had felt when the sirens sounded and I didn’t know what to do—or where my family had gone, stuck with me. Hence my trembling now.
But I’d never told Emma that story—never wanted to take away from her joy of storms. She was family to me—more so than my real family had ever been. She wouldn’t leave me behind, and I knew she’d do whatever it took to keep me safe.
A beeping sound came from the screen I was holding, and I flinched. Emma glanced over, her entire face lighting up as her eyes widened.
“Yes!”
“What?” I shouted over the pounding rain. “Yes, what?”
She slid a smug look my way. “Radar indicated rotation.” Emma stepped on the gas. “We’re going in.”
Bluebell zoomed forward, and the force of it pressed me back into the seat.
“Em, I don’t think this is a good—”
She silenced me with a look. “I warned you, Liam. You didn’t have to come.”
My hands latched onto my knees, squeezing the life out of them. Was it too late to ask her to turn around and take me home before I threw up in her car?
The rain screamed against the windows, drowning out the pounding of my heart in my ears. Emma suddenly slammed on the brakes and pulled onto the shoulder. We were in the middle of nowhere, nothing but barren fields surrounding us.
“W-what are you doing?” I asked, hating the terrified whine in my voice.
“Look!” Emma pointed in the distance. “Touchdown!” She raised her hands in the air as if she were watching a football game and not a terrifying twister touching the ground.
I looked where she indicated, and sure enough, the thing I wished to never see in real life—a tornado—was on the ground in the distance.
“Get us out of here,” I breathed.
Emma didn’t take her eyes off the storm. “We’re fine.” She reached across the seat and grabbed my hand. I wasn’t sure if she did it to comfort me or just from sheer excitement. Nevertheless, I clung to her hand for dear life. She didn’t seem to notice.
“See the left side? How it’s rotating? It’s moving away from us. We’re safe. I won’t get any closer with you here.”
My mouth went dry as cotton, and I couldn’t get air to move into my lungs. A choked gasp came out of me.
“Liam?” Emma finally tore her gaze from the tornado, looking over at me with her brows furrowed. She squeezed my hand. “Hey, look at me.”
A zing went up my arm as she laced her fingers between mine, and it barely suppressed the fear coursing through me. The windshield wipers whipped back and forth at their fastest speed, trying to keep up with the torrential rainfall.
“Liam,” she repeated, and I finally looked at her. Her brows were low over her eyes as she studied me. “I’m not getting any closer. I promise, everything is fine. You’re safe.”
She looked back at the storm, not releasing my hand. “I know it can seem scary. They’re huge and destructive and dangerous. But look at it. It’s a force of nature. The perfect conditions came together at just the right moment for the tornado to form and stretch toward the ground. It’s beautiful.” There was awe on her face, and I swore I could feel her own racing heart through my death grip on her hand.
“I’m going to let go of you so I can get a few pictures, okay?” she asked, turning those hazel eyes on me. My stomach dipped, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of the weird feeling I had in my stomach as our gazes connected, or if it was a result of the fear coursing through my veins.
When I didn’t respond, she gave my hand a squeeze and then let go. I fought the urge to scramble after her hand and hold on for dear life.
Get it together, Liam.
Wind whipped against the truck as Emma reached beneath the seat and pulled out a case which held a camera. She quickly slid on a rain jacket that had been in the backseat, threw the hood up, and opened the door to get out.
“Emma!” My mouth spoke before I could think. She froze and closed the door, looking back at me with questioning eyes. “What are you doing?”
She just smiled. “I’ll be right back.”
I didn’t even have time to respond before she was out of the truck, the door slamming closed from the force of the wind. Emma braced herself against the wind and rain and started snapping pictures. I wasn’t even sure how she was going to capture anything with the rain pelting her like that.
A moment later Emma slipped back in the truck, wiping the rain from her face. Despite the hood, her hair was soaked, hanging in damp strands around her face.
She looks beautiful.
Whoa. Where did that thought come from? We’re literally within sight of a tornado and she’s sopping wet. What the heck is happening to me?
“Got it,” she announced with a grin on her face. A beep sounded from the screen I had discarded to the floor in my terror. Emma snagged it and looked at the radar. “Looks like the storm is starting to break up.” She glanced up, watching for a moment before she pointed again. “See? There it goes.”
Even though I really had no interest in the storm, I looked where she pointed to find the tornado slowly spinning back toward the sky. Another few moments passed as it disappeared into the clouds.
The vise that had been squeezing the air from my lungs finally relaxed, and I took my first unhindered breath in what felt like hours, though it had barely been twenty minutes.
Emma laughed when the tornado fully disappeared. Her whole face was lit up with glee, and her smile—for the first time since I’d known her—actually made my heart skip a beat. What the heck?
“Are you an adrenaline junkie now?” I asked, still feeling like I couldn’t quite catch my breath. The twister was gone, and the worst of the storm was no longer over us, and just a sprinkling of rain pattered the windows.
Her laugh was bright and full of joy. “No, Liam. I just like weather.” Emma shrugged, then pointed at her shirt that said “I take weather cirrusly.”
“I’m a bit of a nerd.” She turned her big, hazel eyes on me. “Wasn’t that incredible?” Emma gripped the steering wheel as if she were debating taking off after the storm to see if it spawned another tornado.
“It was…something,” I finally managed.
She cocked her head as she looked at me. “I told you I’d keep you safe. There was nothing to worry about.”
I rubbed a hand over my face. “I just sat in a truck while a tornado went across the field directly in front of me,” I deadpanned. “There was definitely something to worry about.”
Emma chuckled again before putting the truck in gear and swinging it around to head back toward Meridel. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
“You know it’s normal to be scared of storms, Em. I’m not the abnormal one here. You’re just weird.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I thought she might be offended, but then she turned her head to give me an evil grin.
“Embrace the weird, Liam. Embrace it.”