Home Tears

“Okay.” Kate pulled her phone out. “I’ll call our location in. You go and get Jonah.” She eyed the water that was leaking in under the door. “People will have to start going upstairs soon.”

“I know, but only a few at a time. We don’t want a stampede.” A round of clapping broke out from the basement. They were wasting time. She had to tell him. “I’m going to get Jonah.”

Kate was already talking on the phone, heading to the garage.

They broke for another pot when the third guy left the table. Jonah stood up, and a group of people swarmed him, but Dani slipped through. She caught his hand, and tugged him with her. Once upstairs, Jonah’s hands found her waist. “What’s going on?”

She pulled him into the first private corner they came across. “There’s flash floods, and the water is already coming into this house. I’ve sent Bubba to get boats and headlights from his neighbor. Aiden is getting blankets and regular flashlights, and Kate went to call the station.” She paused, sucking some air into her lungs. “We can’t stay in this house. We can start moving people upstairs, but not everyone will fit. What do we do?”

Jonah didn’t say anything. He only stared at her.

She took a breath.

And waited.

Then she opened her mouth, but his mouth was on top of hers. His hands cupped both sides of her face, and he half pulled her to him as she stretched to meet him. One moment. That was all they needed. She felt him, reminding herself that he was there. He was solid, and the water coming for them couldn’t take him away.

Then he pulled away, rested his forehead to hers, and gazed down into her eyes. “I think I fucking love you.”

“I—”

But he stood back, and just like that, the transformation happened right in front of her. He wasn’t her Jonah. An authoritative air came over him, and he was now a professional. “Aiden’s got a few canoes. We could use them. They’ll rock over with the first blast of wind that comes flying, but we’re in the middle of summer. The water won’t be hypothermia cold, not at first. It will be safe for them in case a canoe tips. They can hold on to it. It’ll keep them adrift, if it gets bad.” He took her hand and led her through the crowd, heading to the garage. “They built in the worst possible spot. All the water’s going to slide down and pool by this house. We’re right in the middle of any current that picks up.”

Kate was at the edge of the garage, watching the water. Her phone was still in her hand. Jonah ignored her, grabbing a ladder and leaning it close to the canoes.

“Jake’s coming out, too.”

Jonah nodded to Kate, climbing up the ladder. He began to pull a canoe down from the rafters. “Dani. Kate. Can you grab this?”

Dani deftly caught the nose end of the canoe, and Kate helped her lower it to the ground. They did this with the remaining three canoes. Jonah grinned after the last was pulled down. “Thank God Bubba used to want to be a canoer, huh?”

Kate grunted at the same time Jake joined them. Kate filled him in, and Dani was watching Jonah. He was enjoying this. She caught a small thrill in his eye. He was searching for life jackets. Jake and Kate both joined, looking for anything that could be used as a flotation device, but Dani was rooted in place.

Jonah came over to her, lowering his voice. “What?”

“You’re enjoying yourself.”

Some of the excitement left him. His grin slipped a tiny bit as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Everything will be fine, Dani.”

He didn’t know. He couldn’t say that. “People got stranded last time. They died.” It could happen again. He had no idea. “They panicked and stampeded other people. Some of them weren’t even given the chance to drown.”

The entire grin vanished. He bent closer to her. “That’s not going to happen here. We’re already way ahead of schedule with security provisions. Part of that is because of you.” Then his phone rang, and he answered it, “Trenton!”

Dani heard him talking about shallow boat runners, but the conversation turned technical, so she looked around for what else they’d need. “Bags,” Dani stated. “Lots and lots of bags.”

Jonah hung up. “What?”

“There’s not enough life jackets, but we can triple-bag them—you know—the grocery bags that everyone keeps, but never throws out. We can blow air in them and just put three over each other so they won’t break that easily. People can put them inside their clothes. It’ll be sort of a life jacket.” She spotted a pile of bungee cords. “People can hook these into their clothes and wrap the other end across the canoe to someone else. They’ll hold each other up on the canoe if they get too fatigued.”

Jonah didn’t say anything for a moment. He caught her hand. “Dani—no one’s going to die here.”

“Not this storm.” Her stomach felt like ice had lined the bottom. “Everyone’s going to have to be told what to do if their clothes weigh them down—”

“Okay, before you turn into Indiana Jones, Trent’s on his way with a flat runner. He and Hawk have a bunch that they’re pulling over here. We’ll be fine.”

“What if they don’t get here in time? What if they see other people they need to save and they don’t get here? What then? We have to plan. We have to—”

Jonah caught her shoulders. He put his forehead to hers. “You’re not going to die.” ns class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">