Book 26 Hurricane After Dark #6
“Welcome to our home,” Tiffany says.
“Thank you for having us.”
Blaine steps aside to let Tiffany assist McKenzie and the baby, while hoping he’s done the right thing bringing strangers into their home.
Piper had expected Jack to leave after dinner, but when he checks in with work, he learns everyone is going home to ride out the storm, knowing they can be called back at any time.
They move from the kitchen into the salon and sit in front of the fire.
He settles in, legs crossed at the ankles, glass of ice water in hand while he entertains her with stories from his career as a state police officer.
“Police get a bad rap because of the criminal misbehavior of some, but most of us get into this business because we want to help people. At least that’s why I became a cop. But enough about me. Tell me more about you.”
“Your stuff is far more interesting.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Well, let’s see,” Piper says. “I’m the youngest of five kids.”
“That must’ve been fun.”
“It was, for the most part. They’re all quite a bit older than me, so they treated me like a baby until I was, like, fifteen and begged them to knock off the baby stuff.
My brothers wanted to kill my ex when he called off the wedding, which was kind of funny.
I’d never seen them so mad on my behalf.
They’re all married with kids and great careers, and then there’s me, still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
I’ve started more careers than anyone I know, but nothing sticks.
I’ve been a retail manager, a restaurant manager, an office manager and now I’m trying on hotel management for size. ”
“How’s it fitting?”
“So far, so good, but mostly because I love working with Laura, Owen and Sarah so much, and I like being here on Gansett.”
“What do you like best about the island?”
“The people. Everyone is so nice and friendly and welcoming. I’ve made so many friends here, more than I’ve ever had in my whole life.
I’ve always been content with one or two good friends.
I didn’t need to be the life of the party, but here…
Everyone is so nice that I can’t help wanting to get to know them all. ”
“I agree. It’s a very welcoming place. It’s been like that for me, too. I’ve become very good friends with Blaine and Deacon Taylor, Mason Johns, Mallory and Quinn James, to name a few.”
“I don’t know Mallory and Quinn except to say hello, but I’ve met all the others, and they seem great.”
Owen tells Jack to grab one of the available rooms, so he doesn’t have to go out in the storm. Piper can set him up with a room.
“Are you eager to get to bed?” Jack asks her.
“Not particularly. Why?”
“I was kinda enjoying talking to you and was hoping you might keep talking to me for a while longer.”
Piper melts at the way he looks at her when he says that. For a girl who’d planned to stay unattached after her most recent romantic disaster, she’s getting awfully involved with a handsome man who enjoys talking to her and makes her breathless when he looks at her that way. “I can do that.”
At Eastward Look, the wind is making the house shake.
Nikki Stokes is comforted by the presence of her fiancé, Riley McCarthy, his brother, Finn, and Finn’s fiancée, Chloe, as well as Riley and Finn’s dad, Kevin, his wife, Chelsea, and their baby daughter, Summer.
Her grandmother, Evelyn, is also there, and being with her always makes Nikki calmer than she would be otherwise.
But damn, this storm is scary.
They watch the local news interview Gansett Island Fire Chief Mason Johns, who is engaged to Nikki’s twin sister, Jordan. After they get ready for bed, Finn convinces Chloe to marry him as soon as possible. “You know what would be cool?”
“What’s that?”
“A hurricane wedding.”
“No one in the history of weddings has ever said a hurricane wedding would be cool.”
“Then I guess I’m making history by saying why don’t we just do it this weekend? My uncle Frank would come over and the rest of the family. No one is doing anything else.”
“You’re sure about shackling yourself to this situation for life?” she asks tentatively.
“All I know is that you and your situation make my life complete, so, yes, I’m sure.”
“Then let’s have a hurricane wedding.”
At the Public Safety Building, Jordan is reading a book on the sofa in Mason’s office while he gives yet another interview to one of the Providence news stations.
He’s far more interesting than the book.
She’s so proud of him and how he stays cool even with constant requests for interviews from local and national news while juggling questions from colleagues and calls from Gansett citizens. He’s been going nonstop for hours.
She’d planned to stay at their place for the storm, but he’d arrived in his department SUV and insisted she pack up and come to the station with him, so he knows she’s safe while he focuses on work.
Her sister, Nikki, and grandmother, Evelyn, had sided with Mason and are relieved that she isn’t alone for the storm.
When he finishes the interview, he stands and stretches.
“My hero,” Jordan says.
“Stop.”
“I won’t stop. You’re a very sexy fire chief all the time, but especially in crisis mode.”
He takes a seat next to her and reaches for her hand. “You’re making me blush.”
Jordan laughs as she curls her fingers around his hand. “You don’t blush.”
“I’m blushing on the inside.”
“Well, that’s no fun.”
Smiling, he leans in to kiss her. “How’s my baby mama feeling?”
“I’m fine and secretly glad you convinced me to come to work with you.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to think of anything but you alone in that cabin during the storm, so thank you for agreeing to come with me.”
“Like you gave me a choice.”
“The choice is always yours, my love, but I’m glad you made the right one.”
She appreciates him saying that, knowing what she’d been through with her ex-husband trying to control her. “You know I’d rather be with you than anywhere else without you.”
“And that, right there, makes me the luckiest guy who ever lived.”
In Los Angeles, Gigi Gibson anxiously watches the news about the storm bearing down on the island where the only other people she loves are. Jordan, Nikki and Evelyn had been her only family until Cooper James came storming into her life and changed everything. But, oh, how she loves those ladies.
“They’ll be fine,” Coop says when he joins her on the sofa after a shower.
“How can you be so certain?”
“Gansett Islanders are tough. They know how to work together to get through anything that comes their way. Jared and Quinn were out all day helping wherever they could. They said everyone was doing what needed to be done. That’s how they are there. Everyone pitches in.”
“I saw that myself when I was there, but a storm like this… I can’t bear to think of that beautiful place in shambles.”
Cooper puts his arm around her. “If that happens, they’ll rebuild. Have you talked to Jordan?”
“About an hour ago. She’s camped out with Mason at the Public Safety Building. He didn’t want her to be alone at his place during the storm.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t go to Nikki’s.”
“She said she wanted to be home in case Mason got to take a break.”
“I’m glad she’s with him at the station and not alone.”
“Me, too. Do you think Eastward Look will be okay?”
“I’m sure it will be fine. That place has withstood all kinds of storms for decades, and remember, Riley and Nikki met when he replaced the roof, so you know that’s solid.”
“I guess so. I just want it to be over and to hear that everyone is okay.”
“It’ll be over soon.”
“Can’t happen fast enough for me.”
Dan and Kara Torrington join their friends, Grant and Stephanie McCarthy, to ride out the storm. They’re playing a game of Monopoly by candlelight. Dan is beating them all. Stephanie looks out the window at the storm.
Grant puts his hands on her shoulders to knead out the tension that gathers there any time she’s worried or upset.
“Are you sure this place won’t fall down around us?” she asks for the umpteenth time that day.
“I’m sure. We’re well protected this far inland. Nothing to worry about, except for maybe you took down too many walls.”
“I only took down two.”
“We’ll find out if that was two too many.” He kisses her neck. “Just kidding. We had the house surveyed before we bought it, don’t forget. They said it was solid as a rock.” Despite his reassurances, her shoulders are still tight with knots. “Do you want to try to get some rest?”
“I guess.”
He doesn’t think either of them will sleep much with the wind making the house shake and the rain coming down so hard it sounds like a freight train coming for them.
“We’re going to turn in,” Grant says to Dan and Kara. “Do you guys have everything you need?”
“We do,” Kara says. “Thanks again for taking us in for the storm.”
“Happy to have you,” Grant says. “Him? Not so much.”
“Hey!” Dan says, sputtering. “You wouldn’t even know her if it wasn’t for me!”
“And you would’ve blown it with her if it wasn’t for me.”
“That’s hurtful but true.”
“Don’t leave me alone with him,” Kara says pleadingly. “We’ve got enough problems with wind without the windbag making it worse.”
Dan grins at his wife. “You love me.”
“On that note, see you in the morning,” Grant says.
Long after the rest of his family is asleep, Mac is still awake, thinking and rethinking everything they’d done to prepare for the storm and hoping it had been enough.
Would the plywood covering the massive plate-glass windows at the Wayfarer hold?
Would his parents’ home withstand the brutal wind and rain, exposed as it is at the top of the hill above North Harbor?
And were Joe, Seamus and their crews safe at sea on the ferries?
He’d spoken to Janey again before bed, and she was nearly delirious with worry, but who could blame her? Even knowing Joe and Seamus were far to the east of the storm, they were still a long way from home during a huge storm targeting an island where everyone else she loves is stranded.