Ruby Falls (35 page)

Lightning flashed with a crack, and a moment later thunder boomed around them. Summer ducked her head and let out a little scream. Cary shook her to get her attention. When her eyes were on him, he yelled, “Get back to the house. Get Jessie and Pop, and get to the cellar.”

“But Steve’s still out there,” she yelled back, a terrified look on her face.

“I’ll get him.”

“Cary-”

“I promise, I’ll get him. Now, go!”

She nodded and ran back to the house.

Cary dashed to his pickup, jumping inside. He drove straight across the newly harvested field, the truck bouncing along as he raced toward the giant harvester moving in the distance. When he caught up to it, his truck just behind it, he laid on the horn. The machine just kept moving. Swearing, he threw the truck in park and jumped out. He ran alongside the big harvester with its giant collection bin pulled behind it. Coming even with the cab, he yelled and waived his arms, but Steve either didn’t see him, or was being a stubborn cuss and wasn’t going to stop.

Cary had no choice but to jump up onto the moving equipment and climb to the cab. He yanked the door open.

Steve reared back, startled. “What the fuck are you doing? Have you lost your mind? You don’t jump on moving equipment!”

“Steve, come on! You have to stop!”

Lightning struck close by.

“No! It’s almost done.”

“There’s no time! A tornado is coming!”

“There’s still ten percent of the crop left!”

They yelled back and forth over the howling wind.

“Damn it! Give it up, Steve! The last truck left and the shed in full with what they didn’t have room to take.”

“I can’t. I’ve got to get it all!”

Cary realized he had no choice but to do something drastic. He pulled back and punched Steve in the jaw, knocking him out. Steve slumped over the steering wheel, out cold. Cary jumped to cut the engine and dragged Steve out of the cab and to his pickup. He got him into the truck and tore off toward the house.

Steve began to regain consciousness. He shook his head to clear it. When he realized where he was, he glared at Cary. “Stop the truck! Turn around!”

“Like hell!”

Steve grabbed at the door handle.

“You touch it, and I swear to Christ I’ll knock you out again!”

“Goddamn it!” Steve punched the windshield, a spider web of cracks radiated out from the point of impact.

Cary looked at his windshield. “Thanks, asshole! I’m trying to save you damn life and that’s the thanks I get.” He careened to a stop in the yard behind the house just as the rains started.

They climbed out and Steve immediately began heading toward the barn.

“Steve, come on!” Cary tried to stop him.

“The cows…I’ve got to check the cows.”

“Pop put them in the barn already. Everything’s secure. Come on.’ Cary grabbed Steve by the fabric of his denim shirt near his shoulder and pulled him toward the house.

The wind was howling now and debris was starting to fly. They were almost to the door when a piece of a dead branch snapped off a tree and went sailing toward them. Cary put his right arm out, but it caught him across the forehead, opening a gash. The two of them kept going and stumbled up the porch stairs and into the house. The power was out, and they made their way through the dark house to the door leading down into the cellar. When the door opened, they saw several flashlights arc around to shine on them. They stumbled down the stairs. Rocky, who was also down in the cellar, began barking.

“Cary, you’re bleeding!” Jessie set her cat down and ran to him.

He touched his forehead and pulled his hand away, seeing the blood on his hand from the dim light from the flashlights. “I’m okay, Jess.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him. His arms came around her. “You okay, baby?” She nodded, her head buried against his chest.

Steve came down the stairs behind Cary.

“Daddy!” Jessie moved from hugging Cary, to hugging her father. He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m fine, honey.” He kissed her forehead.

Cary moved to sit against the wall a few feet from Pop. “You okay, Pops?”

He nodded.

Steve looked over Jessie’s head. “Where’s the Collin’s kid?”

“I sent him home an hour ago, when it started to get bad.”

Steve nodded. “Good.” He stepped away from Jessie, who moved to sit next to Cary, and he walked over and sat next to Summer. “You okay?”

“No, I’m not okay! You scared me to death. We couldn’t get a hold of you on the radio, and you wouldn’t come in.” She glared at him, and then her eyes skated over his face and stopped on his cut lip. “Steve, your lip is bleeding!”

He wiped it with the cuff of his shirt, but didn’t offer an explanation. Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her shaking body against his. “We’re all okay, sweetheart.” She cuddled against him, and he leaned back against the cement wall, beginning to feel the long days catching up with him. He felt every ache in his body.

Rocky lay down at Cary’s side and put his head on Cary’s leg. He patted him. “It’s okay, boy.” Reaching up, he put his arm around Jessie and pulled her close.

The wind howled stronger. They heard what sounded like the screen door being ripped off its hinges. Rocky whimpered and Cary rubbed his back. “Calm down, boy.”

The portable radio crackled with static. A loud roaring noise started outside. The house creaked and groaned under the onslaught of the wind.

Summer huddled closer to Steve.

“We’re safe down here,” he whispered against her head.

It continued for several long minutes. They seemed like hours to Summer. Then suddenly there was a large
crack
and then what sounded like glass exploding. The house shook. Everyone looked toward the ceiling and door to the upstairs. They could hear a high-pitched whistling of wind coming into the house from somewhere.

Cary pulled Jessie close, covering her head with his arms.

The radio crackled again and was static. The roaring of the wind began to fade slowly. The radio picked the station back up, weak at first, then stronger.

“…moving toward Hamilton now. It should be past Ruby Falls now and passing over Centerville. We have widespread power outages across the tri-county area and this storm isn’t over yet, folks. If you’re in the path of this storm, get to your safe area, either a basement or an interior room or closet. We repeat the National Weather Service has issued a Tornado warning in effect for all of White, Lumpkin, Union, Dawson and Pickens counties…”

It went to static again.

“I think its past,” Steve said. “I’m going up to take a look.”

“I’ll go with you,” Cary offered.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Summer asked.

Steve took a flashlight, went up the stairs and opened the door. He looked around. “It seems quiet.”

Cary followed him up.

Summer could hear them walking around upstairs, and then the back door open. Then she could hear someone going up the stairs to the second floor. They all waited in the cellar for them to come back.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and Steve told them they could come up now.

Summer, Pop and Jessie emerged. It was hard to see anything with the flashlights, but they could immediately feel a breeze of cold air blowing through the house.

Steve was heading out the back door with a flashlight. Summer could see splintered wood where part of the frame had been torn off with the missing screen door. Cary was coming down from upstairs. Summer stopped him. “Cary, that air blowing through, is a window broken up there?”

“Yeah. A tree limb came right through your bedroom window. I’m going out to see how bad it is.” He headed out the back door, as well.

It was still raining. Cary found Steve in the yard behind the house, his flashlight shining upwards toward the roof. Cary turned to look. “Holy crap!”

The old oak tree at the right corner of the house had split, and about a third of the tree was now leaning against the roof with one large limb sticking into Summer’s bedroom window. The top gutter was hanging off, banging against the side of the house in the wind, which was still blowing strong.

“I can’t tell for sure with just this flashlight, but I think it’s just the window and the gutter. I don’t see any structural damage.”

“I don’t think that part of the tree weighed enough to put a hole in the roof,” Cary replied. “We got lucky the whole tree didn’t come down. I think when the storm is over, we can get that part off with a chainsaw.”

The rain increased to a downpour.

“Let’s check the cows and the rest of the buildings,” Steve said, already running toward the barn in the rain. Cary was right behind him.

Summer gathered up some candles and kerosene lamps and soon had the downstairs kitchen aglow. The gas stove still worked, so she lit a burner with a match and started heating up some chili that she had made earlier. She also warmed up some cornbread in the oven.

Soon the guys came back in, carrying a chainsaw and a blue tarp. They headed upstairs to cut the limb coming through the window and cover up the opening to keep the rain from coming in.

When they were through, Summer had a hot meal on the dining room table waiting for them. Cary carried the chainsaw out to the mudroom and set it down. They both washed up and came to the table. There were two kerosene lamps on the buffet and one in the center of the table.

When they were all seated, Steve said grace, with a little more meaning tonight than usual.

They ate in silence. The rain poured down. After everyone finished the chili and cornbread, Summer dug out some leftover pie and ice cream. She figured she’d better use up what was left, before it melted.

Over dessert, Steve looked over at Summer and informed her, “With all the damage, you can’t sleep in your bedroom tonight. So, you take my bed, and I’ll take the couch down here.”

Summer was about to insist that he needn’t give up his bed, but with all that had gone on, she thought it best not to argue with him. She nodded. “Alright.”

She took a moment to study him. He looked exhausted. He’d been working almost around the clock for days now. Looking across the table, she noticed Cary also looked ready to drop. “Cary? Why don’t you stay here tonight? No sense going out in this storm.”

He had been staring at the table. He looked up at her, as if coming out a trance. He took a breath. “Oh, no. I’ll be okay. Thanks, Summer.”

“You’re sure?” she studied him.

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. In fact, I think I’ll head for my bed right now.” He wiped his hand down his face and pushed his plate away. “Thanks for the meal, Summer.”

“You’re welcome.”

He turned to Steve. “You need me to do anything else tonight, boss?”

Steve looked over at him. “No. No, you get some rest. We’ll have a lot to do tomorrow.”

Cary stood up, pushed his chair in, and started to leave.

“Cary?” Steve called to him.

He turned back.

“Thanks for everything you did tonight,” he said, rubbing his jaw where Cary had slugged him.

Cary smiled back at him. “No problem, boss.”

Steve smiled. “You don’t have to act like you enjoyed it so much.”

“Oh, but I did.” He smiled back and then left.

Summer looked at Steve, curiously. “What was that about?”

At first he wouldn’t meet her eyes, but then finally he looked her dead on. “Sometimes a man just needs some sense knocked into him.”

“Oh, is
that
how you got the split lip?”

“Maybe,” he admitted, leaning back in his chair.

Summer couldn’t help the grin that pulled on the corner of her mouth as she got up to carry the dishes to the sink. Jessie helped her. When they were through cleaning up, Summer went to the hall closet, pulled out some spare blankets and a pillow, and made up a bed for Steve.

When she came back into the dining room, he was asleep in his chair. She smiled, noting how peaceful he looked. She hated to wake him, but he couldn’t sleep in a chair all night. She touched his shoulder. He opened his eyes and took a deep breath. “Sorry. I must have dozed off.”

“Come on,” she said, pulling him by the hand. She led him to the couch, and he fell on it. She covered him up, and he was asleep before she finished. She brushed the hair back from his brow, wishing she could take some of the worry from him.

Pop went to bed, and Summer and Jessie blew out the candles and took two oil lamps upstairs. When they got to the top, they said good night, and Summer headed to Steve’s room. She walked in and set the lamp on the dresser. She got undressed and slid under the covers. Pressing her face to the pillow, she breathed in. It smelled of him, and that comforted her. She fell asleep almost immediately.

Jessie waited a few minutes to make sure Summer was asleep before she crept down the stairs and out of the house. She quickly ran across the yard to Cary’s house, taking care not to trip over the fallen branches that littered the yard.

Rocky let out a muffled growl from the hearth when she opened the front door and poked her head around. Seeing it was Jessie, he came to her, tail wagging. Jessie patted his head. “Hey, boy,” she greeted him softly.

The living room was dark as she made her way across to the hall towards Cary’s bedroom. The door was open. She stopped in the doorway, looking toward the bed.

The rain had stopped and a full moon had come out. It shown through the lace curtains illuminating the bed. Cary was on his stomach, facing toward the window. His leg was canted and his arm rested on the pillow by his head. The sheet rode low on his hips, exposing his beautifully muscled back and the dimples at the base of his spine. She took a moment to take in the beauty of the sight of him. He was everything to her, she realized. And she’d do anything she had to, to protect him.

Moving silently across the room, she slid into the bed.

When the mattress shifted with her weight, Cary came up on his elbows, twisting to look at her. “Babe?” His voice was husky with sleep as he spoke the questioning word.

Jessie ran her hand up his bicep and shoulder, her eyes following its movement.