Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Hazel reached over and took Jacob’s hand, squeezing it tightly.
He glanced over at her as he drove and offered her a forced smile, although she could tell that he was feeling just as sad and worried as she was.
The storm that had passed over Rosewood Beach the night before had been more intense and brought more damage on the little town than anyone had feared.
As soon as it was light outside, Jacob and Hazel had gotten up and looked around their own property.
Mercifully, not much had been damaged besides a couple of tree branches and a cracked window in the shed, but Jacob's phone began to blow up almost immediately with texts and calls from Rosewood Beach residents and business owners.
This storm really hit our town hard, Hazel thought, turning to look back out the window.
The sky was now a pale blue, looking serene and innocent as if nothing had happened the night before.
The ground however, told another story. Trees had fallen, trash cans had overturned and blown their contents up and down the streets, and floods had ruined the interiors of basements, forcing their owners to drag soaked couches and cardboard boxes out to the ends of their driveways.
“I know things could have been worse,” Hazel said softly.
“It could have been a tornado or a hurricane, and in the end, we’re all lucky.
But it hurts to look around and see so much damage to our town.
Look, that’s Mr. Phelps throwing out that beautiful old rug.
I bet that thing was an antique, maybe a family heirloom. ”
Jacob squeezed her hand. “We don’t know that. On the bright side, people don’t usually put their most treasured possessions in basements.”
“Sometimes they do.” Hazel shook her head, even though she appreciated the way he was trying to cheer her. “Sometimes people keep photo albums and keepsake boxes in their basements.”
Jacob gave her a sad smile. “I love your heart, Hazel,” was all he said.
She shut her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder, feeling incredibly grateful that he was in her life and that they personally hadn’t sustained much damage from the storm.
None of her siblings or her mother had either, which she’d been relieved to hear when she’d called each of them in turn that morning.
When Jacob had told her that he was going to start making his rounds, checking in on all of the places that had called him and some more besides, Hazel had declared that she wanted to come with him.
She had the day off from her job as a receptionist at the local doctor’s office, and she wanted to be as much help to Jacob and the people of Rosewood Beach as she could be.
Jacob's truck rattled and bumped down the quiet streets until it reached the parking lot of Harvest Market, one of the local grocery stores.
Hazel sucked in her breath in dismay when she saw the roof of the store, which had sustained extensive damage from the storm.
She glanced at Jacob, wondering what was going through his mind.
On jobs like roof repair, he had people who could help him out, but it was still a long and time-consuming process.
Hazel knew that Jacob would be hard-pressed to manage all of the repairs that needed to be done in a timely manner.
She was proud of him for being the town's handyman, but in that moment, she wished he didn't have to carry the burden of feeling responsible for everyone's repair needs. A large amount of homes and businesses had been damaged after the storm and she knew that Jacob wouldn’t be able to fix everything as quickly as he wanted to.
Jacob parked his truck near the front of Harvest Market and both he and Hazel got out.
She noticed that there were not many cars in the parking lot, which was unusual for that time of day.
She wondered if that was because too many people were busy dealing with their homes after the storm, or because they’d seen the gaping hole in the roof and assumed the grocery store wasn’t open for business.
As they approached the front doors, however, Hazel could clearly see the “Open” sign, hung bravely in the front window. Veronica, the owner of Harvest Market, was sweeping debris off the sidewalk in front of it. She looked up with a grim smile when she saw them approaching.
“Thanks for coming, Jacob, Hazel.” She shook their hands warmly. “Do you need to get up on the roof? I mean, what’s left of it?”
Hazel appreciated that Veronica was trying to make light of the situation, but she couldn’t help grimacing sympathetically.
“I can check it out from inside the store for now,” Jacob said. “My assessment will be mostly about the size of the hole, and I can see that from underneath.”
“Sounds good,” Veronica said, her tone as smooth and casual as if she was talking about something simple like getting a window replaced, but Hazel saw a look of worry flicker across her eyes.
They wandered through the store until they reached the area that had been damaged the worst. There was water on the floor there, and Hazel could see that Veronica and her staff had been working to clear the shelves of food products in that area.
The shelves were almost bare, but Hazel noted with regret that those aisles held many boxed pantry items such as noodles.
There would be no way to sell those products, since the outsides couldn’t be safely disinfected and the insides were sure to be soaked and ruined.
Jacob wandered underneath the hole in the ceiling for a couple of minutes, looking at it with a frown as he took down notes on his phone.
Hazel was glad to see that the hole itself was small—but it had still created a catastrophic amount of damage in the store.
She crossed her fingers inside her pockets, praying that he would be able to get it repaired easily and soon.
Jacob talked with Veronica for a few minutes about his repair estimate.
Veronica nodded often as she listened to him, smiling a forced smile occasionally, but Hazel could see the woman’s shoulders drooping more and more.
A look of concern and sadness filled the store owner’s eyes, and Hazel’s heart went out to her.
“And if you need to set up a payment plan, that’s absolutely fine,” Jacob said reassuringly, seeming to notice Veronica’s distress as well, despite the fact that she was clearly trying to hide it. “I just need enough to pay my guys, but I can wait for the rest.”
“Thank you.” Veronica smiled. “Insurance should cover most of it, so I should be able to pay you the money upfront.”
Jacob nodded, his expression sympathetic. “Is there anything else we can do to help?”
Veronica sighed. “Thank you for offering. There’s so much to be done, it’s hard to know where to start.
I’ve been doing my best to get grocery deliveries out to our families in need, but I’m not sure where to find some of them.
A lot of families have been evacuated from their homes because of extensive flooding and damage, and they don’t have the ability to cook the food I want to bring them even if I did know where they are. ”
“Oh, that’s awful.” Hazel linked arms with Jacob, suddenly feeling heavy with sadness.
“I had no idea that some people got hit that hard.” She made eye contact with her husband for a moment, and they shared a look of dismay.
All at once she got an idea that made her heart beat faster.
“What if we start a list of all the people whose homes are all right? Then we can ask them if they would be willing to host one of the families who had to be evacuated? Then those families would have somewhere comfortable to live until the repairs can be done on their homes.”
“That’s a fantastic idea,” Veronica said, brightening noticeably. “We can keep the list at the front of the store. Then people can sign up to host right here. Everyone will be coming in here eventually—if there’s one thing that everyone in this town needs right now, it’s food.”
“I love that.” Hazel nodded. “I think that’s the most efficient way to do this.
And I’m sure word of mouth will spread pretty quickly in our town.
Lots of people will want to help.” She turned to her husband.
“And so do I. Would you be all right with us putting ourselves down as available hosts? We’ve got all that room in our house, and I want to be able to help out a family in need.
It breaks my heart that they’re going through that—it must be devastating. ”
“Yes,” Jacob said without hesitation. “I think that’s a great idea. We should definitely put ourselves on that list.”
Once Veronica had made a quick list and hung it at the front of the grocery store, Hazel and Jacob put down their names at the top of it.
Hazel felt a kind of achy satisfaction when she saw their names written there.
She felt relieved to be able to help out in a situation that she found so upsetting.
She and Jacob went back out to his truck and clambered inside. For a moment, they sat there quietly and Jacob took a deep breath.
“Where to next?” Hazel asked softly.
Jacob picked up the list he had written down before leaving their house. “Seaside Sweets Bakery,” he said. “I guess they have a couple of busted windows.”
Hazel nodded but sighed inwardly. It was going to be a long day.