Page 106 of Home Tears

“What aren’t you telling me?” She gazed around. “The water’s high, but a lot of people have houses that might not have even been touched by the flooding. Why wouldn’t they go back to their homes? What’s going on, Jonah?”

“I don’t want to say anything, just in case. Not yet. I’m hoping I’m wrong.”

“Jonah.”

“I can’t, Dani. I’ll tell you when I know for sure.”

“Give me a coded message. Then decode it.”

Jonah chuckled briefly. “Just give me the day. I’ll tell you tonight.”

She read between the lines. “We’re not in the clear, are we?”

“Not by a long shot.”

She turned back to watch the rest of the town pass by. “Well, for what it’s worth, I’m going to see my aunt. She’ll probably not even talk to me, and that’s if she doesn’t kick me out. Your cryptic message is safe with me.”

Jonah’s jaw clenched, but he loosened his grip on the steering rod. “The dire and doomed visit to the dying Kathryn, huh?”

“Pretty much. You have no worry about me panicking. I’m more stressed about seeing her.”

“Trenton said you and Julia got into it last night. You okay?”

“He could hear us? Great. I wonder who else did.”

“He shut the fire doors so you were cut off from the atrium.”

“Remind me that drinks are on me at Mae’s Grill one night as a thank you.”

He chuckled lightly, and Dani closed her eyes, letting the sound of his laugh warm her. When she opened them, they were passing one of the cafes in town. The tops of the red umbrellas that covered five or six tables outside the entrance were the only things they could see now. “Look at that.” Dani gestured toward them.

“I’m surprised more of the tables aren’t gone. Winds were dangerous last night. They picked up an hour after we got to headquarters. We were lucky we got there when we did.”

Dani felt a shiver down her back.

Just then, they turned the corner. She noted, “The gas station is still the hookup for drinks.”

Two boats of teenagers were drifting around the corner. A bottle flashed as it caught the sun between one hand to the next.

“Don’t they have something better to do?” Jonah answered himself, “No, I would’ve been doing that when we were younger.”

“You were the rebellious leader type back then.”

“I just wanted to have fun, but, yeah.” He grew quieter. “Some things pissed me off.”

“Like when you beat up Trenton Galloway.”

“He was going on and on about how he was going to ‘score’ with some chick on prom night, and then he was going to ditch the girl for his real date that night. Made me mad.” Jonah fell silent. “He reminded me of my father—just ready to use and discard someone. I saw red that night, but Trent turned out to be a good guy.”

“It was just for show.”

“No.” Jonah shook his head. “Some guys can do some pretty cruel stuff. You never know what consequences can happen from something reckless.”

“I was always scared of Hawk.” Dani thought a moment. “I still am scared of Hawk.”

Jonah laughed, steering the boat behind the local laundromat. “Hawk’s a good guy. One-track mind about sex and girls, but he’s decent. He sees through a lot of bullshit.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

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