Winds of Fortune (30 page)

“Town Hall?” Tory asked.

Reese nodded. “That’s what I was thinking, or the church, or both depending on how many people we have without power or whose houses sustain structural damage.”

“Should we evacuate the whole town?” Nita questioned.

“Currently, we’re recommending that people leave voluntarily,” Reese answered. “But even if the state orders an evacuation, you know not everyone is willing or able to leave.”

Tory sighed. “I know.” She covered Reese’s hand with hers as she continued to make notes with the other. “Neither one of us is going to get home much until this is over. Will you call Jean and Kate and ask them to take the baby and the dog.” Tory met Reese’s gaze. “And leave today.”

Reese leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Already done. They’ll stop by here so you can say goodbye to Reggie, and then they’re going to drive to your sister’s.”

“That sounds great. It will make keeping in touch with everyone easier.” Tory rubbed her cheek absently against Reese’s arm. “Thank you, darling.”

Nita averted her gaze, feeling as if she were intruding on a private moment, even though there was nothing inappropriate about anything Reese and Tory said or did. Still, every gesture, every intonation, every unspoken word was so intimate, it left her aching. Totally without volition, she thought of Deo and was struck by an overwhelming urge to call her. She just wanted to connect with her before the world went crazy.

“What should we do about regular patient hours?” Nita asked, trying to maintain her focus. She couldn’t think about Deo now, even though part of her wanted nothing else.

“For today, we’ll keep them as they are,” Tory said. “I’ll have Randy call everyone who’s scheduled for the following week and bring the urgent ones in tomorrow. The rest we can reschedule if we need to.”

“Sounds like we have a plan.” Reese cupped the back of Tory’s neck and kissed her cheek. “I’ll call you. Don’t work too late.”

Tory gripped Reese’s arm and kissed her mouth. “Be careful.”

“Always,” Reese murmured. She straightened, nodded to Nita, and strode out.

Nita watched her go, appreciating why men and women would follow her into battle. She radiated not just confidence and competence, but that supreme certainty that defined command presence. Nita recognized it because her father had it. So did Sylvia, except Sylvia’s confidence was laced with cruelty. Unlike Reese, Sylvia was motivated by power, and sex was her weapon. Nita had been as enthralled by Sylvia’s power as she had been subjugated by it. Now she wondered why.

“Please let me know what I can do,” Nita said, rising. “I’m going to get back to seeing patients.”

“Thanks.” Tory caught Nita’s hand. “And thanks for staying. If this gets as bad as Reese thinks, we’re really going to need you.”

“This is my home now. I’m not leaving.”

“I almost forgot—your house! You’d better call Deo and make sure she knows what’s coming.”

“If we get a break, I’ll run down there and talk to her,” Nita said quickly before she could think about what she was doing and change her mind.

“Go now. We can handle things here. And who knows when you may get another chance.”

“I won’t be long,” Nita said, already starting for the door. Her heart speeded up with anticipation, and she didn’t even try to pretend it wasn’t because she would soon see Deo.

*

“Deo!” Joey yelled up the stairwell. “You got company.”

“In a minute,” Deo called back, bracing the plywood against the new French doors with her shoulder as she rapidly drilled in four screws to hold the wood in place. She scanned Nita’s bedroom. It was as secure as they were going to get it. Putting the drill aside, she dusted off her hands on her pants and started down the stairs. She slowed as she reached the bottom. Nita was waiting for her.

“Sorry, I know you’re busy,” Nita said uneasily.

“That’s okay.” Seeing Joey’s avid stare, Deo took Nita’s arm and led her into the dining room out of earshot of her cousin and the other guys. “I thought you were at the clinic?”

“I am. I was—I…” she swept her arm to take in the rest of the house. The ground floor windows were already covered with plywood to protect the new glass from the expected winds. “I guess you know about the storm?”

“Contractors live and die by weather bulletins—just like fishermen.” Deo shrugged. “Don’t worry about this place. We’ll get it buttoned up tight.”

“I’m not worried about the house.” Nita realized she had no good reason for running across town and Deo must know that. Oddly, she didn’t care that her motives were transparent. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to be standing up on the roof when things got bad.”

“Once we finish here, I’m going into town. There’s a disaster response team—”

“I know about it. Reese was just out to the clinic.”

“I volunteer. Helping the merchants board up their storefronts, getting boats into dry dock, whatever heavy lifting needs to be done,” Deo admitted almost shyly.

“That sounds critical—and difficult. It’s already raining harder, and the wind is coming up.” Nita touched Deo’s hand briefly and just the fleeting contact calmed the wild churning in her stomach. “Don’t worry about this place. Go do what you have to do so you won’t be out there when this gets worse.”

“Worried about me?” Deo grinned, but her eyes held no hint of laughter.

Deo’s searching look was so intense that Nita couldn’t help but lean toward her. The ache of emptiness she had been carrying since they’d parted suddenly filled with heat. She gasped.

“What?” Deo’s voice was low, husky. She caressed the outside of Nita’s arm from her elbow to her shoulder and down again. “What?”

“You will be careful, won’t you?”

Deo moved a step closer. “Is that what you drove over here to say?”

Nita’s thighs trembled and she backed up a step until her back touched the wall. “I just…the house…I just wanted to—” She shivered as Deo braced both arms against the wall by her shoulders and snugged her pelvis into Nita’s. “Oh, don’t.”

“You say no to me a lot,” Deo murmured, drawing her lips along the edge of Nita’s jaw. “Why is that?”

“Because, because…” Nita turned her head and covered Deo’s mouth with hers. She slicked her tongue over Deo’s lips and just as quickly pulled away. “Because I usually want to say yes.”

“You know,” Deo rasped, flexing her thighs and rubbing her crotch over Nita’s, “that doesn’t make any sense.”

Nita stroked Deo’s cheek. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Deo rested her forehead against Nita’s and slowly shook her head. “Don’t be sorry. Just don’t run away from me.”

“I’m afraid,” Nita whispered.

“I know.” Deo kissed her, gently. “So am I.”

“Can’t we just keep it simple?” Nita implored, digging her fingers into Deo’s shoulders. She loved her muscles, how strong she was, and how tender despite it.

“Simple.” Deo pressed closer, fusing her belly and breasts to Nita’s. Her mouth was against Nita’s ear, her lips hot and silky. “You mean simple like...just sex.”

Nita leaned her head back and closed her eyes, hoping if she couldn’t see Deo she might be able to think clearly. In the next instant, she realized how foolish that was, because with her eyes closed all she could do was
feel
, and Deo was pressed against her, her body hot and hard and demanding. “I don’t know what I mean anymore.”

Deo let out a long sigh. “Good. That’s good. That’s a place to start from.”

Nita laughed shakily and opened her eyes. “Now who isn’t making sense?”

“Why did you tell me this morning that you didn’t want anything from me except a fuck now and then?”

Deo’s words sounded as if they were forced out through ground glass, and Nita knew that she had hurt her. Her fingers shook as she pushed them through Deo’s hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to use you.” Nita imagined how it must seem to Deo, because she knew how diminished she had felt when Sylvia had come to her for sex but wouldn’t allow her anything else. “God, Deo, I’m so sorry.”

“Answer the question,” Deo whispered. “What are you so afraid of?”

Nita turned her face away. She couldn’t answer that question, because if she did, she’d have to face what it meant, and she wasn’t ready. “I can’t.”

“I’m not going to sleep with you again until you tell me. It might drive me crazy, but I mean it.” Deo gently turned Nita’s face back to hers and kissed her, a deep slow possessive kiss. “I think about you all the time. I want you right now. Inside me. I want to fuck you and come inside you.”

Nita groaned. “Stop.”

“Sorry. I can’t.” Deo tilted her head, listening to the rain drum against the wood-covered windows. “I’ve got to get back to work. Something big is coming.”

Before Deo could disappear, Nita gripped her shirt. “I don’t know when I’ll see you again. Will you call me? I can’t…I can’t think, I can’t work if I don’t hear from you.” She bunched Deo’s work shirt in her fists and pressed her forehead to Deo’s shoulder. “God, I hate this.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Deo lifted Nita’s face with her fingers beneath her chin. “Nita, I’m not going anywhere. You can talk to me anytime you want. Just call me.”

“Could it be that easy?”

“We’ll have to see, won’t we?” Deo kissed her again, gently, and backed away. “Drive carefully.”

Nita let her get all the way across the room before she called after her. “I lied this morning. I want to see you. Just…see you.”

Deo looked over her shoulder. “Then I’ll find you.”

Nita sat with Tory and the disaster response coordinators in a small stuffy room in Town Hall. Someone had closed the tall narrow windows against the heavy rain that now fell in unbroken sheets, and with only fans to move the heavy air around, she felt like she was breathing wet cotton wool. She could barely remember everyone’s names. It was after eleven, she’d seen patients for over twelve hours on not much sleep the night before, and she was worried. Worried about the impending storm and what it meant for the community, worried that she and Tory might not be able to handle a full scale natural catastrophe even with the help of the highly skilled local EMTs and paramedics, and worried about Deo. Deo hadn’t called, and when Nita had finally broken down and tried her office number around nine p.m., her call had been forwarded, but she hadn’t reached Deo.

“Camara Construction.”

“Hello, this is Nita Burgoyne. Is Deo around?”

“Oh, hey Nita…I mean, Dr. Burgoyne…it’s Joey. Last I heard from her she was still out on the harbor, tendering people in from their boats. The sea’s already too rough for people to ride this out on board.”

“How long will she be out?”

“Dunno. Quite a while yet, I figure, and then tomorrow she’s got a list of places that need their windows shuttered. Going to be a crazy few days.”

“Yes,” Nita said absently, wondering when Deo would sleep. She worried that Deo was doing difficult work in dangerous weather when she had to be exhausted. Would she be careful on the water, the water that held such pain for her?

“She’ll be checking in soon. You want her to call you?”

“No. No…just tell her I called.”

“Sure. Hey…you want her cell phone number? She doesn’t always get the calls out there, so you might get relayed right back to me—”

“That’s not necessary, thanks. Sorry to bother you, I know you must be busy.”

“No problem. Uh, hey, Nita. I was wondering…”

“Problem with your hand?”

“No. Pia said I’m doing great. I was just wondering if you’d like to have dinner some night. You know…with me.”

It took Nita a minute to decipher what he’d said, because she didn’t register his meaning at first. Then, she struggled for the right thing to say. “Joey, that’s really nice of you, but I don’t think so. Thank you, though.”

“Yeah, that’s okay. Deo said you wouldn’t go for it.”

“Did she.” Nita wondered just when and what Deo and Joey had discussed about her.

“But what the heck, if you don’t try you’ll never know what you might be missing, right?”

“Right,” Nita said slowly. “You’re absolutely right.”

Now, more than two hours later, Nita still hadn’t heard from Deo. She hoped Deo wasn’t still ferrying people back and forth in the harbor. Growing more desperate by the minute just to hear Deo’s voice, she nevertheless made mental notes on the plans being discussed. Deo was doing her job, and Nita needed to do hers.

“Reports from the head of the business bureau indicate that most of the tourists have already left or will be leaving in the morning,” Reese said to the group. “If the forecast hasn’t changed by midday tomorrow, we’ll order a mandatory evacuation of all nonresidents. That should give everyone time to get off the Cape even though we anticipate travel times could be close to twelve hours. That still gives us a twenty-four-hour window before the big winds and surf get here.”

Someone who Nita thought might be the head of the town council gathered up a pile of papers and said, “Then I think we’ve done everything we can for the moment. Let’s reconvene tomorrow morning at eleven for an update.”

Tory turned to Nita as the other members in the room began to leave. “I’ve had Randy block out tomorrow afternoon for urgent patients. I can come to this meeting if you want to run out to Beech Forest in the morning and see how many residents are staying.”