Page 53 of The Love Chase

Liam wouldn’t be caught dead in my truck chasing a tornado. That I knew for certain.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” I said, my breaths coming quicker. I was sitting in the garage where I had set up my computer and equipment in a temporary, haphazard way. The radar was going nuts. Big storms were heading for Iowa today. The conditions were perfect.

I needed to leave now if I was going to meet them. Grabbing the portable radar and my camera, I packed them in their cases and stuck them in Bluebell’s cab. Maybe I could snap a few videos and finally start that YouTube channel I kept putting off. I ran inside and grabbed a bottle of water and a protein bar out of the pantry, nearly running smack-dab into Liam as I headed back to my truck.

“Where are you going?” he asked, blocking my way. His hands were hot as they landed on my shoulders.

“I’m going to go drive into a tornado,” I deadpanned.

He blinked at me as if he were trying to figure out if I was joking or not. “That’s not funny.”

“Have a little faith, Liam.” I patted his shoulder and then slid around him.

I was almost back to my truck when his big, warm hand landed on my shoulder. My sneakers squeaked on the garage floor as I came to a stop.

“I’m coming with you.”

I scoffed, shoving his hand from my shoulder. “No, you’re not.”

Ignoring me, he climbed into the passenger seat of my truck.

“Liam,” I scolded. “I’m not going to bring you and put you in danger.”

“You admit this is dangerous then.”

I groaned, rolling my eyes. “Of course it is, but it’s only dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. I know what I’m doing. You don’t. You’re going to be a distraction.”

He shook his head, buckling his seatbelt and giving it a tug as if to say he wasn’t going anywhere.

What was he thinking? He was going to hate this, and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the chase because I’d be worried about him the whole time.

I climbed into the driver’s seat and buckled my seat belt, reversing the truck out of the garage as I said, “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Liam

Ihad never tried so hard to appear calm and collected on the outside while absolutely freaking out on the inside.

After two hours of driving across the state, we finally caught up to what Emma called supercells. I didn’t know what that meant, but to me they just looked like giant, dark, ominous clouds that threatened the destruction of everything in their path. She claimed that not every supercell spawned tornadoes—and I secretly hoped this was one of the ones that didn’t—but clearly, she really hoped it would be.

Emma was nuts.

And I meant that in the most loving way possible.

Straight ahead of us was a huge…thunderhead? Was that what she called it? It was dark with streaks of rain falling beneath it. Emma made me hold a small screen, which kept playing the radar on a loop, updating every so often. She glanced over at it every minute or so, and I wanted to tell her to keep her eyes on the road, but I bit my tongue. I would trust her, even if every instinct inside me was screaming to turn around and run the other way.

“There’s no rotation on the radar yet,” she commented. “But it looks like there might be hail wrapped in the rain. I’ll hang back so Bluebell doesn’t get pelted, but if it starts rotating, I’m going in.” Emma said the words so nonchalantly, as if chasing tornadoes was a household hobby.

I worked hard to keep my shaky breath silent. For the moment I was just thankful that she had slowed down and wasn’t about to drive directly into the path of the storm. Fat raindrops pattered on the windshield, and Emma kicked on the wipers just as it started pouring.

The chill of the air conditioning cut beneath my skin, mixing with my nerves, making me shake. I hated that I was so scared. I trusted Emma—she was one of the smartest, not to mention most dedicated—people I knew, and if she said she had this covered, I would believe her. But it still didn’t stop my heart from racing and my palms from getting clammy.

It put me right back to that day when I was a little kid—when the tornado sirens had gone off, and the sky was ominously dark, and all my older siblings left me upstairs instead of bringing me to the basement. My parents hadn’t been home.

I’d been forgotten—again.

Thankfully the tornado had ended up touching down miles from the farm, and everything was fine, but the terror I had felt when the sirens sounded and I didn’t know what to do—or where my family had gone, stuck with me. Hence my trembling now.

But I’d never told Emma that story—never wanted to take away from her joy of storms. She was family to me—more so than my real family had ever been. She wouldn’t leave me behind, and I knew she’d do whatever it took to keep me safe.

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