The Love Sucks Club(88)

“We’ve got it as secure as it’s going to get,” Thomas says.

“All right, let’s go.”

A gust of wind picks up as we run around the house. Stopping at Roxanne’s car, we look at the damage together. Sam puts a hand on the branch. “Should we try to pull it off?”

“Maybe, but where will we put it?”

She shrugs. “Under the deck?”

“Okay.”

Thomas and I grab one end and Sam gets on the other. Lifting it from the car, we heft it over to the side yard. As we drag it over the yard toward the deck, the wind knocks us around, and Thomas almost falls.

“Auntie Em,” Sam screams, laughing wildly.

We get the branch to the deck and shove it underneath next to the grill. Lying down on the ground, I slam my foot against the branch wedging it in as far as it will go. Sam hauls me to my feet and we run for the door.

“Come on, Thomas,” I yell, as the wind nearly knocks him off his feet again. Sam reaches back to take his hand. Turning back toward the house, she takes a tree branch to the face.

“Fuck,” she yells, grabbing her eye.

Yanking her by the elbow, I pull her around the house and into the door. Thomas slams it shut behind us. Olivia comes tearing over to Sam. “What happened, sweetie?”

“I’m fine. I think. I just got hit in the face.”

Olivia takes Sam out of my hands and walks her into the kitchen. “Help me, Susannah.”

Roxanne looks up as the two other women coo over Sam’s head. “Is she going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Susannah says, holding one of the lamps near the wound.

“It’s okay,” Olivia concurs. “We just need to wash it out and pour some hydrogen peroxide on it.”

“Don’t put hydrogen peroxide on it,” Roxanne laughs. “It will kill the good cells.”

Smiling across the counter at her, I shake my head. She smiles back at me as she turns back to the stove.

“Food smells good,” Sam says.

“Hold still,” Olivia tells her.

The wind is back at full force. I’m glad that we decided to move that large branch, but I doubt it will make much of a difference. Hopefully the cars will be all right. Which reminds me, I should probably tell Roxanne about her car.

“There’s been some damage outside,” I tell her.

“We can assess it all after the storm,” she says, leaning over the counter to put a finger to my lips.

Susannah and Olivia get Sam’s wound cleaned and bandaged while Roxanne finishes cooking breakfast. I wipe my hands down with a couple of wet wipes before pouring some water over them from one of the jugs.

Roxanne dishes food out and everyone digs in. Mandy, barely able to stand, manages to dump her entire plate on the floor after one bite. Muffin who had been shaking in the corner of the chair, jumps down and starts snarfing up bacon as fast as he can. Mandy, tries to shoo him out of the way, pushing the dog with one hand, while trying to cram eggs and bacon back onto her plate with the other. Jackie, continuing to shovel food in her own mouth, ignores her. I try to catch Sam’s eye, but she’s busy feeding bites of potatoes to Olivia. Karen and Rick, still sitting on opposite sides of the couch, eat in silence. Susannah and Thomas are laughing together. Catching Susannah’s eye, I motion toward Mandy who is now on the ground, holding the dog back with one hand. She shakes her head, laughing. Finally taking pity on the woman, I reach down to pick up Muffin. Taking him over to Olivia, I push him into her arms.

“He’s being a pain,” I say.

Now that he’s not actively trying to eat bacon, Muffin is trembling like a baby again.

“Poor thing,” Olivia murmurs. “He’s not a pain, Dana. He’s just scared.”

“Whatever.”

Roxanne starts to say something to me, but I can’t hear any sound. A screeching boom shakes the whole house. Looking around wildly, I don’t see any interior problems. The wind sounds horrible, though. It sounds as if a bulldozer is being dragged across my roof. Everyone is one their feet, looking nervous. Roxanne tells everyone to stack their dishes in a plastic bin, which she then stashes under the sink.

“We can worry about washing them after the storm,” she yells in my ear.

“Yeah, what kind of jackass decides to have bacon when there’s no hot running water?” I grin.

The noise on top of the roof is getting louder. Sam reaches over and tugs at my shirt. She’s pointing at a corner of the roof where water is starting to shoot through. Great. If we lose the roof, we’re fucked.

Roxanne has already thrown towels over everything that’s under the spray of water, but it isn’t doing much good.