“Well, whether your quilting shed is gone or not, my house has three bedrooms. You can have the bigger one to set up your sewing machine and do your quilting. You’ll have air-conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter,” he said.
“That almost makes me hope the shed is gone,” she laughed, but then she grew serious. “No, erase that. I wouldn’t want Nanny Lucy’s shed and all the memories, good or bad, to be gone.”
“Whether it’s there or not, that offer still stands.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I’d ask you to move in with me tomorrow, but that might be moving too fast.”
“Probably so,” she yawned.
“Looks like it’s going to be a while before we get out of this place.” His eyes were twinkling.
“Not in front of Tex,” she whispered.
At the sound of his name, the dog came crawling out from under the bed and jumped up on the foot of it.
“I don’t think he’ll mind if we just cuddle and talk,” Jackson said as he stretched out on the side of the bed nearest the wall.
Nessa kicked off her shoes and snuggled up next to him, her cheek on his chest. His arms around her made her feel safe and warm, no matter what was going on outside because of a tornado.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Flynn was frantic to get over to Jackson’s place after the storm to see if Nessa, Jackson, and Tex were all right. That text he’d gotten from Nessa had him wondering if she’d lost service or had been swept up by the tornado.
“Do you think they’re all right?” April’s voice was totally breathless.
“I hope so,” Flynn said as he and April emerged from the cellar at their house. Hard rain had continued to fall for more than an hour, and hail the size of marbles had turned the yard white. Then, as suddenly as it had blown up, the rain had stopped, and now the stars danced around a lover’s moon.
April gasped and pointed. “The quilting shed is gone. All I can see that’s left are the file cabinets. We’ve got to get to Jackson’s and see about Nessa.”
Flynn started for his truck. “God, I hope they’re all right.”
April beat him to his truck and was fastening her seat belt when he slid in behind the wheel. “Her message did say they were stuck in his cellar, right?”
“Yep, and then she asked for help before something kept her from finishing the text.” Flynn gripped the steering wheel so hard that his hands started to hurt.
They made it to the fork in the road, only to find an uprooted tree blocking their way. Flynn stopped the vehicle and got out, with April right behind him. “Guess we’ll be walking from here.”
She nodded and started jogging toward Jackson’s place.
Flynn was in good shape, but his stride wasn’t any longer than hers, so they ran side by side until Jackson’s house came into view. He stopped and put his hands on his knees. “The shop and house are still there. We might have to replace the shingles, but they’re still standing, thank God. Now we just have to find them and hope to hell they’re all right.”
“Amen.” April huffed right beside him. “Now let’s go see what’s going on that they need either hell or help.” She circled around the house and gasped. “Flynn, there’s no way we can get that tree off the cellar door. The roots are taller than I am.”
“I’m going to the shop for the chain saw,” Flynn said. “We don’t have to get the whole thing off. We just need to saw a section off big enough to . . . No, wait a minute.”
“What?” April asked impatiently.
Flynn pushed aside some tree branches and took a better look. “Forget taking part of the tree away. There’s enough room below the tree trunk for them to crawl out if I can saw through the boards that make the door. Jackson and I can make a new door later.”
April followed him to the shop. “What can I do to help?”
“When I cut the branches off the tree, you can pull them out of the way.” Flynn searched until he found a chain saw, revved it up to be sure it would work, and then carried it to the cellar door. He had used chain saws before, but that night he was helping free Jackson and Nessa, and that made him feel like he was making giant steps toward his goal. He could almost feel the virtual shackles that had been holding him to a negative standard just floating away.
“Hello!” Jackson called out when they returned.
“Sit tight and stay away from the door,” Flynn yelled.
“Are y’all okay?” April hollered.
“We’re fine, and so is Tex,” Nessa yelled back.
“Hold him back away from the door, too.” Flynn started up the saw and cut away the branches.
April dragged them off to the side as he worked, and in a few minutes, they could see the door. “Now what?” she asked.
“Now I cut away the door and hope I don’t hit concrete and ruin Jackson’s saw.” Flynn put the nose of the saw down to make the first cut and carefully made a hole big enough that he thought Jackson and Nessa could crawl through. He dropped to his knees and poked his head inside. “Turn Tex loose and then y’all come on out. It’s muddy out here, so watch your step.”
“Are y’all all right? Is the shop still standing?” Jackson asked as he let go of Tex’s collar.
“We’re fine, and your house and the shop are still standing, but this big-ass tree is going to be tough to get hauled out of here,” Flynn said.
Tex came like a shot through the opening Flynn had made and ran straight to the porch. Nessa came up the stairs on her hands and knees. Flynn reached for her, but Jackson said, “I’ve got her.”
When she had a foot planted on the ground, she slipped and fell flat on her face. Flynn laughed in spite of himself—their cousin was not going to be happy about that.
“Thanks a bunch,” Jackson said when he came out of the hole behind Nessa. “Holy smoke! That’s not the pecan tree. It’s a big scrub oak, but right now, we’ve got to get Nessa cleaned up and make sure she’s not hurt.” He ripped off his T-shirt and gave it to her to wipe her face, then took her elbow to guide her to the house. “Y’all come on in. Help yourselves to a beer or anything you can find.” He led Nessa to the bathroom and turned on the water for her to take a shower.
“I closed my eyes when I fell,” she muttered. “I can see just fine.”
“Good. Then I’ll go change out of these dirty shoes and jeans and meet you in the kitchen when you’re cleaned up,” Jackson said.
“Thank you. I guess you are a knight in shining . . .”—she stopped and giggled—“armor who comes to a damsel’s rescue. Look at us. We’re both a muddy mess.”
“Kind of romantic, isn’t it?” Jackson chuckled.
“When you consider that we’ve had a date at a cemetery, it is.” She rose on her toes and kissed him on the cheek.
“Never forget that or that I told you I fell in love with you at first sight,” he whispered.
“I don’t know if it was love or lust, but it’s turned into love,” she said just loud enough for him to hear.
He leaned in and kissed her again. “Mud never tasted so good.”