Page 113 of Ten Beach Road

Not bothering to argue, Deirdre took hold of Avery’s arm. Avery broke loose and turned toward the bathroom. If she locked herself inside, they’d lose even more time.

“Oh, no, you’re not.” Deirdre followed Avery and got a strong hold on her arm. Then despite Avery’s attempts to free herself, she managed to half propel/half drag her out of the pool house and toward Bella Flora. It was the first completely motherly thing Maddie had seen her do.

They made it to the loggia and then the four of them muscled the door open and pushed their way into the kitchen. Even in the midst of battling the storm they knew to stay off the wood floors.

“I was afraid you would still be here!”

They looked up in surprise at the unexpected voice.

Nicole stood near the kitchen island, a pool of rainwater around her feet. Short of breath from her sprint inside, she pushed the wet hair out of her eyes and braced for their reaction to her presence.

“What are you doing here?” Avery asked. Her gaze narrowed, but her belligerence seemed automatic, not personal.

“I came to make sure you evacuated,” Nicole said. “I figured if anyone would be a problem, it would be you.”

“Ha!” Avery said. Her chin jerked upward, but with far less venom than Nicole had been expecting.

A small, if grudging, smile tugged at Maddie’s lips and Nikki began to hope that the need to evacuate might expedite her acceptance back into the fold.

“You always were the most persuasive of us, Nikki. If you can talk some sense into her, I won’t give you half the shit I was planning to the next time I saw you.” Maddie’s voice came out in a rush. “We need to get out of here.”

Kyra stood near the loggia door filming everything. Maddie the mother hen clucked at them, intent on hurrying everyone along. Deirdre, with a determined glint in her eyes and a bag slung over her shoulder, contemplated her belligerent daughter.

Nicole stepped closer to Avery so that she could stare down at her.

“There’s nothing Nikki can say that’s going to change my mind,” Avery said. “We don’t even know whether she was in league with her brother. She . . .”

“He stole from me the same way he stole from you. Maybe my mistake was not telling you up front. I’m sorry for that.”

There was a bang as something metal slammed into something solid outside.

“Listen,” Nicole said. “We really need to get the hell out of here. I was the last car allowed onto the beach. There’s a huge line of vehicles trying to get off.”

She studied their faces and thought she saw a grudging acceptance. No one came out and told her she was forgiven, but no one told her to go away, either.

“I’m not leaving,” Avery said. “You all can go ahead, but I’ve worked too hard to leave Bella Flora defenseless.”

“And what do you think you can do against one-hundred-mile-per-hour winds and a ten-foot storm surge?” Maddie asked. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“I’m not . . .”

Deirdre looked at Avery and then at the rest of them. “It might as well be me,” she said cryptically. “She already hates me.”

Maddie looked confused, but Nicole sensed what was coming before Deirdre even pointed and said, “Oh, my gosh, Avery. Look over there!”

Avery turned and before Nikki could offer to do it for her, Deirdre’s fist shot out and connected with Avery’s chin. Avery crumpled.

“Jesus!” Maddie said. Her mouth dropped open.

“Wow!” Kyra said from behind the camera.

“I can’t believe you beat me to it,” Nikki said as she grasped Avery under the arms and waited for Deirdre to get her ankles. “Do you have your keys out, Maddie?” she asked as Kyra finally stopped shooting in order to put her camera in its waterproof case. Maddie went to the kitchen door.

“You actually want to go in the minivan?” Maddie asked with a stab at a smile. “I don’t know that I’d be leaving a classic Jaguar here in a potential hurricane.”

“You’ll understand when you see my current wheels,” Nikki said as they waited for Maddie to aim her remote at the van’s doors. “This is the first time I’ve fully appreciated the whole automatic sliding doors thing,” she said.

“Ready?” With a final look at each other they raced out of Bella Flora and toward the van, Nicole and Deirdre carrying the inert Avery between them. As soon as Maddie got the rear door open, they slung Avery into the cargo hold.

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