Chapter 12

“Holy underwear,” Tanya gasped, collapsing into the chair across Sabrina’s desk.

Sabrina grinned. “You look like a drowned cat.”

“You have no idea what’s going on out there. The parking lot is flooded. Do you see my pants? Halfway to my knees! And the wind is strong enough to sandblast my freckles right off.”

Sabrina craned her neck across the top of the desk, and her eyes widened at the dark marks circling Tanya’s calves. “Wow. Here I thought you were exaggerating.”

“Driving was fricking scary. Cars are hydroplaning right and left. I had to go two blocks out of my way coming back because there was an accident blocking Delaney. That could have been me.” Tanya rolled up her pant legs.

“What are you doing?” Sabrina asked in alarm as Tanya pulled off her shoes and started rolling down her wet socks.

“Like I want athlete’s foot. I’m not wearing wet shoes and socks. I brought a dry pair, so don’t worry.”

“But you can’t hang those in here.”

“Where else am I going to put them, the women’s bathroom? Come on.”

Sabrina grimaced and waved her hand at the wall behind the open door. “Over there, out of sight. If they start smelling, I’m going to make you throw them away.”

“I’ll do it now if you promise to buy the replacement pair.”

“Done. Toss those nasty things into a plastic bag or something and put them in the trash.”

“Jeez, you’re such a fussbudget sometimes.”

Tanya changed into her dry footwear and left with the dripping socks cupped in her hands. Her sopping shoes oozed water just inside the doorway and there was a puddle on the floor from the wet socks. Sabrina yanked a handful of tissues out of the box on her desk and went to wipe up the water. She shuddered in disgust at the sloppy wad in her hand and pitched it into the wastebasket, then went looking for the nearest hand sink.

Tanya wandered back as Sabrina dried her hands.

“I doubt we get much of a dinner rush with this storm,” Tanya said. “People are going to hunker down at home and order pizza delivery.”

“It’s really that bad?” Sabrina asked, turning. “I have to see this.”

“I’ll go with you.”

They went through to the dining room and over to the front windows to look out over the parking lot. There were whitecaps racing across the pavement, and the few customers still in the restaurant were getting ready to leave, their eyes anxiously glued to the windows.

A bright horizontal fork of lightning sliced across the sky, and not a minute later a booming crash shook the building.

“That was close,” Sabrina said, watching their last customers splash their way to their car with their heads bowed. As they climbed in, the power cut off to the entire area and voices yelled in surprise from the back of the restaurant.

“Whoa, think the lightning hit a transformer?” Tanya asked as they headed for the kitchen.

“Maybe.” Sabrina held the door open, letting what little light she could into the big kitchen. “Mario, better shut everything down—grill, burners, everything. With the exhaust fans out, we’re going to fill the whole place with smoke in no time.”

Sabrina wedged the door open and returned to the front to turn the open sign to closed and lock the front door.

Tanya went back to the windows and stared at the heavy curtain of rain. “I wonder how long the power’s going to be out.”

“We’ll just have to sit tight and see. Why don’t you get yourself something to drink?”

“Want anything?”

“I’ll take a blueberry spritzer.”

“Ooh, I think I’ll have one of those too.”

Mario and Craig shuffled out of the dark kitchen without their aprons, and Darla, the daytime bartender, stepped out from behind the bar. They all plopped down in the dim dining room and stared out the windows with interest. Another bright flash of lightning was followed by an equally impressive boom.

Tanya wandered back and set the two bottles on the table. She slid in beside Sabrina on the booth.

“I just love a good storm. I was in the mood for an easy day anyway,” Tanya said.

“That’s because you don’t count on tips,” Darla told her.

Craig grumbled. “If I knew we were going to get a chance to sit down for a bit, I would have made something to eat.”

Sabrina turned and waved over the two servers. “You might as well join us. Come over here and sit down.”

Trace and Missy wandered over and sat by Darla. They went right into a discussion about the front of the restaurant while the cooks talked video games.

Tanya looked at Sabrina and nudged her with an elbow.

“What?” Sabrina asked.

Tanya hushed her and passed a magazine under the table. Sabrina leaned back to see what all the secrecy was about, and her face flushed with heat and her eyes popped. She stared at Tanya, who grinned and nodded back.

Sabrina slipped the magazine under her butt and tried to stay cool and forget about it for the moment. She had a delicious blueberry spritzer in front of her. Just focus on that. It would have been nice to take the magazine back to her office and hide it away somewhere, but with no windows or lights to show her where the hell she was, an embarrassing accident was a given. Then when everyone charged to the rescue, how would she explain the porn?

She leaned over and whispered, “Is this why you had to run home?”

“Yep.”

“I could have waited. It’s not like it was urgent or anything.”

“And with this weather, it wasn’t like I was missed, either.”

“Too bad we don’t have a radio in here,” said Mario.

“If the power doesn’t come back in ten minutes, I’ll make a call, but I doubt I’ll get through,” said Sabrina.

“I’d just like a weather report. Is this supposed to last all night?” Darla asked with a frown. “ ’Cause if it is, that means baseball camp is cancelled and I’m going to have to leave to pick up my son.”

“I’m guessing it’s cancelled, but that’s just me,” said Trace.

Darla’s phone rang and she walked off to speak privately.

“You know,” Missy said thoughtfully, “If our power is out, so is the school’s. Bet they release the summer school kids early. He could probably catch a ride home that way.”

“No way,” Trace said. “They’ll keep the kids until power is restored. It’s a lot safer than sending them home on the buses if the traffic lights are out too.”

“And don’t forget about the kids who walk to school,” Darla pointed out.

“Oh, yeah. You’re probably right.”

“Anyone interested in going out to listen to their car radio for a few minutes?” Sabrina asked hopefully.

Mario pushed back his chair and stood. “I’ll do it. I wouldn’t mind a smoke anyway.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Craig, stretching.

“I’m going to have to send someone home,” Sabrina whispered to Tanya.

“Who?”

“I’ll let people draw for it.”

“Can I go too?”

“No.”

“But I did you a favor,” she whined.

“Is that how you see it? Well, forget it. I’m not looking at that thing by myself and it’s not staying here. When you leave it goes with you.”

“Maybe we should have gone out to a car.”

“I’m not getting wet for smut.” She groaned and scowled at Tanya. “Don’t say it. I know that came out wrong.”

Tanya smirked. “Well, it’s too late for me.”

Sabrina shook her head and looked over at the two servers and the bartender sprawled at another table. “Why don’t you three decide who gets to go home?”

“I think I should go,” Darla said instantly. Big surprise. “I have kids to worry about.”

“I can handle both the bar and the dining room if Missy wants to go too,” Trace offered.

“Really?” Missy asked him gratefully.

“Sure. It’s not like we’ll be busy.”

“Famous last words,” Sabrina said with a sigh. “You sure about that, Trace?”

“Let’s get the weather report first, but I feel pretty comfortable.”

“Fair enough.”

****

The storm parked over the region and gutters and sewers were overflowing by the time power came back on over an hour later. Sabrina sent Craig home as soon as he came back from his cigarette break. Missy and Darla left with her blessings just a few minutes later. Tanya told Trace to give her a holler if he needed help, but so far no one was braving their lake out front. From what they could see, all the businesses down the strip seemed to be similarly afflicted.

With Trace circulating among the tables, topping off salt and pepper shakers, Sabrina decided it was a good time to slip away with the magazine. “We’ll be in my office if you need us,” she called to him from a safe distance.

“No problem.”

“Come on,” Sabrina said, wagging her head toward the back. Tanya followed her.

They closed the office door and pulled both chairs to the same side of the desk, placing the magazine in front of them.

“You do it,” Sabrina said, keeping her hands safely in her lap.

Tanya chuckled and peeled back the cover.

“Oh, my god—gross! Look at that make-up,” Sabrina said in horror.

“They like to vamp it up in these things.” Tanya agreed. “Her hair is cute, though. I like that style.”

“But it’s too frosted, and what’s with the striping on this one?”

“I know. Tell me what’s wrong with a beautiful brown head of hair anyway?”

“Nothing, absolutely nothing. It would look a hell of a lot better than this fake red or that nasty blonde. They’re totally damaging their hair,” said Sabrina.

“I think that’s the least of their problems,” Tanya said soberly.

“You’re right. Oh, my god, do you see that?”

“Really bad boob job.”

“Sure, that looks real—not!”

Both women laughed, too uncomfortable to mention what they weren’t discussing.

“Here we go,” Tanya said flipping through the pages and finding the goodies. “Couples doing the deed.”

“Did you have to say it like that? I can almost hear that cheesy seventies music now,” Sabrina said with a revolted giggle. “How’s it go—brown chicken brown cow?”

Tanya burst out laughing. “That’s awesome. Okay, here we are. See, he’s already semi-hard, but you kind of get an idea of what he’d look like here.”

Sabrina looked, though she blushed furiously. “Well, that’s not so bad,” she admitted after careful consideration.

Tanya nodded thoughtfully. “That’s how they all look until they’re snipped. Definitely doable.” She turned the page. “You know, all stretched out like that you can’t even tell.”

She flipped to the next page, and they both gasped and leaned forward. This was the money shot, up close and personal and about to take the plunge, so to speak.

“Oh…my…god,” Sabrina gasped, “I’d be doing the crab walk backwards if I saw that thing coming at me.”

Tanya’s voice trembled slightly. “I know. Perspective is everything. You can’t really get a good idea of his size from the earlier pictures, but this one—oh, man.”

Sabrina hid behind her hand. “I can’t look. That’s not normal.”

“Chill out. He’s not coming after you with that thing. Jeez.”

Sabrina started laughing and closed the magazine, sliding it away from her with the very tips of her fingers. “I’m so creeped out right now, you can’t imagine. That was seriously disturbing.”

“But it answered your question.”

“No, it didn’t. It just gave me more of them. I wish I could put all this behind me, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”

“I know—you really want to see Jackson’s ride now, don’t you?”

“It’s a matter of simple curiosity, that’s all,” Sabrina said, picking at the edge of the desk.

“Yeah, I’m convinced.” Tanya snorted and rolled her eyes. “You want his big luscious unit. You just don’t want it to be the size of a flipping tree trunk.”

“Guess what,” Sabrina said suddenly.

“What?”

“I’m sending you home.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“No, I just need a little distance right now.”

“I understand. So I can really go home?”

“Go. Let Trace know he can call me if he needs help.”

“Done.”

Sabrina waved Tanya off with a great deal of relief. She wanted to cope with her hot flashes by herself, and she didn’t need anyone giving her crap about it.