Hurricane Season

by BJ Phillips

  “I didn’t say I wasn’t mad at you. I said I didn’t have an exclusive claim on you, nor do you have one on me…at least not yet. I was still hurt that you would do something like that, even if you had a few too many drinks. I guess what made me feel worst was that you could find yourself in her bed, but not mine. I sort of thought maybe we had something going, but again, I don’t have a claim on you.”

  “Carrie, I do want you. You know I do. I didn’t…I mean I wouldn’t…I mean, hell, I don’t know what to say. I was an idiot. I don’t even remember what happened. That’s pretty bad, isn’t it?”

  “I would say so.”

  “Uh, you know Kelly has a crush on you.”

  “Yes, I know. And?”

  “And, so…” Shawn ran her hand through her hair, trying to figure out how to ask. “So did you and Kelly…? Don’t bother answering that, since it’s none of my business.”

  “Right this minute, no, it isn’t. But no, nothing is going on. I was sort of her date for the cookout at her house. Then I asked her to lunch. That’s it. We’re just friends. Does that make you feel better?”

  “Actually, yes,” Shawn said, taking a deep breath. “Listen, I’ll be coming home in about a week. Could we start over again? This time, I promise there won’t be any ghosts coming back to haunt whatever happens with us.”

  “Shawn, I’m looking forward to seeing you again. That sounds like a great idea. Let’s start over. Shall we meet at the end of my driveway again?” Carrie laughed.

  “Let’s see what happens. I’ll give you a call when I’m on my way back, all right?”

  “I’d like that. Bring me a pine cone from the Smokies?”

  “You got it. I, uh, well…I’ll talk to you again soon.”

  “Okay. Have a good time up there and a safe trip.”

  Carrie hung up, took a deep breath and smiled. She just couldn’t tell Shawn what actually happened. Not yet. Someday she would tell her. Meantime, she had a nice, warm feeling inside. Shawn was coming back home and they would start over. Maybe now those demons she’d been battling were gone.

  ***

  That night, the weather guys on television were talking about a depression in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa that was beginning to develop into a storm. It was that time of year, after all. Most of them shriveled away to nothing before they got to any land. Some decided to visit Florida. Grace was going to be one of those summer visitors. And she didn’t know it yet, but she was headed for Fort Myers.

  Chapter Thirty

  A FEW DAYS LATER, Rich and Carrie were having coffee in the break room. “So I guess you heard about Tropical Storm Grace?” Rich asked.

  Carrie nodded. “Yes, I decided last night to recheck my supplies. I always check my hurricane kit at the beginning of the season, just to be sure. Never want to be running around looking for batteries or the like when everyone else is. How about you, are you stocked up, too?” She reached for her coffee cup.

  “Yeah. Karen grew up in Key West. She knows what to do, so I leave it for her unless she tells me she needs me to do something.”

  “It’s nice to be able to depend on someone else, isn’t it? I mean, you don’t have to deal with everything yourself. If you need to put up the hurricane shutters, you even have help.”

  Rich laughed. “True. She can wield a wicked power drill. She could probably put them all up by herself, not being the ‘little woman’ type at all. I couldn’t have a wife like that. She’s a true partner in every sense of the word. But I usually take care of most of that. She says she leaves me the ‘manly stuff’ so my testosterone gets a workout.”

  “Karen’s a smart woman. You know, I liked her the first time I met her. You guys sure are a good pair. I hope I find someone to partner with like you two are someday.”

  “You will,” Rich said. “By the way, if this thing does head for us, and you need help shuttering your house, let me know. I can get a crew over there and get it all done in no time.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Seems like last year we only had one scare, if I remember correctly but that’s all it was. Nothing very serious. Never know, this might just turn into a ‘watch’ thing more than a real warning.”

  “Speaking of serious. Have you heard from Shawn?”

  “I have. She’s camping in the Smokies with her publisher. I talked to her a couple of days ago.”

  Rich raised his eyebrows and took a sip from his coffee. “And?”

  “And…she’ll be home in a while. She said she’ll call when she’s on her way.” Carrie smiled, and then took a sip from her mug.

  “Does she know about Grace?”

  “I doubt it. I didn’t know about it, either, when I last talked to her. She said she wasn’t getting a phone signal at all up there unless they drove to the village several miles away. I’m assuming she still doesn’t know, but I’ll tell her the next time she calls. Speaking of needing help, she probably will. Her house is bigger than mine by half with that addition you’ve put on.”

  “True. Well, the offer goes for her, too. I wouldn’t want to take a chance on all that handsome work we did getting ruined. Tell her what I said when you talk to her, okay? If you don’t hear from her in time, we’ll just go over and shutter her house for her anyway.”

  “I will.” Carrie got up and headed for the sink with her cup.

  Rich went for a coffee refill to take back to his office. As Carrie reached the door back to the front office, he said, “Carrie, you seem happier than I’ve seen you for a while. Things going well?”

  “They are. Thanks for asking.” Carrie smiled at her boss. “I think they’ll be getting even better soon.” She turned and walked back to her desk, humming.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  IT HAD BEEN NEARLY a week since Shawn had talked to Carrie. She and AJ spent their time hiking all over the area, staying up late talking about everything from the world’s problems to debating the best hiking socks. And they talked about Shawn and Carrie.

  “You so need to get out of here and go back to Florida,” AJ said one morning as they sat outside with their breakfast.

  “What makes you think that?” Shawn asked, in between bites of the bacon she held in her fingers.

  “Seems like almost everything we talk about has something to do with Carrie, that’s what. I know you came up here for a good time and to relax. Okay, you also came to spend time with me. Right now, though, you need to get back home and take care of things with her. I bet you’re ready to go, aren’t you?”

  “I guess so. I’m sorry about talking about her so much. Actually, I don’t think I’m sorry at all, but I guess you’re right. Now that I know she doesn’t hate me for what happened, and I don’t feel like I’m going to run away again. I can hardly wait to get back there and start over.”

  “Well, then, let’s pack up right after breakfast and get out of here. I wouldn’t mind getting back to civilization and a nice hot shower. Besides, the women in Atlanta probably miss me.” AJ laughed. “God knows I miss them.”

  “Now that’s probably true. Besides, I can testify that you need a shower.”

  “Look who’s talking! You could use one too, believe me. Bathing in the creek just isn’t the same, is it?”

  On the way back toward civilized territory, Shawn kept an eye on her cell, watching for a connection. Finally, she saw a couple of bars, then another, show up on her screen. She finally had an adequate looking connection and asked AJ to pull over for a couple of minutes at the nearest turnout. A couple of miles farther and they found it. Shawn got out of the truck and sat on a guard rail to make her call.

  “Carrie, hi. Miss me?”

  “Of course I do. I miss you a lot. Now there’s something else going on. Have you heard that Hurricane Grace is headed in this direction?”

  “Hurricane? The last news I heard was that it was a depression. That was several days ago now. That thing developed fast! Are we in the cone?” Shawn asked, referring to the directional possibility
cone the weather stations use.

  “The Weather Channel is showing us in the path, in the ‘pretty sure’ area of the cone. WINK news says we’re on the edge of possible hurricane force winds, but if it turns, of course, it could be much worse. The good thing is that Rich shuttered your house just in case, since we didn’t know when you were coming home. Maybe you should just stay in Atlanta till it’s over.”

  “We’re leaving the Smokies today. I should be home in a couple of days. I’ll get there as quickly as I can. Wow, this has to happen while I’m gone, of course. Well, I was already coming home. I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

  “Well, yes, you are. But that’s okay. Rich said to tell you he hoped you didn’t mind that he shuttered your house without permission. He didn’t want all that work he and his crew just finished to get messed up.”

  “Please thank him for me. I never stop being amazed at how people take care of each other when something happens. By the way, I’m sitting on a guardrail at a turnout along a two lane mountain road. It’s picturesque, but we probably should get going.”

  “Okay. We’ll know more tomorrow about which way the storm is tracking. You know how these things go, it’s headed right for you then it veers off and you barely get any rain at all.”

  “All right, then, I’ll call you tomorrow.” Shawn paused. In a lower voice, she said, “Take care of yourself, all right?”

  “You, too. Talk to you tomorrow.”

  Shawn smiled as she hung up. This felt good. Carrie felt good. She couldn’t wait to get back home and she wasn’t going to let a little hurricane get in the way.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  CARRIE WAS STARTLED OUT of a good dream. Her phone was ringing. Glancing at the clock as she reached for the phone, she realized it was only five thirty. She took a quick look at Caller ID to make sure it wasn’t some stupid wrong number, but instead, it was Shawn. She grabbed the phone and answered it.

  “Shawn, what’s going on? Are you okay?” She sat up quickly, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

  “I’m fine, but I’m tired. I got up really early to get on the road. I’m sorry I just realized how early it still is.”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty early, but that’s all right. Where are you now?”

  “I’m just south of Macon.”

  “Wow, you did get up early! What possessed you to do that? Scratch that…I’m sorry. But the storm is still a ways off. Nothing much new since I talked to you yesterday.”

  “So you haven’t seen the news yet, then,” Shawn said.

  “Not yet. Why?”

  “It’s changed direction, moving more toward us and it’s moving faster. They’re saying it’s going to make landfall somewhere near Fort Myers.”

  “Oh no. Last I’d heard it had veered away a bit and was headed more toward the Gulf. We were going to get just the outer edges of it as it passed. Hang on.” Carrie reached for the television remote and flipped to the twenty-four hour weather station. There she was, Hurricane Grace, tracking more to the northeast, with the red cone pointed right toward Naples and Fort Myers now.

  “I see it. Why aren’t you staying in Atlanta? This thing might get too much for you to get home. I know these things can change direction again, but this one’s looking pretty sure. Your house is safe, you know. And so am I.”

  “Carrie, I need to be home. I just feel like I should be there. But…mainly, I just want to be home with you.”

  “Look, I’d love to have you here too, but don’t get in a wreck or take chances trying to get here in time. Just being selfish, I want to see you get here in one piece.” Carrie leaned back on her pillow with the phone to her ear. She smiled faintly. Talking to Shawn while in bed seemed rather intimate and nice, comfy, and sort of sexy even if they were discussing a hurricane.

  “I plan to do just that. I should be back in seven, maybe eight hours, unless there’s more construction or horrible traffic going south. If they set up an evacuation route, I might have trouble getting all the way there on I-75. I can call you later and let you know more about when I’ll be there.”

  “Look, if you insist on doing this, I’d like that. As I said, your house is all closed up, so come straight to my house. If it doesn’t look like you’ll get here in time, please don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I’m all set and just waiting for it to get here.”

  “I know. I just want to be with you and start our starting over. Besides, I’ve been eating camping food for over a week, so going through a hurricane won’t be a big deal to my stomach anyway. I know this is going to sound like a funny thing to ask right now, but by any chance, do you think there might be a chocolate pie?” She could picture Shawn grinning, waiting for the answer.

  “Well, there could be. Hmm…there could be. There just might be. You don’t happen to like chocolate pie, do you? Seems like I know someone who lives down the street who likes chocolate pie, too,” Carrie teased.

  “Well, I do declare,” Shawn said, in her best southern belle accent. “I believe you have me down.” She went back to her normal voice. “Actually, I’d love some, but you probably don’t have time to do that today. I’ll call you later at a much more decent hour and update you on where I am.”

  “Please take care of yourself and drive carefully.”

  “I will. Hope you can go back to sleep now.”

  “I’ll try. Talk to you later,” Carrie said, and hung up. “I miss you very much,” she said to the ‘call ended’ cell screen. Then she rolled over in bed and hugged her pillow, drifting back to sleep smiling.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  CARRIE TICKED OFF THE list of things in her head that she wanted to be sure were taken care of in case they lost power during the storm. Every piece of laundry clean. Check. Big bag of ice in the freezer for later. Check. Hurricane lamps filled with oil. Check. Lots of matches. Check. Propane stove ready. Check. Her generator was also all set, with extra gas cans. It wouldn’t run the refrigerator. It wasn’t big enough. But it would run some fans and some other things that could make life more comfortable if the power was lost. Yes, she was ready.

  She had just sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee when her cell went off. “Hey, Shawn. How’s your drive going? You must be getting close to Florida by now.”

  “Hey yourself.” Carrie could hear her take a sip from her soda. “Good guess. I’m just south of Valdosta. Actually, the traffic hasn’t been too bad. I found some breakfast at a drive-through a while ago and I’ve been making good time…I probably shouldn’t have called you earlier. It was way too early and I apologize for that.”

  “No problem. I honestly didn’t mind. In fact, I’m glad you called me.” Carrie took a deep breath and smiled, remembering lying in bed talking to Shawn earlier. “At this rate you’ll be back in town by early afternoon for sure. Well, unless they order evacuations. Then you might have a problem. The authorities have already told people on the islands to prepare to leave, but that shouldn’t cause a problem. It’s looking pretty sure for Grace to come straight here. You’re going to cut it really close. Seriously, why don’t you just stay up there until it passes?”

  “I have to try, Carrie. I’d much rather be there and go through the storm with you. I’ll call you later. I’m so looking forward to being home and seeing you.”

  “I’m looking forward to seeing you, too, but I’d rather you didn’t take chances.”

  “I promise I won’t take any big chances. I’m sure I can make it if the storm can just not speed up. You’ll let me know if anything significant happens, right?”

  “I will. Just be careful.” Carrie hit end on her phone and smiled again. She felt warm all over, straight to her core, in anticipation. She tried not to let her imagination run completely wild, but she couldn’t help fantasizing just a little—no, quite a bit—about riding out the storm with Shawn. There’d be nothing to do but to be together.

  ***

  Shawn smiled as she passed the ‘Welcome to Florida’ sign on I-75. If all went w
ell, by early to mid-afternoon she’d be home. Well, she’d be at Carrie’s. Carrie’s, what a nice thought. Then her conscience began beating her up again. You acted like a complete and total idiot. You almost ruined everything. She took a deep breath and tried to figure out what kind of gesture she should make to help straighten out what she did before she left. One thing was for sure no more messing around with Tracy and she could find someone else if she was serious about doing that photography book.

  As she drove on through the morning, the sun climbed higher in the sky, and the day became warmer and stickier. A couple of times she rolled the window down, just to get some fresh air into the Jeep, but that never lasted long. It was too warm and muggy by ten in the morning even for riding down the Interstate at seventy-five miles per hour with the windows down.

  She was keeping up with the big trucks and passing some. She realized she was paying much more attention to the traffic on the way home than she had on the way up to Atlanta. On the way up, she had been fleeing and only thought of getting away. On the way home, all she could think about was going home, and home right now meant getting back to Carrie.

  As she drove, she played out in her mind what she’d say, what she’d do when she saw Carrie again. Should I pretend that nothing has happened? Should I try to be funny and make a joke about the weather? What I want to do is drop my bags on the floor inside the door and reach out for Carrie. I want to hold her and kiss her and tell her how much I missed her. I want to show her how much I care about her, and this time not stop until I’ve made sweet love to her. Oh yes, that’s exactly what I want to do. But so not a good thing to contemplate in detail while driving. Oh no. She wished she could show up with at least a bouquet of flowers. Nothing big, even a small bunch of flowers from Publix would be good. But even that wasn’t going to happen. She had to go straight there. The storm was coming.