How can the sun shine on so much devastation? Rose wondered as she stood in the yard of the B&B and stared at all the destruction around it.
Hud put his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his side. “Are you all right?”
“Do you realize that if we’d left for church thirty minutes later, we could have been killed?” She shook her head, still in disbelief.
“Darlin’, we can’t do anything about the damage around us, but we can go see what’s been damaged inside.” He dropped his arm and took her hand.
She stopped inside the door and looked around at the mess. Evidently a tornado shook things up as much as an earthquake, because there was glass all over the floor of the shop, and poor old Chester was sitting on top of the credenza howling at them.
“He’s either blaming us or trying to convince us that he didn’t cause all this,” Rose said as she went from room to room, checking the windows and ceiling for water leaks. In some rooms, lamps and chairs were turned over. In others, everything was intact.
“We can get this cleaned up in no time,” Hud said.
“Not until I call Aunt Molly.” She pulled her phone from her hip pocket.
“What’s the damage?” Molly asked.
“Glass everywhere. The shop is a mess, but we can clean it up. The walls and windows look all right. You’ll probably need a new roof, but other than that, it’s not too bad. I expected a few broken windows at least.”
“How’s Chester?”
“Following me around like he’s afraid I’m going to blame him for all this,” Rose said.
“Don’t touch a single thing. I’ll call the insurance company to come do an estimate. And don’t let anyone stay there tonight, either. If they were to get cut or hurt, I’d be liable. I want you to lock Chester in whatever bedroom isn’t damaged and you go stay with Nikki or Emily,” Molly told her. “And tell Hud to go on and turn off the electricity and the water, just as a precaution.”
She went into her bedroom to find the only thing out of place was the small wooden box she kept on the dresser, which was on the floor. Chester hopped up on the bed and finally stopped yowling.
“Poor old boy.” Hud sat down beside him and scratched his ears. “Did you think the end of the world had come?”
Chester started to purr and curled up on a pillow.
“Looks like he’ll be content in this room.” Rose went to the closet and put a couple of changes of clothing into a tote bag. “I’ll need to bring up his litter pan and his food and water.”
“I can do that while you pack, and you can stay with me, Rose,” he said.
“Thank you. I was going to ask Emily, but I’d rather stay with you.” She opened a drawer and removed what she needed. Then she picked up the little wooden box and put it in the bag. Thinking about her prized possessions being in that box brought to mind the pile of socks behind the sofa.
“You stay right here,” she told Chester as she shut the door behind her. She met Hud coming up the stairs and said, “Be right back. Don’t let him out of the room, or we’ll have to chase him down.”
She gingerly made her way around all the mess until she got to the sofa. Pulling it out, she discovered that the pile of socks hadn’t been disturbed. She gathered them all up in her arms and carried them up to her bedroom. Hud must’ve heard her because he had the door open. With one eye on the cat, and the other eyebrow raised, he asked, “What’s that all about?”
“This is his comfort stuff. If he’s got to be locked in one room, he should have his things around him.” She tossed them on the bed.
“You could take him to the ranch with us,” Hud suggested.
“I’m afraid he and Red wouldn’t get along,” she said. “And besides, Aunt Molly brought him to the B&B when he was just a baby. He’s never even been outside. The trip alone would traumatize him. But thanks for the offer.”
Chester hopped up and rolled around in the socks, purring the whole time. After a few seconds, he chose a white one and carried it back to the pillow and curled up around it.
“See, he’s happy here,” she said.
“Thinking of that was pretty sweet,” Hud said.
“There was this little boy in the emergency room,” she whispered, “who held on to a ratty old teddy bear. To him that toy was his last link to the way his life had been. I think all the noise terrified old Chester, and he needs his stash of socks to remind him that everything will be all right.”
“I feel so sorry for the folks who’ve lost their homes and possessions, but I’m glad we didn’t have any deaths.” Hud picked up her suitcase and gently closed the door behind them as they left. He set the baggage down at the bottom of the steps. “I’m going down to the basement to turn off the electricity and water. Maybe you’d better wait on the porch. It’s going to get dark real soon, and there’s lots of glass on the floor.”
She stood in the middle of the foyer and looked around. A tornado truly was a weird thing when it could shake a house like an earthquake and not break a window. The sun peeked out from behind closed doors every so often, and provided a little bit of light in the house, but that was gone in a flash.
“I thought you’d be outside,” Hud said when he was back in the foyer.
“I was trying to figure this tornado thing out.” She removed a yellow coat from the rack as they went outside and tossed it the backseat of his truck on top of her suitcase. A small giggle escaped as she did so. “That coat reminds me so much of…”
“Luna coming to the police station?” He finished the sentence for her.
“I shouldn’t be laughing when we’re surrounded by such horrible destruction,” she said.
He tipped up her chin for a long kiss. “Probably not, but I get tickled every time I think about Luna blasting into that police station.”
“Maybe we’ve got that memory to help us get us through this mess.” She shivered in spite of his arms around her.
“I’ve heard them called an act of God, but right now we need to get you out of this cold wind.” He helped her get settled in the passenger seat.
Her phone rang before he could even get the engine started. She removed her hospital badge from the pocket of her jacket and answered it.
“Hello, Aunt Molly,” she said.
“Is Chester all right?” Molly asked.
“He’s fine. I put him in my bedroom. I’m staying with Hud tonight, but something is strange about the B&B. No windows are broken and yet it looks like the house was shaken—almost like an earthquake.”
Molly chuckled. “That’s a tornado for you. They’re bat-crap crazy. The Fab Five and I are at the airport. We’ll be home tomorrow evening. Got a couple of layovers, but if we make all our flights, we’ll be there by suppertime. Long as you and Chester are all right, everything is good. They’re calling for us to board now. See you soon.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow night then?”
“Yes, you will,” Molly said.
Hud started the engine and headed out of town.
He made the turn to go toward the ranch and laid a hand on her shoulder. “It’s been a long day, and I’m starving. While you take a shower, I’ll hustle us up some food.”
“Thank you, again, for everything.” She covered a second yawn with her hand. “I felt so sorry for those folks in the hospital. I wished I could do more.”
He parked the truck, and she got out without waiting for him. Red met her on the porch and followed the two of them into the house.
“Nikki said you were a big help, and she was going to yell at you again if they needed someone with your skill set.”
“I’m always glad to volunteer.” Rose set the computer case on the floor inside the door and took the bag from him. “I’ll only be a few minutes, and then I’ll help you cook, but you’ll have to tell me what to do.”
“I’m just going to heat up a can of chili and make us Frito chili pies. They’ll taste pretty good on a cold night like this,” he said. “And there’s rocky road ice cream for dessert.”
“That sounds great.” She carried her bag to the bathroom. Yes, ma’am, it wouldn’t take a very hard push for her to be head over heels in love with Hudson Baker.
* * *
Hud had the food ready and on the table when Rose made it to the kitchen. She wore a pair of cute little green pajama pants with a matching tank top, and her wet hair was tied up in a towel on top of her head. “Well, now, don’t you look like a model for a fancy lingerie company? And you smell wonderful, but, darlin’, I’m wiped out tonight.”
“Me too.” She sat down and picked up a spoon. “And hungry, and sleepy. I’m not up for another round like the one we had last night.”
“Sleep,” he sighed. “All cuddled up with you sounds like heaven to me.”
“Tell me about your day,” she said.
“We put out an electrical fire at a trailer house to start off the morning,” he said between bites.
“And then?” she asked.
“We had to dig an old couple out of the debris. They had enough sense to get in the bathtub and cover up with a mattress, but a huge dresser was holding them down,” he answered. “There was a little boy in the shed behind the trailer. He had a shard of glass in his arm. We put him in an ambulance with his mother. Did you see him?” he asked.
“I did, and Nikki stitched up his arm. He cried, not for the pain, but for his daddy. I located him out in the emergency room. He had a concussion, but they treated him and let him go home,” Rose answered. “I heard they’d opened the churches in town for shelters. Do you know how many houses got hit?”
“Ten trailers in a park on the south side of town, the B&B, two convenience stores, and a car dealership on the west side, and lots of roof damage and fallen trees. It’ll be a while before it’s all cleaned up, but Texans are a resilient bunch of folks. There’ll be donations to the church clothes closets and food banks, and you can bet that the people who have rental property will be lowering the first three months’ rent to help out those who are left with nothing,” he answered. “Now, your turn. Tell me more about your day.”
“Mostly, I just translated from Spanish to English, but I did have one little guy from Haiti, and I got to use my French,” she told him. “But in a couple of instances I held someone’s hand while the doctor stitched them up—and assured them in whatever language they spoke that it would be all right.”
“That’s really special of you to do that,” he said.
“It’s pretty awesome of you to volunteer as a firefighter,” she shot right back.
“Tag and I volunteered out in Tulia, so when we came here, we just told the fire chief that we’d be glad to help out.” He carried his bowl to the sink and rinsed it. “Help yourself to the ice cream. I’ll get mine when I get out of the shower.”
Hud washed away what felt like a week’s worth of smoke and grime. He took time to shave and splash on some cologne and then dressed in a pair of pajama pants and a white T-shirt. If Rose hadn’t said that she was hungry, he would have taken a shower before he heated up the chili.
He found her curled up on the end of the sofa with a half a bottle of beer in her hand. She handed it to him, and he took a long swig before he sat down beside her. “Thanks. Want to watch a movie until bedtime?”
“Let’s watch reruns of whatever cop show is on television. That way, if we fall asleep it won’t matter,” she said.
He picked up the remote and hit the POWER button, then surfed through the three or four channels until he found reruns of Friends. “This all right?” he asked.
“I love that show.” She moved closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder.
“Me too.” He kissed her on top of her head.
If the contentment he felt right then was what he could look forward to with Rose on a long-term basis, then he was already looking forward to it. To come home after a long day at work just to sit together with a woman who was satisfied just to be near him was something he’d never known before. To know that tomorrow he’d wake up with her by his side was pretty great.
* * *
Rose awoke the next morning before dawn, realized where she was, and reached out for Hud, but all she got was a handful of pillow. Thinking that she might have been dreaming, she sat straight up in bed, just in time to see Hud coming through the door with a wooden tray in his hands.
“I thought we’d have breakfast in bed before we go back to work. Nikki already called and asked if you’d help out at the hospital today. She’ll pick you up at seven. Tag and I’ll have to start repairing our roof, and then we’ll go over to Emily’s and help Justin with that one. Seems like the other two over there didn’t even get a single shingle blown off,” he said as he set the tray down on the bed. “By the way, darlin’, you sure look cute with bedroom hair and no makeup.”
She couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Did you forget to put your contact lenses in this morning?”
“Honey, I’ve got twenty-twenty vision, and I’m speaking the guaran-damn-teed truth.” He sat down beside her and picked up a piece of crisp bacon with his fingers with the intention of feeding it to her. She snatched it from him and popped the whole strip into her mouth.
“Cooked just right,” she said. “And those pancakes look amazing.”
“They’re my special butter pecan recipe,” he told her.
She cut off a bite with the edge of her fork and popped it into her mouth. “Oh, my God! Will you marry me?”
“Is that the best pickup line you’ve got?” he asked.
“Short of getting down on one knee and proposing, it’s all I’ve got,” she replied as she handed him a fork. “Let’s share. You’ve got enough on this plate for an army.”
Never, not one time, had a man brought her breakfast in bed. Sharing a plate of food with Hud was so romantic that she got a little misty eyed.
When they’d finished off everything on the tray, including a four-cup pot of coffee, she cupped his cheeks in her hands and kissed him. “Mmmm, bacon and maple syrup kisses are almost as good as whiskey kisses on the dance floor.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” he told her as he tossed his truck keys on the bed. “Nikki will be here soon. If you’d rather have a vehicle of your own, you can use my truck. I won’t need it all day, so if you need to run any errands or maybe stop by and see Dixie, feel free to use it.”
“A woman doesn’t usually come between a cowboy and his truck,” she said.
“You’re right special to this cowboy, ma’am.” He picked up the tray and headed out of the room. When he got to the door, he turned back and winked. “Matter of fact, you’re real special, darlin’.”
“So are you.” She blew him a kiss.