Chapter Thirty-Four
Jo
T wo weeks from now, I have to present my thesis to my entire class, and my professor just ripped my project to shreds.
I’ve heard that it’s to be expected.
The real test is the pressure they put on you in the final weeks to succeed, but it brought down my confidence significantly.
It’s my fault.
I haven’t gone the extra mile to research my topic.
With all of my personal drama this summer, I haven’t been brave enough to ask Lochlan for another favor.
I reach the vestibule of the engineering building, and my steps turn sluggish.
It’s pouring rain.
It’s at least a quarter mile walk to my car, and I’m wearing heels, of course.
I checked the weather, I knew to expect rain and brought my umbrella, but it’s coming down hard and blowing sideways.
Oh well, I’ll get drenched and have to drive the 45 minutes back to the sanctuary in wet clothes.
One more deep breath, then I’ll walk as fast as I can and accept the misery .
Howling wind bursts my eardrums as I struggle to push the door open, hardly creating enough space to get my body through before I’m taking off down the sidewalk.
I can’t jog, not with how wet the rain makes my feet, but even if I could, I can’t outrun this weather.
The heavy rain pelts the side of my face, soaking my hair down my neck.
I’m not watching where I’m going, but I know I’m almost to the parking lot, and unfortunately, student parking is way out in the back.
The water rushing along the curb is more like a river than drain water, and deep enough that it will soak my foot to my ankle.
I’m preparing to leap when headlights sweep over me and someone honks.
My umbrella gets rocked by the gusting wind as I turn to look, folding inside out and blowing from my hand in the same instant.
“GET IN THE TRUCK!” Lochlan yells over the roaring wind.
Why is he here?
It doesn’t matter, I’m not passing up the opportunity for shelter.
He meets me at the passenger door, soaking his own clothes, and helps me in.
As soon as he shuts me inside, the raging storm is muffled.
A burst of noise as his door opens, and then silence descends again, drowned out by the engine of the Bronco.
My clothes are sticking to my skin, and I’m soaked to the bone.
“What are you doing here?” I ask between deep, dragging breaths.
“There’s a tornado warning, I didn’t want you to get stuck in the storm. ”
“But, now you’re stuck.”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“What about my car?”
“We’ll get it later.”
I slump back in my seat, relieved to be in the passenger seat.
I don’t need to control the ship, I’m content to be along for the ride.
“This is the outside of the weather system, it might get hairy as we get closer to home.”
“This isn’t the bad part?”
“I didn’t want you to drive into the thick of it by yourself.”
My head tips to the side to look at him, but he’s staring into the rain.
He tries so hard to believe he’s a bad man, some evil person to be around, but he’s not.
He’s the most reliable person I’ve ever met.
His concern for my well-being never wavers, even when I have been giving him the silent treatment.
I want to reach out to him, to touch his arm and thank him for rescuing me, but I’ve been shut down so many times that I can’t make myself do it.
He turns the volume up on the radio, tuned into some weather station, and drives into the storm.
He was right, it gets worse the closer we get to Rollins County.
The radio signal gets fuzzy, and the rain is so heavy that we can hardly see.
“Maybe we should pull over,” I mumble.
My damp clothes are making me tremble, but I’m not sure whether it’s my nerves.
“It’s not safe in a vehicle. If a storm rips through here.”
I’m just about to ask if he thinks there will be a tornado when the emergency alert broadcast interrupts the newscaster.
ERR ERR ERR ERR ERR.
A Tornado has touched down in your immediate area.
Seek Shelter, now.
ERR ERR ERR ERR ERR.
There is a severe threat to human life and property, with catastrophic damage.
Immediately seek refuge in the safest location possible.
It goes on to list the affected counties, and ours is on the list.
“Lochlan,” I whimper.
“I know,” he breathes out nervously.
I’ve never heard him sound nervous before.
The wind blows the Bronco harshly, forcing him to correct the wheel over and over as small branches blow across the road.
One hits the side near my window, and I screech.
“Why didn’t you drive one of the trucks?”
“This was the closest one, and I was in a hurry.”
We’re just outside of Lawson, the biggest town in Rollins, and I can hear the tornado sirens.
This is bad, really bad.
He slams on the brakes, and my head nearly hits the dashboard until he accelerates again, throwing me back.
“I can’t see shit.” He swerves around a downed tree, and I throw my hands over my face, wishing I could stop looking.
I peek through my fingers as he drives blindly down the freeway that no one else is stupid enough to be driving on.
He takes the corner that takes us to our mountain road when the rain suddenly clears and the sky goes from dark gray to…
Green?
“Is it over?”
“We need to take shelter. Now.” He speeds into the parking lot of the little carryout, jumping the curb, and my entire body lifts off the seat before bouncing down as he drives straight up onto the sidewalk on the side of the building.
“Come on!”
He flings his door open, bracing against the wind as he pulls me across the bucket seat and into the ladies’ bathroom.
It isn’t until he’s struggling to shut the heavy bathroom door that I realize how truly not over this storm is.
“Get in the corner!” He yells, but I’m short-circuiting, I can’t move.
He flips the deadbolt and throws himself my way, shoving me into the corner and crowding me with his body.
The wind howls outside the concrete building, and I hear the train horn, the roar of tornado-force winds.
It sounds like the bathroom is going to collapse at any moment, as large debris is thrown against it.
Something crashes into the one tiny window, smashing the glass out, and I scream as glass particles rain down around us.
Lochlan’s arms circle me tightly, engulfing me while his back takes the brunt of the rain surge blowing in.
It’s so loud, it never feels like it’s going to stop.
“Lochlan,” I plead his name, screaming into his chest when thunder cracks loudly right on top of us and the lights go out.
“I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you. I’m not going to let a thing happen to you,” he murmurs in my ear, squeezing me tighter.
His hand cups my head, holding it against his chest, and blocking some of the noise.
Focus on his heart.
Focus on his heart.
When I can hear his heartbeat, that means this is over.
His heart.
His heart.
His heart .
The erratic tempo of his heart beats against my ear, and I can finally breathe.
I can’t hear the wind; all I can hear is his heart beating.
“Is it over?”
“I don’t know, I think so.”
If he wouldn’t have come to get me, I would have been in the worst of it, and I could have gotten myself killed.
My shaking arms squeeze his waist tighter, imagining that I could have had to endure all of this alone sends a wave of sadness over me.
I’m so used to doing it alone, I don’t want to think about the day that Lochlan won’t be there to save me.
He’s always here to save me.