Page 35 of Big Island Horizons
“You’ll play Seafarers with me? You hate Seafarers.”
“Or the one with the soldiers.”
“Cities and Knights?” Piper’s grin turned devious. “Both? At the same time?”
Paige sighed. “Fine. Let’s just go.”
“I’ll get the boxes!” Piper ran off, leaving her siblings to clean up the game.
“Do you want to come with us?” Mitch asked Cody. He was trying so hard to sound casual, but Tara could hear the anxiety in his voice. “We could get some pizza, have a board game and movie night?”
“We were already having a board game and movie night,” Cody muttered.
“Please, Co?” Paige asked.
He sighed. “Fine. I’ll go grab some clothes.”
“Yay!”
“What?” Piper asked as she came back into the living room.
“Cody’s coming!”
“Huzzah!” She lifted the boxes over her head in celebration. The one on top slid off and fell to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere. “Aw, dagnabbit.”
In the kitchen, Tara stifled a laugh. Piper was a voracious reader, and Paige loved black and white movies. Between the two of them, they picked up the funniest old words and phrases.
Cody came back with a canvas bag in hand, looking conflicted.
“Ready to go?” Mitch asked. He was still hovering near the front door.
Cody looked at Tara and asked, “Will you be okay in this storm?”
“I’ll be fine. You should get on the road before the wind picks up.”
“Okay.” He turned to his sisters. “Ready to make a run for it?”
“Just a sec.” Tara grabbed a trash bag and put the three cardboard Catan boxes inside. “Okay, you’re good to go.”
“Thanks, Mom!” Piper hugged her fiercely before picking up the games and sprinting through the rain to Mitch’s car.
Tara hugged the other two… and then she was alone.
Well, mostly alone. Their old German Shepherd settled onto her bed with a tired sigh while the younger dog whined miserably at the front door, devastated that his people had gone out into the storm without him. Tara’s heart felt much the same.
The house was almost eerie with all three kids gone.
She didn’t like it.
But she made the best of it, turning her music up and getting a fair bit of prep work done while the wind howled outside. Eventually she found a novel that she had started years ago and settled down on the couch to read, a luxury that she hadn’t allowed herself in ages.
Maybe she could get used to the kids being at their dad’s house every now and again.
She had just gotten into her book, fully transported to rural Appalachia, when a thunderous crash sounded outside.
Not thunder. Something far worse.
Tara threw the quilt off of her lap and went to assess the damage. If there was a fence down, there was nothing that she could do about that now, in the middle of a storm. But she at least needed to make sure the animals were alright.
