Chapter 14
The Storm
Renée
“Have you seen the sky today?” Amber asks, kicking off her work shoes when she gets home for the day.
“No,” I reply absentmindedly from the couch, where I’ve been grading online assignments and prepping next week’s lesson for the last few hours. I can’t wait to return to in-person courses in the fall—biology was not meant to be taught virtually.
Delta and Lo are both in their room playing.
It’s nearly one hundred degrees today, so playing in the air conditioning is the only way to go.
To keep the house cool, I drew all the curtains so our two little window units wouldn’t have to work any harder than they already do.
Every fan we have is blowing cool air through the rest of our small home.
My sister crosses the living room and pushes open the curtain to reveal an ominous sky. It’s only 3:00 p.m., yet the sun is nowhere to be found.
“Makes me wanna watch Twister and get it on with a hot tornado chaser,” Amber says, waggling her eyebrows.
I pick up my phone and open the weather app. “Yikes. Not a tornado, but we’re about to get hit hard. We’re under a severe weather advisory.”
Amber is already hightailing it for the back door. “I’ll double-check all the windows and secure the lawn chairs.”
“I’ll find the candles.”
Before I even open the closet, a sudden, roaring downpour hits the house like a tidal wave, drowning all other sounds.
“It’s raining, Mom,” Delta hollers from her room, excitement lacing her tone. “All the plants are going to grow better now!”
My heart pitter-patters whenever she talks about nature like that. Does she care if there's a massive storm? No, she cares about the flowers in our garden, and I hope I can keep her view of the world like that as long as possible.
As soon as a drenched Amber makes it back inside, the lights flicker once, twice, three times before everything goes dark and the air conditioning cuts out.
Shit.
To make matters worse, I just bought groceries. So help me, if the power doesn’t come on soon, I’m billing the electric company.
“Mom, the lights turned off.”
“Yes, I know, sweetie. The storm made the power go out.”
She takes a candle from me, and her eyes widen. “We could tell ghost stories.”
“Yes!” Amber hisses as she towels off her hair. “Did I ever tell you about the time I stayed in a haunted mansion with the heiress of an orthopedic shoe empire and the cast of Cirque du Soleil?”
There’s no way Delta knows what most of the sentence means, but she clutches her little sister and gapes at her aunt. “No.”
“Let me get changed, and I’ll tell you everything.” When I give her a knowing look, she rolls her eyes and whispers, “I’m obviously not gonna tell her about the orgy part.”
A couple of hours later, the four of us are in tank tops and shorts. The sun is gone, and the indoor air temperature is ninety degrees. Although the rain has lessened, the wind persists, and according to the electric company’s outage alerts, power won’t be restored until at least tomorrow night.
When I check my phone again, I’m surprised to find a text message from Jonah.
Jonah: I know you said not to text you, but are you ladies alright? Do you have power? I don’t see your lights on.
Well, that’s... kind of him to check on us. A little invasive, but neighborly, I suppose.
Renée: No power. It’s going to be out for a while.
Jonah: OMG SHE TEXTED BACK
Jonah: Sorry that last one wasn’t meant for you. Do you have a generator? I could set that up for you if you need.
Renée: I don’t have one. We’ll be fine.
When he doesn’t reply right away, I think little of it until there’s a loud knock at my front door.
Amber and the girls are hot on my heels when I peek through the side window to find none other than the man himself—drenched—standing under our porch roof, wearing barn boots, rugby shorts, and a cutoff T-shirt.
For the first time ever, there’s an emotion on his boyish face that I’ve never seen—worry.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as soon as I open the door.
“Hi Jonah,” Delta cheers.
“Hey Ladybug,” he says to her, then scans our home past our heads and back to me. “It’s hot in here.”
I shrug. “It’s hot outside. The rain isn’t cooling anything.”
“Stay with me.”
“Pardon?”
“I have a massive generator, so I have power, and air conditioning. It’s too hot to live like this,” he says with a gesture to our living room. He spots my sister just then. “Oh, hi. I’m Jonah. You must be Amber.”
“Hello,” she croons the way I’d expect if she ever met someone like Pedro Pascal.
They shake, and I slap it away. “No, none of that. We will be fine.”
“It’s no trouble,” he says. “I have spare rooms, and they all have locks. And you can bring all your food over so it doesn’t go bad. There’s also an extra refrigerator in my garage.”
“Can we, Mom? I’m so hot,” Delta whines, and Lo nods her head. They both have their hair braided and off their faces, but curly wisps cling to their necks. There’s nothing I can do to cool them off other than put them in a cool shower.
I inwardly sigh because I’m being presented with a tremendous gift—one that will save me money and provide us a safer environment—but I feel uneasy about it. Their father—may the devil torture his soul—was the last man we shared a house with, and I was planning on keeping it that way forever.
As if he can read my mind, Jonah says, “If you want, I can give you the keys to my house and I’ll sleep in the barn.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I huff, but I know deep down if I said yes, he’d do it in a heartbeat. I study his wet face for a moment longer, gauging whether I can trust him. He wouldn’t do anything malicious; he’s too pure and too clueless to even think about it.
“Fine.”
“Yes!” He pumps his fist in the air. “I have coolers in the back of my SUV for all your food.” Before I can reply, he’s running to grab them.
“Girls, go pack your bags with a change of clothes and pillows.”
“Sleepover!” Delta shouts, before taking Lo’s hand racing to their room.
Sensing my trepidation, Amber places a reassuring hand on my bare shoulder. “We’ll be okay. You know he’s nothing like Greg.”
Exhaling a shaky breath, I nod. “Still doesn’t negate my feelings.”
Jonah carries two large coolers back to the porch and tries to enter our house, but I stop him and grab for the coolers. “I’ll load these up.”
“I can do it! You go pack your stuff.”
“You’re not allowed in here, Jonah. I’m sorry, but this is my space.”
“Oh,” he says, and pulls at the back of his neck. “Okay. I’ll just... wait here on the porch then. Bring everything out, and I’ll load up.”
True to his word, he stays put while we pack. He loads the coolers and bags into the SUV and helps the girls up to their seats in the back. I’m a stickler for car seats, but we’re driving down a country road to the house next door, so I don’t bother worrying.
My focus halts on the little window decals at the corner of his back window. It’s one of those stick figure families you’d see on the back of a minivan, but it’s just... a man, a horse, two dogs, two goats, and eight ducks.
Who is this man?
Jonah hops in the vehicle last and has a big smile on his face, seemingly unaffected by the maelstrom outside or by how wet his car’s interior has become. “Alright, let’s do this! Who likes pancakes?” he asks as he puts the vehicle in drive.
“Me,” Amber and Delta say from the back seat. Lo raises her hand.
“Perfect. That’s what we’re having in the morning.” As soon as he pulls out onto the road, there’s an incoming call, and the name Angie Pangie pops up on the dash screen before he accepts it. “Hey sis.”
“Hey, sorry I missed your call.”
“That’s okay. I was just checking on you guys with the storm and everything. Do you have power?”
There’s a long pause before she speaks. “You... you’re checking on us?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, um... yeah, we’re fine. We lost power, but Raf got the generator running. We’re okay. Oh, and Ivy is with us. She’s sleeping off a long delivery from yesterday.”
“Okay, that’s why she didn’t answer when I called. Good. You’re welcome to stay with me if you need to. I have plenty of space.”
“Thanks, baby brother. That’s... surprisingly sweet of you.”
He guffaws as he turns into his driveway. “I’m a sweet guy.”
“I know.”
“I gotta go. I have some Wilde ladies in my car, and we’re gonna get settled in at my place.”
“You what?” Angie exclaims.
“Call me if you need anything!” He hangs up and pulls into his attached four-car garage. “Alright, you ladies head on inside. All your bedrooms will be on the second floor. Pick whichever one you want. I’ll unload everything.”
“Are Yogi and Rugger inside?” Delta asks as we all exit the vehicle.
“Yogi is. He’s a big scaredy dog with storms. Rugger’s in the barn with everyone else, keeping them safe.”
Delta’s face falls. “He sleeps in the barn? Is he scared?”
I pick her up and head for the side door of the house. “That’s normal for a dog like him, sweetie. He’s a guardian. His job is to protect his family from coyotes and other predators.”
“And he loves his job,” Jonah adds, and follows us into the house.
Once we find a room and Jonah drops our bags, he leaves us to finish unpacking the SUV and stock the fridge, and I gawk with Amber at the beauty of his home.
We had a sense of what it would look like from the outside, but it’s even more incredible inside.
Fieldstone walls and original wood features mark every inch.
The custom doors and trim look like they've been here since it was built over a hundred years ago.
Intricate floors with beautiful, timeless designs flow through every room.
Even the ensuite to our guest room hosts marble tile with a black, swirling mosaic design.
The only thing missing from nearly every room we’ve seen is furniture. There are mattresses and bedding in the rooms, but not much else.