Page 34 of Tucker

“Probably.”

“I’ll go help with cleanup. Take your time.” Now that he’d somewhat cemented things with her family, it was time to work on Kady.

He’d handle that as soon as they were alone.

CHAPTER SIX

WHATAWAYto interrupt a day, Kady thought as she drove away from the family gathering. She had a feeling Tucker had something special to say to her, whether prompted by her family or not, she didn’t know. But with the weather taking such a nasty turn, the station wanted her and Cleets to do a live broadcast update to the townspeople.

Because she had ridden with Tucker, she’d borrowed her aunt’s car to leave. Tucker hadn’t liked it, but he respected the responsibilities of her job, just as she respected his. Given the weather, there was a good chance they’d both be busy for the rest of the day.

They’d been on a tornado watch for a few days now, but the skies had gone from sunny to stormy and back again with rapidity.

Now that a promising day had turned dark sooner than expected, she and Cleets would meet up in town for a broadcast. Using the town as a backdrop made sense because many businesses would be impacted.

As she drove, wall clouds loomed on the horizon, low, dark and ominous.

Kady looked at the sky, her worry growing. Not all strong storms spawned tornadoes, but it was definitely a warning. Decision made, she called the station and asked that they interrupt regular news with the suggestion that residents should take cover.

She had a bad feeling that the supercell storm would turn dangerous—possibly deadly—very quickly.

No sooner than she had the thought, the skies opened up in blinding sheets of rain. Hail pounded her windshield so that she could barely see. Her wipers swung wildly across the windshield, unable to keep up.

Slowing her speed, thankful that she didn’t see any other cars on the road to town, she called Cleets. As soon as he answered, she asked, “Where are you?”

“I ducked into the grocery. The storm—”

“Stay there,” she said, cutting him off. “We need a tornado watch to go out ASAP.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Find a basement or a cellar—”

“Kady, I know,” he replied gently. “Where are you?”

“On the road.” She gasped as a large tree branch landed on the road in front of her, barely managing to steer around it. “Will you call Tucker and tell him I’ll be at his house? I’m going to check on the dogs.” She had to believe that Tucker would be safe at Sawyer’s house. They had a basement where everyone could wait for the worst of the weather to pass.

“Kady,” Cleets warned, his voice soft but urgent, “you need to pull over. You need to find shelter.”

She started to reply when the wind suddenly died and an eerie calm settled in the air. “Oh, no.”

“What is it?”

Through the passenger-door window she saw it. One cloud mass stretched a skinny finger down toward the earth, closer and closer.

“Tornado,” she whispered.

“What?”

“There’s a tornado touching down to the west of the main road. You need to get the warning outnow, get people inside, and please,pleasecall Tucker.”

“Will do. Let me know as soon as you’re safe.”

She nodded, cleared her throat and finally found her voice. “Thanks, I will.”

With the call disconnected, she leaned over the wheel, driving fast out of pure necessity. The churning air roared around her. Her heart hammered violently, but finally Tucker’s house came into view. The whole street was dark, quiet, and she gave thanks that his neighbors weren’t on their porches gawking, as people often did.

She parked with jarring speed, and just as she left the car the sirens blared, splitting the air with a loud warning. Kady jumped and was almost blown over. The tornado was behind her now, but debris swirled through the air, more branches cracking off trees. Someone’s car alarm added to the noise.

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