until in the morning. More than likely the power is out there, too.”
For a moment, he thought she might actually turn that direction. But after a couple of beats, she turned right and drove him to the sheriff’s department. They must have the generator going because lights shone in the windows. Elissa waited until one of the electric co-op’s bucket trucks went by before she turned into the parking lot.
“Thanks for the ride,” he said as he opened the passenger-side door.
“Be careful if you have to go out, okay?”
He nodded, thankful at least that he had good friends if nothing else.
It wasn’t until he walked through the front door that it dawned on him that he was wearing a T-shirt, shorts and the old sneakers he kept in the storm shelter just in case something like tonight happened. His uniforms were probably scattered over half the county. It was doubtful his boots had ended up in the same place, and for all he knew his Stetson was impaled on some bull’s horn.
“Been trying to call you.” Sheriff Simon Teague gave Pete an odd look, probably because of what he was wearing. Or not wearing.
“Pretty sure my phone flew off with the rest of my house.”
“What?” asked Keri, Simon’s wife, who’d just hung up the phone.
“My house took a direct hit.”
“God, Pete, are you okay?” Keri stood, as if she might check him over head to foot for injuries.
“Yeah. I made it to the storm shelter, barely.” He’d almost not been able to pull the door closed, and as soon as he did he’d heard heavy debris hitting the outside as if trying its best to get inside.
“How bad is it?” Simon asked.
“There’s nothing left but the foundation and broken timber.” He ran his hand back through his hair, feeling half-naked without his hat. “And my patrol car is upside down in Elissa and Verona’s front yard.”
“Are they okay?”
Pete nodded. “Elissa gave me a ride over here. They’ve got a tree in their living room window, but that was the only thing I could see in the dark.” He glanced toward the 911 dispatch room. Anne Marie Wallace and Sierra Mitchell were answering calls as fast as they could. “How bad is everything else?”
Simon’s single curse word was enough to let him know they had a long night ahead of them. Which was good because he wasn’t quite ready to think about all he’d lost and where the hell he was going to live now.
Chapter Two
It took three tries, but Elissa’s call to India finally went through.
“Are you all okay?”
“Yeah,” India said. “Ginny is a bit shaken, but she’s curled up with Liam now. He’s reading her a story to try to get her back to sleep.”
“What about Skyler and Logan?”
“They’re fine. They just had rain and a little wind out at the ranch. You and Verona?”
“Tree through the window. At least that’s all I could see in the dark. But Pete’s house is gone.”
“Lot of damage?”
“No, I mean it’s gone as in completely gone.”
India gasped. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah, I just dropped him off at work. His truck is gone, too. And his cruiser is doing a headstand in my front yard.”
“I have a feeling this is all going to look so much worse in the morning.”
“Yeah. Listen, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. The road’s a mess, and I need both hands.” She didn’t tell her friend where she was headed because India would probably spout the same speech Pete had. But the nursery was a huge part of her life. She wasn’t about to sleep until she’d seen with her own eyes that it was intact.
“Okay, be careful.”
Five minutes later, Elissa wondered about the wisdom of her decision to drive out to the nursery. She dodged downed limbs and drooping power lines. When a gust of wind shook the SUV, she realized she didn’t even know if she might be in the crosshairs of another storm. She clicked on the radio and listened to weather and damage reports as she maneuvered through the mess the tornado had left in its wake.
Her heart started hammering well before she reached the nursery, when she came upon the shattered remains of a large cobalt-colored planter in the middle of the road. She tried to drive around the shards, but she’d be lucky if she didn’t end up stranded out here with a flat tire.
She crept through the obstacle course of detritus, some of which she recognized and some that had obviously come from nearby homes. Leaves were plastered against strips of pink insulation. A soaked cardboard box was wrapped around what looked like half of a dining room chair.
India was right. This was all going to look ten times worse in the light of day.
The closer she got to the nursery, the more nervous she became. Her heart hammered against her rib cage, and she kept telling herself over and over that everything would be okay. She hit her brakes when she saw the Paradise Garden Nursery sign twisted and hanging by one corner.
“No.” She drove the rest of the way and pulled into the parking area, letting her headlights sweep across her life’s work.
Tears pooled in her eyes as she saw the front of the building. It looked as if someone had run into it with a bulldozer.
She turned off the car but left the lights on. When she stepped outside, a light rain began to fall. Biting her bottom lip, she walked slowly forward, stepping over broken shards of pottery and twisted metal. The building wasn’t completely wiped from the face of the map, but she wasn’t going to be open for business any time soon.
She stopped walking and simply stood in the rain, hoping that with each blink of her eyes the scene would change. But it didn’t.
The sound of a vehicle approaching was followed by another set of lights joining hers. A car door opened and closed.
“Elissa?”
Even at the familiar sound of Pete’s voice, she couldn’t pull her gaze away from the building.
Pete stepped up beside her. “You shouldn’t be out here now. There’s another storm heading this way.”
“Tell me I’m not seeing this.”
He exhaled. “I’m sorry, Lis.” After a few more seconds, Pete wrapped his arm around her shoulders and steered her toward her vehicle. “I really need for you to go home. I can’t have you wandering around out here in the dark, exposed. There’s nothing you can do now anyway.”
His words finally sank in, and she realized he could have just as easily been speaking about himself.
“I’m
