27. Jay
CHAPTER 27
JAY
A s I drive back towards The Rusty Oak, I jerk the wheel to avoid a tree branch that skitters onto the road.
I’m not a scared driver, but my heart starts pounding even more quickly. Automatically, I depress the brake and pull to a halt. I need to evaluate the situation.
The Rusty Oak is only a few miles away, but the road feels like it stretches on forever. I glance at the clock on the dashboard, realizing that the storm is hitting much sooner than expected.
Should I call Violet again?
I shake my head. I don’t think it will do any good right now. I just need to get back to The Rusty Oak so I can be a happy face for customers. Then, I don’t have to worry about what the storm will do because I have faith in my building.
I slowly press my foot on the gas again, but I’m still only going maybe thirty miles an hour.
Suddenly, a massive gust of wind slams into the side of my car, forcing me to swerve to keep control. I curse under my breath, realizing that I’m not going to make it back to the bar in this weather. I need to find shelter, and fast.
Hannah’s apartment building is nearby. It’s only half a mile away, and I know she’s there. She texted me to tell me she made it.
It’s not what I want to do, but it’s what I have to do to stay safe.
The streets are nearly deserted, everyone else hunkering down for the storm. It takes me five minutes to go the half mile I need to reach Hannah’s apartment building. I breathe a sigh of relief. I park my car and run through the pouring rain to the entrance, my clothes soaked even more thoroughly than they were before by the time I reach the door.
I buzz her apartment, and after a few moments, her voice crackles through the intercom. “Hello?”
“It’s Jay. Let me in.”
Hannah doesn’t need any more explanation than that. “Of course. Come on up.”
The door buzzes open, and I hurry inside, grateful for the shelter. I take the stairs two at a time. When I reach her floor, she’s already standing in the doorway, her expression concerned.
“Jay, you’re soaked! Let me get you a towel.” I drip water by the front door, a new pattern of mine apparently, as I wait for her to reappear with a towel.
Charlie shows up then disappears into the bedroom. He reappears a moment later with a clean set of clothes. “Here, put these on.”
The lights flicker and go out as I’m standing in Hannah’s entryway.
Charlie and Hannah laugh, but I can hear the strain in Hannah’s laughter.
Since it’s pitch black in the apartment, I peel my clothes off and change as Charlie stumbles around, trying to find where he left his phone.
“Ouch! God, we should never have put that end table there,” he tells Hannah.
She’s too busy laughing to help him.
Finally, Charlie gets a flashlight on his phone going, and we sit on the ground in the living room. It’s the furthest from any window that we can get.
“Jay, what happened?”
“I talked to Violet’s mom, but she?—”
“Oh, I should have told you as soon as you walked in. She called me a few minutes ago. She was headed back to her mom’s. She didn’t realize it was a tornado, apparently, and I think it kind of surprised her. She should be home safe soon.”
The relief that cuts through me is almost overwhelming. She’s not out of the woods yet if she was still on the road. But as of Hannah talking to her, she’s safe.
“I hope it’s soon. It’s bad out there. Really bad.”
Hannah leans into the light so that her eyes glow ghoulishly. “Why do you care so much about her?”
I nod, running a hand through my damp hair. “She’s… a good worker, and I don’t want her to get hurt because she left her shift early. If she had just stayed at The Rusty Oak, then?—”
Hannah interrupts me. “No, if anyone else had left, you wouldn’t have driven to their mom’s house to check on them.”
“Well, I also don’t have my sister breathing down my neck about my other employees.” I reach out and attempt to poke Hannah, but she dodges my finger, falling into Charlie’s lap.
They start giggling and teasing each other, and I look away. I don’t want to be here. I want to be at The Rusty Oak with my employees. Or at least know that Violet is okay.
“So she just told you that she was going home, but not that she made it?” I ask Hannah after checking my phone. She must have seen that I called her if she was talking to Hannah, but she chose not to respond to me.
I don’t blame her after the way we left things, but I wish she would at least text me and tell me that she got home safely.
“Um, let me check.” Hannah squints at her screen for a second. “Oh yeah. One minute ago, she texted me and said—” The howling wind cuts Hannah off as it bangs something against the side of the apartment building.
All of us make faces. This is not a little storm.
Hannah finally finishes what she was trying to tell me. “She said that she’s good. Home. With her mom. They’re safe.”
I hang my head forward, trying to figure out what it means that Violet didn’t text me. Does it mean she never wants to speak to me again? I don’t think I could move on without some sort of closure.
But then again, the relationships in my life aren’t up to just me.