Page 143 of Return To You

“Shed,” Mom says, wringing her hands. “There should be a fuel container next to it. Dennis keeps it full.”

“I’ll help you,” I say, setting a frightened Damian on Dad’s lap. “You two look after each other,” I add with a playful wink toward Dad.

As we step outside to the shed, Colton drives up. Ethan quickly fills him in, and the two of them get the generator started and hooked up to the refrigerator and a couple of extension cords. “I’m gonna go with Ethan,” Colton tells me. “Get a pump for Mom and Dad and see what’s up with your roof.”

And just like that, the two of them are gone.

forty-six

Ethan

“Come with me,” Colton says.

I send a group text to my siblings and parents to find out if everyone is okay. The answers come in: Everyone’s fine. I update them on the situation at Grace’s and her parents’ and get offers of help.

Me

Thx. I’ll let you know. Stay where you are for now, roads are unsafe.

I jump in Colton’s truck while he places a call. It’s late in the evening, so I’m not sure where he thinks he’s going. Or if he expects to get a call back. “Hey, man,” he says in his phone. “I’m gonna need a pump, some tarp, plywood, shingles. ’Spect I won’t be the only one to ask, but this is for my family. Can you set that aside for me? Yep… Nah, me and my friend can handle it. But thanks… yeah. Gotcha.”

“Got something?”

“Yeah, guy owes me. He owns a lumber yard and construction material.”

“He has a pump too?”

“Yup.” He swerves around dead branches littering the road. “Pretty bad.”

“That happen often?”

“More and more. I think the whole state’s getting hit this time. I’ll bring the pump back soon’s we’re done at my parents’. Other people’re gonna need it.”

“First time they’re flooded?”

“Yeah. I’ll have to ask Lucas about some drainage options. What happened at Grace’s?”

“Huge branch went through her roof. Or might have been a tree. I didn’t have time to check from the outside. I wanted to get her out of there before anything worse happened.”

“She give you a hard time?”

I shrug. Grace’s face materializes in my mind’s eye, her stubborn frown, the cute set of her mouth. “Not really.”

He lifts his chin. “You know how to talk to her.” He takes a turn toward Grace’s house. “Let’s check it out, see if we’ll need anything else.”

We round her house and it’s like I thought. Although it’s getting dark, we can see that a thick tree limb fell, nicking the roof in the process. “Good news,” Colton says. “Tree’s on the ground.”

There’s a gaping hole in the roof, the pelting rain punishing, damaging the house with every passing minute. “Let’s get that tarp.”

Colton nods. “Tarp first.”

At the lumber yard, I add two-by-fours, nails, and roof cement to my order while Colton loads the pump in the back of his truck. Colton’s guy throws in two harnesses and ropes. We borrow a ladder and head back to Grace’s house. Colton pulls headlamps from the back of his truck, and we get to work. The roof isn’t too steep, but it’s slippery in the rain, and the work is tricky. “Wouldn’t have risked it without the harnesses,” Colton yells over the falling rain, and I agree. We wrap one side of the tarp around the two-by-fours, nail it to the roof, pull it tight, then move to the next side.

“Can’t do the sealant now,” I say, wiping the water from my eyes. “It’s still raining.”

“Let’s get outta here,” Colton agrees.

We gather our tools, unhook our harnesses, and get back down. “Why don’t you check the inside while I pack up,” Colton says. “I’ll leave the harnesses and rope in the house, and the ladder right here.”

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