“This is crazy.” Austin took up one corner of the room, the flashlight illuminated his face. “Overkill, don’t you think?”
“Remind me in the morning to show you videos of houses exploding and taking out everything around them from gas leaks,” Parker told him.
“We’re farther away than a normal neighborhood.”
Scout settled his head in Austin’s lap as if to tell him to mellow out.
“I agree, but I don’t see taking any chances. We have a bomb shelter, we might as well use it.”
“Parker is right,” Mallory chimed in. “Jase says the whole street has been evacuated.”
Colin had told her the same thing, but she didn’t really want to freak everyone out. Apparently her protecting Austin was making him feel like there wasn’t any danger.
Truth was, she’d been wringing her hands in her lap ever since they settled in the basement. Unlike when the fire blew through, this wasn’t a matter of should they leave. They absolutely should. They just couldn’t. “I’d suggest we hike up and out of here on the back hill if it wasn’t washing away.”
“Think of it this way, Austin,” Erin started. “You’ll have a story to tell to your friends in the morning.”
Parker’s phone buzzed. How are you holding up?
Austin is whining and Mallory is texting Jase. What’s it look like out there?
Three ring circus. The neighbors are bitching they have to leave. The police are everywhere. Gas company is running around. And the media just showed up.
Parker pictured lots of red flashing lights and men bumping chests to take charge.
Matt is here. Asked about Erin.
Parker nudged Erin’s shoulder with her own and showed her the text.
“Is everything okay?” Austin asked.
“It’s fine. Colin says everything is under control.” What’s a white lie between brother and sister?
Austin put in his ear buds. “Whatever. I’m going to sleep. Wake me up when the shit show is over.”
Parker started to text. Tell him she said not to worry.
“Don’t encourage him,” Erin chided.
Parker ignored her friend and hit send. “Too late.”
There was no way Colin could sit in his truck. People were everywhere. Matt had suited up, and he and his unit were closer to Parker than he was.
Damn it . . . Why didn’t I become a firefighter?
Rain was coming down so hard, he couldn’t imagine anything igniting, but it wouldn’t take much with the volume of gas escaping from the main.
Fabio stood at his side, both of them wore rain gear, but both of them looked like something fished out of the ocean.
“Let’s hope Sutter Canyon doesn’t let loose again.”
Yeah, Colin had thought about that. “I warned Matt and told the gas company to keep an ear out.”
Even though the noise from the main was loud enough to hear from half a mile away, the sound of a flash flood was hard to miss when it was barreling down on you.
“How long has it been?” Fabio asked.
Colin looked at his watch. “An hour and a half.”
“How is your lady holding up?”
“Like she’s made of steel.”
Fabio patted him on the back. “They’ll have this off in no time.”
Yeah, and now he had his girlfriend and his brother to worry about until they did.
Scout curled next to Austin, and between the two of them, filled the room with sounds of snoring.
Mallory had put in her ear buds and was quietly texting Jase until she gave up and lay down.
Parker sat with her back against one of the walls and waited for her sister to fall asleep. One small flashlight shined against the door of the room. “I need to chat or freak out,” Parker finally admitted once her brother started snoring.
Erin reached out, squeezed her hand. “Tell me what you used this room for.”
Good. Something that wasn’t about fire, floods, or disasters. “When we were kids, our parents set this room up as a playroom. It was perfect. We could make all kinds of noise and it didn’t bother anyone. Slowly the forts and toys went out and it just sat empty unless we were having a slumber party.”
“Just like we are now,” Erin said.
“Minus the popcorn, chips, ice cream, and pictures of boys.”
“I already know what Colin looks like. So you can keep your phone in your lap,” Erin teased.
Parker looked around. “I never thought I’d use it for an actual bomb shelter.”
“At least you have it.”
“I feel safer, and I know Colin is breathing a little easier.”
Erin stretched her arms and yawned. “It’s nice to have someone to worry about you.”
“Matt is worried about you,” Parker pointed out.
“Matt is being polite.”
“And you’re being blind. But that’s okay.” Parker looked at her sleeping brother and preoccupied sister. “A discussion for a different day.”
Something upstairs made a loud enough sound to make Scout lift his sleeping head from Austin’s side.
Austin and Mallory didn’t budge.
“What was that?” Erin asked.
Parker felt herself holding her breath as she listened for anything to indicate what the noise was.
All she heard was silence.
She pushed out of her sitting position.
“Where are you going?” Erin asked in a hoarse whisper.
“To check it out.” She grabbed one of the flashlights and started for the door.
“Be careful.”
“It’s probably nothing.” But the basement did a great job of sheltering them from the sound outside, so if something had exploded, she wanted to know.
She walked down the hallway of the basement, rounded the corner, and started up the back stairs of the house. The flashlight barely chased the shadows from the walls once she got to the top. Since the shutters were down on all the windows except the big bay one in the dining room, the only window in the house that didn’t have shutters, Parker headed toward it.
She saw flashing lights beyond the wash and could still hear the hiss of the gas. No evidence of anything exploding, or any real progress on shutting down the main. Not that she could see much from her vantage point.
So what was the noise?
She turned to go back downstairs when Sushi darted out under her feet, scaring her within an inch of her life.
“Damn cat.”
She caught her breath and the flashlight landed on a metal vase that looked like it had fallen on the floor. “Damn cat,” she said again in case Sushi was listening.
By the time Parker made it back downstairs, Erin was up and pacing.
“Well?”
“The cat is having a party up there.”
Erin sighed, her shoulders slumped.
Parker found herself consoling her friend. “It’s okay. The gas isn’t turned off yet, but it’s okay.”
Erin shook. “I thought maybe he found his way in.”
Parker grabbed both of Erin’s hands. “If there was anyone in the house, Scout would be barking his head off. It was the cat. Your ex isn’t here.”
“I know that.” She shook her head. “I hate that he makes me afraid even now.”