Chapter Two
The front door of the diner swung open, and four deeply suntanned men walked in. “There an old surfer in the house?” one of them bellowed.
“Excuse me.” Tug slid from the booth. “We’ve got windows to board up.” He patted the table twice and then pointed a playful finger at Jesse. “You be good for your mom.” Tug leaned in toward Amanda. “Stay in touch. We’re going to be fine.”
Tug headed for the two men at the entrance of the diner. “Hey, boys.” He’d known them since they were just shaggy-haired teens riding waves at the pier. They were men now, with families and real jobs. But they still often stashed their longboards down here after a morning of surfing to come in and grab coffee and breakfast. “Thanks for coming over to help me get ready. We all know these storms have a mind of their own.”
“That’s for sure,” Skip said. “I already boarded my place up and sent the family ahead to my in-laws’.”
“You’re staying?” Tug found it hard to hide his surprise.
“You know he’s leaving.” Skip’s best friend, Bebe, elbowed Skip. “Missus wouldn’t let him stay.”
“I don’t want to,” Skip defended himself. “My family needs me, and I’m smart enough not to risk my fool neck on the waves in a hurricane now.” Skip looked at Tug and thumbed toward Bebe. “You know where that guy will be.”
“We have this talk every year.” Tug ran a hand through his gray hair, but he understood. He really did. He’d been one of them a long, long time ago.
Bebe had wild hair, and his skin looked like leather from all the years in the sun. “I hope we can find the panel numbers on those old boards for all the graffiti on them. They got more paint than they got wood on ’em.”
“Hey, they’ve done the trick for fifteen years. No reason to replace them now.” Tug grabbed the storage door keys from the hook and led the way down to the storage area. “I even came up with a couple of new warnings for this storm.”
“I don’t think there’s room to paint any more new sayings.” Skip chuckled. “It’s looking like abstract art as it is.”
Tug wagged a finger in Skip’s direction. “That’s my abstract handiwork, and I’ll find a spot. I take great pride in these paintings. It might just be hurricane warnings to you, but to me…it’s art, and it works!” He twirled an imaginary paintbrush in the air.
“Yeah. Whatever. Don’t quit your day job.” Skip slapped Tug’s back.
Tug shrugged, enjoying the ribbing.
“Since we added two-by-four frames around the boards after Dorian blew through and tugged the corners right off them, you should have some room to paint your warnings there.” Skip laughed at his own joke. “See what I did there? Tugged at the corners.”
Tug shook his head as he unlocked the door to the storage room. “Yeah, yeah. Get to work.” The guys started pulling sheets of plywood out and leaning them against the building. For the first time, Tug was happy not to have to do it himself.
Before previous storms, he’d been the one to board up Maeve’s house, too, but Paul was taking care of that for Amanda now that she lived there. The pretty blue beach house had weathered every storm that had hit this coast since it was built. That was back when craftsmen were so proud of their work they overbuilt rather than skirt even the code minimum to turn a dollar. They sure didn’t build them like that these days. Not even the million-dollar homes.
His vision blurred as tears built, as they still often did when he thought of Maeve. Regrets had a way of tearing a man’s heart at the edges like a weathered hurricane board.
Bebe slid out another sheet of plywood. “Can’t even make out most of them.” He stood back, trying to decipher the spray-painted words. “I can’t even make this one out since there are so many names on top of each other.”
“I think it was Matthew. That one goes on the front windows. F1, and there should be panels F2 and F3 right behind it if we put them back in the order we took them down. Oh, look.” Tug gestured toward the board Skip was carrying out. It read, Don’t Get on Santa’s Naughty List .
There were four names scratched out . Dorian . Florence . Then Fay and Ian . The last scrawl wasn’t a name at all. Just Hasta La Vista, Hurricane in big letters.
Bebe hiked a sheet over his head with a grunt. “Remember the back-to-back storms that one year? Flooded the beach roads for weeks.”
Tug recalled it well. “Who could forget? People were coming to the diner on floats and inner tubes. If I remember correctly, you and Bebe paddled around on your surfboards for the better part of a week.”
“Guilty on both accounts,” Bebe agreed. “But in my defense, I only used the inner tube to get back to my house, so I could get my surfboard. We’d all been at Skip’s when that storm bounced back and hit us again. No one expected that.”
Tug laughed at the explanation. When he was their age, he might’ve thought it was a pretty good excuse too. “Well, there’s always you, Bebe. You never surprise me anymore.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment.” Bebe grinned, never apologizing for his love of surfing. He was more chill than all the rest of them put together, but when it came to these big weather events, he was always here to help.
“You’re a good one, no matter what they say about you.” Tug clapped Bebe’s shoulder, then chuckled when the backhanded compliment registered on his face.
“Wait—what?” Bebe looked confused. “Who said what?”
“Kidding, Bebe. Thanks, boys. I’ve got a diner full of customers, but as soon as you get these in place, you’ve earned a free lunch.”
Ladders rattled as they hit the side of the diner, followed by the hum of screw guns securing the discolored plywood. With two teams at it and everything prenumbered, it wouldn’t take long.
“One last thing,” Tug said before he turned to head back inside. “Can y’all bring the big coolers from storage up to the kitchen for me?”
“Sure thing,” Skip answered. The guys had helped enough times to know the drill.
Tug probably didn’t even need to be here supervising. “I’ll meet you inside when you’re done.” He walked through the front door. “No hurry, no worries,” he announced over the chatter. “We aren’t closing early. We’re just getting the windows boarded up so everyone will have a safe and dry place to come until the storm decides what it’s going to do. Sorry to steal your view so soon. With any luck, it will have all been for nothing.”
A rolling echo of thanks filled the space. There were a few appreciative shouts from the customers too. “You’re always here for us, Tug.”
“My pleasure,” he said with a smile.
Tug cleaned a table for the guys and plopped a Reserved sign on it to hold it for them.
About half the people inside right now were probably scoffing at the warnings, while the other half were worried.
Tug refrained from comment, not wanting to sway anyone one way or the other, because the ugly truth was, people lost their lives in these natural catastrophes every year. The tropical storm was gaining strength, but her path was still uncertain, bouncing from east to west in a squiggly trail.
Amanda got up from the table, her children beside her.
“You know, Tug, you could come with us,” Hailey said. “I asked Mom. It’s okay.”
“I can’t leave The Wife.”
“Paul will take care of her for you,” Jesse said matter-of-factly. “He has to stay to work. You can come and take care of us.”
“I’d like that very much, but I think I’m going to stay where I can be helpful to the folks who stay behind who are not prepared. I have food, water, and generators. People will need the basics.”
Amanda rested her hand on Jesse’s drooping shoulder. “We are going to be fine. And we will be back in no time.”
Hailey bit her lip.
Tug stooped and leaned in. “Are you okay?”
She shrugged. Wise beyond her years. Losing her father at such a young age, she’d stepped into the big-sister role and been sensitive to the pain her mother experienced when Jack didn’t come home from his tour of duty. Reuniting with Paul, Jack’s best friend, had been a blessing for them all.
“Are you worried?” Tug whispered.
Her lips pressed into a thin line. She glanced over her shoulder, then turned her back toward her mother.
“You can tell me,” he said.
“What if we come back and you and Paul aren’t here anymore?” she whispered. “What do we do then?”
“Can I talk to you? Out there in the gazebo?”
Hailey nodded and allowed him to take her hand. Tug gave Amanda a wink. Amanda pressed her hand to her heart as he led Hailey outside.
“My mini-Maeve. You’re smart just like she was. You’re so much like Maeve I don’t know how you aren’t related.”
“We love her like family,” Hailey said.
“Me too.” He nodded to one of the tables. “Sit with me for a minute.” He held out the chair for her and then sat across from her.
“Mom says that makes us family.”
“I guess it does, then.” Tug reached over and squeezed her hand. “What can I do to help you?”
“It doesn’t make sense to me. If it’s so dangerous we have to leave, I don’t know why you and Paul can stay.”
“That’s fair. So here’s the thing. Every storm is different, but usually it’s a lot of high winds, and they can cause power outages. Sometimes shingles fly off, and some signs will blow out, leaving shards of glass lying around. The buildings moan and groan against the high winds, which is pretty scary to hear, and the way we sit along the coast, we always experience some flooding.”
“We could just stay inside and wear ear plugs, so we don’t hear the scary sounds.”
Tug couldn’t hold back a smile. “You’re right. You could. But with no power, it’ll be hot and miserable and there’s nothing you can do until the storm is over except sit there and wait. Sometimes the electricity goes out for days. I promise, you are going to be way more comfortable at your grandparents’ house.”
She twisted her foot nervously, then looked into his eyes. “Will you call me every day and let me know you’re okay?”
“Sure. I can do that. Don’t be afraid. We’ll be okay.”
“I’ll pray every day. Every hour!”
“I know you will, Hailey. You are a sweet angel. I’ll be praying for you, too, and we will be back together soon. You just wait and see.”
“Thank you, Tug.” She leapt up and raced to his side, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, kiddo.”
She released him, and he stood and reached for her hand.
“Will you do something for me while you’re gone?”
“Anything,” she said, hope dancing in her eyes.
“I’ve been thinking I need some new pictures to put up around here. Could you work on that for me?”
“Yes! I’m getting really good at drawing.” Her face grew serious. “I can definitely do that for you.”
“I still have the picture of the diner you drew for me. It’s very special to me.”
“I’ll pack my markers to take with me. You just wait until you see what I make for you this time.” She looked like her spirits had lifted.
“I think your mom is ready to leave. Why don’t you get Jesse and y’all tell The Wife your plans so she won’t worry about you two while you’re away?”
Hailey ran off and grabbed Jesse, who was resistant until she explained what they needed to do.
Amanda walked over to him. “What would I do without you, Tug?”
“You’ve got Paul. You’ll always be fine.”
“I like having both of you on my side.”
“I like it too.” He pointed to the line of customers still growing outside his diner. “I’m going to get these folks seated.”
There was a constant flow of customers all day long, and the to-go orders were still piling up at closing time. Tug worked until they had every single one satisfied before calling it a night.