Page 38 of Truth or Tequila (Grand Slam 1)

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m good. Really.”

“Soph,” Roman says. His voice gets a little softer. “Are you worried about the hurricane?”

I sit up straight and jerk back away from the window. “What? What hurricane?”

“That’s why I’m calling you. We just got back from St. John’s. It’s supposed to hit there tomorrow, and it looks like it’s headed this way. You need to start watching the news more.”

I’m deathly afraid of hurricanes. I was just out of college when Hurricane Irma came through Miami. As Chicagoans, Maisie and I didn’t have enough sense to evacuate from our beachside apartment. Luckily, Irma went a little north of the city, but I still remember the horrible, deafening sound of the wind. We huddled together in a closet and cried all night.

“When’s it supposed to be here?” My voice shakes despite my efforts to keep it calm.

“By the weekend, honey, but if it looks like it’s going to be a direct hit, you can hunker down with us at our house. You know it’s like a fortress.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

“Soph, we’ll take care of you. We always do.”

“I know. I have to go. The flight attendant’s staring at me.”

“Okay, call me when you get back in town. We love you, Soph.”

“I love you, too.” I take a deep, shaky breath as I end the call.

“Is Roman your new boyfriend?” I jump when I hear Seb’s voice right next to me. When Roman started talking about the hurricane, I forgot about everything else.

“Stop creeping on my phone.” I grab it off my lap and slide it between my leg and the armrest.

“I wasn’t creeping. It was sitting right there.”

I look up at him. The sad eyes are back. I swear he could get me to do just about anything with that look. “Roman’s one of my best friends. He and his husband are like family. They take care of me.”

“And protect you from things like hurricanes?” He pats my leg. The warning bell goes off again.

“You were eavesdropping?” I swat his hand away and scowl at him. “Stop it.”

“Sophie, when you said ‘hurricane,’ your voice was almost too high for even dogs to hear. And you lurched back so far that you almost knocked me off the seat. Are you scared of hurricanes?”

“Isn’t everyone scared of hurricanes?”

“Yeah,” he laughs. “I guess sensible people anyway, but not much to do about them except get out of their way.”

“Roman said I could stay at their house if it’s supposed to be a direct hit.”

He nods his head. “Yeah or I’ll take care of you.”

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me.” Just as I say it, the plane hits some turbulence as it takes off. I grab the armrests and close my eyes tightly.

“Really?” He puts his hand on top of mine. “Breathe. Stop holding your breath, Sophie. The plane’s fine.”

“I’m okay,” I whisper.

“Hmm. So you’re scared of hurricanes and air turbulence. Anything else?”

“Everyone should be scared of those things.” I look down at his hand. It’s still on top of mine.

“You’re going to break the armrest if you don’t relax your grip a little bit?” He starts massaging my hand, trying to pry my fingers off.

I know I should move his hand, but as the plane continues to shake, it feels nice right where it is.

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